oiltreader:
grumpy old man:
The American drawbar outfits, why do they have such a long drawbar? I remember our drawbars and they only seemed to be half as long as the Americans.Hi g o m, the long drawbar on tippers is to allow jackknife tipping, I posted some pics a time ago, anyway here’s the action
youtu.be/L6vduck6FjY
Cheers
Oily
Thanks. Hmn, I’ve not seen that before, I reckon I might have to practice for a day or three to get that right. 
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.
Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Greetings,All.
Ref. the Post Office van.They had a little side valve engine and IIRC,the front mudguards were made of rubber.There were many of them about when I was a boy. 
Regards,900x20.
oiltreader:
grumpy old man:
The American drawbar outfits, why do they have such a long drawbar? I remember our drawbars and they only seemed to be half as long as the Americans.Hi g o m, the long drawbar on tippers is to allow jackknife tipping, I posted some pics a time ago, anyway here’s the action
youtu.be/L6vduck6FjY
Cheers
Oily
Didn,t look like the tyres on that truck would pass an m.o.t.
regards dave.
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Yes nice to see the little ones restored,brings back some memories,and as 900x20 has mentioned some had rubber mudguards that use to sag with age.Thanks CWM.
The Post Office used to order Morris 1000 vans with rubber front wings, too.
The old chap’s firm used one similar to the telephone van as a works runabout (Series E, I believe?) in a fetching light green with yellow wings.
The Royal Mail and Post Office telephones were basically the same company and ordered hundreds of vans at a time to their peculiar specifications either in red for mail delivery or green with ladder racks etc for telephone engineering staff.
Cheers Leyland 600.
Hi Oily, I was talking to a Maori driver with a long drawbar outfit near Taupo in NZ back in 2007 and asked why they had such long drawbars, this guy reckoned that he could jacknife the outfit and remove the trailer tailboard catch without getting out of the cab. On seeing your attached video clip I believe him !! However I think he probably had an remote controlled tailboard catch by then.
Cheers Leyland 600.
Leyland600:
Hi Oily, I was talking to a Maori driver with a long drawbar outfit near Taupo in NZ back in 2007 and asked why they had such long drawbars, this guy reckoned that he could jacknife the outfit and remove the trailer tailboard catch without getting out of the cab. On seeing your attached video clip I believe him !! However I think he probably had an remote controlled tailboard catch by then.Cheers Leyland 600.
I drove a wagon and drag late 1960s until 1975. The problem was the short length of the “A” bar and made them hard to reverse. We had to uncouple trailer and couple up to the prime mover (cab) and push the trailer to loading bays. If we had longer “A” bars would be easier to reverse but less payload because of restrictions on length of vehicle in the UK.
thelongdrag:
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Yes nice to see the little ones restored,brings back some memories,and as 900x20 has mentioned some had rubber mudguards that use to sag with age.Thanks CWM.
Aye some of the wings were painted black that cracked over the years IIRC.
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Cheers for the pic cwm, I remember them… what about the cute brass door handles. Yes they had a shortish ladder which got the engineer up to the foot brackets on the telegraph poles. Telegraph poles takes me back to my schooldays and the mile walk to school when ease of boredom went hand in glove with devilment and the odd stone being chucked at the ceramic cups that the wire went round and through, less vandalistic was bursting the tar bubbles that oozed out of the poles on a hot summers day, the tarry fingers had to be scrubbed with paraffin, yes this was before electricity came to our village and ration books were the order of the day, there’s more but I better stop
Oily
I watched a programme the other night BBC2 about the very successful German car industry, which of course took in the BMW Mini at Cowley. Comparisons were made regarding working practices, quality and management etc . Archive footage went back to the 50s through to the present setup at Cowley and the demise of Longbridge and Cowley car making seem to be on the cards from the time the Mini was introduced 1957ish with the coffin(made by (BMC) being thoroughly screwed together a few years later by British Leyland, which takes me to the lorry part, Leyland and AEC brilliant apart, together a disaster. Some really informative stuff here aronline.co.uk/blogs/facts-a … thon-task/
and a video as well youtube.com/watch?feature=pl … 59HyjNDqW8
Cheers
Oily
Thornycroft 1916
Lacre 3 wheeled road sweeper 1938
The brush is shaft driven, rear wheel chain driven
Info if you can read it
Saw these at the East Anglian Transport Museum
Ade
Nice ones lurpak cheers the SP reg on the Lacre is Scottish and I’m thinking Fife but mebbe not. 
just magnified and read the Lacre info good guess.
Oily
some from Dingwall
The Lacre was with the Borough of Dunfermline according to its makers plate. Eddie
I like the Thorneycroft, Ade. Proper vehicle engineering.
And the Lacre brought back memories of seeing them at work. I think they were originally manufactured just to the West of Covent Garden in London but, a bit like Vauxhalls, had to move out of town in order to expand their operations. Also, of course, because land was cheaper in the sticks.
Anyway, how come you’ve got time to wander around museums when there are loads of caravans to pick up?
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Lovely - I think it’s a Morris 8 Series E? The old man had a 1947 saloon in 1963, second car - rebuilt the engine in the kitchen one winter was it 848cc? Had it running like a sewing machine.
6 legs (ERF) had a drawbar with a steering front axle - pig to reverse if you weren’t used to it - they would also attach it to the front of 6 legs to manouvre her round the yard
Gardner 120:
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
Lovely - I think it’s a Morris 8 Series E? The old man had a 1947 saloon in 1963, second car - rebuilt the engine in the kitchen one winter was it 848cc? Had it running like a sewing machine.
6 legs (ERF) had a drawbar with a steering front axle - pig to reverse if you weren’t used to it - they would also attach it to the front of 6 legs to manouvre her round the yard
Based on the series E saloon, the van version was a series Z.
Bernard
cattle wagon man:
These Morris Post Office Telephone service vans were a common sight many years ago, - before the B.T. fiasco.
This example has been renovated, and carries a replica assortment of the equipment carried , - complete with ladders on the roof.Photographed on A 6 , Shap Summit , a couple of years ago.
Cheers , cattle wagon man.
My brother RIP bought two of these ex post office vans,if one broke down he used to swap number plates and tax disc on to the (spare)and use that till he fixed the other 
