Ron Johl returns to say: "Hello Brian, the last of 'Watfords Finest' heavy-haulage Scammells the "Evening Star" S26 50-40.Built early 1988 and registered 1/8/88.When fully ballasted the tractor's gross weight is 49-Ton or it could be used as an artic."
"The engine is a Cummins 400-HP 14LT NTE driven through a ZF WSK400 torque-converter to a ZF 16-speed ecosplit gear box the vehicle is owned by Gary and Maggie Grysa the pics were taken at the Bed's Rally 09." Now click through here for more and a REAL pie quiz!
Ron adds: "The name "Evening Star" was chosen through a competition held by Commercial Motor ,the vehicle share's it's name with the last steam-locomotive ever built in England the 9F 2-10-0 for heavy freight haulage---all the best, Ron."
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And the pie quiz. Well it started me thinking what were the names that were ultimately rejected or were at least runners up? Does anyone know?
Sounds like the kind of thing Bob Tuck would know....or maybe a former employee of Econofreight?
Great stuff Ron and thanks...
Great to see this S26. No idea what names were not used in the competition but I just wanted to tell all what a great pair of folk Gary & Maggie Grysa are. I haven't driven this motor of Gary's (yet) but he did let me try his old S18 Foden 8 wheel ballast box tractor which was painted in Pickfords livery. With 12 speed transmission, I needed the help of Gary to lean over the bonnet and shift one of the two sticks when climbing the A68. I'm sure BLB has some stories of what the A68 has thrown up on his road test days with CM.
I think one of the hardest road runs I've done is the re-creation of the CM test route. We started at Rugby (with a Mark V AEC Mammoth Major eight wheeler + trailer in Alan Firmin colours) and over nighted at Carlisle. Then up into Scotland across to Jedburgh; the roller coaster of the A68 and we finished I think at Ferrybridge. Although my ride went all the way back to Kent - on that day. Great stuff.
i believe they were mentioned in the Scammell book by Nick Georgano(?)
colosus of roads? (Thomas Telford)
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here's a lo res pic of trailer mate Bob climbing Shap on the first Anglo Scottish run, organized by Graham Edge.
Also present were legends like Andy Cooper, Graham Bellman, the much missed John Ward, Chris Hiorns, Chad Evans, and a few others. This was one of my, and a good few other enthusiasts, favourite runs and is sadly missing from the current calender.
According to Nick Georgano in his book "Scammell - the Load Movers from Watford", two of the other name suggestions were "The Colossus of Roads" as Gyles mentioned, and "King Harold".