Colin.F.whitetrans you posted this pic on the F10,12,16 thread.
Interesting picture,Just wondered where you were and whether that is snow or water either side of the road / track??
Keep posting those pics up, they are very interesting! 
bullitt:
Colin.F.whitetrans you posted this pic on the F10,12,16 thread.
Interesting picture,Just wondered where you were and whether that is snow or water either side of the road / track??
Keep posting those pics up, they are very interesting!
Hi Bullit
It is the main road between Bekdash and Turkmenbashi in Turkmenistan. On one side you have the caspian sea and on the other you have Kara Bogaz lake. If you do a search on bing maps or google you will see the strip of land clearly on the arial view. It widens out after a few kilometres but not by much.This was the way we drove to nebit dag as it stopped being safe to go through dagestan into azerbajan for the baku ferry. Down that end of kazak at the time you spent more time on gravel than tarmac as most of the roads never got completed. In turkmenistan after this stretch of road the surface was fine the rest of the way
Reg colin
Hi Colin, thanks for the reply, thats all interesting stuff. Looks like you dont have much leaway either side of that track!!
How long were you away for on those trips and what sort of round trip mileage was it. Surely some of those runs would have been further than the long M/E trips?
Anyone still doing that area now given all the problems in the world??
Cheers, bullitt.
bullitt:
Hi Colin, thanks for the reply, thats all interesting stuff. Looks like you dont have much leaway either side of that track!!How long were you away for on those trips and what sort of round trip mileage was it. Surely some of those runs would have been further than the long M/E trips?
Anyone still doing that area now given all the problems in the world??
Cheers, bullitt.
Hi bullit
Every trip was different as far as the time scale depending how the borders and the customs at the unloading point took to clear the paperwork. Turkmenistan would take us 14 to 18 days one way and the the azerbajan could easily be done in 10-11 days going through russia as opposed to turkey. I suppose some would be longer than some m/e destinations especially zarafshan and a trip i did to nukus, uzbek as we had to go down through kazak and not through iran. And then you had the winter that could add at least a week and even more on any trip east of moscow. The good thing about turkmenistan is they would have turned you round and on your way normally 24hrs. Uzbekistan was generally 2-3 days for clearance and I once spent 11 days in a customs parking 10km outside aktobinsk (kazak) which also had an ice cream factory on site. I was tipping for nabors drilling and there was complications with the paperwork so they would come and see me everyday and let me use their sattelite phone to call home then they would drop me in the town centre and i would chill having a few beers then hitch hike back to the customs terminal .I only did that because it was summertime though 
. I havnt done the m/e but listening to some of they drivers who have the job sounds similar in many aspects. There is a few guys on here who have done both central asia and the m/e so they would know better than me the comparisons
speaking of eagle freight, do you remember an ozzy guy called pete smith who used to work for them?
From what I heard from blokes that had done M/E and C/Asia, the difference was that the M/E came up to speed,roadwise and infrastructure wise quicker the C/A did.I never did M/E so can only listen to people who have. I wanted to do M/E when I was younger and started Europe, but Les Rivett, told me I didnt have the patience for it, and at that time he probably was right, then later on I was doing Kazak and Azer,just because I wanted to get away from U.K perhaps cos Id got older and calmed down a bit I enjoyed it
Every trip was different to a degree,but was still same place,delivering same stuff.
First time I went to Tengiz was Jan 1995, was very cold 
and took forever to get there ( well seemed like it),went down with Charlie Allen, he was only going to Ateryua and he hadnt been that far before, had tried but had broke down and been turned round,so we were both "learners",but we got there and back, when I got back, PG asked how I like dit? and gave me new truck and said "well done ,good man, crack on " :smiley: and thats what I did. I did Tengiz regularly, backloaded manhole covers out of Nizny,tipped Burton on Trent,or if no manhole covers, would load anywhere on the way back,have actually ran alway back to Amsterdam a back loaded for U.K,tip backload, then back into yard (if backloaded for U.K), fill up, any problems sorted ,back to Poeldijk (or that area) for 8am, load again and off I went. Some blokes backloaded out of Ateryua with fish for Europe, I never did, glad I didnt realy was bad enough one way loaded on the Goat track, both ways would have realy p****** me off
There was talk at one time of us loading cavier out of Ateryua,but didnt come off thank god, I doubt we would have made it back to Uralsk with 25 ton of cavier in the back :confused: In the summer,driving was easier, you could realy cover the ks, not speed wise but long days meant long hours, some blokes did stop and get on the cheap beer,but not all of us,though we all had to take a break sometimes and just chill out.I cant remmber exactly the ks for Tengiz,Nizny and back, but I think it was about alot, 
I know it was more than the service interval of new Volvos at that time.I have got a figure in my mind, but seems a bit much for the time we used to take, so is my memory playing tricks with the ks or am I more sensible nowadays? (old) 
bullitt:
Colin.F.whitetrans you posted this pic on the F10,12,16 thread.
