My Dad used to drive this, pic taken around 1962/3.
He used to load sawdust by a hand shovel
and fill out with bagged sawdust on top, handball.
My Dad used to drive this, pic taken around 1962/3.
He used to load sawdust by a hand shovel
and fill out with bagged sawdust on top, handball.
I can confirm they’re " a bit noisy" 
without a silencer. Back in the sixties my brother ran one out of Huntingdon on London market and wholesale greengrocer work. I lived in London then. About 8 o’clock one night I got a 'phone call from him, could I fetch a flask of tea and a bite to him as he was broken down and waiting for assistance. So off I went in my car to St John’s Wood with the necessary. Coming down the A1 loaded, his exhaust had fallen off at Hatfield, he’d tried to make it to Rootes at Barlby Road, North Kensington but he’d already been stopped by plod twice for the noise, the first let him carry on, but the second he was amongst the buildings and they told him no way was he to move it. He’d phoned Rootes who were sending somebody out but it was already two hours and no sign. I waited with him for another hour, then he said “sod it I’m off”. I watched (and heard) him set off, spotted a movement across the road and saw most of the curtains on a block of flats twitching and people looking out, but the funny thing was I could see from the reflection of the street lights all the window panes were vibrating!
Bernard
Eric Lobb had many Commer trucks… at his yard along Maulden / Clophill road. I remember many of them from working on them both at Nicholls & Sons Bedford and assisting Arthur G at Erics place in the evenings… Many many moons ago,
regards…
Carryfast:
grumpy old man:
Off topic and I’m sorry but…you want a screaming diesel engine■■?Turn the sound up:- youtube.com/watch?v=C1ICcOu0NkM
The Deltic sounds better.While it’s the 12 v 71 which provides the definitive sound of the two stroke truck engine.
Never was a huge fan of two strokes from an operator’s point of view…but…
As said before watching a Commer go past me at night in my Leyland 4 wheeler on the M6 southbound, just below Penrith, as though I was standing still, with a six foot flame from his exhaust, was interesting.
Watch the opening scenes of ‘The Deer Hunter’ for some great truck scenes from the steel mill.
And as a small boy in the late fifties, ‘Cannonball’. I can still sing it -
The rumble of the diesel,
The shifting of the gears,
The rhythm when he’s rolling,
Is music to his ears…
Cannonball…
Sad or what?
John.
No way is that sad, Im with you all the way on this one, 
, I used to change gear to the beat of music in my old Foden with its 12 speed box, Regards Larry.
The offending article showing the operation and technical details for those number crunchers to debate over! The engine was removed through the cab door although many jobs were carried out with the engine in situ. Franky.
When I drove for Shorties in the late 60s The had one Commer 2 stroke artic E Reg, & Several 4 wheelers I had a C Reg, for a short time It had the Eaton Two Speed Axle, It used to go like ■■■■ of a stick as the old saying goes, But the brakes were not the best, But driven in the correct manor you could master its brakes problem, The good old days when driving for a living was a pleasure IMO, Regards Larry.
The mighty TS3, i’m sure there is an old thread on TN ref’. these interesting creations.
In my early days as a mechanic the garage i worked for maintained a few TS3’s for various local firms, most were 4wheel rigid cattle/sheep/pig wagons.
They had a habit, if you pushed the stop cable in a tad too soon, for the engine would to caught on the compression bounce and start up again, albeit in reverse direction. The oil then being pushed up out of the air cleaner would run onto the exhaust and create so much smoke, an inexperienced mechanic may well think the truck is on fire, so select reverse gear to get it out of the workshop a bit sharpish, let up the clutch only to shunt his workbench through the wall in front !!! That did NOT make the foreman a happy chappy !!
As has been said, they went like no truck of that era should of, total flying machines at the time. But they did have a habit, if not serviced regularly using a good quality oil, of self destructing, normally when pulling up a hill. There would be oil,water, pieces of crankcase and various other engine parts scattered all over the road in the distance it would take the driver to stop.
Oh, one more thing, you would NEVER be as black as you would be after doing major engine work on a TS3 !!!
I think they were a bit of a “Marmite” motor, more of a young rather than an old man’s favourite. My brother loved his, so did I, drove it as soon as I was old enough, ideal for a young 'un, fast, loads of noise and went best when thrashed. Father wasn’t so impressed, he was from the old school “leave it in top as long as you can and only change down when you have to” brigade, didn’t like all that revving up! 
In the same way, my next door neighbour when I was a lad was the foreman fitter at the local Esso depot. Told me the old school Scammell drivers didn’t take too kindly to the S20 two-stroke Fodens they were given to replace some of them!
Bernard
John West:
And as a small boy in the late fifties, ‘Cannonball’. I can still sing it -The rumble of the diesel,
The shifting of the gears,
The rhythm when he’s rolling,
Is music to his ears…
Cannonball…Sad or what?
John.
Looking at that old Jimmy, you can see where the S-type Bedford grille came from!
If you want to hear the sound of a commer two stroke engine look up Alfred Hitchcock movie “frenzy” 1972…theres one scene where a four wheeler commer loaded with fruit from convert garden leaves the city with a deceased lady on board . I m sure this would be on u tube.
My dad drove a luton bodied 4x2 rigid for Draka Foam registration GVT41J when he first started with the company. It only had single headlights as opposed to the dual headlight ones (I don’t know what model this was TS3 ?) and the floor was lined with concrete flags as ballast.
GVT41J was in a series of five registrations/wagons that Draka Foam bought.
robinswh:
If you want to hear the sound of a commer two stroke engine look up Alfred Hitchcock movie “frenzy” 1972…theres one scene where a four wheeler commer loaded with fruit from convert garden leaves the city with a deceased lady on board . I m sure this would be on u tube.
Filmed just outside Slough near George Green one winters evening. We (my mates and me) were standing in the pub car park while the Commer did numerous trips along the road until ‘Hitch’ (who was standing next to me) was satisfied that the ‘body’ was falling correctly. He gave the thumbs up, put out his cigar and got back into his Rolls Royce and we went back to the bar!
Pete.
Pennineman:
My dad drove a luton bodied 4x2 rigid for Draka Foam registration GVT41J when he first started with the company. It only had single headlights as opposed to the dual headlight ones (I don’t know what model this was TS3 ?) and the floor was lined with concrete flags as ballast.GVT41J was in a series of five registrations/wagons that Draka Foam bought.
Did your Dad work for Draka in the mid to late 80s?
If so what’s his name?
I used to load foam blocks at Glossop, I knew a few of the drivers there and some lads in the factory.
robroy:
Pennineman:
My dad drove a luton bodied 4x2 rigid for Draka Foam registration GVT41J when he first started with the company. It only had single headlights as opposed to the dual headlight ones (I don’t know what model this was TS3 ?) and the floor was lined with concrete flags as ballast.GVT41J was in a series of five registrations/wagons that Draka Foam bought.
Did your Dad work for Draka in the mid to late 80s?
If so what’s his name?
I used to load foam blocks at Glossop, I knew a few of the drivers there and some lads in the factory.
You have mail sir!