combi89:
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Great pictures combie89. Merci beaucoup.
My Mack Titan with a load of crusher parts at the Telfor gold mine in West Aus.
This truck had a 140ton rating so I suppose it would be in the same league as the Hendricksons of yester year certainly more comfortable not nearly so interesting though 
DIG:
My Mack Titan with a load of crusher parts at the Telfor gold mine in West Aus.
This truck had a 140ton rating so I suppose it would be in the same league as the Hendricksons of yester year certainly more comfortable not nearly so interesting though
I wouldn’t say that Dig, it interests me. 
That ‘pimple’ that the driver sits in on top of the Hendrickson reminds me of the night I spent in a Contractor sleeper while my Daf was being serviced at Econofreight’s in Thornaby. Cramped. 
I wouldn’t say that Dig, it interests me.
That ‘pimple’ that the driver sits in on top of the Hendrickson reminds me of the night I spent in a Contractor sleeper while my Daf was being serviced at Econofreight’s in Thornaby. Cramped.
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David this Mack I owned had a sleeper fitted but a mate had the same model but no sleeper he slept on the floor curled around the gear sticks ,not a tall chap but reckoned good on a cold night like an electric blanket the warmth from the floor.
Dig
DIG:
David this Mack I owned had a sleeper fitted but a mate had the same model but no sleeper he slept on the floor curled around the gear sticks ,not a tall chap but reckoned good on a cold night like an electric blanket the warmth from the floor.Dig
When you were hauling cows did you normally load them in the evening? We did, I was told that, as most of them were half wild and aggressive, dusk was a more calming time for them. Thus we drove overnight and morning arriving about lunchtime, then had a big meal and gallons of tea laid on by the station owner before bedding down to sleep in the bulldust under the shade of a trailer for the afternoon. Even if we had had sleepers, in those pre-aircon days, it would be cooler than sleeping in the cab anyway.
Of course the snakes and scorpions thought so too, not that I ever met one under there.
Hi All, not been on for a while, there has been some excellent stuff put on here!!!
Here is a couple of photos from me.
When I worked at Electrolux, Spennymoor, one Saturday morning this Scammell S26 of Leicester Heavy Haulage was on site moving some machine shop equipment. It must have been about '92/93 as that’s my Land Rover in the background.
When you were hauling cows did you normally load them in the evening? We did, I was told that, as most of them were half wild and aggressive, dusk was a more calming time for them. Thus we drove overnight and morning arriving about lunchtime, then had a big meal and gallons of tea laid on by the station owner before bedding down to sleep in the bulldust under the shade of a trailer for the afternoon. Even if we had had sleepers, in those pre-aircon days, it would be cooler than sleeping in the cab anyway.
Of course the snakes and scorpions thought so too, not that I ever met one under there.
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David our loading times at the stations was dictated by the managers or owners. Some times daylight sometimes last light and sometimes when you got there if we were running late and towards the end of my cattle career that wasn’t unusual due to the pressure and volume of work we had.
The picture below is also for Patrick ,I.m not sure what model it was but it was a bull running buggy that started life as a Toyota and over the years rebuilt numerous times as they had a hard life,the gentleman who owned this one and 3 or 4 more which he used for running down wild bulls,the manager of the station which contracted him booked me 14 weeks straight for PM loading 3 single decks around 75 head a week all run down by the buggy then taken to the main trucking yard for me to load.
They were trucked through the night to Broome meat works around 10hours usually arriving there around 3am.
Dig
DIG:
My Mack Titan with a load of crusher parts at the Telfor gold mine in West Aus.
This truck had a 140ton rating so I suppose it would be in the same league as the Hendricksons of yester year certainly more comfortable not nearly so interesting though
Cracking pic of the Titan Dig,never knew you had one of those ! Did it have the Mack V8 500 bhp under the bonnet ■■?
Heres a bit more on cattle haulage.
Click on pages twice.
DEANB:
DIG:
My Mack Titan with a load of crusher parts at the Telfor gold mine in West Aus.
This truck had a 140ton rating so I suppose it would be in the same league as the Hendricksons of yester year certainly more comfortable not nearly so interesting thoughCracking pic of the Titan Dig,never knew you had one of those ! Did it have the Mack V8 500 bhp under the bonnet ■■?
Heres a bit more on cattle haulage.
Interesting article Dean, but, as it appears to have been written in 1968/9, about the time I was there, I am surprised to see the reference to tri-axles. Certainly at Buntine’s all our trailers were tandems. I wonder what Dig’s take on that is?
But good to see that Foden ploughing up the dust, they, along with Leylands, were still in evidence then, but mainly confined to certain devoted hauliers. Meanwhile the mighty Mack was taking over. 
DEANB:
DIG:
My Mack Titan with a load of crusher parts at the Telfor gold mine in West Aus.
This truck had a 140ton rating so I suppose it would be in the same league as the Hendricksons of yester year certainly more comfortable not nearly so interesting thoughCracking pic of the Titan Dig,never knew you had one of those ! Did it have the Mack V8 500 bhp under the bonnet ■■?
Hi Deano where do you get them from ,as David said i can’t recall tri axle double deck trailers appearing until about 1980ish our way and I think Hallmark Volume crates and trailers were Buntines first so I doubt any of the Fodens or Leylands would have had any hanging on behind.
