Commer 2 stroke
 

First driving job that I had,long before HGV licences came into being,as long as you had a car full licence you were allowed to drive all types of HGVs, well my first was on an old Commer 2 stroke loading brewers grains from the whiskey distilleries up Scotland and loading sawdust from saw mills up and down the country using a wide mouthed aluminium shovel(bl--dy hard work) all for £3 aload,when coming up the hill at night thro Selkirk you would think that the wagon was a rocket starting up, the sparks would fly out of the exhaustin a mass of light, twice I was pulled up by the police in Selkirk to inform me that I had fire on board especially when she was pumping exhaust smoke out as well, talk about a firework display--those were the days,gone but not forgotten. :eek:

Ay, the old TS3 was an 'impressive' brute under load.
Supercharged so that the exhaust was blown out . . .
http://www.oldengine.org/members/die...hnical/TS3.htm
I don't know whether the 'boost' was adjustable.

I had an AEC MK3 complete with sliding doors and push-out windscreen and it was a bugger for throwing flames out of the exhaust - not very good for a tanker carrying flammables:D.Was sent back to the yard early one morning by Sheffield police with instructions to "get it sorted".The fitters,as always shoved some additive in the derv tank,affectionally known as "Cabdrivers Linctus" and all was well until the next time.:)

Suttons of St Helens had 5 TVW (Transport Vehicles Warrington), Alf Sutton was one of the partners who set this short lived company up to build lorries useing Sentinal parts when Sentinals closed down and the three Artic units were engine with the TS3 with only a single silencer and a home designed exhaust brake, shunting one of these in London was an endless time of being pulled up by the Law who would claim we had no exhaust fitted although we had, the TS3 were eventually swapped for Gardner 6LW's.

Two Strokes
 

I have lived in Maidstone all my life and when I was young upto 1951 I lived in St Peters Street and about 500 yds away was the Tillings and Stevens factory (The building is still there) this street was one of the busiest in the town with 2 breweries and the Sharps toffee factory. all day long they would test the the engines and the testbed trucks would come and go . I would often cadge a slow ride down the street to the works on these and the "Vulcan" trucks built oposite T&S, just a chassis with ply panel and pespex to shield the driver with flying helmet like a pilot (I wonder what health and safety would say today)When I first started proper driving in 1963 at "Reeds Corrugated Paper" "Tovil we had Commer pantec's with these engines and for our use they were I belive a joy to drive ,full width seat in cab etc and climbing Wrotham hill in the dark with the fireworks a joy to behold. Jesse Ellis also built lorries in St Peter st about 1900 ...Regards. Alan

Info on your local makes:-
http://www.fleetdata.co.uk/tilling-stevens.html
http://www.fleetdata.co.uk/vulcan.html
and Commer:- http://www.fleetdata.co.uk/commer.html

Vulcan
 

Thanks for the responce I think personally the Vulcan was a nice little truck they used to leave here with just the front (scuttle)? I have a nice poster (repro ) from the local toy fair.. The LEN cabinet works across town used them mostly with a few Fordson Thames I could post a picture of Fordson with our football team.. I started with LEN after school as a pre Aprentice, ie gofer . but I was advised by a workmate to go and see the world so I did.. Best wishes
Alan

Never worked a commer two stroke but did manage to get a ride in one, A tractor unit for Daultons transport.. Quite impressive.
A local company had a flat bed two stroke which blew its exhaust I could hear it coming a mile away. what a racket. The fitters welded it up for the next morning

Stupid Boy
 

Oh Dear, I feel another 'silly boy' reminiscence coming on.

It was as I remember, the year, (in the sixties), that the Causeway, between Weymouth and Portland was severely damaged and massive mounds of beach cobbles, washed into the rear yards of the properties at the Portland end of the Causeway, before the hill which climbs up to the Prison/ Old Quarry.

We were either under canvas at Wyke Regis, or hutted at Chickerell Barracks, I am unsure as, the years seem to run into one another nowadays.

Well, cab happy as ever, I am driving , back to our Barracks at Brighton, a non eventful trip. But on our dispersal from the barracks, and it being early morning, I am volunteered for the 'Milk Run', taking all the people , whom were without transport, along with their heavy kit, home.

