ramone:
Dont know how true it was but i watched “Outback Truckers” last week ,the 60 odd year old owner driver setting off with his engine ready to blow up but he needed the trip in so off he went.He was grossing 100 tons with 3 trailers running on tracks which were turning into mud in parts.His motor gave up on 1 hill and he had to drop the trailers and pull them up 1 at a time ,then rehitch them all!!!.He got a flat tyre and preceded to change it in knee deep mud in his bare feet.He got stuck in a small river and spent several hours digging his trailers out in a race against the rain coming and night fall,at 1 point he said he could see something “wriggling” in the water and casually mentioned there were crocodiles in the river ffs!!!,he managed to pull the roadtrain out and off he went.The other 2 parts of this show involved husband and wife teams ,1 couple and their dog ,the husband hated dust so cleaned his cab constantly with his feather duster (im sure that went down well with the aussie drivers) the other couple consisted of an ex model who couldnt drive a manual box ,probably a fuller and her partner who stayed on the bed most of the time.The programme is well worth watching for the 60 year old owner driver who is a class act ,and the wide load drivers taking the ■■■■ out of the feather duster couple
I’ve just downloaded and watched all five episodes, and I thought I was tough doing ten years on the Middle East run.
Desert Rat:
I’ve checked on a few Australian truck forums and they’re not too impressed and say it’s given them a bad name Here’s the five episodes I think.
oiltreader:
A couple of ■■■■■■■ 903 powered International Acco 3070s, note the wee man sat on the fuel tank, a driver in the making , anyway nice bit of sheet and roping.
Oily
Hi Oily, got to be an ex pat that roped/sheeted that? Cheers Chris.
oiltreader:
Hi carlc, An Aussie truck thread is a great idea, I have a whole pile of stuff from OZ contacts with their permission to post on TN , also quite a bit of archive material from way back in the early days, that is if anyone is interested.
Cheers
Oily
Go your hardest oily.
Am just about to start turning wheels again after 18 years out of the game. Dog help me cos the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, the insanely complex rules about driving hours, the over-zealous “scalies” (what were called the “wheeltappers” in Britain when I was there) and Plod in different states who don’t know the rules themselves certainly won’t.
oiltreader:
A couple of ■■■■■■■ 903 powered International Acco 3070s, note the wee man sat on the fuel tank, a driver in the making , anyway nice bit of sheet and roping.
Oily
Hi Oily, got to be an ex pat that roped/sheeted that? Cheers Chris.
You’d be surprised, old hands here in Oz who’ve been sheeting (“tarping” here) and roping semis and B-doubles for decades taught me how to do it proper like.
Hi again, some of the stuff I’ll be posting is already on Past,Present etc. a while back, but this is its true home, I have limited knowledge(read only) of the actual road train scene, so those better versed are welcome with correction etc.
Some pictures of early versions of road trains from library archive and permissable within the terms covering copyright dating in Australia. The steam engine road trains weren’t that successful because of the lack for water and burning fuel on longer journeys
Oily.
In the early 1900s there was the Muller-Falkiner road train, read about it here hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1309585346
This was a tractor with fore and aft petrol engines essentially generators of power to electric motors on both tractor and trailer wheels and on the road or track 1915.
Oily
In 1930s/40s the Australian Government trialed ex army AECs, with not much success, mainly because at 130hp it wasn’t up to it. It had a massive rad cooling fan which was up and behind the driver and mate, ok in summer but froze them at lower temperatures. I have more pics somewhere and will dig them out.
Oily
A break from history and more up to date, the Kenworth tipper outfit is pictured outside Richard Mohr’s place of work, Freightliner dealer(also Mercedes) at Kempsey NSW. Second pic is the man himself, who when I wrote to him was generous in his response with links to other of his collections, at the time of writing to him he was working on a book… 50 Years of Mack in Australia.
Oily
A couple of British wagons in Oz from and thanks to Martin Phippard, who travelled the world studying different country’s road haulage systems, resulting in an encyclopaedic knowledge which he generously shares.
Oily
Here’s the five episodes I think.
, anyway nice bit of sheet and roping.
