When I was a kid I was fascinated by heavy commercial vehicles, and in particular the mighty Atkinson. There was a haulage yard at the end of our street with a fleet of Atkinsons, and all day long they’d be pounding past our house. To me they were awesome, impressively noisy and powerful (and often surrounded by clouds of exhaust smoke). Where were they going? What were they hauling?
Of course the Big A logo on the radiator grille appealed to me as well, being the initial of our family name. To this day the Atki is one of my favourite vintage vehicles and – like the Hillman Imp – one I keep returning to when making designs. Here’s a selection of my Atkinson artworks, all available on various products in my shops on Amazon, Teepublic and Redbubble š
When I saw on Facebook the “Second Annual Atkinson gathering” being held at the Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum in Lincolnshire, it was an event I didn’t want to miss. I made the 154 mile round trip on July 1, setting off in pouring rain which fortunately cleared to blue skies over the museum.
Unfortunately, there were only four Atkis present – two Borderers, a Venturer and a Searcher (which was at least a type I hadn’t seen before) – as well as a couple of Seddon Atkinson Stratos and a random ERF EC11. I suppose 7 lorries counts as a “gathering” and maybe my expectations were too high, but I’ve seen many more Atkis on display at Gaydon and the British Commercial Vehicle Museum Spring Show.
Someone told me quite a few lorries had “gone out on a run” before I arrived, and should be “back in half an hour”. 90 minutes later, 3 more Seddon Atkinsons had turned up but no sign of any more older Atkis, so I went home disappointed. The Trolleybus museum itself was interesting enough for a one-off visit but I won’t be bothering with the “Third Annual Atkinson gathering” if there is one next year.