Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Classic Truck: Train Time

I suppose it was when Phil Brogan was about nine years old that the die was cast.

His dad Ken – who was then driving for Wimpey Waste – was given the brand new Leyland Roadtrain C821 NBV in 1985 and to say the youngster was besotted, is putting it mildly. Of course, Ken recalls, his son had been travelling with him in the cab of a huge variety of motors ever since he was about four years old, but for some reason, the Roadtrain was to leave an indelible impression on Brogan the younger.

So it’s perhaps no surprise when Phil finally decided he wanted a truck of his own to take to the vintage shows, that the shortlist of what he would like was fairly brief. “I’d restored a ‘B’ reg Land Rover and from 2002, I was using that to pull a trailer carrying my dad’s 1964 Massey Ferguson tractor,” says Phil. “But once we unloaded the tractor, I felt I was missing out by not having a truck of my own. So that got me going to find something I could show myself – and perhaps also use as a transporter.”

Phil wasn’t simply looking for any vehicle to restore as he wanted one with strong
family connections: “My dad had also driven a Foden Fleetmaster for Wimpey from 1980,” says Phil, “and I did think briefly about trying to find one of those but I soon opted for a Leyland Roadtrain instead. While I thought at first it might be an easy enough motor to find, I soon discovered that not a lot of these were left. And those which were around were in poor condition as the cabs were prone to rot.”

T45

Unveiled in 1979, Leyland’s T45 range proved to be the manufacturer’s swansong before it merged (and subsequently lost its true identity) with DAF in 1988. The first Leyland offering was the flagship 4x2 Roadtrain artic unit, but during the early 1980s, the manufacturer also released the 7.5 tonne Roadrunner; the four-wheel Freighter range; six- and eight-wheel rigid Constructors plus the lightweight Cruiser tractor unit. Although artics were then limited to 32 ton gross, the strongest 4x2 Roadtrain had a design capacity of 40 tonnes gross that gave it the potential to operate in Europe as and where weight limits allowed.

The UK moved up the weight stakes in 1984 when the regulations were relaxed to allow 38 tonne limits for artics provided an outfit was running on five axles. A standard 4x2 Roadtrain could of course cater for this weight while coupled to a tri-axle semi-trailer. However, because some operators were concerned about overloading a tractor unit’s drive axle, Leyland expanded its Roadtrain range by offering a 6x2 model which was built at the Group’s Scammell factory in Watford.

Scammell had long been building its own heavyweight T45 style of vehicle using the Roadtrain C40 cab and as these were made with special applications in mind, it was called the S26. The new 6x2 general haulage tractor unit was a mix of Scammell and Leyland input so not surprisingly some customers wanted a Leyland badge affixed, while others would only take delivery if it proudly displayed the name of Scammell under the windscreen.

We’ll return to this aspect of Paul’s own 6x2 Roadtrain D134 YJU that took to the road on October 1, 1986 when it became a demonstrator vehicle for the Ford & Slater dealership at Leicester. It’s believed the tractor also went to Grimsby although on November 29, 1989 it was sold down to the West Country. And over the next 13 years, the registered ownership passed between Wayne Evans, Barry Evans and Bedminster Haulage at Bedminster, Bristol before it reached an age where it was pensioned off from front line operations.

Joiner or mechanic?

As Phil’s Leyland was working for its keep at Bedminster in 1991, the young man himself was leaving school and deciding how he should earn a crust in his working life. “I thought about either being a joiner or a mechanic,” says Phil, “but as I didn’t really like the first government scheme I tried in joinery, I quickly changed to being a mechanic.”

Paul proved a natural after Magnetic Motors took him on at the age of 16 and although he was made redundant three years later, he’s always been able to find work as a mechanic. And in February 2011, he decided that rather than work for other people, he launched his own business under the banner of PB Automotive offering all manner of car and commercials repairs from his base in Albert Road, Morley.

Being able to turn his hand to anything mechanical-wise meant a restoration project was something he could tackle himself. The big problem was in being able to find a suitable vehicle to get stuck into.

“Over something like 12 months, we must have looked at all sorts of Roadtrains that were advertised for sale,” says Phil. “We even went as far south as Sussex to see one but most were in terrible condition.” In desperation, Phil even advertised in the wanted pages of the classic mags and eventually he received the reply that was to take him north of the border to the Drummond transport yard in Armadale.

At long last

In fairness to all the people with Roadtrains for sale, Phil was very picky in what he was looking for. “It had to be a Roadtrain just like my dad’s,” he says. “I wanted one with the High Datum cab; it had to have a Cummins 320 engine – with upright Eminox exhaust stack – and I also wanted one with brown  carpets and matching brown covered seats. And it also had to be driveable.”

Although Phil and Ken had their hopes dashed many times, the pair didn’t despair.

And when Ken discovered (in 2004) that Cab Services of East Ardsley had a brand new Roadtrain High Datum cab for sale, he quickly bought it. “I think the firm had bought a job lot of 10 of these Roadtrain cabs when Leyland was clearing its stock out,” says Ken, “but this was to be the last one. So we were also given some of the cab wings which were also brand new as well.”

The Brogans then had a brand new Roadtrain cab shell but still didn’t have a truck to fit it on to. And when the late Peter Drummond first got in touch, Phil didn’t think his Roadtrain was any good: “I asked him what colour the interior trim was,” recalls Phil, “and when he said ‘grey’, I thought it was wrong. But really Peter was really talking about the grey dashboard and the carpets and seats were the brown colour I was after.”

As soon as they saw D134 YJU in December 2005, Phil and Ken knew it was the truck for them and Peter Drummond proved: “A brilliant bloke to deal with.” Peter had bought the Roadtrain in June 2004 from Steven Hardy of Selby who had owned the vehicle for two years. “Peter said this guy had bought it from Bedminster Transport and hoped to restore it but in the end, didn’t have the time. Peter had also planned to restore it but it was a project that was shelved.”

