A 1971 photo taken by Bill Taylor on the A17 at Fosdyke. A quite new Mammoth Minor.
Mandator prime mover operated by Apple Growers Association of Kent.
Dennis Javelin:
Hi,Turns out that this was to be no ordinary trip. We left at midnight on a Saturday and the first place we stopped was the old Moss services on the A74. This was the first time I had ever encountered such a place and it was a fabulous site for a small boy even if it was during the middle of the night. We then made our way down to Stoke alternating between sitting in the passenger seat and on the engine and got there just after 6am. Now this was in the days when the first bit of motorway in England we came to would have been the Lancaster bypass so this was impressive. Sandy told us to get out of the cab and to wait at the street corner until he came back which he did about 45 minutes later. We obviously weren’t supposed to be with him.
That brings back some memories Dennis sitting on engine covers. 
Did that loads as a kid as i am sure alot of people did on here.
Since you mentioned it was a Mandator you went in this road test of a Mandator may intrest you from 1966.
Click on pages twice to read.
Graham, The AEC 690 you posted a pic of above was launched in 1964.
Click on page twice.
The AEC 18 cu yd was launched in 1959.
Scottish Land Development Corporation… now this was a company with a convoluted ownership over the years. Founded as a private company in 1951 as it says in the name, it grew quickly into a leading heavy plant hire and earth moving company. In 1964 it was taken over by James Hanson (later Lord Hanson) and Gordon White, -hauliers and Hanson Trust etc. Hanson also owned the Wiles group, which included Oswald Tillotson, major AEC distributors. Oh, and Hanson also owned Jet Petroleum. So the SLDC sole dealership and agents for the AEC Dumptruk ranges rationale becomes clearer. There was already a strong AEC connection with the owners of Oswald Tillotson etc. Many years later SLDC became part of Hewden Hire.
Double Post
gingerfold:
ramone:
Keep your head down Graham , i would imagine they would be low mileageI used to see the convoys quite frequently in the 1980’s / '90’s when I was out and about more. Quite often on the M4 / M25. They also serviced the nuclear submarine bases of Faslane and Coulport in Scotland.
Harwell and Shrivenham ? say no more. 
gingerfold:
Scottish Land Development Corporation… now this was a company with a convoluted ownership over the years. Founded as a private company in 1951 as it says in the name, it grew quickly into a leading heavy plant hire and earth moving company. In 1964 it was taken over by James Hanson (later Lord Hanson) and Gordon White, -hauliers and Hanson Trust etc. Hanson also owned the Wiles group, which included Oswald Tillotson, major AEC distributors. Oh, and Hanson also owned Jet Petroleum. So the SLDC sole dealership and agents for the AEC Dumptruk ranges rationale becomes clearer. There was already a strong AEC connection with the owners of Oswald Tillotson etc. Many years later SLDC became part of Hewden Hire.
I’m guessing Oswald Tillotson were bought by the Lex group whatever happened to them .The Oswald Tillotson on Preston St Bradford moved to new premises on Tong St which are still there and owned by Leeds Commercial. Again guessing that Tillotson Burnley was the main depot i think BRS and Henry Longs had a few motors from Burnley always photographed in the same spot . There was a Lex Brooklands Volvo car dealer in Bradford too then one day there was none. They had built a new showroom on Sunbridge Rd too . They must have liked building garages maybe they went into construction
ramone:
gingerfold:
Scottish Land Development Corporation… now this was a company with a convoluted ownership over the years. Founded as a private company in 1951 as it says in the name, it grew quickly into a leading heavy plant hire and earth moving company. In 1964 it was taken over by James Hanson (later Lord Hanson) and Gordon White, -hauliers and Hanson Trust etc. Hanson also owned the Wiles group, which included Oswald Tillotson, major AEC distributors. Oh, and Hanson also owned Jet Petroleum. So the SLDC sole dealership and agents for the AEC Dumptruk ranges rationale becomes clearer. There was already a strong AEC connection with the owners of Oswald Tillotson etc. Many years later SLDC became part of Hewden Hire.I’m guessing Oswald Tillotson were bought by the Lex group whatever happened to them .The Oswald Tillotson on Preston St Bradford moved to new premises on Tong St which are still there and owned by Leeds Commercial. Again guessing that Tillotson Burnley was the main depot i think BRS and Henry Longs had a few motors from Burnley always photographed in the same spot . There was a Lex Brooklands Volvo car dealer in Bradford too then one day there was none. They had built a new showroom on Sunbridge Rd too . They must have liked building garages maybe they went into construction
Yes, correct Paul. Lex Tillotson was formed from Oswald Tillotson. At one time the Hanson Group was one of the UK’s leading industrial conglomerates, and Lord Hanson was rarely out of the news. Despite his status he actually signed a letter to me when I was researching the origins of Jet Petroleum for my “Century of Petroleum Transport” book. This was 20 years ago and Jet was then owned by Conoco. Lord Hanson’s letter explained that Jet was founded by his father Robert Hanson, along with some of his business associates, in 1953. Initially they sold in bulk to such as bus fleets, other hauliers etc., buying from any refinery they could. Robert Hanson also owned Bottomley’s Motors, (later Yorkshire Car Hire), which was a taxi, car hire, and funeral cars business. This became the first forecourt to retail Jet Petroleum to the public. In my research I had picked up on the Hanson and Bottomley’s Motors connections, but couldn’t work out how a funeral car business had become a large petrol retailer. James Hanson explained it all… after that I held him in the highest regard.
