The Scottish Bus Group was a major user of AEC Matador recovery vehicles, extensively rebuilt from ex-military gun tractors. By comparison with the Matador, other ex-military types only appeared in penny numbers; in part due to the supreme dependability of the Matador, and in part due to declining interest in petrol-engined vehicles with their higher running costs.
This Bedford RL, a former RAF airfield crash tender, is entirely fictitious but suits Highland's livery well. Production of the 4x4 RL continued well beyond the last 4x2 S-Types; in fact this vehicle would have dated from the early 1970s and remained in RAF service until the late 1980s. In reality, whilst I have no specific knowledge of Highland, the standard SBG recovery vehicles of this period seem to have been cut-down Y-Type buses and converted second-hand ERF tractor units (14-Jun-11).
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Tags: recovery vehicle Bedford RL Highland Omnibus Company
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Alpha Recovery of Cramlington in Northumberland has achieved TV-fame through the series Winter Road Rescue. Closer to home, it has become a regular attender on the HCVS Tyne-Tees Run with an interesting selection of heavy recovery vehicles. Whilst depicted at the South Shields end of the run, this isn’t an actual Alpha Recovery vehicle but another entrant photoshopped in the company’s livery (08-Jun-22).
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Tags: Leyland T45 Constructor recovery vehicle Alpha Recovery
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This is based on an old negative so the quality isn’t brilliant. The colour layout of the original livery has constrained what I've been able to do, so it is best described as a loose interpretation of how Edinburgh might have painted such a vehicle. I’m not entirely sure that it is a Mammoth Major Six but that would have been the best basis for a recovery vehicle. The actual truck, which was a particularly attractive and well-equipped conversion, was operated by bus restorers Alan and John Purvis of Sunderland in the 1980s (17-Apr-20).
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Tags: AEC Mammoth Major Six recovery vehicle Edinburgh Corporation Transport
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Dinky Toys always had a breakdown truck in its range, which it variously described as a breakdown car, breakdown lorry or breakdown tow truck. Number 25x, which was most commonly available in a tan and green livery with Dinky Toys lettering, featured a Commer Superpoise Mk III cab. Introduced in the late 1940s, it soldiered on well into the 1950s. This fictional version is based on the 4x4 Superpoise Q4, which was supplied primarily to the Auxiliary Fire Service (04-Sep-21).
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Tags: Commer Superpoise Mk III Dinky Toys Breakdown lorry
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In 1966, London Transport acquired a pair of two-year old AEC Militants from the Ministry of Defence for conversion into master recovery vehicles. Based at Camberwell and Cricklewood garages, these impressive vehicles proved to be sluggish performers and too big for London use; and saw little use before disposal in the early 1980s. Both saw further use with subsequent owners before passing into preservation. Thanks to Graham Newell for the original monochrome image (16-Jan-19).
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Tags: digitally-coloured AEC Militant Mk I recovery vehicle London Transport
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