The Roadtrain seemed in good order and once the deal was done, Phil fixed on his trade plates and fired the Cummins engine into life. However, once the Leyland reached the nearby M8 motorway, the engine died and wouldn’t re-start: “We traced the problem to a blocked fuel filter,” says Phil, “but Peter Drummond was excellent.

He came out with some fresh cans of diesel and stayed with us until we were happy it was sorted. What a great guy he was.”

Cab swop

Back in early 2006 Phil didn’t have any premises of his own so the fitting of a new cab shell to the Roadtrain was a bit of a logistical nightmare. The truck was taken to Dean Watson’s – a friend of Ken – who had a farm at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor and the original cab removed. This had to be stripped and all the inners placed into the new shell which had been painted by the Leeds coach painter Jack Shinn. However, the only two spaces that Phil could use for this procedure was the yard at his dad’s house and the back yard at his place. And of course having to work like this created all sorts of problems in recalling what piece of trim went where.

Although the Roadtrain was in reasonable mechanical order, Phil fitted new bearings into the bottom end of the Cummins engine and fitted a new organic clutch. He re-faced the flywheel and also put a brand new radiator on straight away.

He sent the truck’s fuel tank to Northern Radiators which cut it open and gave it a total refurbishment.

For finding bits and pieces, Ken says the staff from Chatfield’s at Leeds were very good to them while Gordon’s Tyres at Wakefield were also very helpful. To source a brand new air box and air intake, Phil went to the Manchester DAF dealer of James Hart.

The local upholstery talent of Tony Beane was used to freshen up the leather on the seats and also give attention to the cab roof lining. While good mate Sasha came up trumps with an alloy catwalk.

As the unit was gradually being restored, Phil put his mind to the subject of a suitable semi-trailer: “I didn’t want a tanker because Wimpey didn’t use any 6x2 Roadtrains with tanks,” says Phil. “But Wimpey’s Asphalt division did use step frame low loaders to carry its machines around so that was the type we started to look for.

As luck would have it, Phil found exactly what he wanted, right on the doorstep. A chance visit to the local concern of Eastwood auto body shop and Phil saw the King tri-axle trailer parked in the yard: “Although it wasn’t being used, the owner – Richard Eastwood – didn’t want to sell as he didn’t want it exporting. But when I explained what I was doing with the Roadtrain, he changed his mind and we did the deal.”

Specially built for the Morley concern of Parkin & Hall Ltd, the King trailer has a 24ft main deck that can be extended to 41ft. While the rear ramps and beaver tail are made to detach if not required. The trailer didn’t need a huge amount of work prior to shot blasting and painting although Phil recalls its suspension did take some sorting: “I thought at first it was on air but when one of the pipes was damaged I discovered it was filled with a mix of water and anti-freeze. And as I didn’t have the specialised equipment normally used to sort this suspension, we had to use trial and error to get it levelled out right.”

Wimpey colours

The bottom line in this outfit’s restoration has always been that it was as close as possible to recreating the Leyland Roadtrain Ken drove for Wimpey for the four years from 1985. So of course, it is never going to have a Scammell badge on the front – Phil is adamant about that. True, it was never going to be a tanker as Phil wanted to use it as a transporter, but it was great to hear when permission was given to re-use the old Wimpey colours.

With its history going back more than 100 years, Wimpey is one of the most famous names in the building trade. It started in houses but during the Second World War went into all manner of construction and the firm’s CV even includes the construction of Heathrow Airport. During Ken’s time with the company in the 1980s, Wimpey was involved in all manner of things, all over the world and had both Marine and Oil Exploration divisions.

In 2007, Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow merged to form Taylor Wimpey and as the old logo and colours were no longer used, the company had no objection to the Roadtrain being painted back into that colour scheme.

The fully complete Roadtrain-King outfit took to the road in May 2010 and to say that Phil and Ken are pleased with it is a total understatement. The outfit is very much a family affair and while Phil has done all the hard work, 76-year-old Ken has done all the ‘gofer’ work possible.

Our visit to Morley coincided with the entire Brogan ensemble getting everything ready for an event – later in the day – at nearby Lotherton Hall. As an added coincidence, the day was also Phil’s 35th birthday. A special birthday cake had been made to mark the day and of course, recreated on the cake’s icing was a picture of the restored Roadtrain. Great.

In fact the whole of the outfit is superb and had time not been as pressing, I would have loved to have taken it down the road rather than just shuffle it round the yard.

Inside the cab, Phil is proud as punch to have his dad’s old throw-over blanket on the bottom of the two bunks and also the original Roadtrain folder that was issued with the truck when new. And in that respect, the restoration project has achieved exactly what it set out to do.

The added bonus is that the outfit also doubles up as a transporter and last thing we see is the loading of the 1964 Massey Ferguson. “This has got a transport history as well,” says Ken. “It was first sold through Glovers of Ripon to a local farmer but it ended up at the Hillcrest Cafe on the A1 near the Boot & Shoe. Glyn Pickersgill there used it as a yard scraper until I bought it about 11 years ago. It was a bit rough but everything apart from the seat and the rear wings are original.”

On hand to witness proceedings is Phil’s partner Karen Kirkness, their son George and not forgetting their six-year-old nephew Benjamin Robinson. And we love how this youngster gets himself involved as much as he can.

It’s great that the passion for trucks and transport Ken Brogan has had since he left the Army has filtered down through the blood line. And the project of re-creating his old 1985 Leyland Roadtrain has certainly ensured that interest will run and run.

Words Bob Tuck photographs: Bob Tuck/Phil Brogan collection