TRUCKFES1 VETERANS
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British Bacon Supplies managing director, Alan Wheelwright, doesn't go to Truckfest. But he's more than happy for his drivers to go and enjoy themselves, and take their trucks with them; he reckons it's good for company morale.
"They're wagon-daft, so I throw some money in the kitty and they can go and have a good time," he says. They attend one or two other, smaller, events as well, especially if they're on a Bank Holiday".
The Huddersfield firm's trucks don't need too much preparation for their annual outing, he adds, because they're always kept clean and tidy That's something dictated, not just by British Bacon's involvement in the food industry, but by corporate pride. "If I spend .#280,((X) on a truck I don't expect the cab to end up looking like a mobile ashtray," he says. "After all, the trucks are all well-equipped. "I fit air horns, CBs, and alloy wheels."
The pride of the fleet is a 500hp Scania R143, supported by a brace of 360hp R113s. Scania 1)93s and 82s also figure at British Bacon.
"It's unlikely that I'd switch • .tway from Scanias because they're so reliable," he says. And I might acquire one of the new 4-Series next year, depending on the approach Scania takes to marketing and discounts?'
The trucks deliver pre-packed bacon to destinations ranging from supermarket regional distribution centres to high-street butchers, shops and cafes. It's too early to judge whether the beef scare will boost business, Wheelwright adds.
flaulier Arthur Wilson normally makes the annual pilgrimage from his base at Sandtoft, within sight of the M180 and a few miles from Scunthorpe, to "cruckfest at Peterborough. He loves displaying his smartly turned out trucks, and is more than willing to give the hordes of enthusiasts that attend the event the chance to examine them at close quarters.
"I feel really proud to have my motors there, with hundreds of people looking at them," he grins. And Truckfest also gives me the opportunity to mix with other hauliers and chat to them." This year he's also tempted by the attractions of Tipcon, which immediately precedes Truckfest.
Although he says he's not primarily at Truckfest to win a prize, he ensures that the three trucks he takes—"usually a new one, a newish one, and an old one"—can more than pass the toughest of inspections. While he's not prepared to take the chosen vehicles off the road for a week-long makeover, they get extraspecial attention every time they return to his depot in the two months before the big show.
Paintwork blemishes and any scratches or scrapes are dealt with, and the trucks are given an even more thorough clean than usual.
"The drivers are paid a bonus to keep both the exterior and the crib interiors looking spick and span," he explains. "And if anything our older motors look even better than our newer ones. Our oldest truck is 1987-vintage on a fl-plate. But if we put an N-plate on it, you wouldn't be able to tell what age it was," he reckons.
Trading as AE Wilson (Commercials), Wilson specialises in hauling roofing tiles all over Britain, and runs an all-Leyland Daf fleet. It consists of five eight-wheel Constructors using either Leyland's own TL11C engine at 260hp or a Rolls-Royce (now Perkins) Eagle at 300hp, and a six-wheel Constructor fitted with a Leyland T1.11B at 240hp.
They're supported by a Cruiser 4x2 tractor unit, also with a 260hp TL11C.
But the most unusual vehicles he operates are a trio of drawbar combinations. The first one to go into service was a Leyland Daf 75 Series six-wheel rigid married to a single-axle drawbar trailer grossing 35 tonnes. It will accommodate a total payload of just over 23 tonnes. Fitted with a 10-tonne axle, and weighing 1920kg, the 3.5-metre-long trailer will carry eight tonnes.
It was tax savings and payload advantages over a 30-tonne-gross eight-wheeler which originally prompted Wilson to invest in this unusual rig. But it has other advantages too.
A key one is flexibility. When times are tough in the construction trade, he can park the trailer up a corner and just use the unit. With a 4.8-metre wheelbase and a lifting back axle, the rigid has a tight turning circle, and that means easy manoeuvrability. That's a boon for sites where access is restricted.
