Postman Pat returns to Biglorryblog with mail trains, racing bikes and a classic Atki too!

Pat informs me that "....following a feature about FB Atkins that I wrote for my local newspaper last year, a delighted and appreciative former director of the Findern-based family company turned up at at my humble abode a few days later to present me with this handsome limited-edition drawbar eight-wheeler which now takes pride of place alongside a BR parcels and Post Office mails coach (naturally), plus the Class 20 diesel locomotive that does all the haulage! And here is 'Findern Prince' following a short desktop journey to the printer station! Looks like the old girl has just pipped the rail-bound opposition which proves Atkins lorries - even in model form - are still a first class outfit ..."

Pat adds that when he was a teenager  he would watch hordes of Atkins' beautifully turned- out Atkinson's, Foden's, AEC'S and early Mercedes wagons leave Findern on a Monday morning and was determined to drive for the company, one day. "That day finally came in the 90's" he tells me , "when they ran Renault's and Iveco's, which wasn't quite the same - even the lovely brown fleet colour with gold-coloured lettering had been replaced by a vivid yellow! Regards Dave...."