A truckload of pheasants

[Outbehindthebarn]

 

[mowerman]

lol...pretty cool thanks.....bob

[carlotpilot]

damn brits can`t get anything right         pheasants?

[tjc transport]

15 ton is a heavy load???

[BC Mack]

That certainly takes me back... just as I was getting into my apprenticeship.

ERF A series, probably 220 Cummins, 32 tons gvw, non sleeper doing "a Continental"...

second driver is probably a holdover from when you needed a "brakeman" for the trailer, they shared the driving once the brake lever was removed... that load was probably worth a lot of money in those days as pheasant was a rich-man's delicacy.

TJC... 16 tons was probably close to the mark... with a fibreglass cab and a sheeted flat trailer you could squeeze 20 tons of load on a 32ton gvw 4 axle articulated unit... that trailer was built mostly of steel framing and wood rather than the lightweight materials of today.

TIR still exists but the constant customs stops have gone in the EU

BC Mack

 

 

[Outbehindthebarn]

4 hours ago, BC Mack said:

That certainly takes me back... just as I was getting into my apprenticeship.

ERF A series, probably 220 Cummins, 32 tons gvw, non sleeper doing "a Continental"...

second driver is probably a holdover from when you needed a "brakeman" for the trailer, they shared the driving once the brake lever was removed... that load was probably worth a lot of money in those days as pheasant was a rich-man's delicacy.

TJC... 16 tons was probably close to the mark... with a fibreglass cab and a sheeted flat trailer you could squeeze 20 tons of load on a 32ton gvw 4 axle articulated unit... that trailer was built mostly of steel framing and wood rather than the lightweight materials of today.

TIR still exists but the constant customs stops have gone in the EU

BC Mack

 

 

BC

 

The trailer had separate brake controls, operated by someone other than the driver?

[BC Mack]

23 hours ago, Outbehindthebarn said:

BC

 

The trailer had separate brake controls, operated by someone other than the driver?

In a nutshell, as it could get to be a novel, and all of the top of my head so a few dates may be off....

articulated trucks from 30's to early 50's were governed by a myriad of obscure highway regulations, up to then I think it allowed 20ton gross on a rigid with 4 axles, twin steer, Scammell made a coupling that allowed the use of interchangeable trailers to become a cost effective method but the public were against increased weights. There were no airbrakes available at that time, all other trucks were still hydraulic or upgrading to vacuum brakes so this coupling allowed rods to control the trailer brakes without fouling the coupling.

Another method to run heavier weight was to have a three axle rigid with a two axle drawbar trailer.

If you wanted to operate at the high end of the weights, or heavy haul, the second man was mandated so as to have a 'control' to assist the driver with braking and act as a back-up should a failure occur, another device was a ratchet controlled cable link called a Neates Brake. It was deemed that a driver would be too busy holding onto a steering wheel and the brake man or 'mate' could assist to slow the vehicle down.

As technology moved on and air brakes became common the law still required the brakeman, so a hand operated air valve was positioned on the passenger side but it all changed when a massive revision of the 'construction and uses' regulations came in about the early sixties and the government sold off all the nationalised companies. The unions in the big companies pushed the safety aspect to keep employment up so the brakeman then became the relief driver for long distance work and the reason you see the two chaps in the video with suitcases in hand looking for a hotel, unions banned sleeper cabs for many years. All changed about the era of this video when the european influence and trucks from Scania and Volvo appeared and Britain joined the 'Common Market' or EEC.

Same with the railroads, no more cabooses...  progress????

BC Mack

 

[RFCDrum]

Probably a Cummins I agree with BC. Not a 6 speed though. Probably a RT 9 speed Roadranger. Especially on Continental work. Cool vid. 

[41chevy]

Weren't Perkins and Gardner Diesels still pretty dominant in the late 60's too?

[mrsmackpaul]

Yep sure were Paul and I reckon they were and still are some of the best little motors ever made last for ever and run on the smell of a oil rag 

 

As to this truck in the video I wouldd have thought most likely a 6 cylinder Gardner and a six speed box of some type David Brown or something similar eitherway it was as good as the Pommy trucks got before they joined the EEC and screwed the rest of the Commonwealth 

Some people on a Pommy forum asked me what I thought about BREXIT all I could say was suffer in your undies, you lot made your bed now lie in it LOL

 

Paul 

[j_martell]

....the narrator did say it had "6 forward gears and three braking systems" about halfway through...

