Heritage Commercials June 2014

Continental classic – 1929 Citröen AC4

COMMERCIALS

gold!!

1949 thornycroft trusty restored

No.294 June 2014

south african

£4.20

A WORLD OF CLASSIC LORRIES, TRUCKS AND VANS

ExClusivE BCvM rEAdEr offEr!

Albion’s rArities Eight wheelers

seddon’s secret The Sirdar

Archive Album

The way things were

wAtford lEgEnd 1930 Scammell 100-tonner

Atkinson The history

Contents

42

JUNE 2014

06 Ignition

A quick look at what’s happening in the world of classic commercials.

10 Readers’ letters

Your chance to ask a question, put things straight or tell us your story.

18 Always the bridesmaid Why did Albion only make 400 eightwheelers?

24 Subscription form

Save money and get your copy of HC delivered early by subscribing.

26 History of Atkinson

Alan Barnes concludes the story of Atkinson Lorries.

34 On location

Bob Tuck reports on the 15th Kirkby Stephen & Brough Rally.

36 Off the rails – part 1

Bill Aldridge tells the story of the road goods vehicles operated by Britain’s railway companies over the years.

46 42 Archive album

A look at times past using the superb NA3T photographic archive.

46 French correction

Citroen commercials dating from the 1920s are a rare sight in France, let alone Britain. But thanks to one man’s perseverance there’s at least one cracking example over here to admire.

50 Fiat Fantastico

102

Neil Cross tracks down something a bit different that’s bringing a bit of Italian flare to the UK preservation scene.

34 54 Seddon’s secret

Having invested time, effort and finance into the development of a heavy duty vehicle, it does seem strange that the Seddon Sirdar 30 tonner never went into full production.

Alan Barnes investigates what happened.

60 My Leyland days – part 2 Dennis Brooks continues the story of his working life as an engineer with Leyland Group vehicles in the harsh conditions of 1960s/70s Australia.

66 Curry and chips

Road runs don’t come much more enjoyable than riding shotgun with Steve Curry and his family as they take ‘Trusty’ on a run to sun-baked Hout Bay to experience fish and chips South Africa style!

IncorporatIng classIc truck

26 72 From our archives

This month we feature the tipper models of Ford’s ubiquitous D Series. Did you drive one?

76 national treasure

Ed Burrows tells the story of what was once the world champion heavy lifter – Scammell’s Hundred Tonner.

84 classic collection

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Heritage Trust recently opened its new ‘Museum of Fire’ at Greenock on the River Clyde. Bob Weir paid them a visit.

88 club listing

96

Classic vehicle enthusiast?

Well join the club!

90 Maltese lorry safari

If you want to see loads of old British lorries still at work there’s only one place to go, as Michael Marshall found out.

96 the man behind the brush We meet up with the man behind the commercial vehicle images in hundreds of paintings and calendars, and have a look at some of his new images coming soon.

84 102 Double whammy

The Bedford ‘O’ Series was the workhorse of the postwar generation, but survivors are now thin on the ground. Bob Weir went to the Strathmore Valley in the heart of Scotland, to meet two superb examples.

107 Hc Marketplace

The place to buy and sell anything to do with classic commercials.

114 Final word

Another few bits and bobs to end this month’s issue.

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Transport heritage

Always the bridesmaid

Over the years, the Glasgow based Albion Motors has won many friends with its well liked range of models. And for transport historian Frank Strange, the Albion Caledonian was probably the finest rigid eight-wheeler of its time. But while Bob Tuck has also long been a big Caledonian fan, he wonders why the company only made 400 of them.

Words: Bob Tuck Photography: Bob Tuck/As stated

I

t was a sight that made the heart flutter.

To a young wagon spotter, sat beside the Framwellgate Moor roundabout of the A1 near Durham City in the late 1950s, just seeing one of them in the flesh was enough to give you goose bumps of anticipation.

True, they looked almost identical to the highly popular Leyland Octopus, but – to me the Albion Caledonian always oozed a bit of class. It was probably the ‘As Sure As e Sunrise’, badge on the front which made them stand out. While once they drove past, the distinctive profile underneath of the pan equipped Albion diffs slowly disappearing up the road is another vision I’ll never forget.

I didn’t realise then, but only 400 Caledonian eight-wheelers were built (between 1957 and 1961) so what I was seeing was something of a rarity.

Sporting the firm’s famous elephant logo, this example was operated by E Brown & Son of Beverley. Photo PM Photography.

Of course, things move on and into the early 1960s production of the Caledonian ended as the Leyland Group’s ‘Power-Plus’, Octopus range became the flavour of the month. With engine outputs up to 210bhp and overdrive top gearbox, their performance could be positively electric (as anyone who tried to chase the Brady’s of Barrow-inFurness eight-wheeler and drag outfits might recall). With all this high speed action bursting into life on the country’s new growing motorway network, it’s no surprise that this young spotter soon had a new favourite but – of course – you never forget your first love.

