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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

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/

#Batteries can be found in #UPS, Power #Inverter and #Vehicle. But after a year of use, it becomes #scrap. Get rid of your battery scrap by selling it to us. Scrapbuk offers free pickup services in #Tricity #Chandigarh, #Mohali and #Panchkula and we don't charge any price. Our main motto offers a fair price according to weight and condition. To initiate a pickup request, fill in important details on our website or apps.

Battery Scrap Buyer

If you're thinking of selling old and unused Car in Singapore for earning cash, but you don’t aware how you ought to pair and why? What’s the requirement to sell your car? Well, this can be the question of the many those that what the advantage of selling car is. Nowadays the quantity of Car Dealer Singapore available offline likewise as online who deal in scrap cars and also help their clients?

They are the right dealers who implement the proper strategy to create your car perfect otherwise they only diffuse the unused a part of the car which will harm the environment. They shall properly get rid of things like tires and batteries that may be harmful to the environment. If you don’t sell your scrap car to the trustworthy dealer then these kinds of cars are harmful to your dwelling place where your loved ones live by polluting the environment when they're just binned.

DirectCars may be a trusted partner in selling used vehicle to the correct buyer. We target handling all of your scrap, old, broken, rusted, damaged, and unwanted vehicles that are not well definitely worth the repair or registering. Just because its junk doesn't suggest it isn't worth anything. Even the foremost damaged and scrappiest car has worth at DirectCars. We provide people everywhere Singapore a decent range of services like instant cash for cars, car removals, including junk cars, accident cars, scraps, and unwanted cars.

via WordPress ift.tt/2JrFRSZ

Do you have your old Junker or a car that is useless and costly? Get a top dollar for your junkie for free in a fast and straightforward way if you live in Perth. “Car Removal Perth pays the highest price for used old, junk, scrap & damaged vehicles and makes the end user earn a bonus of 100% free car removal as well. All one need to do is call on (08) 6102 6281 or 0412-119-053 for hassle-free service.” Says the company operation manager.

The facility at Car Removals Perth is fully licensed and insured to pay cash for any brand vehicles on the spot. With very less information about your car like whether it is running or not, they will prepare the documents necessary to carry along with the car pick-up. And, there one is ready to earn cash instantly even without having to spend on the pick-up charges.

The company is known for its transparent policy from last two decades and primarily focused on buying automobiles in Western Australia. They top in buying 12 brands and 3 top models in the past. Namely, Toyota models like Camry, Hilux, Corolla; BMW models like 5 Series, 3 Series, M2; PEUGEOT models like 208, 4008, 508 and so on.

“A family owned company who are professional buyers of scrap metal, battery, aluminum, copper lying in your junkyard or warehouse pay you the highest in the market. They got a professional team to help you at the time of need. I love their sincere approach and courteous nature” said Austin Durack, a regular client of the facility.

“Great Service. Can’t Complain. Great value for money!” says Pawan Rughoobur. “They have great customer service. Those guys provide after sale service too. Had an issue with a car seat I bought and brought it back. Without question asked my money refunded and they further assisted me to find what I was after. Hats off to you guys!” who recently used their service.

The facility works from Monday through Saturday. You can directly drop your scrap vehicle or call them for a free car removal any time of the day. By calling them, you are helping protect the environment and get rid of registering with the authorities or getting insurance for your scrap vehicle. You will experience that selling your old scrap has never been this simple, beneficial and instant top cash earning with which you can enjoy a bonus of free pick-up in Perth.

Car Removal Perth is open from 7:00 am – 5:00 pm. They located at 5 Hantke Place, Welshpool WA 6106.

The company can be reached directly from their website. https://www.carremovalperth.net.au.

The post Press Release – Make Top Cash from Scrap Car in Perth appeared first on Car Removal Perth – Top Cash For Your Vehicles.

Sell us your junk car. We buy cars, auto batteries, shett iron, unprepared heavy iron, prepared heavy iron, iron and copper/non ferrous

If swapping gas-powered cars for electric were a 1 to1 exchange, then the whole transition would just take a year or two. But after buying a gas-guzzler or gas-sipper, with nobody to sell the old technology to, a person opting for electric probably is scrapping the old body and engine for its weight in steel. So purchasing the electric vehicle is a pricey decision with no trade-in value on the old car. In 2022 the used car market does buy old cars. But later there will be only electric car buyers; no buyers for one's old car. And junkyards for wrecked cars and trucks will have lot their reason for being: selling parts from the wrecks that replace pieces of cars still in operation. Of course, electric cars will have collisions, too. So there are a few piece that junk yards can sell from the wrecks. But handling the heavy and hazardous batteries is a big worry. Unlike internal combustion cars, the electric ones have far, far fewer pieces and moving parts to worry about and to wear out.

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via Necessity may be the mother of invention, but in some cases, scrap metal from the local scrap yard plays a pretty big part too. Take prodigy Kelvin Doe, who rose to internet fame in 2012 after news outlets reported on the tons of gadgets he’d built. They include a transistor radio, a studio generator and a battery to […] ift.tt/DcagMjR

Moe’s Cash for Junk Cars, owned by Mohammed Alyunisi, is your one-stop destination for all junk car removal services in Dearborn Heights. We are a reliable and affordable car removal company so you can always rely on us for quick and efficient services. We offer a variety of services to our clients, from jump-starting a dead battery to towing away an old junk car. Our team is experienced in all types of vehicles, from cars to trucks, and can provide fast and affordable solutions. We also offer virtual consultations to help our clients decide the best course of action for their vehicles. Moe’s Cash for Junk Cars is a great choice for people who need to get rid of an old junk car. Contact us now to get your property free from junk vehicles." When it comes to selling your junk car, its important to choose a buyer who understand your needs and ensures your confidence throughout the process . Hi ! This is Mohammed with Moe's Cash For Junk Cars . With Mohammed by your side, you can rest assured that you'll recieve the maximum and best price of your old junk car . At Moe's Cash For Junk Cars we believe in building trust and providing a seamless selling experience .As soon as you contact us, Mohammed will guide you through the entire process ,addressing any questions or concerns you may have . One of the standout features of our service is the provision of free towing . Once you agree to sell your car to Moe's Cash For Junk Cars, we take care of transportation logistics , saving you time and efforts. We understand that convenience is the key, and we strive to make selling process as easy as possible for you . With Mohammed expertise in the industry, you can trust that you'll recieve a fair and competitive offer for your junk car . We value transperency and integrity, and our goal is to provide you a price that meets our expectations.Don't let your junk car to take a valueable space any longer. Contact Mohammed at Moe's Cash For Junk Cars today and he'll work closely with you to ensure that you sell your junk car at your dream price and experience a stress free process with trusted junk car buyer at your side

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visit us: goo.gl/maps/KL9tWxFh861qiPmy5