< View previous picture - View next picture > Photographer / Copyright John Marshall Images should not be reused without permission. View vehicle details  JXC354 Location Link/s Lillie Bridge Depot Date added to site 11/12/2011 Printer-friendly version of this page

Details: The adjective 'cute' does not spring to mind when looking at most service vehicles, but this one might be an exception. Painted in plain Chiswick Green, JXC354 was a Mercury electric platform truck, photographed at Lillie Bridge depot on 11th June 1968. Apart from it being new in 1948, not much else is known about it. However, it does seem likely that it performed the same role as VLW676G, a Lancing Bagnall battery electric truck new in 1968, perhaps being replaced by it. The Capital Transport book on service vehicles states that VLW676G was kept at Earls Court Station, and that it was road-licensed so that it could operate (with a trailer) between there and Lillie Bridge. It adds that the vehicle operated along the walkways above Earls Court Station! JXC354 also had a trailer, although it was not attached when photographed. The entire block of registrations between JXC1 and JXC500 was used by London Transport, featuring on RT and TD clas buses as well as numerous service vehicles.

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Posted By	Comments	Date/Time
Phillip Walton	I think this is a petrol driven truck rather than electric. There are no battery boxes between the axles, it has a radiator and a conventional battery (6 Volt?) fitted just inside the door opening. The petrol Mercury tractors used the Ford 10hp engine from the E83W 10cwt van although other makes could be specified.	Sun 11/12/2011, 11:00
Thomas Young	Thanks for the note Phillip. Sadly I don't have access to the official documents I used whilst researching this site and SUP15B. The only published reference to JXC354 I can put my hands on is LOTS SUP22 of 1981. This lists it as an ''Electric Mercury Platform Truck''.	Sun 11/12/2011, 21:08