A Bromillo Scammell Crusader, Foden Haulmaster, Mercedes LPS and Volvo F86 all doing Middle-East with what we retrospectively and armchair-condescendingly regard as absurd lorries to be doing the Middle-East run with. We serially rubbish the old âAncient Brits Head Eastâ units that decent hauliers and cowboys alike sent down there. But donât forget, chaps that many of them returned to do the same trip again. ERFâs in particular did well. Just sayinâ, like âŚcough 
Those Waugh Atkis had (some of 'em) a 240 Gardner 8LXB and Fuller 9-speed 'box FFS! I wouldnât quarrel with that 
Without doubt it was a good engine. Shame it came too late to compete.
ONL 482M 220 Cummins Fuller 9509 box Kirkstall D85 HR axle. Entered service as a long term demo with Waugh Transport Newcastle in Jan '74 was returned to Atkinsons sometime later that same year having been âBlackedâ by Waughâs shop steward because it didnât have power assited steering so the Pencil Necker Geordie Drivers found it difficult to drive "Oh Didums then " ! I bought it via a dealer friend of mine the late Malc Woodhouse Snr straight out of Atkinsons service depot at Club St Bamber Bridge. Gave us sterling service and it survived into preserversion as this shot was taken at the Leyland Museum Atkinson show in the early /mid 90âs. We never had to touch any part of the engine or drive train on this unit even after many thousands of miles with a lot of those miles on double shift working ! Top unit from a top manufacturer ! Cheers Bewick.
I can see nowt wrong this your argument. I prefer a Cummins. The 9-sp Fuller is the only 'box for me. I can do power-steering or not: I know the technique. I can even do a day-cab if Iâm home in time for supper! If itâs day-work, Iâd sooner drive your L-reg Atki than most of the crap we have on the road today. 
When you fellows mention Cummins, in respect of the '70s amd '80s, are you refering to the 504/555 VAL/VALE or the early 14 litre NH?
Without a doubt a marvelous 'box to use but I prefered the 13 overdrive, being able to split the top box on a gradual incline kept the motor on the boil, preserving revs and road speed.
The 18 speed really only has an advantage over the 13 operating at gtoss weights over 75 tonne, but Iâd rather have gears I donât need than need gears I donât have .
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@les_sylphides Those old motors would have been fairly new at the time obviously designed for an era when drivers used âdigsâ rather than sleeping in them even though many did.Probably like the âGold rushâ many years before they were probably tempted by big money but didnât know what they were getting into.Like you say Les quite a few did more than one trip with them. Hindsight is a great thing and we can all sit back smuggley saying what were they thinking.
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@star_down_under There were 205/220s in the early 70s then 240s 250s The 290s were the big cam . Bewick is more up on these but i think the 240 was non turbo the 250 was a turbo .Donât hold me to this but i think thatâs how it was
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At a guess Ro just maybe ( what might have been ? ) relatively, albeit long, but actually slow average speed ? journeys might not have been the same test or actually as hard on trucks as US and British type average speeds ?.
Which created the situation whereby an NA Gardner powered truck, among other unexpected machinery, could manage ME runs ok, but not 38t gross at constant 60-65 mph running speeds ?.
While the ability to handle the latter with ease made light work of ME work for turbo Cummins.Or turbo Detroit in the case of Fridericiâs KWâs for example ?.
As for Gardner the issue seems to have been just an engineering issue of ultimately its design and architecture couldnât/wouldnât ( reliably ) take it.Not couldnât be bothered or too pig headed to bolt a turbocharger or two and charge cooling to it.
Which leaves the question of the liking for RR by French operators in total contradiction with Bewick.How well liked/used was RR power on ME work ?.
SDU the Cummins 12 litre NH with about 205/220 bhp was the usual motor in the premium ERF, Atkinson ,Seddon, Guy etc then the 14 litre came along with around 250 bhp which same users started to use. The Vale engine tended to be used by the likes of Ford Dodge etc.
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Thanks for the reply. We tended to use the V8s (903 excepted ) in larger body trucks. They had a mixed reputation, some loved them, some cursed them, the VT190 was probably the pick of them.
The V and VT903 were not considered successful in USA, but were highly successful here.
Yeah âŚbut would you though ?
I think nostalgia is clouding your judgement tbh.
Ok I aint as old as you guys, but I did kinda come up through the ranks in terms of trucks I drove.
Tk.s,.Atki Borderer (first truck I bought that was old then) SedAtk 400_401. Mixture of Gardner and Cummins power .and a lot of others.
All good for their era,.although I found the Atki atrocious after coming off an F10 as an employed driver 
âŚbut it was cheap.
You can not describe modern trucks as âcrapâ by any stretch, (even if they are now laden with electronic dog sh for those who can not drive, ) but I can not think of anything worse than going back on an old style motorâŚeven the ones I liked at the time.
Trucks like cars have improved vastly over the yearsâŚnot so much the actual job.
A Cummins 290/350, a 9 speed Fuller, what more could a man want? I was well satisfied for many years with the combination. Keep the Cummins warm, up near the governor all the timeâŚhappy days.
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Thurrock? (They should have blown that up too!)
There was a small cam NTC 290 before the big cam NTE 290 
A good number of Rolls-powered Crusaders went down there. The army put Rolls in all itâs Crusaders and all its S26s even when the civilian S26s were fitted with Cummins.
EDIT to add that the S26 could be supplied as standard with either the 350 Rolls or the 350 Cummins but the Cummins 350 had much more useable torque.
Nowt wrong with a pair of rose-tinted specs on a Sunday afternoon with a decent pint of porter! 