Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Heritage Commercials

We don’t cover many buses in HC, maybe it’s something we should look into, but as these two books were sent in by Amberley Books to review, I though it only polite to have a browse. Being part of the National Bus Company, Hants & Dorset Motor Service once covered quite a sizable area from Northamptonshire, across Salisbury Plain through East Dorset to the coastal regions of Poole, Swanage and Bournemouth and Southampton and Winchester. The red buses were a popular sight on the roads during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1972, the NBC merged Hants & Dorset with the Wilts & Dorset fleet, creating one firm keeping the Hants & Dorset name along with the red colour scheme of Wilts & Dorset. The fleet had a very varied…

PART ONE Charles Albert Weaver, but always known as Bert, was born on 26th August 1922, in the wonderfully named cottage ‘Cuckoo’s Nest’, in the village of Hopesay near Craven Arms and was the sixth child of nine children. When he was only six weeks old, Bert suffered a severe bout of whooping cough and measles and wasn’t expected to live, but by a miracle he overcame the illness and slowly recovered. When he was two years old his family moved to the rural location of Burley, about five miles north of Ludlow in Shropshire, where his father was a shepherd. He left school when he was 13 and worked as a gardener for the vicar at Culmington and also rang the bells in the village church. Bert then went…

Although La Loco en Fête is situated in France, it tends to be a showcase for the preservationists from all over Europe including Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Germany and the United Kingdom too, all congregating near Etampes for this great weekend. There was always an interesting mixed bag of fire engines on the field with fascinating French appliances mixed in with ex-American, lend-lease GMC deuce-and-a-half’s, having enjoyed a second life as water-pumpers fighting forest fires in the French brigades. The Belgian and Dutch enthusiasts arrive with some stunning trucks. In 2012, a magnificent, 1967, DAF T2400DP, 6 x 2 tractor unit, with the unusual ‘grinning face’ frontal design, common to the DAF forward-control range of that period, appeared with a twin wheel, Coder box semi-trailer attached, which had gone through a…

Because lorries are everywhere, and many of us now have excellent cameras on our phones, the scope for getting unusual trucks pics has never been greater. And that means a good smattering of classics. I’m forever deviating from any plan to go and grab a picture, other times I simply see an unusual – or just nice looking truck – and, click there’s a picture for the archive. Night shots are also possible, no need to lug a tripod around and take a series of time exposures in the hope of getting a decent shot. These days it’s shoot, check it’s ok and either move on or take it again! And because I work on the assumption that a brand new 72-plate truck will one day be an oldie, and…

In 1890, when horsepower still meant horses, Robert Wynn, founder of the legendry heavy-haulage dynasty, ordered a wagon for moving steelworks and other heavy industrial plant. Its load capacity was 40 tons. Moving at maximum capacity required 48 draught horses harnessed in 12 four-abreast teams. Forty-five years later, the era of super tractors began. Liverpool heavy haulage specialist MRS (Marston’s Road Services) became the world heavylift champion. Its Scammell Hundred Tonner moved a165-ton steel ingot mould for a steelworks in Sheffield. The Scammell and its load had a combined gross of almost 200 tons. As the Hundred Tonner designation indicates, the load was 65 tons heavier than the vehicle’s rated capacity. The reserves of performance epitomise Scammell engineering. How could such a feat be performed with the 108-bhp of the…

Admittedly, a bit modern by HC standards, but still well worth a review. Although the first offering of the Enviro200 bus launched in 2003 was unsuccessful, a redesigned model of 2006 turned out to be much more popular and was purchased by a large number of operators not only in the UK, but around the world. The Enviro200 quickly became the choice of many London operators. A new version was launched in 2014 by Alexander Dennis Limited called the MMC (Major Model Change) and in 2018, a longer version of the MMC was produced which replaced the Enviro 300. The Enviro200 is available in varying lengths which should suit most operators’ needs. This handy sized book gives readers a potted-history of the Enviro200 in London up to mid 2021. Another…