The only vehicle that was empty and with troop seating available at this time, was the Commer Q4 3ton Cargo.
So orf I go with all the lads aboard and gradually drop my human cargo in all areas of the Town. My personal kit being the last dropped off, and other, more personal, and temporarily suspended duties fulfilled, I set off to return to the Barracks.

Well it was a very steep hill and at a point where the road formed a sharp left hand bend, though on a trolley bus route, it was not more than about twenty feet wide, and there were parked vehicles, slightly offset on alternate sides, creating a slalom effect.
When I was at a point where I was at a diagonal angle between two such vehicles, the engine coughed and died, Shute!, no petrol and the first early buses would start running out soon.

I have no alternative but to coast back round the bend and obstructive vehicles, to a point where I can get alongside the Kerb.
A helpful paper boy appeared and offered to see me back, good job too, we know about those 2 inch mirrors from the Wife's handbag. What a helpful young man, I could barely and intermittently see anything in those mirrors, he disappeared behind me and became a phantom voice, "come on, come on, come on, come"-Crunch!. In my off side mirror, a bit of kerb between vehicles, and just behind the truck, the offside rear corner of a parked Bedford dormobile caravanette. Shute!. Only creeping, very little damage at all. The boy, not only helpful, but now invisible, had vanished, I felt so sorry for him, he must have been shushing himself.

I Got the truck into the side after the Bedford owner had moved his vehicle, then it was time to ring my Corporal at home, (I have since learned what he was doing, after two weeks away). filthy habit. He eventually turns up with a can of petrol and gets me going.

But how stupid am I, just to prove it, he notices two jerry cans on the rack behind the cab, and yes, they are full.
Too quick to jump in the cab again, did not realise the fuel had run low, (it had been filled prior to leaving Weymouth), did not realise there were full jerry cans aboard. I need not have run out, need not have had to reverse out of the middle of the road, nor, interrupted my Dear Corporal's coupling activities.
More painfully, I did not need to have made, such a complete pillock of myself.
Again, did I hear you say?.

heh heh heh I do like an honest man.

The Roote's TS3 was a brilliant engine as long as you kept it revving:D
I had one in the 70's a Commer Maxiload 16 tonner drove it for about 18 months. It was secondhand from Borden Chemicals down Hampshire way (Borden). I can even nearly remember the reg;:o YCR 821J?
At the time the small general haulage co; I worked for ran about 10 rigids (Dennis's) and a couple of artic's (Foden S80's) one day this Commer ran into the yard with our livery on it and I just went into the office and asked if I could have it. Nobody else wanted it but I loved it :D Gotta say the first time it 'de-coked' itself I crapped myself :o I was carrying cable drum's form BICC at Leigh down to London and as I was on the unlit stretch of the M6 North of Hilton Park Service's I saw sparks flying everywhere behind me and I thought the chains holding the 2 x 5ton cable drums had broken & hit the tarmac. By the time I'd crept onto the HS and checked everything was OK I remembered what somebody had said to me about this 'de-coking' thing.
It was a great motor and with a double passenger seat it was easy to kip in and I really loved it and it sounded like a lorry :D.
If I had beeen looking to be an OD I'm sure that would have been a great start up motor :D never had any trouble with it apart from a broken drivers seat.

A TS3 engined Commer killed a man from Holyhead/Anglesey years ago going up Rhuallt Hill. I understand the engine went in to reverse, the lorry was never returned to it's operator as it was not wanted.

Andrew.

Oh what memories ear pluggs ,speed.Yes drove one for a couple of years , until the govnor stuck, frightening,it got faster and faster at 80mph the piston came out through the block and we ground to a halt rapidly.It wasn't an experance i want to repeat in a hurry.
james

Commer TS3 engines
 

Around 1960 I was a Field Engineer with CAV in Acton, doing field trials of experimental diesel injection equipment. I heard then of a TS3 engine which broke a fuel pipe which passes across the top of the engine. Diesel got sucked into the manifold in huge quantities, despite what the governor would have been trying to do. I'd love to know what revs it reached, and exactly what blew up first!

My Dads Commer III 1957 ?
 

Hi,

Just say hi and enclosing a couple of nice pics of my late dads Commer back in the day. AER Inskip haulage firm in Bedford.
He used to repair these wonderful old lorries back then, discovered these old pics and thought i would share them. hope you like them ?