Just as a follow-on from the AEC Mammoth Major nuclear warheads carrier. When the AECs were coming to the end of their time they were replaced by Foden eight-wheeler artics. Marshalls of Cambridge (long-standing MoD contractors) built the bodywork, as they had done for the AECs, and also they had modified the Ergomatic cabs. No doubt the Foden cabs were similarly modified. One day one of these Fodens turned up at Turners depot; it was on a test run from Marshalls along the A14 and it was in trouble. Marshalls were also DAF dealers, so the test driver was familiar with Turners and he was under strict instructions not to break down at the roadside (rather difficult instructions to obey if the truck failed completely) because of the sensitive and secret equipment on the truck. With presence of mind the driver managed to limp the Foden into our depot as a safe haven until it could be repaired or recovered. I seem to recall that the one that was in trouble had solid metal bodywork, like the AECs had.
The AEC distributor in Newcastle I worked for got taken over by Lex Tillotson, it was previously known for many years as Hodgson’s. We also got a new gaffer from Tillotson a big Yorkshireman, not a bad bloke and we didn’t seem to go through any major changes at least on the shop floor. Marshalls of Cambridge did well from the MoD and in recent years the Fire Service MAN High Volume Pumps and Specialist Incident vehicles that were issued countrywide by the Government were all handled and serviced by Marshalls. Fire Service workshops never did any servicing or major repairs to these units and only in the last two years was the paperwork and ownership of them handed over to the Fire Authorities. Apart from training on the Roll on, Roll off rack systems, which the military had been using years before for ammunition carriers but without all the added safety, sensor and handling procedures the Fire Services suffer from, we had no information on them whatsoever, a strange situation especially when they had problems and stood for days until Marshalls got them sorted. Franky.
A few more photos.
Sleeper-cabbed Mogul of S.A.M.S.S. from Antwerp was used on trans-European work.
Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?
A Mercury of E.N. Tuplin of Friskney loaded with cauliflowers waiting for it’s night driver to deliver to the London wholesale markets
Two LWB Mandator re-fuellers of Esso in service at Jersey Airport from 1977 to 1991, then they came back to the mainland for further service. Shod on 12.00 x 20 tyres they grossed 19 tons fully laden. The Esso drivers preferred them to any other make because of the easy access cab and “100% reliability”
gingerfold:
A few more photos.Sleeper-cabbed Mogul of S.A.M.S.S. from Antwerp was used on trans-European work.
3Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?
2A Mercury of E.N. Tuplin of Friskney loaded with cauliflowers waiting for it’s night driver to deliver to the London wholesale markets
1Two LWB Mandator re-fuellers of Esso in service at Jersey Airport from 1977 to 1991, then they came back to the mainland for further service. Shod on 12.00 x 20 tyres they grossed 19 tons fully laden. The Esso drivers preferred them to any other make because of the easy access cab and “100% reliability”
0
The Mercury looks well , i wonder if the rear part of the load was waterproof . They imho always looked more finished off than the Leyland version of the ergo.
gingerfold:
Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?[/attachment]
Can only logically be two but can’t see the exact coupling and pin positions ?.That semi trailer + dolly + tractor unit set up always looks wrong to me and is really just a poor man’s version of a ballast tractor and trailer outfit.
Carryfast:
gingerfold:
Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?[/attachment]Can only logically be two but can’t see the exact coupling and pin positions ?.That semi trailer + dolly + tractor unit set up always looks wrong to me and is really just a poor man’s version of a ballast tractor and trailer outfit.
