SILSDEN’S STRONGEST SEPTUAGENARIAN

It’s the tick over of the Leyland 600 engine which does it for me every time. Richard Green had pulled his large frame up onto the driving seat of his Leyland Hippo and at first touch he fired its engine into life. “Don’t move off,” I begged him and then I asked if his feet were off the pedals as all I wanted to listen to was the soothing sound of that 9.8 litres on tick over as it waited to be called to work.

Engine sound nutters like me could stand around all day and wait for the diesel tank to empty before we tired of such a distinctive drawl. The Leyland 600 can have a habit of almost dying as part of its cycle but the slow reassuring sound just picks itself up – at the point you think it’s going to stall – and goes on and on. What a magical sound it can make although as we’ll discover, it doesn’t always sound like that.

But that’s not the only surprise we’d encounter in the three hours we’d spend wallowing in the life and times of a business who can trace their origins back to 1870 as at their peak, they were one of the largest timber merchants in the country. And not forgetting Green’s were also one of the greatest Leyland devotees you could find simply because they felt the marque was as strong as they came.

Carting Timber – And Coal

With their distinctive yellow and black livery, the Arthur Green motors of old were a once seen, never forgotten sight. True, when carrying herculean sizes of felled round timber, it