Do my eyes deceive me, or are some of those earlier British '50s tilts (above) shorter than the rest? Were there 8m tilts before the 10m ones? 
NMPs
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NMPs3210
2nd and 3rd pics look like 12 mtr trailers
Suedehead:
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NMPs3210
2nd and 3rd pics look like 12 mtr trailers
I agree! I’ve just deleted them. Cheers.
Mann & son had a few 10mtr tilts in the early 70’s,if you can find some pics.
hutpik:
Mann & son had a few 10mtr tilts in the early 70’s,if you can find some pics.
Thanks Mike! I’ll investigate.
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Camion Stew:
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321Great old photos Ro, very interesting. Always amazes me that the Europeans had sleeper cabs, converted or otherwise and yet here’s our brave lad doing his best in a day cabbed Scammel on TIR work potentially. We seem to have been at the mercy of the unions and tight fisted bosses? I wonder who invented the tilt and why so called?
Cheers Stew! The name ‘tilt’ was used to describe the horse-drawn wagon version of the same structure, so it probably originates in the mists of time. As for the day cabs; it ought to be borne in mind that several of the above will have been delivering unaccompanied trailers to Tilbury docks for shipment out to Antwerp. Just found another pic:
0
TILT was also a maritime term, possibly from horse drawn barges as well, “a loose framework covered with a tarpaulin”
Wheel Nut:
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Camion Stew:
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321Great old photos Ro, very interesting. Always amazes me that the Europeans had sleeper cabs, converted or otherwise and yet here’s our brave lad doing his best in a day cabbed Scammel on TIR work potentially. We seem to have been at the mercy of the unions and tight fisted bosses? I wonder who invented the tilt and why so called?
Cheers Stew! The name ‘tilt’ was used to describe the horse-drawn wagon version of the same structure, so it probably originates in the mists of time. As for the day cabs; it ought to be borne in mind that several of the above will have been delivering unaccompanied trailers to Tilbury docks for shipment out to Antwerp. Just found another pic:
0
TILT was also a maritime term, possibly from horse drawn barges as well, “a loose framework covered with a tarpaulin”
Nice one Wheelnut; I didn’t know that!
Hey, Nice pic’s Robert.
Here some more, most are over '33ft, most used in de '60’s were between 11 and 12 meters here, later 12.20 40ft’s.
And so we moved up to 12.50±, 13.10± 13.60, and now real 45ft’s 13.75 meters.
tiptop495:
Hey, Nice pic’s Robert.
Here some more, most are over '33ft, most used in de '60’s were between 11 and 12 meters here, later 12.20 40ft’s.
And so we moved up to 12.50±, 13.10± 13.60, and now real 45ft’s 13.75 meters.
Thank you Eric. You’re a star! That is really useful clarification of the trailer lengths. There was clearly some discrepancy between the UK regulations and those on the Continent before the standardisation of 12m / 40ft trailers in the very early '70s. I suspect that the lengths were standardised as a result of rationalising the ISO containers: ie 20ft / 40ft (6m / 12m).
NMPs
ERF-NGC-European:
tiptop495:
Hey, Nice pic’s Robert.
Here some more, most are over '33ft, most used in de '60’s were between 11 and 12 meters here, later 12.20 40ft’s.
And so we moved up to 12.50±, 13.10± 13.60, and now real 45ft’s 13.75 meters.Thank you Eric. You’re a star! That is really useful clarification of the trailer lengths. There was clearly some discrepancy between the UK regulations and those on the Continent before the standardisation of 12m / 40ft trailers in the very early '70s. I suspect that the lengths were standardised as a result of rationalising the ISO containers: ie 20ft / 40ft (6m / 12m).
Robert,
That’s the truth, with the coming of 40 footers everything have been standardisised to 12.20 meters, before there was Always a little diffence
between trailer builder, one handle with 11.75 or other 12, but about the mid 60ties all standardisisd on 12.20…
Some more
Hey,
But why were this in the picture so short in the U.K. at that time,think about 8 meters 26 ft, was it overall lenght ■■? or trailer lenght,
or a law anti artic’s. And what could you achive within the later legislation with the overall lenght of 13 meters (42 ft) ■■ Where you had to use 5 axles to become legally 32.5 ton.
Eric,
And why did the English used a lot of tridems with dubble tyres so much as the Spanish did, most here changed fast to super singels, had it to do with gross weight allowed per axle ■■
Eric,
tiptop495:
Hey,But why were this in the picture so short in the U.K. at that time,think about 8 meters 26 ft, was it overall lenght ■■? or trailer lenght,
or a law anti artic’s. And what could you achive within the later legislation with the overall lenght of 13 meters (42 ft) ■■ Where you had to use 5 axles to become legally 32.5 ton.Eric,
A wonderful picture, Eric! And yes, I suspect those 1950s UK tilts were about 8m +, as they look too short to be 10m (33-ft) trailers. I passed my test pulling a 10m trailer so I have a concept of what kind of space that length occupies on the road.
Our UK rules changed in spasms: for example, we raised our gross weight from 32 tons to 38 tonnes in 1983 but we didn’t adopt 13.6m trailers to replace 12m trailers until 1990. Double wheels versus super-singles was all about perceived stability. As we all know, ‘construction and use’ regulations take ages to catch up with the times!
Can anyone on here remember what the actual length of those '50s tilts was?
Rowena
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NMPs2
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That is an interesting shot of the T. Brady Super Comet , it would be just over 4 years old when this shot was taken probably at Felixstowe. It was new into service on 4/1/61 and was delicenced/scrapped not long afterwards in March 1966 so I reckon it may have “bit the dust” in an RTA. Cheers Bewick.
Bewick:
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NMPsThat is an interesting shot of the T. Brady Super Comet , it would be just over 4 years old when this shot was taken probably at Felixstowe. It was new into service on 4/1/61 and was delicenced/scrapped not long afterwards in March 1966 so I reckon it may have “bit the dust” in an RTA. Cheers Bewick.
A nice bit of background info Dennis . That Leyland certainly looked the part. You didn’t see many with the external sun visor in those days IIRC. Ro
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NMPs
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This Atkinson could easily have competed for the title of the ugliest truck of its year!