LATE AND HEAVY

I never like to criticise Albion for anything as it had such a superb product and we’ll come

back to pouring accolades over its gearboxes later. But when you look at its approach to the rigid eight-wheeler, you wonder whether its heart was really in it.

A change of legislation at the start of the 1930s encouraged lorry manufacturers to start building the four-axle rigid, with Sentinel and AEC being among the early pacesetters. For some reason, Albion’s first eight-wheeled offering – the T561 – wasn’t even launched until the start of 1937, and the manufacturer didn’t even bother exhibiting an example of this at the ’37 Earls Court motor show. In fairness, Albion did launch its new CX range at that event although again no mention was then made of making an eight-wheeler version, with this information not being made public until February 1938.

Bulwark’s was another user of the Caledonian.

Photo PM PhotograPhy.

CS 7920 is an early CX7 which came new to McCall & Greenshields in May 1938. It had a Gardner 6LW engine. The company gave its vehicles individual names and ‘Wallacehill Majestic’ stayed in its service for 24 years.

This CX7 dates from the early 1940s. All sorts of different coach-builders made cabs for Albion vehicles. We love the way the load is stacked so neatly.

A spec of this vehicle shows it was offered with the option of having either the Albionmade petrol or diesel six-cylinder engine (with the petrol variant being slightly lighter). And fitted with a five ratio (over-speed) gearbox, the CX7N price tag was £1650. While with a light body, it tipped the scales ready to roll at seven tons unladen meaning it could carry 15 tons payload, with 22 tons GVW being the eight-legger weight limit of the day. e conflict between 1939-45 of the Second World War meant Albion’s thoughts (and production efforts) were channelled towards serving the Military’s various requirements, so its CX7 eight-wheeler wasn’t made in huge numbers. And while a few more were made in the late 1940s, the CX range was set to be replaced by the entirely new HD range which first appeared in April 1950.

HD stood for heavy duty - and heavy the new range was. e HD57 was the eight-

wheeler version and when compared to its predecessor, it could only legally carry about half a ton less payload at the same 22 tons gross. Powered by Albion’s 9.9litre EN253 engine (producing 120bhp @ 1700rpm) it had a five-speed, direct top gearbox, double drive bogie and full air brakes.

1950 wasn’t perhaps the best time to introduce a rather hey eight-wheeler to the market because free enterprise road transport had taken a knock, as all long distance general haulage operations had been nationalised into British Road Services (BRS). Albion itself was going through the mill and by July 31, 1951, the company had been taken over by Leyland which was keen to exploit Albion’s expertise in the lighter range of vehicles, plus its penetration of export markets.

It was perhaps no surprise that by September 1954 the Leyland owners of Albion decided to quietly drop the HD range and at a

stroke, Albion dropped out of the eightwheeler market. e HD57 had never been a big seller although, ironically, probably its biggest order was for a job which turned out to be a complete debacle. e Ground Nut Scheme was intended to be the saviour of Tanganyika farmers as well as providing cooking fat to a British market suffering badly through rationing. e plans to farm this deepest part of Africa were launched in 1946 but everything that could go wrong did go wrong and by January 1951 the scheme was cancelled with the £49 million expenditure just written off.

Albion got dragged into this when given a large order for HD57 eight-wheelers (with Penman-made cabs) but of course this was cancelled. And with few customers being interested in taking these heavyweights, most of this order subsequently passed on to BRS. June 2014 19

transport heritage

Off the

railspart one

The railways have always been massive users of road vehicles. In this new series Bill Aldridge takes a look at this important part of the UK’s transport industry.

Words: Bill Aldridge Photography: Bill Aldridge collection/As stated

O

ver the years much has been written about the important part the railways and their associated road vehicle fleet played in the delivery of goods and freight across the United Kingdom.

Without the ever growing rail network and improved goods services offered, our manufacturing industry could never have developed so quickly during the 19th century. e railway network became a lifeline, taking much traffic from the canals, coastal shipping and from the horse wagons and carriers operating on the badly maintained road system.

1

It is perhaps surprising these days to consider that when the earliest railways were first planned, there was little thought given to the need to carry any freight or goods other than coal or similar materials in bulk in either full trainloads, or at the very worst in full wagon loads between railheads, with the customer delivering and collecting the goods.

