a fairground life(out with the old)
Well it finally happened. I must admit after worrying about it, it was not as hard as I thought. I suppose the preparation I did over the last few weeks eased the job. But I still feel in limbo, stuck between two places, two lives. No more excuses, well not for me anyway, but my wife is still not making the move. Oh, sorry didn't I tell you? We have sold the "wagon", gone to a young English Showman and hid wife. It has gone as far away as you can get without crossing the channel. He drove for 12 hours to arrive here on Tuesday afternoon. I showed him around the wagon, explained as much as I could then we put the pullouts in, coupled it to his lorry and he drove it away. I led him out of the city and I did feel a little sad as it passed by me, sun glinting off the panels it did look well. I suppose that's not a bad last memory of it. The next morning he called to say he had arrived safely back after another 12 hours driving. I asked him if he had any punctures and he replied "none". I said, "Told you!". So now I have a house and a Hobby. We are off to Cumbria this weekend so no sense moving in the house, right?Then off to Stranraer for three weeks so no point then either, right? Perhaps there are still a few Excuses after all.
The picture is the wagon just prior to departure and the digi clip is Blair on Saturday night when the crowds disappeared to watch the fireworks.
posted by showman @ 15:49
18 Comments
18 Comments:
Hi S
Hope you and the family are well
Just read your article about you selling your "wagon"
What kind of weight is in a van of that size and I assume that underneath its similar running gear to a normal drag trailer i.e being fitted with type 21 chambers etc ?
I guess a "wagon" is MOT excempt but still eligible to pick up a PG9 ?
Out of curiousity, what did you use as a prime mover to tow your wagon as I'm guessing a unit even with a pin hitch would'nt be the most stable combination ?
As you've previously mentioned, since those lovely chaps in europe (bless them) mucked about with our licencing laws, regardless of towing with a rigid you now still need a class one (if licence gained after 1997) if the train weight is over 8.25 tons so I guess that's why more and more are going for semi trailer "wagons". More space and far easier to handle albeit its another tractor unit or journey.
On a positive note. Your going to get a much better MPG with your smaller ABI van that you'd ever get with the larger trailer
Regards SS
Hi blakey here.Sorry not been on lately,but been a bit busy being pulled in and out of fields by tractors and washing mud of everything after every event.Fear not though i will leave the hard luck stories to showman.
Showman was asked some time ago to name the best lorries,and desided to bow to my better knowledge,and pasted the buck to me.I will therefore attempt to count down the different types of lorry i have driven.This will be based on driving as i dont claim to be a mechanic.I will start at number ten in the hope that i can think of ten different types of lorry that i have driven otherwise there wont be a number one.
At ten and definetly the worst lorries to drive[even worse than twin splitters]are scania's. Now i admit they are fine lorries with a good rep,and are great puller's,but they are pish to drive.Firstly every scania i have driven have a strange aversion to dropping in to low box when aproaching roundabout's. They also still used the old tacho behind the speedo right up to the digi version,everyone else changed to cassette type years ago.Less tempramental.The steering wheel in a scania is roughly the size of the millenium wheel.Why when they have power steering.It,s pointless. On a personal note i have a sat nav,which sticks to the windsreen like all sat navs.The windscreen on a scania is that far away from you that i can only reach in no more.Once you do get it in place you need binocular's to follow the directions.
Despite all that i still havent got to the worst scania i have driven.This was an 06 effort that had a high and low box,but only had 3 gears in each range.Nothing too wrong with that,but they put first gear where second goes,second where third goes,and third were fourth normaly goes.They then did the same in high range with 4th 5th and 6th gears. What is the point of that.
To sum up scania's are pish,and i hate them.
DI DI DI DI DI DI DA DA DA DA.At nine any ERF or Daf with a twin splitter.Dont know if they put this useless and pointless gearbox in any other lorries,but these are the only one's i have come across. If they were in any other's then they were pish too,and i dont care how good the rest of the lorry was.
