grumpy old man:
Anybody know Sutton Bank nr. Thirsk? No HGV’s up there thank you, 1 in 4 uphill. Well in 1962 i got a new Atki 8 wheeel tipper, 150 Gardner, 6 speed David Brown and I took it, loaded, up Sutton Bank (naughty naughty).
Road salt from Winsford, half the load to be tipped half way up the bank, the rest at the top. The Atki played with the job, I stopped at the bottom of the bank, put it in No.1, and left it to it. A very fine machine, i won’t hear a wrong word about Atkis, and here’s me, an AEC man, (before they were involved with Leyland).
In a similar vein, Pandoro’s driving instructor took the company training vehicle out whilst training for his ADI qualification. Armed with a fully-freighted test trailer at 32 tons, he decided to have a go at the Kirkstone Pass (Dennis will know it!). His motor had a 180 with a 6-speed David Brown (no crawler), and geared for a fairly high top speed of 58 mph. I gather he kept away from the All-Bran for a while afterwards, but it did make it. But only just…
Nothing ceases to amaze Chris! The bloke must have been mad or couldn’t read a map! Coaches have always gone over the passes carefully and I will own up to biking over Kirkstone Pass a couple of times when “I was a lad”.But you’d be surprised how often the “sat nav” nation get dog knotted with an artic still,on the lakeland roads.Usually one of the modern day “super heros” is in Barrow and his next drop is in say Penrith ,or vise versa,the sat nav gives him the shortest route—straight through the middle of The Lakeland mountains and hey presto gets stuck “fast” and puts the blame fairly and squarely on the sat nav!!! Cheers Dennis.
grumpy old man:
Anybody know Sutton Bank nr. Thirsk? No HGV’s up there thank you, 1 in 4 uphill. Well in 1962 i got a new Atki 8 wheeel tipper, 150 Gardner, 6 speed David Brown and I took it, loaded, up Sutton Bank (naughty naughty).
Road salt from Winsford, half the load to be tipped half way up the bank, the rest at the top. The Atki played with the job, I stopped at the bottom of the bank, put it in No.1, and left it to it. A very fine machine, i won’t hear a wrong word about Atkis, and here’s me, an AEC man, (before they were involved with Leyland).
In a similar vein, Pandoro’s driving instructor took the company training vehicle out whilst training for his ADI qualification. Armed with a fully-freighted test trailer at 32 tons, he decided to have a go at the Kirkstone Pass (Dennis will know it!). His motor had a 180 with a 6-speed David Brown (no crawler), and geared for a fairly high top speed of 58 mph. I gather he kept away from the All-Bran for a while afterwards, but it did make it. But only just…
Nothing ceases to amaze Chris! The bloke must have been mad or couldn’t read a map! Coaches have always gone over the passes carefully and I will own up to biking over Kirkstone Pass a couple of times when “I was a lad”.But you’d be surprised how often the “sat nav” nation get dog knotted with an artic still,on the lakeland roads.Usually one of the modern day “super heros” is in Barrow and his next drop is in say Penrith ,or vise versa,the sat nav gives him the shortest route—straight through the middle of The Lakeland mountains and hey presto gets stuck “fast” and puts the blame fairly and squarely on the sat nav!!! Cheers Dennis.
Kirkstone Pass is only a pimple compared to the hills in Wales Dennis.Been over it in my Vectra,Transit and Sprinter travelling from Windermere to Penrith.
Cheers Dave.
Me.Paul.101:
Why are some of the Atkinson ‘Knights of the Road’ badges feather plumes painted white?
Some people painted them blue.
I have two - one unpainted and the other with white plumes. Both are supposed to be ex-stock from Walton Summit Truck Centre (Seddon Atkinson agents). I suspect someone had time on their hands…
Lucozade should’ve opted for a longer wheelbase on that tractor - there doesn’t look enough room for a fuel tank big enough to keep that Rolls-Royce running for very long…
