aec.middx.net/frames/framephotos1.htm
Does anyone remember the huge fleet of ancient red AEC tippers that worked on the construction of the M25 in the 1980's?
I used to see them working everyday and it always facinated me how they kept going judging by the heavy punishment they used to take.
Anyway I came across this excellent site, and thought some of the pictures might be of interest to some.
(scroll halfway down the page and click on the mammoth major motorway tippers link)
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That was interesting CB, thanks for the link.
I'd quite forgotten, i did a few months back in the early 80's (just been laid off IIRC and this did me a favour till i could get another proper road haulage job) driving off road tippers building the A45 dual carriageway 'tween Northampton and Rushden.
I'd done a lot of tipper work before so slotted in nicely there, long hours to earn a crust but a good bunch of hard swearing lads to work with especially the Irish boys.
Using virtually new Foden haulmaster tippers, either earth shifting or sub base for underlay. The work was very hard on the motors and they stood up well to it, some of the lads managed to twist a few props up, but i don't remember much else breaking.
Needed good old fashioned diesels for that work, capable of reserve torque down to stall revs, can't imagine many of the newer road designed trucks able to do it anymore.
When i see road construction tippers these days they are usually Volvo or Caterpiller off road dumpers, presumably fitted with torque converter auto's.
Makes you think though, those old AEC's must have been at least 20 years old when used in these pictures.
Mechanics working on them in the most appalling conditions, lying in mud much of the time.
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Hey GB ! How's it going ? Was down your way only yesterday. Well, Market Harborough anyway....
Major thead drift mods, sorry !
Still managing to shift a few of the remaining cars being sold ?
You know what ? If you were to believe the media you would not only be contemplating suicide but already trying to decide the method !
The reality is that it is tough. Those of us who decide our own wages are having to make cuts. However, there is still business to be done.
Hope you and yours are OK ? Did your son get sorted ?
Gouing to be penalised shortly I expect. Whoops ! If you prefer, email me through the mods. They are OK really !!!!
:-0
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The most powerful 8x4 32 tonner I've seen on the roads at the mo is 440bhp, a Volvo FM, which I believe is the same spec as Sainsbury's current fleet of arctics.
What sort of revs are we talking about?
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' Sainsbury's current fleet of arctics.'
Would they be freezer trucks? :)
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' Sainsbury's current fleet of arctics.' Would they be freezer trucks? :)
I've mainly seen these on the M3, so I assume it's from the Basingstoke RDC.
Even their 17t rigids are rediculously powerful @ 310bhp!!!
Edited by frazerjp on 10/04/2009 at 18:44
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, long hours to earn a crust but a good bunch of hard swearing lads to work with especially the Irish boys.
Sir Bob Geldof was one such navvie working on the M25 construction..
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I was driving for a living around that area,at that time, but trucks not being my thing, i would have to say that i did not particularly remember them - until i looked at the pics. Those "extra height" boards along the top brought a few memories back. Were their drivers on piece work ? as there seemed to be a competition as to who could load their truck up the highest, and they seemed to be going round the clock, (i did shift work back then)
I remember all our drivers looking forward to completion, but the main talking point was that it was going to be way too small for all the traffic that would want to use it, which of course turned out to be true.
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good post gb and i agree
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Mention of the extra height boards brought back a name for them I hadn't heard before.
A member of our bike club, who sadly died about a month ago, was talking about trailers and referred to the extensions as as 'Greedy boards'....quite apt, I thought.
Ted
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Cheers BB, we could almost have an old (rosy coloured specs) school waffle society here, any ideas for proposals of secretary?
Greedy boards Ted, used to carry them on the tipper trailers and put them up for barley, leather shavings and coalite.... memory lane tonight...
Humph,
thanks for the thoughts, good here hope the HB household is good too...in MarHarb ourselves Monday, we'll have to arrange a coffee somewhere sometime...wasn't there a song by PJ Proby along those lines..;)
Cars (small) are still shifting, but the job's changing dramatically, we'll be having major cost (including salary..forced...boo hoo) cuts too by the look of it, like most of the non public sector i should imagine.
The lads sorted fingers crossed, he's been head hunted by a good small company and things are looking up for him, so thats all good in these bad times, it pays to be conscientious and reliable, maybe some good may come out of these days.
Mods, if the message to Humph is too off topic/personal would you mind passing on, or delete it and i'll resend to you for onward....thanks and apologies as well..
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A bit of a trip...
I don't remember those trucks as I was 7 in 1983 when construction started on the M25 1 mile from where I lived. But thanks to OP I've been on a brief but fascinating journey on one very poorly designed but interesting little site www.iht.org/motorway/m25stats.htm which is worth a look.