Expanding markEts

As the railway network expanded across the whole country, plans were laid to carry other freight traffic, starting perhaps with manufactured products and certainly

imported goods such as cotton, wool and possibly foodstuffs from the docks. e railway companies then realised if they offered their own road collection and delivery services they could better control and then reduce the time goods and indeed railway wagons were standing around waiting for the customer. e delivery and collection of goods by road from and to stations was given the title ‘Cartage’ and it was not always the railway companies that operated these services. In many cases existing local haulage and transport companies either offered their

services, or were asked to help provide a guaranteed level of service on behalf of the railway company. Many of these agents, like omas Bantock in Wolverhampton, J Nall in Bolton, Currie and Co in Newcastle and the Scottish company Wordie, became railway owned by the 1950s. Others such Chaplins in Bournemouth became part of British Road Services and Ayres at Reading stayed independent until the 1960s. Interestingly, omas Bantock also operated canal boats on behalf of the Great Western Railway. e goods traffic available for road collection and delivery could consist of either a full railway wagon load of items sent to one destination or a railway wagon which was filled with mixed goods that were heavy and not suitable for the ‘smalls’ or ‘sundries’ operation and destined for individual local delivery and handled through a goods depot. e early development of railway based road cartage services made use of horses and carts for the delivery and collection of goods from areas local to the stations. Reasons for this area restriction were the limited ability for the horse to travel more than 5-6 miles per trip to and from the depot or siding and the parlous state of the roads at the time (late 19th century and outside town centres). One also needs to bear in mind that although self propelled vehicles were being manufactured during the 19th century, there were very restrictive rules covering their use. Even with the introduction of better road surfaces, rail

transit times would generally beat those of competing road vehicles. e goods depots, of which there were around 5000 individual sites, could be just a siding at a small station or a large depot situated in cities. At the smaller sites the collection and delivery fleet would carry all types of traffic. At the larger depots there were separate collection and delivery fleets for the two categories of traffic; goods and smalls.

2

1: Beginning in 1916, AEC produced about 10,000 ‘Y’ type lorries for military use during the First World War. When peace returned many of these vehicles saw use with the railway companies as well as with hauliers. These three ‘Y’ Types, operated by the Great Western Railway, are seen in July 1919 ready loaded for delivery work and have hardly been altered from their original military specification. Photo courtesy the Buckinghamshire railway centre.

2: The Great Western Railway Company experimented with a system of transferrable lorry bodies to enable the expensive lorry to be out working rather than stood while being loaded. The railway company was using the ‘Rendell’ system in 1925, with the lorry body guide rails clearly visible. The Great Western trialled four different loading systems, including demountable bodies with legs. This latter system was not taken up by road hauliers for another 30 or 40 years.

Photo courtesy the Buckinghamshire railway centre.

3: The AEC ‘Y’ type lorry had been built in high numbers during the First World War for military use. They were a very basic, but reliable lorry and many were used by the railway companies and were later updated at each major overhaul.

It is possible (though not certain) that some of these lorries passed to the railway companies as recompense for vehicles lost in the conflict.

Photo courtesy the Buckinghamshire railway centre.

3

4: The railway management in general were very concerned about the time taken in depots to load the lorries and commenced operations using a modified horse-drawn wagon to accept a lorry platform body (known as a dray) which could be loaded while the lorry was out on delivery with another dray body. On return the loaded dray was transferred to the lorry ensuring a quick turn round. This photograph shows a London, Midland & Scottish Railway lorry, transferring the dray from horse wagon to lorry.

This operation was known as the stand dray system. Photo courtesy the Buckinghamshire railway centre.

4

June 2014 37

next month

on saLe june 19, 2014 a pick-up with pedigree

The Morris Minor in all its forms is hardly a rare vehicle. However, Alan Barnes reports on the restoration of one with a difference – it was made by MG.

Last of the first

During the late 1950s, ERF was to build four special heavy haulers as the UK nuclear industry’s first flask carriers. Thanks to the efforts of current custodian John Thomas (and previously Peter Hannah) the last of those first four is still on the nuclear industry’s books. Bob Tuck catches up with a heavy haulage classic enjoying retirement although he reckons it could still do the job it was made for.

sounds of the sixties

Thanks to the restorative talents of octogenarian John Eling, the Yorkshire Wolds are now alive to the special – and very rare – sound of something from the 1960s.

John Scholey shows off the latest classic to join his growing East Yorkshire collection and Bob Tuck revels in the action of his stunning S24 two-stroke Foden eight wheeler.

pLus

Railway owned commercials – part two 1949 Morris-Commercial LC3 restoration On location. Archive album. News, events and more Editor Stephen Pullen Publisher Julie Brown Design Michael Baumber & Charlotte Pearson Group production editor Tim Hartley Divisional advertising manager Sandra Fisher sfisher@mortons.co.uk Advertising representative Andrew Bruce abruce@mortons.co.uk Tel 01507 524004 Subscription manager Paul Deacon Circulation manager Steve O’Hara Marketing manager Charlotte Park Production manager Craig Lamb Publishing director Dan Savage Commercial director Nigel Hole

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