Bewick:
ramone:
I heard that Smiths of Maddiston got Bristol to put them back into production in the early70s and ordered 40 with 240 Gardners , i just cant find any photosYou should know better “ramone” than to set the Proles off !! No doubt one of them will claim that they were actually Bristols and not Big J’s !! Cheers Dennis.
I might have got it wrong 
ramone:
Bewick:
ramone:
I heard that Smiths of Maddiston got Bristol to put them back into production in the early70s and ordered 40 with 240 Gardners , i just cant find any photosYou should know better “ramone” than to set the Proles off !! No doubt one of them will claim that they were actually Bristols and not Big J’s !! Cheers Dennis.
I might have got it wrong
Stand by “ramone” some bright boy will turn up on the site claiming to have seen/driven one with the 8LXB,I have no doubt !Cheers Dennis.
hiya,
in years gone by worked for BRS blackburn we had some bristol’s amongst other vehicles did brs have these specially made or could private firms buy them can’t remember seeing other hauliers using them, thanks harry long retired.
harry_gill:
hiya,
in years gone by worked for BRS blackburn we had some bristol’s amongst other vehicles did brs have these specially made or could private firms buy them can’t remember seeing other hauliers using them, thanks harry long retired.
I’ve often asked myself the same question Harry.I can’t recall anybody using Bristols apart from BRS - not even secondhand.
Somebody will tell us.
hiya,
thanks for that chris,i can tell you they was a hard work machine but would plod for ever brass plate on the dash telling you how to do an emergency stop,(operate the footbrake and handbrake together) and it was a ratchet handbrake needed about seven back and forward movements to get the cable somewhere like tight i remember them putting a couple of drivers off with back trouble, oh happy days thanks harry long retired
harry_gill:
hiya,
thanks for that chris,i can tell you they was a hard work machine but would plod for ever brass plate on the dash telling you how to do an emergency stop,(operate the footbrake and handbrake together) and it was a ratchet handbrake needed about seven back and forward movements to get the cable somewhere like tight i remember them putting a couple of drivers off with back trouble, oh happy days thanks harry long retired
The old ratchet handbrake,they had them on the AEC MK3 and you sometimes trapped the palm of your hand when knocking them off.A little flag used to come up with the word “stop” on it as well when air press was down so you stopped if you could.If you couldn’t,well there wasn’t as much traffic about in them days.
Happy days indeed Harry.
I think they were certainly built for BRS and to their spec, a bit like the Crusaders later, but I think some of them found their way into private hands later. Can’t remember seeing one though. 
The BRISTOL HG Type (Heavy Goods) Vehicles was indeed only built for use by BRS. With the passing of the 1947 Transport Act and the resulting nationalisation, control of Bristol Commercial Vehicles Ltd. (BCV) passed to The British Transport Commission and the sale of Bristol chassis was restricted to companies owned by them. Under the umbrella of the B.T.C. was set up the Road Transport Executive solely responsible for all long distance road haulage under the trading name of British Road Services Ltd. (BRS). There was at that time an acute shortage of maximum capacity vehicles as not many of the small private hauliers that had been taken over operated such a vehicle. To overcome the shortage the decision was taken to build a 22 ton gvw 8 wheeled chassis at Bristol to operate alongside the Leyland Octopus and AEC Mammoth Majors of the time.Bristol had no experience of such things as twin-steer geometry etc. so B.R.S. loaned the company 3 8 -wheelers of different makes to assist and evaluate the design. Tests showed that Bristol’s own 8.14L AVW engine produced insufficient power to deal with the intended loadings and to tow a trailer if required. (which of course several did). They opted to use the Leyland 600 9.8L engine instead. The HG6L. The first Bristol vehicle joined the East Bristol Group in November 1952. The overall length of the chassis was 29 feet 10 inches. The Leyland engine drove through a clutch and 5 speed Bristol gearbox to a single drive rear axle. This being considered adequate as the vehicle would only be working within the UK.and designed for the sole use of B.R.S. The drive axle was aBristol double reduction spiral bevel unit with a ratio of 6.33:1. The diff. was fitted to the top of the axle casing with acces through a hatch in the body floor.Brakes were by Westinghouse compressed air operating at 105 psi with Girling operated shoes to the 1st, 3rd and 4th axles. Handbrake was of the multi-pull type operating through rods to both rear axles . Electrics were 24V and a 32 gallon tank gave a range of about 300 miles. Cabs were produced by several manufacturers.
The technical information was taken from The Commercial Motor of July 2nd 1954.
Production lasted for 4 years. With de-nationalisation many of the vehicles were disposed of on the open market through auctions. I recall that Febry’s bought 3 and they lasted only a very short time - probably bought for spares.
I also remember that an uncle of mine drove one for a period on BRS trunks and he felt that it was an acceptable machine. Of course they were worked really hard on a 24 hour cycle.
Production of the tractor unit lasted until 1964, never saw one in any other company other than BRS group, Mortons had a 1964 one, Philblack had a number of them but these were all BRS related companies.
You are quite right Harry. I only dealt with the 8 legger. From 1962 to January 1964 653 4 wheel tractors were supplied to BRS. PLUS the development vehicle which was sold to a local haulage contractor. I have racked my brains to think who this could have been but I know an old boy who worked for BRS for the duration. I will ask him when I see him if he can enlighten us. It was registered XHT 517H (a 1970 mark) and sold well after final production was completed.Because of serious problems encountered with the Leyland 680s the final numbers were delivered with Gardner 6LX engines together with a David Brown 6 speed gearbox. Even in those days there must have been several new developments over the 12 year manufacturing life of the marque and included in the laater chassis. A total of 946 twin axle trailers were built by Bristol to accompany these tractor units which were designed to be operated at 24 tons gross.
Sorry. The first tractor units were delivered to BRS in 1955 and not 1962 as I said earlier.
hiya,
thanks chaps for all the info very enlightening i’ve driven both the 8 legger and the tractor unit they always got you there and back without any problems thanks harry long retired.
Don’t forget of course the Bristol buses.They were a cut above the rest if I remember correctly.I seem to remember that Crossville ran some.
They must have been producing the buses long after truck production ceased as I used to deliver,“Fitted wheels”,that was wheels with tyres on,to the bus factory when I worked for the Wild Group in the early '70’s when we did a lot of work out of the Michelin factory in Stoke.
Leyland took the 50% shareholding from National Bus in 1982 and closed the Bristol factory in September 1983. The last few buses of the line were ere even badged “Leyland”. Production ceased and was moved to Workington, ■■■■■■■■ The finest single deck chassis ever made, ask any busman, was killed off in favour of the Leyland National.
Can anyone remember the chassis leaving Bristol with the driver sat in the open with his Corker crash helmet on?
I believe they went from Bristol to Essex to have the rest of the vehicle built.
Nice in the summer but what a terrible job in the winter.
Tobyjug:
Can anyone remember the chassis leaving Bristol with the driver sat in the open with his Corker crash helmet on?
I believe they went from Bristol to Essex to have the rest of the vehicle built.
Nice in the summer but what a terrible job in the winter.
I remember all bus and coach chassis were delivered like this, some didnt even have a proper seat,
(but like everything else that was fun H&S spoilt it )
i cut my teeth on bristol lodekas and mw’s fantastic buses. mind the lodeka with a bristol engine in it could be a swine when it started to boil up.with the cave brown cooling system you had a valve behind your head you had to open to let the cold water from upstairs come down bit of a sod on corners 
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/davidlloyd/bristolhistory.htm
The story about the Bristols only being sold to the BTC is here.
Containerway also operated the Units but I believe they were also state owned at the time