Interesting picture,Just wondered where you were and whether that is snow or water either side of the road / track??
Keep posting those pics up, they are very interesting!
After passing kazak border you had to drive a fair way untill you reached the turkmen side and thats where i had what i thought would be a major problem with no visa for turkmenistan. I had done a change over at smolensk and only had my yearly russian visa and no time to wait for my other passport to get a visa in london as the load was a rush job so just fired on down to the border as quickly and safely as possible. I arrived at the turkmen side late at night and headed to the customs to do the paperwork only to be told my russian visa would not do!! I knew this as i had just shipped into turkmen from baku a few weeks earlier and bought a visa at the port of turkmenbashi. There was a few latvian trucks at the border and the drivers took me outside and told me to ask them to do business and you would receive the visa at 7am the next day. I returned to the office and agreed a $100 fee for a $42 visa and then shared a drink before bed with the latvians and the border guards. This really was in the middle of knowhere and my choices were limited so i took the latvians at there word as they had done this system many times before and paid my money and handed over my passport for a visa. Next day as promised at 7am the customs woke me up with my paperwork and my passport with another new turkmen visa inside which was issued at the port of turkmenbashi with the same signature as my first visa!! Maybe a chance to take but when you are so far from home and you are put on the spot only yourself can make that decision as there is not a phone to use for hundreds of miles. I left a disney dollar at the border and the customs man always called me mickey mouse every time he saw me after that first trip. Like i have said before you always wonder about posting anything about the experiences you had as whether people would believe you or not 
Believe or not Colin.? Wht ever do you mean? Dont you believe in trial by internet forum? :laughing: :laughing: Did you ever see any of the t shirts?? I think I got one kicking around somewhere still, we had them made in Smolensk,on front was Russanglia truck and England,Russia,Kazachstan (all in Russian) and on the back was, To Russia with hope, from Russia with Love,had to say that being made in Smolensk :laughing: I did have some more made, ■■■■■■■■■ letters on the front... Ban Live Export.... Protestors !!! I used to wear them in Dover, I got called into offices there one day and was asked by someone in a suit not to wear them as they could be construde to be atagonistic !!! I didnt have a clue what they meant 
Colin and John, love the stories and tales, keep them coming chaps and some more pics if you have any.
I havent a clue where most of the places you refer to are so google maps are getting a hammering at the moment!! 
Thanks Bullitt.
In my opinion, we werent nobody special, we just did a job that paid well and not many people wanted to do, no thats not quite right, loads wanted to do it, but not many could stand the pace and the actual job, and I dont mean that in a derogatory way, just fact, O oners,puffing billies, owner drivers, whatever you wanna call them, we saw a few want to go and earn a fortune and come back with a dirty truck, but they soon fell by the wayside.
One owner driver I got some respect for is Alan Kendal, that bloke used to just shunt up and down to Tengiz or the mine,he preferred the mine as paid better,but he just kept going. P.G kept trying to get me and Alan to run together, but it never happened, he was mainly on tilt and me on fridges.
