Bender:
Having been associated with several Mk 1 & 2 Borderers (Bewick) in the early 1970s I am a big fan of these old tractors, but I’m trying to pin down why everyone seems to be so full of praise for them.
A lot of hauliers made a lot of money out of them over many years, and countless businesses were built on them, apart from anything else! They were easy and cheap to repair, and would take lots of abuse. Plus, what you don’t fit, doesn’t go wrong. My personal experience was that the A Series ERF was even louder inside, and the mid-60s Ergo was less comfortable. I once drove a ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ Seddon 34 Four, and that once was quite enough.
(And the Atki windscreens don’t pop out, nor the doors open on bumpy roads, unless the cab is old and knackered - a new Mk.2 was a different proposition to the 12-year-old spare motor that many first time drivers may have experienced).
Equally, though, many successful haulage businesses were built on the back of LV and A Series ERFs, but they just didn’t seem to have the same character about them!
240 Gardner:
(And the Atki windscreens don’t pop out, nor the doors open on bumpy roads, unless the cab is old and knackered - a new Mk.2 was a different proposition to the 12-year-old spare motor that many first time drivers may have experienced).
That was definitely the case with the one I had driven. It had probably seen more than one bump in its life and never had any money spent on it. A Mk.2 with a ■■■■■■■ and power steering I could see the attraction of but as a youngster you never got a shot at one of those and ended up with a knackered Mk1 wreck.
In the late 70’s I delivered car spares(Unipart) in the North Wales area and regularly had an Atkinson Mk2 Borderer (■■■■■■■■ pass my Gardner powered Guy. We would often have a race but he always won ! this belonged to Parrys transport of Pen y Groes nr. Caenarfon, it had a name plate on the front which read “big bear” , I think the drivers name was Arthur, that machine could really move loaded or empty he woud always pass me with a big grin on his face. Oh yes I would have liked to have a shot on a Mk 2 ■■■■■■■■
I remember my dad had a 1959 mkv mammoth major and drag with the 9.6 and a 5 speed box max speed 38mph ,he had that from 1961 to 1971 then got a brand new Atki with a 180 Gardner and a 6 speed brown box i cant repeat on here what he thought about it only good thing he would say was it was better than the AEC!
Bender:
Having been associated with several Mk 1 & 2 Borderers (Bewick) in the early 1970s I am a big fan of these old tractors, but I’m trying to pin down why everyone seems to be so full of praise for them.
At that time Dennis (Bewick) also had ERFs and at least one Seddon, both of which seemed to be far more advanced, with such luxuries as winding door windows (don’t laugh!) doors you could easily get in and out of, and that were positioned relative to the driver’s seat.
In the Atkinson actually getting into the cab was akin to a minor feat of mountaineering, one you accessed those little rectangular wooden framed doors, you then had to kind of walk around the driver’s seat to sit down, the door windows were reminiscent of a Victorian sash, and when you wanted to get out you had to fumble behind you and to the right (near the parking brake mounted on the back wall) to find the door handle.
They had the same options on engines, gearboxes and axles as many of the other marques available at the time, so the ‘pulling power’ would have been down to choosing the right combination of all three, likewise the fuel economy, so what made them so highly rated among their peers?
Bender:
Having been associated with several Mk 1 & 2 Borderers (Bewick) in the early 1970s I am a big fan of these old tractors, but I’m trying to pin down why everyone seems to be so full of praise for them.
At that time Dennis (Bewick) also had ERFs and at least one Seddon, both of which seemed to be far more advanced, with such luxuries as winding door windows (don’t laugh!) doors you could easily get in and out of, and that were positioned relative to the driver’s seat.
In the Atkinson actually getting into the cab was akin to a minor feat of mountaineering, one you accessed those little rectangular wooden framed doors, you then had to kind of walk around the driver’s seat to sit down, the door windows were reminiscent of a Victorian sash, and when you wanted to get out you had to fumble behind you and to the right (near the parking brake mounted on the back wall) to find the door handle.
They had the same options on engines, gearboxes and axles as many of the other marques available at the time, so the ‘pulling power’ would have been down to choosing the right combination of all three, likewise the fuel economy, so what made them so highly rated among their peers?
IMO this is a shot of a classic Borderer,205 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ BDR/ZF power steering/Twin 65 gal tanks/Tecalemit autolube.Smooth as silk!!! Bewick.
Bewick:
IMO this is a shot of a classic Borderer,205 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ BDR/ZF power steering/Twin 65 gal tanks/Tecalemit autolube.Smooth as silk!!! Bewick.
