It was 1968 when I came out of the RAF and went driving,starting on an Albion Riever.I was keen to get on artics but you had to wait your turn in them days.I was in the Tree cafe on the A38 between Lichfield and Burton when the gaffers son pulled in with his Super Clydesdale loaded with steel bars.He walked in the cafe,chucked the wagon keys at me and said "It's time tha drove an artic". It had the splitter lever at the back of the cab and took a bit of getting used to,but I was like a dog with two bloody tails taking it back to Sheffield
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After that I got more and more artic experience,the older 8-wheeler drivers didn't want to know them and I eventually got a Leyland Badger 9902 FZ ex Northern Ireland Trailers and loved it to bits.
And didn't 40ft trailers look long when you first got one
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I was driving tractors and trailers on my local Derbyshire village farm when I was about 11 or 12 and that's where I first got a taste of artics and drawbars come to think of it.
You managed to get down that hill from Marchon in one piece then Dave?
Chris.