When I started back with P.G on Russian work, Id heard about this short arsed cockney, he was supposed to be bit of a, ummm, errr well a cockney :wink: ,anyway, I was down south of Samara one day and saw thsi red Super space coming the other way, it was Alan, we pull over, and he walks up to my door, and his first words, wasnt hi Im Alan, you must be John, Big John, John boy, etc etc,nope, His first words to me where, Hi Im Alan Kendal, you must be Big John,P.G told me about you, well either get on well, or we wont ! thats how it is " , and we did get on ! Ref google, I come from Forest of Dean originally,and theres people there in my age group who not been to London,let alone abroad, and when I did go home (hated U.K so wasnt often ) someone in the pub would always ask, oh where you been for so long,not seen you about etc etc, and after 10 mins explaining, usual reply was,oh never heard of that place, so after a while I d get bit fed up and my directions then became,,, Oh just got to Moscow and turn right,keep going south til you get to Caspian Sea, then turn left and follow your nose round the Caspian and Tengiz is on your right ! Strange thing is, people actually They could find it easily from my directions!
Getting diesel out there was always a bit of a challenge, diesel stops or trucks on side of road was not a problem realy, once you knew which ones sold good diesel and which sold crap, cos I loaded out of the Gaz car plant alot in Nizny, I got to know a couple of train drivers, and I used to buy it off them, theyd fill my belly tank and truck tank for $100, they wanted $150 but I haggled abit ( PG would have been proud of me ) theyd fill me out of the train with 40 litre buckets,and their kids would be there carrying the buckets, used to take them most of the night,but was worth it. After the first time,, I used to make sure I was low enough to make it worth it, approx 2000 litres for $100,Shell couldnt match the price or service believe me.
Heres an old Russanglia tilt that I bought, it had around 2000 litres underneath, well built trailer got to give Gilder a pat on the back for building it like that, was around 20t empty with that 16 though. I cut the tank off in the finish to get my tare down. I had it for years & even refurbed it.
Here it is after refurb, sorry to get off the thread but thought you may like to see one of them again.
Fly sheet
One thing about that man, he wanted the work done, but we had the kit to do the job and the $ too.
Everything was specced well, sometimes too well, if thats possible.
I remember one day I was in the office and a Lambaret rep came in and started the sales pitch, P.G just gave him the look, everyone in the room except the rep knew he was wasting his breath, but he soldiered on, then P.G said " if youd came a month ago, you could have quoted for the 25 new fridges we got coming" the rep just sunk, then PG drops a carrot, "just out of interest, whats your best price for 25 fridges with BPW axles, belly tanks, 50 ton towing pins on the back with all airlines to back too, blah blah blah", the rep thought all his christmases had come at once, and asked when it would be convenient to ring with a price? P.G replied, ring me? I asked you for a price to the spec I want, Id have thought you would have gave me a price now"
Good pics flysheet, you must have got some strange looks with a unit ex one cotswold cowboy,pulling a tilt from the other cotswold cowboy
I’d buy from Gilder tomorrow John as for the other Fella I would’nt buy anything he’d owned ever again 
Fly sheet.
john.d.m:
Believe or not Colin.? Wht ever do you mean? Dont you believe in trial by internet forum? :laughing: :laughing: Did you ever see any of the t shirts?? I think I got one kicking around somewhere still, we had them made in Smolensk,on front was Russanglia truck and England,Russia,Kazachstan (all in Russian) and on the back was, To Russia with hope, from Russia with Love,had to say that being made in Smolensk :laughing: I did have some more made, ■■■■■■■■■ letters on the front... Ban Live Export.... Protestors !!! I used to wear them in Dover, I got called into offices there one day and was asked by someone in a suit not to wear them as they could be construde to be atagonistic !!! I didnt have a clue what they meant
Yeah john i remember the teashirts and the model trucks they used to make for you in smolensk. On the thread about camion stew there is a cracking photo of m&c jamie with i believe a white smolensk teashirt on. Could be wrong but did one not say on it natasha waiting?
Hi John,reading your post about the Smolensk T shirts , maybe you can confirm the story about Ralphy Davies’s drivers who had some printed with Ralph davies in large letters on the front and a print of his volvo’s as taken from his trailers, bursting through into europe ( complete with the curtains closed and the landing legs wound down). It was reported that one of his drivers went into the office wearing one and asked Ralph what he thought, he appeared to be pretty interested until the driver turned round to show off the printing on the back which supposedly read Who the F**k is Ralph Davies. I’ll leave the rest to your imagination. Regards Jamie.
P.S. Where is the Largest International Haulier from Tintern Abbey nowaday’s ? last i heard he was in Ireland.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s.