My interest is prompted by vivid memories of vast, empty, grass-covered chalk cut-outs with a busy bridge overhead. In my child's brain I couldn't understand why, for so long (2 years) this road-ready trough seemed deserted when, with just a little work (surfacing) would make more sense. (Of course the M25 was built in sections over a 10 year period so it was understandable that sections would need to be left fallow unsurfaced until it was linked with the operating stretches.)
So my parents took me on a very long walk along what is now one of the busiest junctions on the M25. I remember being particularly underwhelmed at the time and when the junction opened, in 1985, everything slotted into place in my by now 10 year old brain. At last!
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Nostalgia ain't what it used to be! - what happened to all those old truck manufacturers? (I know really!) Where are those AEC, Albion, ERF, Foden, Guy (the ones with the Indian's head), Thorneycroft, Seddon, Atkinson, Scammell and those lovely screaming 2-stroke Commers?
www.feweatherill.com/engine/ROOTES_ENGINE.htm
ccmv.fotopic.net/p26610958.html
"memory lane tonight" of hitch-hiking in the '60s!
GB,
"salary cuts" - yep, that's happened to us already as platers, but still seem pretty busy and I enjoy it - had a lovely Maserati Quattroporte and a Bentley Continental GT Mulliner last week (oh and a battered old Transit!!) to deliver. But lots more smaller and secondhand stuff at the mo. Big main dealers seem to be suffering but smaller dealers keep saying "if I could get the right stock I could sell it - getting the stock is the difficult bit"
Sounds like you are based in same area as me - E Midlands. Which company do you drive for ? Might see you around some time - I'd love a contact that made it easier to get to Thurliegh, Long Marston, Long Bennington, Bruntingthorpe etc!!.
Phil
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Thanks, Craneboy, for taking away an hour of my 'valuable' time (Good Friday doesn't exist in France). ;-)
ccmv.fotopic.net/ is another excellent time-waster. I bet I'm the only reader who has ever put a comment about the Rutland on there...
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Which companydo you drive for ? Might see you around some time -
Don't think i'd better divulge too much in the present climate..;)
We've no doubt passed like ships in the night unaware except for a nod or howdyoudo at one of those places, however you've probably cursed me (foot sore and fed up) as we are forbidden to give lifts on pain of goodbye...and you'd be surprised or maybe not just how many spies/brown nosers are about.
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Back in the 60s we used to drive from the West of London to Lancashire to see my grandparents. My dad's route took us through Southall, right past the magnificent AEC factory.
I remember the vehicles lined up in front of the factory, probably chassis rather than complete trucks, with that wonderful radiator.
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"probably cursed me (foot sore and fed up) as we are forbidden to give lifts on pain of goodbye"
Doubt I have cursed you - seems to be the rule these days and most transporter drivers give a shrug and "palms-up" signal that they can't give lifts. A friendly wave of acknowledgement maintains good relations! - And we have the same rule, and yes there are a lot of "spies/brown nosers" about!!
Good luck
Phil
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Don't remember the tippers but I do remember the AEC railcars in cream and chocolate GWR livery that used to be used in local services in the West country (for example between Bath and Bristol stopping at Keynsham, Mangotsfield and other places not normally stopped at) in the forties and fifties.
Went in them a few times as a nipper. We called them 'motor trains'.
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Ah yes, the 'flying bananas' amongst other names:-
www.greatwestern.org.uk/aec1.htm
Apologies for thread drift.
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There goes a chunk of my day dipping into photos of trucks.
In 1984, living near Ilkley, having my office in Mansfield and covering an area that went from Leicester to Thurso, I was required to attend a sales meeting every second month in Sunbury on Thames. The route changed nearly every time I went. I remember picking my way across country from the M1 to find a bit of M25 that would be useful, referring to post-its scattered like confetti on the dash. I could have done with satnav and a mobile phone to help but instead relied on gossip and having a coffee with a colleague who did the trip from Mansfield to Sunbury weekly. To start with I did my huge annual mileage in a powder-blue Cavalier estate B74 WUW. Never really forgave my Australian colleague Dick, responsible for the rest of the UK, who arrived at the car pool in Sunbury minutes before me and claimed B72 WUW (I think) which was white, had leather seats and tinted windows.
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Thanks for that...
Scammell, Foden, AEC, I love 'em!
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Question: none of them seemed to have number plates.
How did they get to the M25 site? Were they driven on a transporter or what?
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Taking about AECs. Does anyone remember the Albion R229s with the AEC 505 engines? They were built in the late 60's for a special order for Ready Mixed Concrete and had LAD cabs fitted plus front mounted pumps, hence the bulbous grilles.
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