Meritor Test Trucks: Cwmbran garage

The words over the door speak for themselves.

A 60 ton capable scissor lift allows Meritor's engineers to inspect every nook and cranny of their test vehicles.

A variety of vehicles, from tractors to straight trucks, populate Meritor's European test fleet. The green Iveco Stralis tractor in the foreground is nicknamed 'Kermit' after a certain frog of Muppet fame. Read more about Iveco

This straight truck and trailer combination is known as a 'drawbar trailer' configuration. The Scania R420 truck portion weighs out at 18 tons while the trailer weighs out at 24 tons.

By the way, the nickname for this black Scania truck is 'Montana.'

The Volvo FH 12 tractor up on the lift is nicknamed 'Deanrhew' by Meritor's engineers, which is Welsh for 'Iceman.'

Dietmar Knoop, head of engineering for Meritor's European brake division, shows off some of the remnants of brake components tested by his engineering crew in these test trucks.

Pictures are data logging units for the test trucks, which gather and transmit myriad vehicle performance metrics from the field.

This Scania R480 tractor is nicknamed 'Malle' and sports a heavy weight 'pack' on the fifth wheel to simulate the weight of a trailer. The vehicle weighs out at 18 tons.