That's it for today will continue the rest of the count down soon.Hope i have'nt upset anyone so far but i doubt it.
hi,
I reckon the wagon was 11-12 ton when loaded with all our possesions and around 9-10 empty. The axles were only 6 stud light truck type on 17.5 x 9.5 tyres.Those tyres were hard to come by so if I were to keep it I would have changed to 8.5 x 17.5. The brake chambers looked smaller then usual, that said the brakes were quiet good and the emergency worked fine. It was mot excempt but my father had to take his through a test station at St Boswells to get a prohibition notice lifted after the wheel tappers had found brake faults on it. I have towed it with many lorries 8,6 and 4 wheel rigids to 2 and 3 axle units. You had to take your time cornering when using a unit with pin! I usually used the show lorry to move it, a 6 wheel rigid erf c series with a 10 litre 250 cummins. it sat at 50mph no problem and I never ever had any tyre problems on either lorry or wagon.
Thanks S
Blakey
I assume you're having a laugh and are at the wind up ref having a go at God's own choice of lorries and Eaton twin splitter boxes which by the by, were also the preferred box of both Man and Iveco LOL
Rds SS
Hi Showman, Blakey @ SS
Fear Blakey you've opened up a can of worms on this one.
When it comes to bad lorries you could probably write a book and the Swedish models don't even get anywhere near worst lorry category.
I've tears in my eyes just thinking of the following list. The real superstars of bad lorries where steering and brakes were optional extras LOL
Seddon Atkinson 400 / 401
Guy Big J 4
Bedford TK & TM
Leyland endless list including Buffalo, Bison, and the skyscraper Marathon
AEC
Albion Clydesdale.
ETC ETC ETC
Showman
First time I've written. Great blog very enjoyable and informative and I especially enjoy reading Blakeys impute. You guys are obviously the best of pals. Keep up the good work
What about the big story you were going to tell us after last Tuesday ?
good day showman hows things, the best lorries going about as in old school i would think they are fodens. i no people wont agree but in my eye they were popular in the show life and still will be. anyhow hows things so whens the house warming lol. where in cumbria u off to. cheers hope all well borderer.
the big story was the wagon finally being sold as it went away on tuesday.
I had a "B" reg seddon atki 401 on the skydiver for 6 years. It was good to drive with its eaton change.I put a new clutch in it but it was never really right after that (see cyprus adventure on triond site) sadly the cab started to fall off it and eventually the electrics went as it started itself up one winter!!! the big cam 290 cummins fetched £600 at the breakers in 2001. after chaning from that old 1965 erf with 180 gardener in it the atkinson was like a space ship!
my father had an aec (1970-75 I would guess) he told me it would blow a head gasket nearly every journey. once the piston liner split the block. he put in a new liner and held it in place with cement poured in around it! he said it ran for another 2 years like that. my only memory of this lorry is at alloa when I was about 3 or 4 years old. I painted the wheels red gloss, well he should'nt have left the paint brush in the tin next to the lorry.
The infamous Seddon 400 series. I’d love to have seen their sales catalogue
MPG 6, (on a good day)
Water leaks standard,
Environmental, no issues it’s fitted with a bio degradable cab
Rust. Iron oxide is supplied as standard straight from the factory
Gym fitted as standard due to gear change being fitted arse for elbow
Turning circle: similar to that of a super tanker approx 3 miles
Energy saving features: cab heater designed only to work during the summer months
Brakes: Manufacturer advises that the driver ensures trailer brakes are working and that he knows the lords pray.
Safety features. Cold warning devise fitted, the windows freeze on the inside in case you didn’t realise it was cold.
Onion or a potato should be carried at all times as the wiper mechanism is designed to breakdown on a weekly basis.
Ah happy days
Regards
SS
Ok ss you've rumbled me.Iam at the wind up[sort of] when it comes to twin splitter's. It's a bit of a sore point with showman.He once lost it completely and told me to f off when i was taking the p out of his erf. Think it's his achiles heel.
If by gods own choice of lorry you mean scania then i confess they use to be my fav lorry to look at etc. Then i started to drive them and i really dont like them. I did however drive a couple of old e reg scania's for a local haulier,and they were much better than the newer one's.The reverse is normally true lorries like cars have improved over the years,but i preffered older scania's. The two i'm reffering to went like the clappers[what do clappers go like]and you got a real grunt from them unlike new lorries.I will regail [need to stop using fancy word's r read this]you all with the story of fatso's b series erf later in the countdown.Now that lorry could grunt.
