a fairground life

Jan 1987.
We were wintered at Bridgeton.Opposite the yard was an old dis-used building. It was about 70ft (22m) wide, 300ft (100m) long and high enough to get a lorry inside. Another showman had taken let of it to build a new bottom for his Dodgems ride inside. For some reason my father had taken a notion to start doing up the engines in his lorries. They were all 6 cylinder Gardeners. The first two were done the year before, both were Atkinsons with Gardener 180 (6LXB) engines. Did they go any better for it? I didn't notice any speed increase. Any how it was the turn of the Paratrooper lorry, an 1965 ERF with a Gardener 150 (6LX). We took the lorry inside and began to strip the engine. The building had no lighting inside or windows. It was so dark inside that the only pockets of light were from lights beside where people were working. There were several dotted about. We had a couple of halogens on trailing cables that we moved about with us like hand held torches. We had to lay under the engine to drop the sump and change the main bearings.The concrete floor was like ice, it chilled you to the bone.The floor was greasy and the whole place was damp and smelly. We de coked the engine, glaze busted the cylinder walls, new fuel injectors, gaskets, piston rings, big end shells. After about a week the lorry came out job done. Then we were all in bed with the flu (I had contracted jaundice also). Several more showmen were ill that month too. All had been in that building working, I'm convinced it was the cause.
Feb 1987
We start out early compared to most and were heading for Mayfield near Edinburgh. On the M8 near Shotts the lorry started to knock. It got worse very quickly and eventually my father had no option but to pull over on the hard shoulder. With no hesitation he and "b" drained the engine oil and dropped the sump to see what was a matter. One of the big ends had began to knock. They dropped it and found that the top shell had rolled around over the bottom one and both had ended up under the crank shaft. This probably happened when it was being built up again by us, but we had not noticed.When we put the big end on again and tightened the bolts, we had clamped both shells together on the bottom of the crank shaft instead of around it. So they rolled one shell to the top and tightened everything up again. My father had came out from under the lorry while "b" was under putting all the sump bolts in again. At that the police had stopped to see what was the problem. My father gave some excuse and said he would be going again shortly (this was all on the hard shoulder of the M8). I couldn't believe it, if the copper had looked under the lorry he would have seen "b" tightening up the sump!!! Any how after a short while the lorry was started again and we set off. A bit further along the motorway and we pulled into Harthill services.The lorry was still knocking and to try and minimise any further damage to the crankshaft we decided to tow it to Mayfield.
Uncle "j" came back from Mayfield with our we Foden( taken in earlier with the first trip). They towed the Paratrooper lorry with the wagon on the back from Harthill to Mayfield. The next day we built the ride up. Then we started on the engine. Sump down again. It was decided that the crankshaft was knackered and we needed another. My father and uncle "j" went off in search and luckily found one at the bus garage near Portobello (buses all used Gardener engines at the time). The head mechanic in there said we would have to take the whole engine out to change the crank shaft. Aye, that will be right!, we will be changing it in! That's impossible! he said.
Mayfield is on a hill, it is windy and cold, especially in February.This year was no exception and we even had an inch of snow for good measure. My brother had just returned from a holiday in Teneriffe, he was tanned and frozen to the bone as he felt the cold more.For the next week, working about 5 hours per afternoon, we worked on the engine. We started to remove the main bearing and big end caps. We took off the radiator and exhaust systems.We removed the gearbox,clutch & pressure plate and flywheel, we removed the front and rear engine mounts.By now the engine was sitting on three bottle jacks.We removed the cylinder heads so we could extract the pistons and con rods to create space above the crank shaft.Then we raised the engine up into the cab a few inches to create space between the crank shaft and front axle. Eventually four of us juggled and twisted it out of the engine,over the axles and out from under the lorry. Then we had to do it all in reverse again to fit the new one. We had did the impossible, but to be honest, every connection between lorry and engine had been removed, the lorry was just like a cover around the engine. My father did take great pleasure in telling the mechanic that we had done it though. The lorry went fine after that until a few years later, while I was driving it, a con rod went through the side of the crankcase...oops. So the moral of the story must be DONT FIX WHAT AINT BROKE!
The Gardener engines are 99% gone now, replaced by the mighty Cummins. I asked my dad once, what's the difference between a Gardener and a Cummins? He replied, by the time the Gardener decides if it is going to get up and go, the Cummins has already got up and went! Having driven both, the real difference is about 20 mph on any hill or 2.5 hours from Sauchie to Stranraer!