I’m hesitant to argue with you John on this one! But I think it was Eric Green who developed the Atkinson ‘rear-steer / twin-steer’ arrangement and transferred the technology to ERF when he became Chief Engineer there. Jack Cooke, also from Atkinson, became Chief Engineer at ERF in about 1970 and was responsible for the European NGC 420 with the 7MW cab. I think I’d better get my coat! Robert 
robert1952:
3300John:
robert1952:
I’m hesitant to argue with you John on this one! But I think it was Eric Green who developed the Atkinson ‘rear-steer / twin-steer’ arrangement and transferred the technology to ERF when he became Chief Engineer there. Jack Cooke, also from Atkinson, became Chief Engineer at ERF in about 1970 and was responsible for the European NGC 420 with the 7MW cab. I think I’d better get my coat! RobertHiya Robert…i could only think of Jack Cooke. it was more or less to say the idea was Atkinson more that ERF thats all
John
Don’t want to mix up or disturb but indeed J. Cooke and more or less A. Turner were the engineering men…and Eric D. Green more the General Manager…next to EPF
By the way, John is spot-on about the crew cab. The double-cab LV was mostly for the 6x4 heavy haulage tractors and was indeed designed as a crew-cab for the engineering team involved in the movements of large loads. However, I do believe that some were ADAPTED to be sleepers, especially among some of those Chinese-sixes on 'fridge-work or on Middle-East work. As someone else observed, it is interesting that the coachwork style varied slightly as time went by. Robert
When I identified and posted that ERF steery-thing from 1968, I mentioned that I might have sat in it. It’s true! I was the sort of youth who believed that motor shows were ‘a good thing’. As a 12-year-old I travelled from East Kent with a mate of mine on public transport to Earls Court to see the 1964 motor show (mostly cars). That was normal in those days (before the media had terrorised the sh*t out of everyone into believing the gullible public into believing England was a dangerous place). Any old how, at 16 I had a paper-round and found myself delivering the fat, bumper, pre-motor show edition of Commercial Motor to peoples doors. I was vastly impressed and bought one out of my tips. As I remember, I think it had a picture of a Bedford KM on the front. So I betook myself to the 1968 Earls Court Commercial Vehical Motor Show on an East Kent bus. I do remember sitting in an ERF and being surprised at the amount of exposed bare metal there was, compared to a cars of the day - not a lot more, as the Ford Anglia I was to pass my test in six months later had almost as much bare metal! Perhaps it was that damned twin-steering thingy, for God’s sake! I’d certainly be a popular man now if I’d kept the carrier bags full of brochures I took home with me that day. Hindsight may be a wonderful thing, but I’m not sure I’d want to have driven that double-steering noisy ERF in Ireland. Robert 
robert1952:
fryske:
robert1952:
fryske:
Nice find, Fryske! There’s another pic showing this from a different angle on the ERF European thread, along with an excellent picture of it in its prime! I believe it did mostly Portugal work. Ashley Coghill know a bit about it. Robert
Have you got a link to the pictures and info?
Like I said, it’s all on the ERF European (1975) thread, because it’s an ERF European! Robert
I know you said that -
However I am not trawling through 32 pages to find the posting - hence my asking you whether you could link to it.
fryske:
robert1952:
fryske:
robert1952:
fryske:
Nice find, Fryske! There’s another pic showing this from a different angle on the ERF European thread, along with an excellent picture of it in its prime! I believe it did mostly Portugal work. Ashley Coghill know a bit about it. Robert
Have you got a link to the pictures and info?
Like I said, it’s all on the ERF European (1975) thread, because it’s an ERF European! Robert
I know you said that -
However I am not trawling through 32 pages to find the posting - hence my asking you whether you could link to it.
Sorry, didn’t mean to sound brusque, Fryske, but I’d have to trawl through 32 pages to answer your question! Robert
Does anyone have any information on the tractor unit that ERF supplied to the Luxembourg nuclear power industry in 1970? IIRC, it had three steering axles and a crew cab based on the 5MW.
[zb]
anorak:
Does anyone have any information on the tractor unit that ERF supplied to the Luxembourg nuclear power industry in 1970? IIRC, it had three steering axles and a crew cab based on the 5MW.
In the Motor Transport-article on the other ERF-thread, a 5MW was photographed, but that was a tractor
for general haulage on international (Lux is not that big) routes.
I today overheard some input that both Gilbert Keulders of Visé/Herstal (B) and Frans Beiten of Maastricht (NL)
drove some 5MW ERF’s…for what it’s worth. Through G. Snel (who took over the Spa-business) I enquired if there
is some evidence…as they also acquired the fleet. No doubt to be continued if Egyptian head-masters allow…
‘Tranportes Delcon of Leuven, near Brussels, are currently operating a fleet of ten vehicles of which eight are ERF A-series tractive units with MW cabs, fitted with ■■■■■■■ 335 engine for 38-tons gross operation. The vehicles are travelling each week from Brussels to destinations such as Turin, Stockholm, East Berlin, Paris and to other major centres of France, Germany and Holland. The vehicle illustrated covers 2000 miles a week on two trips between Brussels and Turin. The ERF distributor in Belgium, ■■■■■■■ Distributor Belgium SA, is responsible for building these vehicles from knock-down kits in their Brussels factory. CDB also carry out full service facilities for the vehicles sold in Belgium.’
[quote="ERF-Continen
‘A ‘British’ ERF for Europe
ERF will have on show at Earls Court a truly British 38ton-gcw-tractive unit. The chassis is basically the latest A-series, but much detail effort has gone into making it suitable for Continental operation at 38 tons gcw.
The two-axle tractive unit (A84 GXB) uses, for the first time at this weight, the classic combination of Gardner engine, David Brown gearbox and Kirkstall axles. The front axle has a 6.5-tonne capacity and the rear D85-13-2 axle a capacity of 13.2 tonnes. This axle, which is of the much-favoured hub-reduction type, has a ratio of 5.04 to 1 and gives the vehicle a top speed of 58 mph. The Gardner 8LXB engine produces 240 bhp at 1850 rpm and 6951b ft at 1100 rpm and is matched to David Brown’s new heavy gearbox, the 8.750. This gearbox is an eight-speed range-change design and has an overdrive top gear. The clutch is a 14in-diameter LipeRailway twin-plate.
The cab is a Motor Panels product with a sleeper extension. This cab has a two-piece screen and is fitted with two-speed self-parking electric wipers and electric screenwashers. Instrumentation is fully metric and includes all normal equipment plus tachograph and radio.
Front brakes are 54in x 7in and rear brakes 15+in x 8in with cam actuation. Radial 12.00 x 20 tyres are fitted as standard. Fuel tank capacity is 80 gallons.
Side-member dimensions are 12+in x 3+in x ;gin and wheelbase is loft 2in. ZF power steering is fitted as standard.’
