"G'day Brian," says Atki Pete who has sent me this shot after my post about 'alternative' cabs on Atkinson trucks... "There were a few other cabs fitted to Atkinson trucks." he adds, "The first one is the metal framed dump truck cab, not sure if any have survived in the UK but they were used on heavy haulage units out here. I think these were bought in rather than made by Atkinson. This photo is from the Atkinson in-house magazine." (Which I truist won't object to it appearing on Biglorryblog...
"The second one is the Atkinson 4870/International T line cab, a development of that fitted to the ACCO. Lance Hocking in Adelaide sent me this fine example. There were also variations of our RP plastic cab such as the one fitted to the DCA crash tenders see http://www.fire-engine-photos.com/picture/number5810.asp which Swishy found for me. They must have made their own cabs in Africa as well, not a lot of info on what Atkinson did down there, unless one of your readers can help. Cheers Pete."
Pete, I think that the steel dumper cab (also available as a half cab)was supplied by a company called Autolifts Limited, although the doors have a distinct Atkinson look to them around the door glass, don't they?
There were also a handful of heavy haulage tractors built with the full width version, oeprators including Graham Adams Limited of New Malden and Jos. Walsh of Darwen. (That's Darwen, not Darwin!)
I believe that there is at least one half-cab dumper still in existence in the U.K., but I haven't seen one of the full-width cabs for quite some time.
P.S. A quick google has revealed the full Sunday name of the company to have been Autolifts and Engineering Co. Ltd., and they were based in Blackburn.
Since Blackburn (just 10 miles from the Atkinson factory at Walton-le-Dale) was also home to that well known vehicle converter, The Primrose Third Axle Company" (it does what it says on the tin!), I wonder if there was any link.
P.S. A quick google has revealed the full Sunday name of the company to have been Autolifts and Engineering Co. Ltd., and they were based in Blackburn.
Since Blackburn (just 10 miles from the Atkinson factory at Walton-le-Dale) was also home to that well known vehicle converter, The Primrose Third Axle Company" (it does what it says on the tin!), I wonder if there was any link.
Thanks for the info Chris, just wondering if this cab was also used on the Foden dumpers. One of your local lads might remember more about the company.