[BC Mack]

9 hours ago, RFCDrum said:

Probably a Cummins I agree with BC. Not a 6 speed though. Probably a RT 9 speed Roadranger. Especially on Continental work. Cool vid. 

I assumed Cummins as I saw a flash of the bottom of the grill.. below the R in ERF, union jack with something yellow below it.

Pretty sure they only offered Cummins 220 or Gardner 150 in 1965 (that's what the last letter on the licence plate means)

if it was 6 speed, then my money is on David Brown, ERF and others were very loyal to DB, I hated them.

BC Mack 

[BC Mack]

8 hours ago, 41chevy said:

Weren't Perkins and Gardner Diesels still pretty dominant in the late 60's too?

Perkins was not installed in vehicles above 16ton, they later bought Rolls Royce Diesel to get into the power range.... Gardner were the choice of many operators since the early 30's, low production volume and premium price, very fuel efficient but smoked all day long, once turbo's became essential to get the power needed for 1990's they couldn't keep up and closed down. Good marine engine though.

BC Mack

[BC Mack]

6 hours ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Yep sure were Paul and I reckon they were and still are some of the best little motors ever made last for ever and run on the smell of a oil rag 

 

As to this truck in the video I wouldd have thought most likely a 6 cylinder Gardner and a six speed box of some type David Brown or something similar eitherway it was as good as the Pommy trucks got before they joined the EEC and screwed the rest of the Commonwealth 

Some people on a Pommy forum asked me what I thought about BREXIT all I could say was suffer in your undies, you lot made your bed now lie in it LOL

 

Paul 

those Gardners we wonderful, never needed to much maintenance and kept all the new apprentices off them as you needed Whitworth spanners, and I wasn't sharing my tools...LOL

Damn EEC, lost my New Zealand lamb and butter.... had to make do with French stuff after that...

Brexit will be good.... even the French are considering it and they started the whole game with Germany.. so, will that be "Frexit" or "Fresortie"..?????

BC Mack

[BC Mack]

6 hours ago, j_martell said:

....the narrator did say it had "6 forward gears and three braking systems" about halfway through...

three braking systems probably referred to the three airline connections to the trailer, yellow/blue/red... service/auxiliary/emergency... same as two line, sort of, just valved differently within the dual circuit

as before... if it was 6 speed, probably David Brown

BC Mack

[mrsmackpaul]

how does this three line system work 

When Leyland fully imported some of the bigger trucks here they re did the whole braking system as it didnt comply and I have seen photo's of a pile of brake lines and air tanks on the floor beside the redone trucks 

I have asked a few people what the three line system was and no one has been able to explain

 

Paul

[BC Mack]

21 minutes ago, mrsmackpaul said:

how does this three line system work 

When Leyland fully imported some of the bigger trucks here they re did the whole braking system as it didnt comply and I have seen photo's of a pile of brake lines and air tanks on the floor beside the redone trucks 

I have asked a few people what the three line system was and no one has been able to explain

 

Paul

totally British.... had to get some help as my brain cells, so dug into an old Atkinson manual and found some photos on-line, let's see if this make sense..

 

Red (Emergency) fills the trailer air tank and releases the brakes, it is a permanent feed to the trailer and why the brakes come on when the line is released. Yellow (Service) it feeds the trailer brakes when the Service (foot) brake is pressed (why you have two lines going into the brake chambers, one Service, the other Emergency). The Blue (Auxiliary) provided a Secondary brake by the use of a hand operated lever or Dead Man as it was more commonly known, this braked the drive and trailer brakes and not the steering axle

 

there were a couple of twists between spring brake trailers and regular actuators for getting them home when failed, also, pulling a european trailer involved a bit of re-plumbing of the blue line.... but too many years have passed and too many pints of beer consumed to remember all the details.

BC Mack

Edited February 8, 2017 by BC Mack

[BillyT]

Fascinating video, I used to work with a little British fellow who was a stunt man by trade, but had to leave the UK because he couldn't get insurance! Had been injured to many times! Ritchie Smith.He drove James Bonds Astin Martin between the two buildings in" Diamonds are Forever" Had a whole scrapbook of his exploits! Some guy owed him some money for stunts performed, and paid him with two " lorries" So of course he went into the trucking business! Used to run the alps thru France and Italy! Told me there is an upgrade there that is an 8hr climb! So the drivers have to have a pee jug on the floor and their lunch in a bag on the dashboard!😁 Most interesting person I've ever met! Reminded me of that little comic strip guy Andy Capp! I heard he had a used car lot in Ocala Florida!