Pickfords News.
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Was this you Patrick? 
Dig / Spardo
Heres another article on cattle haulage in Australia.
This was a right ■■■■■■■ to scan as pages far too big to fit so when you get to the writing you will see that often some is
missing just go to the next page and it will all be on that page. 
Click on pages twice to read.
DEANB:
Dig / SpardoHeres another article on cattle haulage in Australia.
This was a right [zb] to scan as pages far too big to fit so when you get to the writing you will see that often some is
missing just go to the next page and it will all be on that page.Click on pages twice to read.
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Thanks for all the effort you put into that Deano, it must have taken you ages. Most if not all of it is after my time, Buntine didn’t have any stepframes or sleepers when I was there and Noel certainly wasn’t 50 years old, more like 40. And I don’t recognise a single face in the group photo. Most of it is true but much of it I feel is done for dramatic effect. I don’t think it is a surprise that it is from the Sunday Telegraph magazine, rather than a bona fide transport publication.
I never mended a puncture at the side of the road, but that was because of 2 very good reasons. Firstly I carried 12 spare wheels and, when they ran out, and they did on my first trip, I benefitted from Buntine’s habit of running us all in, admittedly strung out over several miles, convoy. So there was always someone coming along behind to lend me a wheel.
Running over a crocodile? Really? In the middle of a desert? Maybe further north after Katherine it may have been possible, but I never saw one. Also as far as I remember the Stuart Highway north from the Alice to Darwin was all bitumen, not that wide mind you, but not sand either.
I’ll be interested to read when Dig comes along, to agree with, or contradict me.
PS, I never took a pill, but I was very, very tired alot of the time. 
Edit: re the crocodiles, I suppose there were some in the rivers we forded, the Victoria and the Ord, but nobody warned me about them as we, one by one, stopped in the middle to tumble out of the cab for a refreshing dip. I wonder if I would still have done that if I had been told. 
Mountaineer was 4x4, Constructor was 6x6, according to my perusal of the usual places. Superb picture, btw. 
Great photos of those old trucks Patrick,DeanO, Lawrence, Jshepguis , lr and Robert apologies if I have missed anyone, we have to hats off to those old fellas that operated them not much in the way of automation armstrong springs to mind on of my days on Matador wreckers.
Oily I do like that Cadzow Daff now that is an eye catching paint job.
I don’t think I would like to drive that military tri drive Oshkosh with a fully loaded container on board the centre of gravity would be pretty high,I would have good hold of the seat without using my hands.
Thanks DeanO you keep finding them although that article did show the the mess our industry was in in those times, I wanted to be involved so to some extent accepted the way it was done we were on a basic wage in my first season plus mileage money based on loaded decks,the season were usually no more than 6 months and so the money was more than a normal job could be earnt in 12 months.
The article on the road trains of the northern territory had a few errors like the number of cattle on board market bullocks went around 25 per 40foot deck and 6 decks gives you 150 head and the length at that time our maximum length was 140feet in West Aus we could pull triples but the territory in the early 70s was only 2 x40 trailers per semi road train or 3 trailers behind a body truck with a 32 foot deck. my first venture across the border into the NT with store cattle on 3single decks was in 1971 and we were halted by the police in Timber Creek 300kms west of Katherine and told not to come back with 3 trailers under penalty of being halted for the duration, fortunately we we had delivered our load and were on the way home so I never went back until 1979 when they allowed the triples.
The Stewart hwy was single lane Bitumen Alice to Darwin and from Katherine to the West Oz border in the early70s and Noel Buntine at that time was in his early 40s.
I have seen a croc crossing the track in the Leopold ranges to all you who follow Outback Truckers thats on the Gibb River road it was about 8 foot long and was obviously looking for a new home,they tell me smaller crocs will leave a waterhole if a large Salty moves in and decides his favourite meals are smaller crocs.
One of our Oil trucks carting crude oil to Broome ran a 10 foot salty over that was on the road in the Fitzroy rivers flood plain so it s a possibility.
I have mended tyres in a truck bay I carried 2 spares a trailer and had done 7 trips without a flat then got 7 flats on the 8th trip.
Dig
Couple of triple photos one of Crooksys with a load of earth moving tyres for one of the mines the other I may have posted before it was my first Darwin trip in the KW I had just purchased mine is the lead truck and please no comment re the lead trailer tarp job when I think of a good excuse for it I will take comments.