By the way ss i normally do the funnies on this blog,but have to admit i had a good laugh at your last post.
Note to showman did you see the bit about my impute,and have you noticed how the comments have increased tenfold since i stepped in to liven things up again.Good job i'm not the type to say i told you so.PS Anyone out there who whant's to comment or join in debates please do so.After all the comments bit is far better than the drivel showman writes.
last comment had me in stitches ss was a good read.
Thanks R
Some day I'll do a similar catalogue for the Marathon and the Bedford TK. If you thought I was joking with the Seddon you ain't seen nothing yet.
Everytime we got one in for service the job card simply read
"Jack up number plates and fit new vehicle"
Blakey
The reason you no longer get the grunt is the Euro spec means that both decibels & emissions need to meet stringent criteria.
During the summer we put on another two new 13 litre 440 BHP with R-S 12 + 2 transmissions. @ 44tons they are doing 9.5 MPG and the drivers love them. Trust me to date there has never been a better vehicle and to top it all, at the end of three years those very nice Swedish people actually want to buy the trucks back.
Rds SS
At number 8 in our best lorry countdown is iveco.First one i drove was an automatic that had a foldaway gearstick you could use if you wanted to.Needless to say it stayed folded whenever i drove one.The newer version has an unusual way of choosing auto. So unusual in fact that i cant remember how it works as i only drove one once about a year ago.
The rigid version of iveco's has the worst gearshift of any modern lorry.It like trying to change through a bag of hammers.Most rigid lorries have a straight six spead box [volvo,daf ,iveco,merc etc,but any scania rigid i've driven have the same four high four low as the units].This is getting very informative isnt it.
Now i did start this countdown by saying i would base it purely on the driving rather than the mechanics,but i do have a couple of stories about iveco's.
Firstly i was driving for a local contractor and old a who is a hgv mechanic was second man.Anyway we pulled in to a yard to do a delivery when we spot an iveco with a lovely paint job with caracters from horror movies on it.Straight away old a said what an fn waste of a paint job.He then spent the next ten minutes telling me how crap iveco's where.
Five years later i'm driving an iveco stralis up the hill at the start of the m77 in the middle lane passing a small lorry when i hear a dull thud, i start to lose power, and look in my mirror and see a large cloud of white smoke.The turbos gone.I phone the depot ,and a mechanic arrives 2 hours later. Tell him i think the turbos blown.He lifts the cab say yes turbos blown they go on these at about 800,000 miles.I Jump in the cab,check the speedo,819,000 miles.He was'nt far out .He then proceeded [sorry r another big word] to tell me how crap iveco's where.
I personally find iveco's ok to drive, but they obviously dont have a very good rep'and they get a low rating mainly because of the rigids. Well in the best tradition of good writing i will leave it there with you all dying to know whats at number 7. Take note showman a bit of suspence to keep them interested.
ps i'am reliably informed that showman has found an internet cafe in deepest darkest cumria and has threatened to post something tomorrow.Bet he does'nt even buy a cup of tea'and just steals their internet like he does with me.
dont know about the truck side of things blakey but i swear by my iveco van (regularly). Its been a good buy apart from the electrics which seem to have been assembled by someone with a very passing interest in how elastic tricity actually works, dodgy heater,temp guages fuel guages etc etc, however it starts when told and runs fine, my only truck was a ford cargo 7.5 which when you jumped out and shut the door half the cab fell out underneath, finding rev was a trick that involved half lifting the clutch and fishing about, was glad when i sold that one.
Dont know about iveco van,but couple of pals got them and they been ok.Had cargo myself went like a bomb,but like you say i could'nt keep the cab on it.Had it eleven year though,and it was nineteen year old when we gave it to a friend.He was still running it up to a year ago.
some of the comments left are longer than the story you posted,
all your fans use this as there own meeting place..
good job on selling the waggon''
Great Blog. Any chance you could put some images and information up which might be of interest to primary school kids? I train primary teachers in Design & Technology and one of the units which Year 6 pupils study is fairgrounds. They have to make simple model fairground rides with little electric motors.
Maybe you know of some other Blogs or information sites which might be useful for teachers and/or kids.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home