Two new vans at Reading
TIDDERSON:
Two new vans at Reading
I wonder why the front mounted exhausts – for a specific contract on flammable goods maybe?
Bernard
albion1938:
TIDDERSON:
Two new vans at ReadingI wonder why the front mounted exhausts – for a specific contract on flammable goods maybe?
Bernard
Remember Mr. Bernard we are talking TS3’s here, renowned for blowing sparks / glowing embers and even the odd flame out of the exhaust. Not what you really want even if the truck is a flat bodied general haulage type wagon !!
And it sounds a lo0t nicer through the open window if you’re a wannabe truck racer. I know- I WAS that cowboy! 
Retired Old ■■■■:
And it sounds a lo0t nicer through the open window if you’re a wannabe truck racer. I know- I WAS that cowboy!
The word WAS should be substituted with the word AM Anon 1.
Here is a “real” opposed piston engine! Doxford J type 760mm bore slow speed engine. Around 3000 BHP per cylinder in their day. Another British manufacturer no longer with us.
M&C steve:
albion1938:
TIDDERSON:
Two new vans at ReadingI wonder why the front mounted exhausts – for a specific contract on flammable goods maybe?
BernardRemember Mr. Bernard we are talking TS3’s here, renowned for blowing sparks / glowing embers and even the odd flame out of the exhaust. Not what you really want even if the truck is a flat bodied general haulage type wagon !!
Having driven them myself and seen the “great balls of fire” in the mirror I can assure you the only likely fire would be a grass fire on the roadside verge, AFAIK TS3 Commers were no more prone to burning than any other lorry! My point is, that as standard equipment the long-wheelbase haulage chassis had the exhaust under the vehicle along the chassis, SWB tippers had the exhaust underneath but coming back on itself as there wasn’t room for the two silencers one behind the other and on the very short wheelbase artic unit there was no room at all for the exhaust hence the under-bumper set-up which was also see on pet-reg LWB chassis.
Bernard
Here is a story related to me by a friend of mine involving a local firm who ran Commers, quite involved but worth reading!
One Commer ‘stroker’ did the usual thing by shearing the blower shaft near Peterborough, it was on its way to Cambridge gas works, so its driver left it and hitched a lift back to Derbyshire. My mate was told to take his Commer, a fitter, the driver and a straight bar and drag it back to the yard BUT they had to take a load to Great Yarmouth gasworks and pick the stricken Commer up on the way back. So at 5am they set off in dense fog, tipped at Yarmouth and headed back to Peterborough. A problem then struck them, somebody had recovered the Commer but (because the driver abandoned it) nobody knew where it had gone! Many phone calls finally found it and they hooked up and headed for Cambridge, arriving late evening. Next job was shovelling ten tonnes of coal off by which time it was after 10 pm and they were rather black. Luckily the night watchman had a relative who ran the local working mans club so they headed there for a wash, some grub and a pint. They then headed back, still in fog, arriving at the yard at 6 am. My mate went off to bed, and at 8 am a knock on the door wanting to know why he hadn’t turned in for work! Words were spoken haha! They had all worked for 25 hours but were told they couldn’t be paid for all of them as there are only 24 hours in a day and an hour had to be knocked off for lunch so they actually lost two hours pay! Isn’t the saying “You can’t do too much work for a good gaffer, and never enough for a bad one”? 
Pete.
Super pics of the motors goin’ up th’ill.Bet they sounded good.Am I right in thinking the rear overerhang was short on the first 16 tonners?
Tony
Bewick:
Retired Old ■■■■:
And it sounds a lo0t nicer through the open window if you’re a wannabe truck racer. I know- I WAS that cowboy!The word WAS should be substituted with the word AM
I hung up the spurs seven years ago, Dennis, but they were the best days for me, the sixties & seventies. By the time we got halfway through the eighties the job had started going to the dogs!
rastone:
Super pics of the motors goin’ up th’ill.Bet they sounded good.Am I right in thinking the rear overerhang was short on the first 16 tonners?Tony
I remember having a new Maxiload and if memory serves, they had a longer chassis than most of the 16-tnners.
Re GVT 41J - Commer Maxiload.
My dad fitted his own radio, which fitted into a console in the cab with a single speaker and also a matching console and speaker in his car :-
antique-autoradio-madness.org/1a … 1969_1.htm
I don’t remember many seeing ‘fitted’ radio’s in wagons (this was back in the early seventies), what I normally saw was a portable radio in the windscreen with extended aerial so my dad’s set up was to me unusual.
I used to mither him to have Radio 1 on but he was a Radio 2 man, especially when the Jimmy Young programme was on and more so on a Friday when the Legal Eagle’s gave their advice - I did get my way sometimes!!!
Sack cloth and ashes time, the UBA registrations were erroneous, they should read URJ 534S and URJ 535S but at least I got the correct issuing office - Salford as it was then!
This is The Commer that my Dad drove before I was born.[attachment=0]IMG_0099.JPG[/attachment]
Pennineman:
Re GVT 41J - Commer Maxiload.My dad fitted his own radio, which fitted into a console in the cab with a single speaker and also a matching console and speaker in his car :-
antique-autoradio-madness.org/1a … 1969_1.htm
I don’t remember many seeing ‘fitted’ radio’s in wagons (this was back in the early seventies), what I normally saw was a portable radio in the windscreen with extended aerial so my dad’s set up was to me unusual.
I used to mither him to have Radio 1 on but he was a Radio 2 man, especially when the Jimmy Young programme was on and more so on a Friday when the Legal Eagle’s gave their advice - I did get my way sometimes!!!
Sack cloth and ashes time, the UBA registrations were erroneous, they should read URJ 534S and URJ 535S but at least I got the correct issuing office - Salford as it was then!
The first ts3 I drove ( about 1966 ) had a whopping valve radio under the passenger dash , big as a milk crate and nothing came out of it but whistles and squeals .
Another memory re GVT 41J.
The vehicles were fitted with a clockwork recording device (aka the Limpet Mine) complete with wax paper disc (an early form of Tachograph I suppose) which was mounted on the passenger door.
My dad soon realised that if he closed the door but left it on the safety catch and the engine running, it would record vehicle movement (it didn’t record breaks, speed or mileage etc.) as that was all the bosses were interested in at the time.
One day, the works manager opened the cab door to inspect the recordings but unbeknown to him, my dad had taken our dog to work with him so he got the fright of his life when ‘Bob’ made his presence known The works manager recoiled and smacked his head on the ‘Limpet Mine’ much to the amusement of onlookers who knew what was about to happen.
it was decreed from that day forward that animals were definitely banned from works vehicles!
Sorry to keep going on about this particular wagon but the memories are slowly coming back to a happy time.
I believe these were called a “Superpoise”. Whoever came up with that name?! I seem to remember a building company named Broomby from around Carnforth ran a couple of these in the 50s. They were SWB tippers and pale blue (if my memory is correct). Often seen running sand from Hartley’s Quarry in Carnforth.