Dig
pv83:
These two were just leaving when I pulled in for a cuppa at a polish truckstop last year, I reckon they’re both Oshkosh’s?
They are both Oshkosh’s the 10 x 10 is either a M1074 A1 or M1075 A1, both available second hand if you are interested the other one is a M1083 6 x 6 also available second hand.The US forces are now pretty big in Poland now they shift weapon systems stuff about mostly.
Dig:
…in West Aus we could pull triples but the territory in the early 70s was only 2 x40 trailers per semi road train or 2 trailers behind a body truck with a 32 foot deck. my first venture across the border into the NT with store cattle on 3single decks was in 1971 and we were halted by the police in Timber Creek 300kms west of Katherine and told not to come back with 3 trailers under penalty of being halted for the duration, fortunately we we had delivered our load and were on the way home so I never went back until 1979 when they allowed the triples.
Blimey Dig, are you saying that triples were not allowed in the Territory in the 60s then, or was that imposed in the early 70s for some reason ? If so we were definitely all running illegal at Buntines in '68/'69. Could have been so I suppose, but I never saw a policeman until one day one came to the base from Katherine to check if George was still on the team. There was a wanted notice on him down in Victoria and the NT police said they wouldn’t bother him as long as he stayed in the Territory. I suppose they excused his excursions over the WA border to Wyndham on the grounds that they knew he was coming back.
It does surprise me though, the difference between WA and NT rules. We all regarded ourselves as in outlaw country but had to behave when we moved west over the border into WA, being such a buttoned up law-abiding society. I suppose it is best demonstrated when we had to walk a mile to the pub in Kunnanurra because road trains were banned in the town. First time I did that it didn’t help when we found the bloody pub shut. 
My god, they must have had licensing laws too.
Or maybe they just saw a mob of hungry, thirsty, dusty, scruffy drivers trekking down the main drag.
No licensing laws at Timber Creek, or policemen. That was our first stop from Katherine and where we filled up with diesel, steaks, beer and rum in the middle of the night.
Spardo:
Dig:
…in West Aus we could pull triples but the territory in the early 70s was only 2 x40 trailers per semi road train or 2 trailers behind a body truck with a 32 foot deck. my first venture across the border into the NT with store cattle on 3single decks was in 1971 and we were halted by the police in Timber Creek 300kms west of Katherine and told not to come back with 3 trailers under penalty of being halted for the duration, fortunately we we had delivered our load and were on the way home so I never went back until 1979 when they allowed the triples.Blimey Dig, are you saying that triples were not allowed in the Territory in the 60s then, or was that imposed in the early 70s for some reason ? If so we were definitely all running illegal at Buntines in '68/'69. Could have been so I suppose, but I never saw a policeman until one day one came to the base from Katherine to check if George was still on the team. There was a wanted notice on him down in Victoria and the NT police said they wouldn’t bother him as long as he stayed in the Territory. I suppose they excused his excursions over the WA border to Wyndham on the grounds that they knew he was coming back.
It does surprise me though, the difference between WA and NT rules. We all regarded ourselves as in outlaw country but had to behave when we moved west over the border into WA, being such a buttoned up law-abiding society.
Or maybe they just saw a mob of hungry, thirsty, dusty, scruffy drivers trekking down the main drag.
No licensing laws at Timber Creek, or policemen. That was our first stop from Katherine and where we filled up with diesel, steaks, beer and rum in the middle of the night.
“we found the bloody pub shut. ”
Kinda struck a chord you might say Spardo
youtube.com/watch?v=7bIJV8gaBK4
Oily
Spardo:
Dig:
…in West Aus we could pull triples but the territory in the early 70s was only 2 x40 trailers per semi road train or 2 trailers behind a body truck with a 32 foot deck. my first venture across the border into the NT with store cattle on 3single decks was in 1971 and we were halted by the police in Timber Creek 300kms west of Katherine and told not to come back with 3 trailers under penalty of being halted for the duration, fortunately we we had delivered our load and were on the way home so I never went back until 1979 when they allowed the triples.Blimey Dig, are you saying that triples were not allowed in the Territory in the 60s then, or was that imposed in the early 70s for some reason ? If so we were definitely all running illegal at Buntines in '68/'69. Could have been so I suppose, but I never saw a policeman until one day one came to the base from Katherine to check if George was still on the team. There was a wanted notice on him down in Victoria and the NT police said they wouldn’t bother him as long as he stayed in the Territory. I suppose they excused his excursions over the WA border to Wyndham on the grounds that they knew he was coming back.
