Hope I’ve got this right, attempting to load picture direct from computer.
This 240 was the only Atkinson(Artic) based in Chippenham whilst I was there.
Hope Bubbs is okay with me mentioning it.
Jack Linford RiP. drove it regularly, with a 20ft. skeletal tanker with Bass beer, to Barcelona.
I can hear it now pulling up the yard, arriving back from Burton loaded.
Jimmy McCluskey got it after Jack and it continued to be used on continental.
Absolute flying machine.
Will try and contribute more if this works. Ed.
When the Redmonds from Seddons got their hands on Atkinson they must have thought they’d “swum the Channel”,but they and their Seddons were always classed,and were,inferior to the great Atkinson marque which must have rankled and they had no intention of developing Atkys any further and embarked on a steady run down of Atky as well as introducing the dreadful Group axle,which didn’t help the Atky marque one iota! While the Seddon 32/4 IMO was a reliable fleet tractor it couldn’t hold a candle to the fine Atkinsons built in Walton-Le-dale.So what happened,they finally closed W-le-D and lost all the attendant expertise,Oh and when they launched the Sed/Atk (using the Atky name to help promote the new motor) the chassis that were bulit in W-le-D were superior in quality to the supposed identical chassis built at Woodstock factory,Oldham.Only my opinion which will no doubt be challenged!! 
Cheers Bewick.
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Evening Gentlemen…and that is the truth, as in so many disasters in British Industry, it was not the product, just stupid, short sighted British management…oh and of vital importance in the total decline of “our” industrial base…the parasitic grasp of the institutional shareholder, more concerned with the short term gain per share, than the long term future of the company in which it held shares.
Classic example, Jaguar LandRover, where our Asian friends have left alone the lure of instant return, and left the money in, and re-invested…and look at the result!!
Nowt wrong with the product…just the direction that “management” took it!!
Cheerio for now.
And don’t mention British Leyland 
Saviem:
.the parasitic grasp of the institutional shareholder, more concerned with the short term gain per share, than the long term future of the company in which it held shares.
Cheerio for now.
It seems that this is a major factor in the decline of Atkinson and others. In the 1950s, while other companies were investing in dealer networks across Europe, the production capacity to supply an expanded customer base and accelerated product development, the GB firms did nothing. The owners’ dividend is the only other place the money could have gone.
I always thought this was a class B/W shot,taken one Sunday morning at the paper mill at Beetham,the photographer was Bill Inman one of the mill Directors.These were the first 3 brand new Atkinsons we bought and they were,all three,very impressive motors ! and they worked both extremely hard and reliably for Bewick Transport,they couldn’t be faulted 
Cheers Bewick.
Here’s a rare one… Atkinson Weightmaster - snapped last week.
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daibootsy:
Gwynnne Bowen, taken outside J&P Bevans, Atkinson Dealers Swansea.
Hi Dai,
Thanks for finding and posting all the historic photos.
I have probably seen them all on the road in their days – It is showing my age a bit Dai.
Have you still got the ERF - Ex Harold Read.----- I will probably see you in the Carmarthen Show in July.
Keep up posting the photos regards – Hywel –
This must be a mark 1
Brilliant thread Dennis, great pics, great comments and opinions and memories.
I never actually drove one but I’ve rode in a few, one question for you Dennis, when you first started buying swedes what was the drivers reaction? Did someone jump out of an Atki into an F88 ? I know you had at least one.
JFC999:
Brilliant thread Dennis, great pics, great comments and opinions and memories.
I never actually drove one but I’ve rode in a few, one question for you Dennis, when you first started buying swedes what was the drivers reaction? Did someone jump out of an Atki into an F88 ? I know you had at least one.
We ran 6 F88’s all together,3 on Bewick Transport and 3 on the K.Fell fleet,and while they were quite a spectacle,at that time, and were supposedly the “dogs” we allocated them to our senior drivers and didn’t have any problems viz-a-viz Swedes versus British built motors then,of course,we started buying Scania as well as ERF and Sed Atk sleeper cabs so they all blended in well.Cheers Dennis.