The Titan I owned DeanO had a 575hp EM9 electronic V8 it could be obtained with a 610hp model which at best could be described as fragile,my 575 was also a trouble child it dropped the front camshaft bearing on 2 occasions the second time it split the block through the casting not long after i had just spent 10thou on fuel pump issues and oil leaks so I sold it for the parts still operational and used the money to rebuild the 18speed Mack gearbox purchased a new Cat C 15 550hp engine and spent 4 weeks fitting it myself,it was a most satisfying result and proved to be a good investment.
Just had a thought the dog trailers they pulled and we pulled were single deck and had a bogie axle assy at the rear and a single axle dolly at the front and where probably what the author of DeanOs article called a tri axle unit.
Dig
Dig:
Just had a thought the dog trailers they pulled and we pulled were single deck and had a bogie axle assy at the rear and a single axle dolly at the front and where probably what the author of DeanOs article called a tri axle unit.
Good point mate. That sleeper of yours is the biz though, high enough to stand up in alongside a single bunk, or did you have a double bunk? And was there an outside entry on the other side? The best I ever had as a sleeper was my last wagon, the Magnum, single bunk and walk around flat floor. I had been banging on for years for the EU to relax the length laws to limit trailer length rather than overall so that drivers on the road for weeks could have a decent living space, then the Magnum came along with the cab on top of the engine, and suddenly it wasn’t necessary to have conventionals after all.
I could have had Magnums years earlier though when I was manager at Toray. I had one booked for trial from RH Commercials in Nottingham, hired the trailer for it in advance too (we had non, by that time all wagon and drag) and then RH cocked it up and it never appeared. I charged them for the trailer which had already been delivered and much later when we sold the motors to Ryder and leased them back, the resistance from them to Renaults ruled them out.
When I was there at Buntine’s they had no sleeper cabs, but one day an ex-driver of his, Greg somebody I think, who had branched out on his own, came into the yard with a cabover Mack sleeper. We were climbing all over it, including Noel.
The Mack Magnum here was a Renault cab and chassis with American engine and driveline,It was never a contender in the road train industry here and was withdrawn after 5 years with a poor reputation for reliability.
My Titan had a quite large bed roomy when solo but not uncomfortable when entertaining,your right David there is a full length door on the passenger side I called it the ladies entrance/exit i found it handy when a call of nature during the night gave one a shortcut to the outside.It had a seperate a/c unit coupled to the engine and when i fitted an Ice Pak system the controls and fan system [it was mounted between the rear fuel tank and drive tyres passenger side] was all in the sleeper and could be operated from the bed without having to get up.I lost the taste for swagging with the wildlife after fitting the Ice Pak.
Dig
We call those bunk doors “■■■■■ doors” in the northern colonies. I’ve got one on my Pete, but it hasn’t lived up to it’s name and I’ve no plans to change that. I also have a Thermo King Tripac auxiliary power unit that gives me A/C, charges my batteries and as it uses the engine coolant, it also keeps things warm in winter. I rely on it down to -20c, any colder and the big CAT sounds like a bag of bolts. Is that similar to your set up Dig?
newmercman:
We call those bunk doors “■■■■■ doors” in the northern colonies. I’ve got one on my Pete, but it hasn’t lived up to it’s name and I’ve no plans to change that. I also have a Thermo King Tripac auxiliary power unit that gives me A/C, charges my batteries and as it uses the engine coolant, it also keeps things warm in winter. I rely on it down to -20c, any colder and the big CAT sounds like a bag of bolts. Is that similar to your set up Dig?
Some similarities NMM but we don’t suffer from -20c thats cold so the main use is cooling ,I have had nights of plus 35c so the unit payed for itself in comfort sleeps in the summer. The early units like mine had Kubota air cooled diesel engines noisiy little buggers but no more than a fridge unit rattling away all night,they had there own charging system which was handy if the main truck generator failed the Ice Pak would supply enough power to travel at night but needed to pull the plug on the rear 2 trailers for it to cope with spots and high beam.
Dig
Dig:
I lost the taste for swagging with the wildlife after fitting the Ice Pak.
No more ‘Waltzing Mathilda’ then eh Dig?
I had to laugh yesterday when I heard on the radio for the first time that the nickname for the Australian Ladies’ National Football Team is ‘The Mathildas’. 
Don’t they teach their kids their own history in Oz anymore? As I’m sure Dig knows, Mathilda is a swag roll, that is, the bed of a swagman, tramp, hobo, call him what you will, all rolled up containing all his worldly goods and comforts. Is that what Australian ‘Ladies’ compare themselves to these days? A tramp’s comfort blanket.
When I entered Australia for the 2nd time that was all I had across my back as I emerged from the plane at Darwin. If I’d known I had a nubile and athletic footie maiden on my back I could have had some real fun as I waited for the taxi to town.
I love that roomy cabin on the rear of the trailer, Combi, big enough for the whole crew to park up and sleep in, if they had enough curtains that is.
Was that original equipment on the Nicholas? Or was that a Canadian addition to an otherwise open platform?
An iconic picture, nevertheless. 