It does surprise me though, the difference between WA and NT rules. We all regarded ourselves as in outlaw country but had to behave when we moved west over the border into WA, being such a buttoned up law-abiding society.
Or maybe they just saw a mob of hungry, thirsty, dusty, scruffy drivers trekking down the main drag.
No licensing laws at Timber Creek, or policemen. That was our first stop from Katherine and where we filled up with diesel, steaks, beer and rum in the middle of the night.
David my apologies I made a mistake Body trucks could pull 3 dog trailers so you can rest easy there won’t be any outstanding warrants for you if you decide to visit.
We had a session time in the pubs in those days on Sundays they would open for an hour or so at lunchtime and then again in the evening I.m guessing it was for the drinkers who couldn’t go for a whole day without one,I was at best an occasional drinker at that time so i.m unsure of the exact times I did get attached to rum when I was doing long hours,I.m sure there will be shock horror at the revelation that i had a nip of rum in my pannikin of black coffee in the early hours which helped to keep the eyes open while roaring through the night with double decker loads of cattle on board.
Kunnara not my favourite place to stop either Wyndham was also a bit of a walk to the hotel but there always seemed to be someone there to give a lift whenever i stayed in town for a night. I used to park up in the Buntine yard there.
Timber Creek what a picturesque small town on the banks of the Victoria river 24 hour liquor licence and meals at any time at the pub as you say a favourite place for the trucks,there has always been a police station there but they were rarely seen on the highway and our meeting with them was at the bequest of your old boss ,they didn’t cause us any grief other than a warning not to do it again, the claimed they didn’t like being given orders by a person in the transport industry.
The following year Mulla Bulla station out of Halls Creek sold a large number of cattle to the Perth market and Buntines got the job taking the cattle to the Meekatharra rail head about 6 triple double deckers arrived at Myles Bore yards on the outskirts of Derby to spell the cattle plus run them through the dips twice to eradicate any ticks while there the local police paid them a visit an it came to light the double deckers were a foot over height so the whole lot were grounded ,the drivers were not happy and we were acused of dobbing them in we hadn’t but a Broome company had but we bore the brunt of it almost got to all out war after the rums had taken effect it was only our close association with some of these drivers on the road that got us out of what could have been a nasty situation,all was resolved after a couple of days when the West Oz government issued them with permits to complete the job,us west Oz companies have never been able to obtain those permits.
Just goes to show it isn’t what you know but who you know.
Dig
oiltreader:
“we found the bloody pub shut.
Kinda struck a chord you might say Spardo
youtube.com/watch?v=7bIJV8gaBK4
Oily
Ah yes, the late great Slim Dusty, that song was always a favourite of mine, he even got it to the top of the UK hit parade I believe.
Rumour had it that it was in a bar in Katherine with some Buntine drivers that he wrote another classic of his ‘Road Trains’.
youtube.com/watch?v=VO8VoPegE-0
Dig:
David my apologies I made a mistake Body trucks could pull 3 dog trailers so you can rest easy there won’t be any outstanding warrants for you if you decide to visit.
None needed mate, but I am still confused, we only had one body truck in my time, and that was George’s which I drove with him on my first trip, and we had 2 I reckon, not sure though, I had my concentration on his antics at the wheel and my struggling to understand the quad gearbox.
But I am sure that the rest of them, me included after that, had a semi and 2, that is 3 x 40 foot tandems. Your story about the overheight only strengthens our attitude to WA , not that it bothered me at the time, we didn’t have double decks then, all on one level was quite enough for me to handle. 
I didn’t even know that Timber Creek was a town. I thought it was just a Post Office with some pumps and a bar on the side of the road. As I remember it we had to wake the bloke up in the middle of the night to serve us all.
Couple more from the rig move shoebox.
Dig
DIG:
Couple more from the rig move shoebox.
Dig
That last article certainly brought back some memories for you and Spardo.
Out of all the truck’s you operated Dig,what was your favourite one and why ? Great pics of the Kenworth.
LR Man:
Pickfords MAN Jumbo 6x6 taken at their Birtley depot.
“LR Man” Heres a bit about the sister of that truck in your photo.
Click on pages twice to read.
1978 Clipping.
Spardo:
Was this you Patrick?
Well you know me mate, I only stop for animals