Foden Gritters Feb 2014 128
I did a fairly extensive photo shoot with my Fodens the other day. Having dug the Fodens out for the first time in ages I gave them a wash to get rid of eight months’ worth of dust. I wanted something to photograph with the new gear to start and get a feel for it, there are some photographs with the EOS M but most are with the 5D. They will appear repetitive but for my own reasons I have decided to upload most of the shoot.
M462LYL was one of the 400 or so 4000 series gritters that were supplied to the Highways Agency over a period of years to replace the S80 series Fodens, that we had five of. This wagon would have been scrapped along with most of the others but for the intervention of Stuart Kaye. Although it is in exceptional condition so were most of them, regardless, they had to be scrapped and not sold back onto the UK market. A scandalous waste of money, many had been extensively (and expensively) refurbished to a very high standard – total rebuilds – they were still scrapped. A Cummins 325 and six speed auto box makes this wagon very nice to drive empty! I very much doubt that the auto box and gearing would get up our local hills fully loaded and certainly not if pushing a plough. The wagon has covered 85,000 km and other than corrosion caused by salty hands the cab interior is very good.
I bought a second 4000 series, but just the chassis cab. The scrapping contract allowed for chassis or gritter bodies to be sold separately. Once separated the body takes a lot of refitting. There are hundreds of wires in plastic trunking and they just hacked through them, you couldn’t overstate the scale of the job of refitting, cost effectively, a body back onto one of the original chassis. I had sourced a dump truck body from an MOD Foden Alpha that would fit nicely on the 4000 chassis. We use this around the yard alongside our 1960’s Foden dumper.
It was whilst looking at the chassis cabs with Stuart in Geesons at Ripley that we saw OYE779Y, parked up with a plough fitted, it was minus 11 during this period and almost every motor in the yard had flat batteries, which the frost had then killed completely. We didn’t get to see a motor running but I ended up buying two including OYE. As soon as I saw this motor I knew that there was something strange about it. A Paccar (Kenworth) chassis, Cummins L10 250, Eaton Twinsplitter and Rockwell axles, with a 4000 series cab. As a regular buyer and driver of Fodens in the 80’s and 90’s I knew that these components weren’t available in 1982, when it was allegedly built. I had a new Foden the same month as this motor was supposed to have been built, December 1982. BYG167Y had Foden chassis and S10 cab, the Twinsplitter hadn’t been invented at this point. The serial number stamped on the chassis relates to an S80 series gritter, one of the previous generation, with Foden Gearbox, chassis, axles and Rolls Royce 265L engine. This is what the Foden Microfiche build sheet still shows for this serial number.
OYE779Y seems to have been built to replace the original, which was written off in a serious accident. The strange thing is the allocation of the same serial and registration numbers to a totally different vehicle. We have seen a black and white photograph of the wagon, when new with a conventional Atkinson gritter body. This was replaced with the French body now fitted. This has water tanks and can spread the salt with water, made of plastic and stainless steel, it appears unused. The wagon itself was unloved and un driven, we think, because of the Twin splitter gearbox, which wasn’t suitable for the drivers employed on the motorway gritting teams. With 30,000 km on the clock, mostly service miles, the wagon is like new. Other than sag in the roof lining material the cab interior is like new. I’m guessing that it saw very little actual work, subsequently it doesn’t have the fantastic paint job of the newer 4000 series, the result of being sandblasted and two pack painted. OYE has been touched up, a bit of a splodge here and there. There is a total lack of corrosion, it just needs a good respray and it would be like new. A new set of tyres fitted in 2003 still have the stickers on them. The long and the short of it is that this is a much newer wagon. The 4000 series cab was available in 1987, I bought one on an E plate, the last generation of S10 was still available in 1986 on a D plate so I reckon it would be built around this time.
There are only a few 4000 series gritters survived in the UK but some went to Ireland and others to Eastern Europe. Presumably Roger Geeson was allowed to export to countries where it wouldn't affect the sales of the suppliers of the new gritting fleet - this appeared to be why there was a restriction on sales in the UK.
If anyone has more to add regarding this story please let me Know.
I couldn’t resist adding my other two Fodens to the line-up, customers were coming and going at the same time hence some other motors in there. I decided to add some cab interior shots a day or two later, just for the record as it were.
