Not often you get a peek at the mill but light's perfect today. Rigs in Europe called 'overcabs' as they sit over the engine so as to shorten the vehicle to manoeuvre its narrower streets... some of which still date to the Middle Ages in their layout. Note the cab is pivoted at the front and is provided suspension at the rear and that with the release of a catch it can be tipped over for open access.
This will be a cookin' six with a capacity am guessing of maybe thirteen litres, tho' they never really advertise the figure; though they do the horses, which are usually between 450 and 550 H.P. They are therefore no slouch at the lights minus a trailer, and they are also invariably automatic nowadays and provided with twelve gears. I've driven manuals, which eventually feel just like a car, though greybeards used to have to double-de clutch too... which I've only done in a tractor or dropping down to first gear in the days there was no synchromesh.
There is likely a turbo prior that exhaust pipe, which feeds the box am leaning upon. This is off-side so as not to discharge exhaust in the direction of pedestrians, with the fuel tanks near-side where they're more accessible should you ever run dry.
Note the chassis is a wholly traditional ladder and sets the block at an incline to suit the drive-shaft to the rear axle. The axle in the middle on units is a lift-axle that is only used to spread the load and reduce an axle-weight that otherwise demolishes manhole-covers.
Fuel injected diesel as you can see too, with the clutch and gearbox inline too. The likes of Scania do a V8 that produces 800 H.P. and the guys seem to have found a way to amend the cruise-control to leave you in no doubt they're kings of the road. I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour as much as I have, as my container here is unloaded of its plywood flooring from the Far East?
The trucks a DAF though I've driven all others available in the UK, which curiously do not include the Fords you see on the continent. The most interesting think is how slow-revving diesels get at size: this one motoring at a little over 1000 r.p.m. in the cruise, and 'cathedrals' on ships turning at less than a tenth of that and on a par with the sound and feel of those steam-engines running the cotton mills hereabouts.
The gear-shift mechanism and brakes rely on reserves of compressed air, without which you're going nowhere. The latter is a fail-safe system that applies the brakes should ever the air escape, something Westinghouse began to patent for railroads at the tender age of twenty-two.