All his trucks and trailers are fitted with flatbed bodies, and each combination is equipped with a grab. If the delivery site is really tight, Wilson's drawbar driver can uncouple the trailer; drive in; unload; drive out; switch the tiles from the trailer to the rigid; and go back in again to unload.
Powered by a Daf 300hp 8.6-litre engine, the 75 Series is equipped with a drive axle diff lock to help it escape if it encounters clinging construction industry mud. Wilson is so pleased with the combination's performance that he's acquired another one, which has replaced a six-wheel Constructor. He's also obtained an 85 Series 330hp rear-lift six-wheeler which will soon be hooked up to a tandem-axle drawbar trailer under construction in Wilson's own workshop. It will replace the Cruiser tractor and semi-trailer.
He's had the rigid for nine months, but hasn't put it on the road because he hasn't yet needed to. It was a cancelled order from another operator, and Leyland Daf approached him to see if he'd care to acquire it. "Let's just say I was offered a very good deal."
The 4.5-metre tandem-axle trailer will run on 17in wheels. Plated at 38 tonnes, the entire vehicle will carry over 25 tonnes; 15.5 tonnes on the truck, and the rest on the trailer, which weighs about 2.5 tonnes. The rig could be operated at 40 tonnes for a 27-tonne payload when there's a change in legislation.
"We've taken a long time to finish the trailer, partly because we've been taking on a lot more third-party workshop work," Wilson explains. "What's more, my son Mark does most of the trailer building work with me, and because a driver retired and we didn't replace him, he's been on the road a lot more, and hasn't had the time. As things stand, the axles are on blocks in the workshop, with the chassis laid on top."
The 85 Series is being finished in a different livery to the rest of the Wilson fleet. "The cab is white, chassis and wings are blue, and wheels and sun visor are red."
Wilson aims to have it on the road come 1 May—possibly earlier—and hopes to take it to Truck-test, but somehow doubts it will win a prize. "The judges don't seem to like rigids
much," he muses. -Maybe they take up too much room in the ring."
If it does make it to the East of England showground on 5-6 May, however, Wilson's drivers will have something to be particularly proud of this year. "And Truckfest is undoubtedly a morale-booster for them," he says.
Truckfest gives transport operators the chance to show people that haulage has a human face, says Wilson. "Our lads are quite willing to chat with Joe Public, and only too pleased to dispel any fears that trucks are all driven by ex-racing drivers," he says.
Wilson has been to almost every Truckfest held since the event started. "Mark would like to go to some of the others—the one at Shepton Mallet, for instance—but we don't ever have the time," he says.
It won't be ready in time for this year's event, but the 1997 event could see the AE Wilson team turning up with something particularly unusual.
It's a 1949 Ford Thames ET6 which he's in the process of restoring. In 1955 its original vee-eight petrol engine was exchanged for a Perkins P6 diesel. Wilson is also restoring a 1965 Thames Trader, and is the proud possessor of a 1947 Bentley Mk 6 and a 1932 Austin Seven.
He hopes the building industry will be showing a sustained recovery by the time this year's Truckfest rolls round. "Up until Christmas things weren't too bad at all, but February was the worst month I have known in 20 years," he says. "Work is getting a bit brisker now though," he adds.
Why the dedication to Leyland Daf?
"They're marvellous motors maybe no better than anybody else's, but I get fantastic back-up from the manufacturer," says Wilson. "Everybody from the chairman to the most junior salesman will bend over backwards to help you, and you don't get fobbed off."
Wilson's depot may have a resident ghost. During World War II Sandtoft was an RAF station used to train bomber crews, and was the scene of a number of accidents. Wilson and his wife have turned the old control tower into a pleasant family home adjacent to the yard, and his office is in the back garden. "A haulier friend of mine stayed the night recently, and swears he heard somebody talking into a radio microphone to a bomber pilot," says Wilson. "But I've never seen or heard anything, and I reckon he was dreaming."
I wouldn't be too sure about that...
by Steve Banner
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