Any info on these great lorries be wonderful to find some more info...any about still ?

cheers :)

Derrick

Tidy looking truck zola1

Cheers, dad loved his trucks always cleaning and fixing them :)....can you help at at all as i'm trying to get hold a model of one of these any ideas where ?

Derrick

Search through the contributions on here - there is quite a lot about the Commer TS3 to be found . . .

Cheers will do :)

Great to see some pics of the old commers,haven't seen any for years in that format still some Maxiloads about ,mostly preserved though.
There used to be a company in Dorset call Fernalls ran a lot of these late 50s early 60s i think.:)

hi i am a newby to this site
just came across this page about TS3
i used to drive one on hire to Edgar allan's of Sheffield local delivery's in the week then a load of twist dills to Port Talbot and boy did it de-coke its self been pulled up many a time by motorist saying your lorries on fire

Tell that to the youngsters of today and they wuddern berlieve ya!

hi,

have you got any pics ?

cheers

hi sorry but pics got lost in house move

no worries,

there are few good links on the net here's one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wol_U4mkjs

great sound ! : )

Fantastic bark!

Just as I remember . . .

Thats one sound you never forget after 45 years it still sounds great

Another evocative sound:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4KDR15Hp-Y

Fantastic, : ) does anyone know where there is show this year that we can see any of these Commers will be at ?....i'm thinking maybe the Gaydo show ?any thoughts guys.

cheers

I don't think I have seen any 2-stroke Commers at the (small) truck shows that I have attended, but, no doubt, there will be some out there on the circuit . . .

i guess they are few and far between ?, i wondered if there had been any restored ?, i'll do some searching and post some info if i find anything

cheers

Photos that I have found were taken at the Great Dorset Steam Fair in 2008:-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fryske/...ke/2821243967/

http://www.gdsf.co.uk/visitors_infor...e_gallery.aspx

Looks like Gaydon could also be a possibility . . .

thanks for the links, i'm going to make gaydon this year what date is it on ?
cheers

cheers : )

Hi Derrick,

I'm interested in any pictures you may of your Father's time at Inskip's. AER Inskip was my Grandfather's company and I don't have any photographs from those days, would be good to what else you may have.

Thanks

Paul Inskip

ORM857 Commer. this was a sight to see at night when tackling steep hills--talk about a firework display---don`t know how many times that I was pulled up by motorist telling me that I was on fire--could never find out why the cab was leaning slightly back instead of being straight, she was always reliable especially on a hard frosty morning going up into Scotland you would see the modern wagons at the Moss Cafe having to have heat brought onto the diesel tanks with fires set up in 5 gall drums to thaw out the fuel--never had that trouble, no built in cab heaters in those days.no bunks built in, just crash out along the seats, these young drivers of today don`t know the half of it, cabs now have all the comfort of home.

Hi Paul,

Thank you for the reply,

My late father Fred worked for your grandfather (i think dad said his name was Ernie ?)..initially back in the early 50's..hence the Commer pic, i came across that picture (the only one with reference to Inskips lorries..so far ) wh my mother moved into a local care home. (she said goodbye to the house she raised us all in the Boundary.... after 55years !!).

I will have a word with my elder sisters, Jan & Sue as they seem to have a photograph memory of their early years, (a women thing i think)..to see if they have any photos...

I can recall the building that your Grandad had, as early premises in Carding ton,is still there, Dad used to recall fond memories of that time, he left the RAF and soon after started with your Grandad.

Where abouts are you in the Bedford area ?.i am in Brickhill

Kind Regards

Derrick

Hi Ceylon,

Wonderful pic thanks : )..

Great recollections : )....dad used tell me some staggering stories travelling the country in the those lorries, One freezing night exhausted after a marathon drive he pulled into a layby, fell asleep arms across the huge steering wheel...woke with a startle, and had "froze" to the wheel !!! they just got on with it then...staggering men.

Kind Regards

Derrick

I remember going to a car show in the 80s, Somerset I think and there was a guy there with a Commer 2-stroke fitted to an American pick-up truck.

In the 60s and 70s there was a transport company running out of Nettlebed, Oxon. Bury's Transport I think, they had some Commers and I remember the noise they made going past school.