To see more about J B Schofield and Sons and the history of the business and its 33 years as a gritting contractor, look here www.jbschofieldandsons.co.uk/
Foden Gritters Feb 2014 128
I did a fairly extensive photo shoot with my Fodens the other day. Having dug the Fodens out for the first time in ages I gave them a wash to get rid of eight months’ worth of dust. I wanted something to photograph with the new gear to start and get a feel for it, there are some photographs with the EOS M but most are with the 5D. They will appear repetitive but for my own reasons I have decided to upload most of the shoot.
M462LYL was one of the 400 or so 4000 series gritters that were supplied to the Highways Agency over a period of years to replace the S80 series Fodens, that we had five of. This wagon would have been scrapped along with most of the others but for the intervention of Stuart Kaye. Although it is in exceptional condition so were most of them, regardless, they had to be scrapped and not sold back onto the UK market. A scandalous waste of money, many had been extensively (and expensively) refurbished to a very high standard – total rebuilds – they were still scrapped. A Cummins 325 and six speed auto box makes this wagon very nice to drive empty! I very much doubt that the auto box and gearing would get up our local hills fully loaded and certainly not if pushing a plough. The wagon has covered 85,000 km and other than corrosion caused by salty hands the cab interior is very good.
I bought a second 4000 series, but just the chassis cab. The scrapping contract allowed for chassis or gritter bodies to be sold separately. Once separated the body takes a lot of refitting. There are hundreds of wires in plastic trunking and they just hacked through them, you couldn’t overstate the scale of the job of refitting, cost effectively, a body back onto one of the original chassis. I had sourced a dump truck body from an MOD Foden Alpha that would fit nicely on the 4000 chassis. We use this around the yard alongside our 1960’s Foden dumper.
It was whilst looking at the chassis cabs with Stuart in Geesons at Ripley that we saw OYE779Y, parked up with a plough fitted, it was minus 11 during this period and almost every motor in the yard had flat batteries, which the frost had then killed completely. We didn’t get to see a motor running but I ended up buying two including OYE. As soon as I saw this motor I knew that there was something strange about it. A Paccar (Kenworth) chassis, Cummins L10 250, Eaton Twinsplitter and Rockwell axles, with a 4000 series cab. As a regular buyer and driver of Fodens in the 80’s and 90’s I knew that these components weren’t available in 1982, when it was allegedly built. I had a new Foden the same month as this motor was supposed to have been built, December 1982. BYG167Y had Foden chassis and S10 cab, the Twinsplitter hadn’t been invented at this point. The serial number stamped on the chassis relates to an S80 series gritter, one of the previous generation, with Foden Gearbox, chassis, axles and Rolls Royce 265L engine. This is what the Foden Microfiche build sheet still shows for this serial number.
OYE779Y seems to have been built to replace the original, which was written off in a serious accident. The strange thing is the allocation of the same serial and registration numbers to a totally different vehicle. We have seen a black and white photograph of the wagon, when new with a conventional Atkinson gritter body. This was replaced with the French body now fitted. This has water tanks and can spread the salt with water, made of plastic and stainless steel, it appears unused. The wagon itself was unloved and un driven, we think, because of the Twin splitter gearbox, which wasn’t suitable for the drivers employed on the motorway gritting teams. With 30,000 km on the clock, mostly service miles, the wagon is like new. Other than sag in the roof lining material the cab interior is like new. I’m guessing that it saw very little actual work, subsequently it doesn’t have the fantastic paint job of the newer 4000 series, the result of being sandblasted and two pack painted. OYE has been touched up, a bit of a splodge here and there. There is a total lack of corrosion, it just needs a good respray and it would be like new. A new set of tyres fitted in 2003 still have the stickers on them. The long and the short of it is that this is a much newer wagon. The 4000 series cab was available in 1987, I bought one on an E plate, the last generation of S10 was still available in 1986 on a D plate so I reckon it would be built around this time.
There are only a few 4000 series gritters survived in the UK but some went to Ireland and others to Eastern Europe. Presumably Roger Geeson was allowed to export to countries where it wouldn't affect the sales of the suppliers of the new gritting fleet - this appeared to be why there was a restriction on sales in the UK.
If anyone has more to add regarding this story please let me Know.
I couldn’t resist adding my other two Fodens to the line-up, customers were coming and going at the same time hence some other motors in there. I decided to add some cab interior shots a day or two later, just for the record as it were.
To see more about J B Schofield and Sons and the history of the business and its 33 years as a gritting contractor, look here www.jbschofieldandsons.co.uk/