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| Photographer / Copyright: James Mair Images should not be reused without permission. Date added to site:08/12/20 | ||
| Details: The last of 143 D-series lorries bought by London Transport was delivered in August 1981 (tipper 2319F) but it was not until the following May that the first example of the replacement Cargo model was taken. This was artic tractor unit 2373F, based on the Cargo 1313 variant and fitted with a crane behind the cab. It was officially a replacement for unique Leyland Lynx 1995L, and it was based at Chiswick Works, being photographed at the back (Bollo Lane) entrance. After 2373F's arrival, there was a gap of nine months until any further Ford Cargo lorries were delivered, resulting in 2373F being the only one with an X-suffix registration. When new, 2373F had a grey front bumper and wheelarches (as seen here), and these also featured on the three other Cargo artic lorries bought (2382F, 2394F and 2444F), while all the rigid Ford Cargos had them in black. Most of the artics were changed to black later on, while 2373F also had a black front dash panel for a time in 1988. 2373F was disposed of in March 1993, following the arrival of Mercedes artics 2525M-2528M, and it is not thought to have been repainted in the post-1990 white/blue livery. Coupled to 2373F in this photo is CT39, a Crane-Fruehauf single-axle step-frame trailer new in 1984 (2373F would have initially operated with the York trailers bought in the 1970s). CT39 did last long enough to be repainted blue, and it was not sold until 2009, having spent a few years dumped at the back of the lorry yard at Acton Works. | ||
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