This startling new design was intended to shake off the old image created by its motorcycle heritage – this would be a car not a van. Gone was the motorcycle front end and box body rear, the new car would be lower, and although the motor cycle heritage was still there – it would be hidden beneath a new, smooth body. The new proportions would set the design future for many years to come. The car version came first; it could accommodate two adults and two children, and still a three wheeler, it would look as close as possible to a conventional four wheeled car. This was to be achieved by dispensing with the front forks; the single front wheel was hidden under a full-width, conventional looking bonnet. However, the…

Dennis Eagle, the UK’s largest manufacturer of waste collection vehicles dominated the private sector waste management industry during the 80s and the 90s. The company produced a wide range of waste collection vehicles during this period from the 2M narrow to the Phoenix (1) Series standard width units for national operators such as; BFI, Biffa, Cleanaway, Leigh Environmental, Shanks and Mc Ewan and Waste Management Ltd. Dennis Eagle also supplied units to regional operators such as Fortress, W. Hemmings (Bristol) and Davidson Brothers Waste-South Wales to name but a few. These vehicles were provided in capacities from 8-28m3 capacities and were fitted onto Dennis Delta day and crew cab chassis and other third party 4x2 16 tonne, 6x4 24 tonne and 8x4 30 tonne chassis. The units were supplied in…

When I first got an interest in lorries in the very late 1970s, I met a lad at school whose dad ran a fleet of four Volvos across Europe and to the Middle East. I used to go and visit him, especially at weekend when some of the lorries might be in the yard, and one day, his dad was chucking out a load of old copies of TRUCK magazine and some sales brochures and asked if I wanted them, so I jumped at the offer. I’ve still got most of them, although some got lost or damaged, but in the intervening years I’ve been slowly building up my collection, especially for those British and European trucks that I grew up with. They are usually packed with information – specifications,…

SEND YOUR STORIES TO THE EDITOR hc.ed@kelsey.co.uk Heritage Commercials, Kelsey Publishing Ltd, The Granary, Downs Court, Yalding Hill, Yalding, Kent. Following the successful 2022 Gathering, our 2023 event will be held at the Buckingham Railway Centre at Quainton, near Aylesbury, HP22 4BY on Sunday 2nd July 2023. The Centre has many attractions for visitors of all ages, including the opportunity for steam train rides, a miniature railway, restoration workshop, a Post Office mail sorting carriage and a café where food and drink can be purchased. Overnight parking will be available if you plan to travel a long distance to the event and there will also be facilities for transporter unloading so please indicate on your entry form if you need them. Please note that entry is free for people bringing…

Minor LCVs production commenced in May 1953 at the Cowley plant, during 1960-63 some were built at Abingdon and from 1962, production was moved to the Morris Commercials plant at Adderley Park until the end of production during 1971. During the 1960s and 1970s, they would have been found in every town and city in the UK. 2023, is the 70th Anniversary of the Minor LCV and to celebrate the Minor LCV Register are organising a two-day gathering of Minor LCVs at Coventry Transport Museum 5-6th August, if you own an LCV, we would like to hear from you and would love to have you at the event, but you do need to book as spaces are very limited. For more information contact Russ at the Minor LCV Register, visit…

Who knew – or at least remembers? Well, John Sanderson has the evidence: Foden built a tractor version of the FE4/8. Anyone aware of a preserved example? A small photocopy image of an FE4 tractor unit from John’s archives is reproduced in his new book, Memories of Foden. It might be the only surviving proof that Foden four-pot, two-stroke engined FE4 tractors ever existed. They were certainly a rarity. The FE4/8 was only in production over the four years 1952-1956. With its coachbuilt cab, it must have been vastly more expensive than light tractors of equivalent tonnage produced by Bedford and other high volume makes. When the FE4/8 was launched, nobody would have imagined such individuality would one day be killed by the EU regulated conformity on UK roads today.…

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