Id love to be a fly on the wall in the Runnings office if that was right Jamie, naaa, prob no need as would have heard him in Bourton :smiley: :smiley: :laughing: :lol As for Tintern Internationl, last I heard he was driving a tipper round London area,that was few yrs ago now though. I know he could be a strange bugger, and I admit, some less informed people thought I could be too :sunglasses: but I liked him,he worked hard and didnt moan too much.Ill never forget the day I saw him in Frenchay Hospital, hed been flown home with frostbite,his missus came to see him, so I made my excuses, she asked me to come back in 1/2 hour to see AK, so I did, his missus had just told him shed been diagnosed with the C ! that man was guttted as you can imagine,such a transformation in 1/2 hour, a cockey short arsed cockney, then, well, a broken man :frowning: Flysheet, I bet you couldnt break that trailer you had ! I did see one with headboard bent though, mention no names (Taggart) loaded a motor scraper in Holland, and brought it all way back to Bourton with just 1 ratchet strap across the front of it, had to brake coming down through Burford , strap snapped, you can imagine the rest 
Hell this thread is getting the grey matter working, I know I tend to ramble,soz if it bores people,but you lot keep getting the grey matter whirring.
Hi jamie i heard the same story from a ralph driver going out that way at the time but he wasnt sure himself if it was true. Would have been funny to be there if it was though!!!
the first time i recall meeting Alan Kendall was at the gold mine in Zarafshan. He arrived with Tony Hayward the day after me and i decided to wait until they had tipped and run back with them. He said that he had a back load out of Tashkent to the UK and so we went to see his agent to organize the load. It turned out to be a load of empty beer kegs. He had a tilt and tony had a box van but he insisted that he was loading the tilt. it turned out that his £3000. backload was only paying £1250. after it was loaded and to rub salt in the wound it was to be delivered to Alloa in Scotland, so he was not a happy bunny. On the way back through Kazakhstan we parked up at eleven at night and he was hammering on the doors at three in the morning . he would drive straight past the police control points leaving the cops turning their backs to the road and covering their faces to stop them swallowing the dust. its no wonder that some of us got grief from them at times. he would then park up around one o clock and have a couple of hours break and then it was on again to near midnight. By the time we got back to Moscow i had had enough and making my excuses i headed for Kepstowes depot and a decent nights kip before heading homewards on my own. I never met alan during our Middle east days but then again their are loads of us who passed in the night and never met. When Alan was in Hospital having his toes amputated i was flown back from Backu by air ambulance with Pneumonia and it was whilst i was recuperating at home that i heard about his unfortunate occurance. We spoke on the phone a few times later and he told me about the trip when he got frost bite and of his wifes terminal illness and how devastated he was. Regards Jamie.
PS it never fails to amaze , who would ever have thought that there would be a load of empty english beer kegs in a Packistanis yard in Tashkent.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s
Jamie, Baku must have been bad place, my last trip I was flown out with 5 collapsed discs 
I heard about the beer kegs, I think it was one of his own loads,and he was quite cagey about it.
Tony Hayward had just bought an Italian Spec 142 from peter on the usual subbie deal. He was on his first trip with it and a hired box van loaded for the gold mine. Somewhere on route he had propshaft problems which he claimed should be under warranty I cant remember the outcome except that was how he got in tow with alan. The 142 had heavy duty springs on the back and on the rough tracks in Kazak he struggled to stay in the seat. As you know Alan Kendal did’nt hang about and he showed his Daf no mercy I did see Tony on later trips and he said that he had ended up with well under a thousand pounds for his first trip after all his exes and Peters deductions.
I always made a point of having Transmed insurance when i had my own truck and for £135.00 a year it was well worth it. on the occasion of me taking ill in Baku they payed my medical exes to the oil companies hospital , sent a private air ambulance with a doctor and a paramedic on board . they flew me into Cardiff airport where they had a private ambulance standing by to take me to Llanndough Hospital where i recieved treatment until i was well enough to go home. They then flew me back out to Baku Via Schippol Club class to collect my truck a month later. All i can say is what a brilliant company.
Regards jamie.
A Scot Lost in the Valley’s.