Sid Harrison

[bigstraight6]

This is the stuff of legends, the Sheffield based haulier Sid Harrison was renowned for using ancient Scammell Highwayman tractor units up until the late 1980's, and most of them are still in store to this day, some were apparently completely overhauled prior to storage, I'd love to see these mixing it with Scania's and Volvo's on the M6 today

 

 

Here's a link for more pics and words.....

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8050359@N07/

[FredTransit]

I vaguely remember seeing those out and about!

[VWPowered]

 

lol great photosteam that

[Inspector Morose]

Lady Wulfrun was once a freind of mine and we preserved a few buses together. There is a tale to tell. but I won't.

[FredTransit]

Was T C Harrison any relation? had a commercial Ford dealer's on Shepcote Lane? We bought a van from there!

[Justin Case]

Great stuff; at least one of the Highwaymen was still doing a nightly run from Sheffield to the Black Country (Wednesbury steel terminal ?) with a load of steel bars in the late 80s or even early 90s . I could time my evening dog walk so that I could see it go past and hear the roar of its Gardner engine as it accelerated away from the island at the end of our road

 

Lady Wulfrun? This is Lady Wulfrun:

http://www.ladywulfrun.co.uk/index.html

 

[mid diesel]

The last Highwayman was taken off active service in 2001. It still runs though - pulling trailers about.They were extensively rebuilt with bigger engines and higher ratio diffs...... 55 - 60mph cruising speed

[bigstraight6]

The last Highwayman was taken off active service in 2001. It still runs though - pulling trailers about.They were extensively rebuilt with bigger engines and higher ratio diffs...... 55 - 60mph cruising speed

The last one was running as late as that! fantastic The fact that they still have a fair number of these superb old Scammells in 'storeage' is interesting, will they ever see active service again? nice thought, but I don't think so. The lorry drivers of today used to the 'car' type luxury of DAF XF's and Volvo FH's with huge horsepower engines and automatic gearboxes just couldn't cope with one of these old girls with a vocal Gardner 6LX engine and 6 speed contstant mesh 'box, I'd love a go in one myself.....

[mid diesel]

The last Highwayman was taken off active service in 2001.

 

It still runs though - pulling trailers about.

 

They were extensively rebuilt with bigger engines and higher ratio diffs...... 55 - 60mph cruising speed

The last one was running as late as that! fantastic The fact that they still have a fair number of these superb old Scammells in 'storeage' is interesting, will they ever see active service again? nice thought, but I don't think so. The lorry drivers of today used to the 'car' type luxury of DAF XF's and Volvo FH's with huge horsepower engines and automatic gearboxes just couldn't cope with one of these old girls with a vocal Gardner 6LX engine and 6 speed contstant mesh 'box, I'd love a go in one myself.....

they refurbished a load of Highwayman units in the late 70's and then got blackballed by a lot of the local steel firms -- so the refurbed units are still in storage....

 

 

imagine a driver of today being given the keys to this....

 

they did struggle, apparently, to get people to drive them in the later years.... they weren't so bad to drive in original form but the ones with an added mid axle were a bit hairy...

[Cavcraft]

Ooh, love stuff like this. Did they even have power steering etc?Seriously considering getting an old Atkinson Border or similar truck one day and using it on a showman's licence for truck shows etc.

[mid diesel]

Ooh, love stuff like this. Did they even have power steering etc?Seriously considering getting an old Atkinson Border or similar truck one day and using it on a showman's licence for truck shows etc.

Power steering?

[FredTransit]

Wow they were still in regular use till 2001? And people have the cheek to say the Mk2 transit is past it.....

[Vin]

I'd heard of Sid Harrison through the pages of 'Classic and Vintage Commercials' and these are wonderful pictures, especially as majority of hauliers just disposed of their fleets when it came to replacement time.

 

 

imagine a driver of today being given the keys to this....

 

they did struggle, apparently, to get people to drive them in the later years.... they weren't so bad to drive in original form but the ones with an added mid axle were a bit hairy...

Amazing that those Scammells are of the same age/registrations as the first UK Volvo F86s and Scania 1 Series. It's no wonder really that it was win win win for the Scandinavians when they launched themselves at the UK market in the late Sixties........

[FredTransit]

Yup, an F86 looks like the Starship Enterprise by comparison.....

[brammy777]

I thought Scammells like that had long been discontinued by then.....

But other British designed lorries of the time looked better, the Ergomatic cabbed ones being one example:

But lets not forget the best looking lorry ever, in my books at least, the Scammell Handyman:

[mid diesel]

that's a Trunker - but I take your point....Hauliers like Harrison weren't into steel cabbed vehicles like the Ergo Mandator -- they rotted too much.!!That Mandator above is about as original as Trigger's broomAnd the F86 --- amazing machine but it was new in the late 60's -- The Scammell Highwayman is a 50's design.The early Handyman units with their Michelotti cab are really just a forward control Highwayman in disguise -- same torturous gearbox and more noise!

[harvest gold mg]

Sid Harrison purchased 3 (i think) brand new Foden units circa 1978 to replace some of the Scammels.He ran one Foden for a few weeks to evaluate it and came to the conclusion that it was too expensive to run.The Foden was parked in a garage and along with the other 2,unused ones,has been there ever since.

[mid diesel]

Sid Harrison purchased 3 (i think) brand new Foden units circa 1978 to replace some of the Scammels.

He ran one Foden for a few weeks to evaluate it and came to the conclusion that it was too expensive to run.

 

The Foden was parked in a garage and along with the other 2,unused ones,has been there ever since.

HI

They bought four S83's - and three of them were put to work - although they never really did much

 

One of them was never registered and it's in their shed as we speak -- only a few miles on the clock from shunting it around the yard

 

They sold one of the "used" Fodens and it's now on the show circuit -- the other 2 used ones are in the yard.

 

 

 

The unused one is at the back of the first pic - the inside is unmarked

[garethj]

Is this an excuse to buy Hell Drivers on dvd?

[mid diesel]

Is this an excuse to buy Hell Drivers on dvd?

Hell Drivers is always worth buying....

[scruff]

Brill pics I'd love a Highwayman for hauling the engines about.

[harvest gold mg]

Thanks for clearing thast up m.d.I'd love to have a nose around that yard.How many lorries from the past have been kept there? Any idea?I read on another forum last year,that only one lorry was still being operated out of Harrisons,a plain red ERF B Series with a flat trailer.

[mid diesel]

Thanks for clearing thast up m.d.I'd love to have a nose around that yard.How many lorries from the past have been kept there? Any idea?I read on another forum last year,that only one lorry was still being operated out of Harrisons,a plain red ERF B Series with a flat trailer.

They have virtually all of them still - spread over 3 sites.Including their whole fleet of Scammell R8's which they just parked up in the late 60's and early 70's after getting 30 years of more from them.....That's why you see very very few R8's on the show scene - they are all parked up in South Yorkshire!

[harvest gold mg]

Scammel Rigid 8's always look like they are going to topple over to me.The cab being quite tall and the 2 front axles being so close together that the tyres almost touch,make them look very unsteady.