That fly sheet looks a bit flappy at the back Dennis…
Bewick:
IMO this is a shot of a classic Borderer,205 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ BDR/ZF power steering/Twin 65 gal tanks/Tecalemit autolube.Smooth as silk!!! Bewick.
That fly sheet looks a bit flappy at the back Dennis…
Come on Bender,don’t you start,I’ve already had all that “old pony” on a previous thread!!! The load wasn’t exactly uniform now was it? and the fly sheet was doing the job it was intended to,covering the whole load!! Cheers Dennis.
Bewick:
IMO this is a shot of a classic Borderer,205 ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ BDR/ZF power steering/Twin 65 gal tanks/Tecalemit autolube.Smooth as silk!!! Bewick.
That fly sheet looks a bit flappy at the back Dennis…
Come on Bender,don’t you start,I’ve already had all that “old pony” on a previous thread!!! The load wasn’t exactly uniform now was it? and the fly sheet was doing the job it was intended to,covering the whole load!! Cheers Dennis.
I dunno, you get one slight crease, and people never let you hear the end of it…
Here you are Bender,can’t have you going to Kip “wiv a flea in your ear” can we!!! Will this shot redeem the situation?NEC260K at the side of the A6 in Milnthorpe,loaded with paper from Beetham Mill.
Bewick:
Here you are Bender,can’t have you going to Kip “wiv a flea in your ear” can we!!! Will this shot redeem the situation?NEC260K at the side of the A6 in Milnthorpe,loaded with paper from Beetham Mill.
Very tidy. Must have been nearly new in that shot.
I drove a Mk 2 Borderer in the mid seventies and sometimes it would be taken away for a service during the night and another one was left in its place.
They never had the gear diagram in the cab which was a pain as it was straight out of the depot and up a steep hill. When I managed to suss out where the gears were I used to write it on my logbook so that I could remind myself. Sadly I still have the logbooks from 1978 and below is the gear diagrams that I wrote on one of them. Anybody know what these gearboxes were its about time I found out 32 years later.
I never had a prang in a borderer but have seen a couple like these below.
Continental ferry trailers.
United Biscuits. This one had hit a car and jacknifed, it was the trailer that demolished the cab.
Numbum:
I drove a Mk 2 Borderer in the mid seventies and sometimes it would be taken away for a service during the night and another one was left in its place.
They never had the gear diagram in the cab which was a pain as it was straight out of the depot and up a steep hill. When I managed to suss out where the gears were I used to write it on my logbook so that I could remind myself. Sadly I still have the logbooks from 1978 and below is the gear diagrams that I wrote on one of them. Anybody know what these gearboxes were its about time I found out 32 years later.
Cheers Phil.
A 10-speed Fuller - presumably behind either a 220 Rolls or ■■■■■■■
Numbum:
I drove a Mk 2 Borderer in the mid seventies and sometimes it would be taken away for a service during the night and another one was left in its place.
They never had the gear diagram in the cab which was a pain as it was straight out of the depot and up a steep hill. When I managed to suss out where the gears were I used to write it on my logbook so that I could remind myself. Sadly I still have the logbooks from 1978 and below is the gear diagrams that I wrote on one of them. Anybody know what these gearboxes were its about time I found out 32 years later.
The first one David Brown 8-speed, second one as 240 Gardner says a fuller 10-speed.
and if the little u/j`s on the shift rod had worn badly it was a Woolworth’s sweat counter gearbox.
Numbum, they might both be 9 speed fullers, what your showing as 1/6 may be where crawler was ,you wernt supposed to be able to get it in high but you could ! As i recall it said “do not engage crawler gear in high ratio” on the diagram ,but you didnt have a diagram did you?!!?
JFC999:
Numbum, they might both be 9 speed fullers, what your showing as 1/6 may be where crawler was ,you wernt supposed to be able to get it in high but you could ! As i recall it said “do not engage crawler gear in high ratio” on the diagram ,but you didnt have a diagram did you?!!?
If i remember correctly it works in high range in reverse gear too warp drive going backwards .
some did come with sticker diagrams but not that many, strange as they started to rivet a plate with the
gearbox pattern to the engine hump in the 400/401 series sed/atki.
My Foden’s and Sed Ak had the “high crawler”, very useful at times. You could also change into high reverse while moving (not supposed to though!) let the revs drop right off before engaging high which was handy when reversing about 1/2 a mile down a motorway to reach the paving machine.
regards Big Al