I agree, two. It seems to me that the whole point of this exercise is to drastically spread the weight of the load, which presumably is too heavy for an artic or a ballasted tractor and dolly (of the day). Ro
ramone:
gingerfold:
A few more photos.Sleeper-cabbed Mogul of S.A.M.S.S. from Antwerp was used on trans-European work.
3Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?
2A Mercury of E.N. Tuplin of Friskney loaded with cauliflowers waiting for it’s night driver to deliver to the London wholesale markets
1Two LWB Mandator re-fuellers of Esso in service at Jersey Airport from 1977 to 1991, then they came back to the mainland for further service. Shod on 12.00 x 20 tyres they grossed 19 tons fully laden. The Esso drivers preferred them to any other make because of the easy access cab and “100% reliability”
0The Mercury looks well , i wonder if the rear part of the load was waterproof
The 18 ft. wheelbase Ergomatic cabbed Mercury with 24 / 25 ft flat looked 100% right for the job… the old adage “if it looks right it is right”. I would gladly have jumped into that lorry and delivered to the London Markets. Can’t see much point of the sheet though, a drop of rain would have helped to keep the caulis fresh. The two 40 gallons fuel tanks are interesting… enough diesel for about 900 miles round trip. Maybe it sometimes did the Scottish markets? Tuplin’s are still in business, farmers and produce merchants.
gingerfold:
A few more photos.Sleeper-cabbed Mogul of S.A.M.S.S. from Antwerp was used on trans-European work.
3Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?
2A Mercury of E.N. Tuplin of Friskney loaded with cauliflowers waiting for it’s night driver to deliver to the London wholesale markets
1Two LWB Mandator re-fuellers of Esso in service at Jersey Airport from 1977 to 1991, then they came back to the mainland for further service. Shod on 12.00 x 20 tyres they grossed 19 tons fully laden. The Esso drivers preferred them to any other make because of the easy access cab and “100% reliability”
0
Regarding the AEC Mercury loaded with crates of cauliflower, during my 3 years with Robert Baillie Transport of Horndean, from about
early November when our main traffic, tomatoes from Guernsey had finished, we carried artic full loads of cauliflower from Brittany
which we loaded at Portsmouth, and usually they were secured with corner boards and a full length flysheet. If the crates were fully
sheeted, by the time the load had travelled hundreds of miles to the northern wholesale markets, and the sheets came off, a terrible
cabbagey smell pervaded the air…what a dreadful pong. Ray Smyth.
ERF-NGC-European:
Carryfast:
gingerfold:
Lennox Heavy Haulage of Sydney Mammoth Major Six Mk.III with an interesting trailer arrangement. How many points of articulation are there?[/attachment]Can only logically be two but can’t see the exact coupling and pin positions ?.That semi trailer + dolly + tractor unit set up always looks wrong to me and is really just a poor man’s version of a ballast tractor and trailer outfit.
I agree, two. It seems to me that the whole point of this exercise is to drastically spread the weight of the load, which presumably is too heavy for an artic or a ballasted tractor and dolly (of the day). Ro
0
Maybe its an illusion but the dolly wheels seem to be very close the trailer to allow it to turn, plus how is the trailer attached to the unit on the two uprights?
Thanet always used to be a big cauli and cabbage growing area. those open wooden crates were paint secure because there was no sternght on the crates so as poinrte dout corner boards were a must. However the cage body as in the Mercury picture would make life a lot easier for those who carried them a lot. There would have been a fair number of similar bodied four wheelers in the old Covent Garden Market every night since this were ideal for the old style packaging in flimsy wooden boxes.
ERF-NGC-European:
I agree, two. It seems to me that the whole point of this exercise is to drastically spread the weight of the load, which presumably is too heavy for an artic or a ballasted tractor and dolly (of the day). Ro0
If it looks right it is right.
dave docwra:
ERF-NGC-European:
Carryfast:
Can only logically be two but can’t see the exact coupling and pin positions ?.That semi trailer + dolly + tractor unit set up always looks wrong to me and is really just a poor man’s version of a ballast tractor and trailer outfit.I agree, two. It seems to me that the whole point of this exercise is to drastically spread the weight of the load, which presumably is too heavy for an artic or a ballasted tractor and dolly (of the day). Ro
0
Maybe its an illusion but the dolly wheels seem to be very close the trailer to allow it to turn, plus how is the trailer attached to the unit on the two uprights?
It does look like the dolly is actually solid mounted to the ‘prime mover’ and only one point of articulation well forward of the dolly wheels.Even more of a lash up than I thought in that case. 
