The Gardner LW engine.
The Gardner LW series of engines was manufactured, almost unmodified, from 1931 until 1974. Many British bus operators "swore by" these virtually indestructible machines. Stories of their longevity and durability are numberless and many LWs, after a design-lifetime of service in buses, were put to further varied employment. Many were exported and used as motive power for everything from Chinese junks to irrigation equipment. Take a peek behind the rides at a fairground and you will find them driving the electrical generators. British forces attempting to scuttle their equipment before the German advance upon Dunkirk drained the sumps of their Gardner-powered trucks and then ran the engines without oil. Unfortunately for the war effort they proved impossible to seize. This is borne out by my own experience. The rather avante-garde Cave-Brown-Cave cooling system fitted to the Bristol Lodekka caused endless trouble almost throughout their working lives. Seize-ups of vehicles fitted with Bristol engines were frequent (and spectacular) ...but you could never seize a Gardner LW.
The LW was available in any number of cylinders from one to eight and in the early 1950s a horizontal version ...in effect a normal engine tilted through 90 degrees... was produced for underfloor-engined buses. Here, at the back of the Bristol Omnibus Co. Central Repair Works at Lawrence Hill, we see a rack holding three 5 and one 6-cylinder Gardner HLWs (H for horizontal).
A decade after the formation of the National Bus Company and seven years after the imposition of its corporate uniform, badges and insignia, Driver Bentos subversively continues to wear the "scroll" emblem of the Bristol Omnibus Co. above his top pocket. This was not encouraged but, to be fair, I was never told to remove it. The photo was taken on Thursday 25th October 1979.
The Gardner LW engine.
The Gardner LW series of engines was manufactured, almost unmodified, from 1931 until 1974. Many British bus operators "swore by" these virtually indestructible machines. Stories of their longevity and durability are numberless and many LWs, after a design-lifetime of service in buses, were put to further varied employment. Many were exported and used as motive power for everything from Chinese junks to irrigation equipment. Take a peek behind the rides at a fairground and you will find them driving the electrical generators. British forces attempting to scuttle their equipment before the German advance upon Dunkirk drained the sumps of their Gardner-powered trucks and then ran the engines without oil. Unfortunately for the war effort they proved impossible to seize. This is borne out by my own experience. The rather avante-garde Cave-Brown-Cave cooling system fitted to the Bristol Lodekka caused endless trouble almost throughout their working lives. Seize-ups of vehicles fitted with Bristol engines were frequent (and spectacular) ...but you could never seize a Gardner LW.
The LW was available in any number of cylinders from one to eight and in the early 1950s a horizontal version ...in effect a normal engine tilted through 90 degrees... was produced for underfloor-engined buses. Here, at the back of the Bristol Omnibus Co. Central Repair Works at Lawrence Hill, we see a rack holding three 5 and one 6-cylinder Gardner HLWs (H for horizontal).
A decade after the formation of the National Bus Company and seven years after the imposition of its corporate uniform, badges and insignia, Driver Bentos subversively continues to wear the "scroll" emblem of the Bristol Omnibus Co. above his top pocket. This was not encouraged but, to be fair, I was never told to remove it. The photo was taken on Thursday 25th October 1979.