John Henderson,Biglorryblog's 'Man North o' the Border' and much-valued contributor says: "Hello Brian, Nice to see Oban Express getting a mention on BLB with their smart silver Mercedes. Here's a couple of my favourite anniversary motors from over the years. The first one will hopefully please Atki Pete, as it's W & J Riding of Preston's fine effort at celebrating The Queen's Silver Jubilee back in 1977. The picture was kindly sent to me in that auspicious year by Tom Riding, who was a dyed-in-the-wool Atkinson man and always omitted the 'Seddon' letters from his Sed-Atky products!" What a stonking picture John! I certainly remember the company and their penchant for (Seddon) Atkis like this original 400 series. Does the company still exist? If so I've not seen one of their trucks for ages. Who can tell me more? Bobby T? Now click through here for a more recent anniversary motor....
John goes on to say: "The second, more recent, shot is John Mitchell's flagship MAN tractor, which marked their 50th year in operation back in 2006. I believe that Corgi have just released a 1;50 scale model of this very prime mover coupled to one of the company's Feldbinder bulk tanks. Hope these are of interest, Cheers, John...." Great stuff JH and thanks!
Any more 'Anniversary Motors' out there guys? Tom C what have you got on your files?
Comments (6)
You may be pleased (but not surprised) to hear that Will Shiers is sitting on a T&D Classics story - soon to be used perhaps - on W&J Riding. The main man of course was Tom Riding (although the company was part of the Transport Development Group from 1970). Tom was given carte blanche to run the firm his own way (because he made money for TDG) but when he retired in 1995, everything changed. The identity was lost and the vehicles absorbed into TDG's Nexus Logistics. A sad loss although Tom is fine health and going strong - like his beloved old Atkys you could say.
Posted by Bob Tuck | October 11, 2008 5:51 PM
Posted on October 11, 2008 17:51
like the look of the riding,s atki.i think that they were absorbed into the tdg empire?i remember welsh operator john raymond painted one of his 400 series sed.atki's specially to commemorate the silver jubilee,wish i had a picture of it.
Posted by andrew cooper | October 12, 2008 6:54 PM
Posted on October 12, 2008 18:54
W & J Riding Limited was acquired by TDG in, I think, 1965.
However, as was the style of TDG in those days, the existing family management continued to run the business until Tom retired, when the dreaded juggler swept into town. I think I'm right in saying that Riding was the last TDG subsidiary to operate in this way.
Tom didn't just remove the Seddon part of any badging, but removed Seddon Atkinson badges and fixed new Atkinson letters as per the photo. Many of the fleet also had the "Big A" applied by the signwriter.
Posted by Chris Gardner | October 13, 2008 8:57 AM
Posted on October 13, 2008 08:57
Now that is a great photo John, Tom Riding was not alone in getting rid of the Seddon name. Atkinson sold a handful of the 400 series down here but they had a circle A on the grille and no Seddon badges. Not exactly sure why this was done but the company was in the process of being taken over by IH at the time. No disrepect to our Seddon fans, but the Atkinson brand had a better "image" down here.
Posted by Peter Lynch | October 13, 2008 11:41 PM
Posted on October 13, 2008 23:41
.sWhat a great photo John!!Come rain or shine,everytime i saw a Riding,s motor ,both Atkinson Borderers,then their Sed-Atkinson,s both 400,s+401,s,"you,s seen A TRUCK"!!Never once did i see a trailer not immaculately roped+sheeted,which spoke volumes for both the driver,s and Riding,s as a top-class company too.Remember the 401,s having their "Big A"badges having a circle painted round them too.red if i rember correctly.or onmost of the 401,s that saw antyway.But as i had to retire from my beloved "TRUCK-SPOTTING"day,s when "4-wheeler life began"in 98,for good,it,s often been something i,ve thought about ..WHO TOOK OVER RIDING,S,OR DID RIDING,S GET OUT OF THE GAME BEFORE MANY OF THE WELL-KNOWN COMPANIES "GO TO THE WALL"AS MANY DID THANK TO EUROPEAN ONSLAUGHT CAME ALONG,TO "PUT THE NAILS IN THE COFFIN"OF THE GREAT BRITISH TRANSPORT INDUSTRY?!!
Looking forward to any anorak,s opinions on these issues.
Posted by Andy Davis | October 16, 2008 9:57 AM
Posted on October 16, 2008 09:57
Will / Brian, Isent you a posting earlier this week to answer the above queries. why haven't you posted it.
Posted by Bob Tuck | October 16, 2008 5:50 PM
Posted on October 16, 2008 17:50