robert1952:
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That reminds me of a time my brother Andy was waiting to tip at Aramco Dhahran. They had a huge white âblow upâ warehouse with about half a dozen back on loading bays. An American knocked on his cab & asked if he could reverse on the bay OK. Andy thought he was asking him to back on so said yes and started the engine, but no, he was only asking him if he was capable.
âWeâve got a Arab here who simply canât get near the bay and weâre worried heâs going to deflate the building!â
It was the usual normal control Merc, so Andy was a bit worried as heâd never driven one before, but of course he backed it on first time. American & Arab both very happy. The Arab told Andy he never reversed, he didnât understand how to!
John.
Having said that, I couldnât reverse a double.
The attached picture must have been winter, the Saviem wouldnât get into top gear without overheating in summer with one trailer, never mind 2!
I spent ages in the yard trying to get that back trailer to go where I wanted it to, but couldnât.
How about you Australian road train guys, can you drive them backwards?
John
Just seen the fastening of the containers to the trailers! One chain & âdwangâ over each!
We did later buy a load of twist locks from the U.S. & fit them to every trailer. 
John West:
Having said that, I couldnât reverse a double.The attached picture must have been winter, the Saviem wouldnât get into top gear without overheating in summer with one trailer, never mind 2!
I spent ages in the yard trying to get that back trailer to go where I wanted it to, but couldnât.
How about you Australian road train guys, can you drive them backwards?
John
I bet that the ex SAS guy who did the âMiddleâ could blindside that and roll a â â â one handed at the same time.
Seriously though Iâve often wondered if reversing something with 3 pivot points is possible,other than in a straight
line for a very short distance
HI all, that chap would not have, had to have been ex sas ,even the good old pioneers would have known âdrop one ,push oneâ.even the outback boy-oys,ask any sheliaâŠ
I drive an A train (two 53â trailers) John and itâs a piece of â â â â to reverse, I can back up for at least three feet on a good day 
John West:
Having said that, I couldnât reverse a double.The attached picture must have been winter, the Saviem wouldnât get into top gear without overheating in summer with one trailer, never mind 2!
I spent ages in the yard trying to get that back trailer to go where I wanted it to, but couldnât.
How about you Australian road train guys, can you drive them backwards?
John
0Just seen the fastening of the containers to the trailers! One chain & âdwangâ over each!
We did later buy a load of twist locks from the U.S. & fit them to every trailer.
I was putting a triple together once in Alice and managed to back 2 trailers in a fairly straight line. I was heading for the dolly on the 3rd and getting pretty close to it, when the yard man told me I was going for the wrong trailer⊠Never got that close again, usually ended up tying it in knots⊠Iâve seen it done but its really hard to judge when your getting close to the pin, and when you get it wrong your up for a new set of tail lightsâŠ
We used to use a tractor with a long a frame ( about 15 feet ) on the front end of the loader⊠but more often we assembled them from the backâŠie back trailer, slide a dolly under that⊠trailer onto the front of that⊠another dollyâŠthen the front trailer already on the prime moverâŠ
JeffâŠ
We always leave the dolly uncoupled from the back trailer, makes it a lot easier to pull the A frame over if youâre out a couple of inches, easy being relative as with 8 wheels and tyres it ainât easy to move at all, I use a ratchet strap which wonât slip and smash your teeth in like a bar can.
Once the dolly is hooked to the front trailer we back the lot under the back one, this way also prevents damage to the hook and eye, as thereâs a lot of force hitting that if itâs locked solid under the back trailer.
Itâs a lovely feeling when it all goes according to plan, the key element is lining the dolly up perfectly square, not the easiest thing to do on the back of a long wheelbase tractor unit, you think a 20â skelly comes round quick, you want to try and back a dolly up!
David Miller:
How can you say such a thing Jazzandy? Not Astran? When so many believe that there was ONLY Astran!Here is a good picture of a non-Astran subbie. You see what happens if you are not pulling for the King?
David
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Jazzandy:
Thought it might be the right time to start a thread for all those Middle East veterans who paid their dues while working for non-Astran companies.To kick off a pic. of an Eric Hunwick F88 somewhere in Turkey.
well done andyâŠ
David Miller:
How can you say such a thing Jazzandy? Not Astran? When so many believe that there was ONLY Astran!Here is a good picture of a non-Astran subbie. You see what happens if you are not pulling for the King?
David
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there was not only Astran My dear, remember goñng ñnto lñquñdators hand ñn 1979!!
there were so many companies.plse be fare regards and merry xmas to you
tiptop495:
hey, in days it was more peaceful to go down end '60âs.Eric,
very good was it a Swiss Company?
My Dad worked for Drakards who did some Middle East for Brit European. This picture from right to left is Funstons F89 Carmen Transport F88 290 Drakards F88 290 Drakards F88 240 ( In Brit European Livery) Daf 2800 not sure the operator an Rennie Hogg Ford Transcontinental
Canât quite read the reg on the 290 Volvo, mine was HFD 802N.
The DAF could be one of Harrisons.
The location is certainly crossing H4.
Itâs important to remember that Astran were not the first and the greatest in that Asian Transport were the first and arguably OHS the greatest.
Asian Transport went bankrupt in the late 70âs, so technically ceased to exist except that once all their debts had not been paid they recreated themselves as Astran.
Talking of greatest, OHS for example were a far bigger company owning many more trucks than Astran especially once they bought PIE. They were probably the biggest British operator in the 70âs even though their majority shareholder was Turkish.
Although we were led to believe how perfect Astran was, I didnât know they had so many accidents until I read Ashâs book.
robert1952:
John West:
Jelliot:
While I remember⊠what would be the translation for the Arabic on the Saudi transit plateâ â ?JeffâŠ
Hi,
Bit rusty on the Arabic now, Robert will be more up to date than me. Think itâs something like transfer transit.
The letters in English are something like nql balabor - the two aâs are different because one is a long a and the other is a short one.
Excuse me - you werenât yawning and looking out of the window there were you!
John.
That was the later type transit plate. see the earlier type (1989) on my 141, the centre piece was different, it had a picture of Saudi instead.
GS OVERLAND:
robert1952:
John West:
Jelliot:
While I remember⊠what would be the translation for the Arabic on the Saudi transit plateâ â ?JeffâŠ
Hi,
Bit rusty on the Arabic now, Robert will be more up to date than me. Think itâs something like transfer transit.
The letters in English are something like nql balabor - the two aâs are different because one is a long a and the other is a short one.
Excuse me - you werenât yawning and looking out of the window there were you!
John.
That was the later type transit plate. see the earlier type (1989) on my 141, the centre piece was different, it had a picture of Saudi instead.
I guess they got more politically correct later.
Iâm sure Robert will confirm, but The arabic letters appear to be T R A N Z I T on that plate, so if an Arab read it he would read transit, same as us.
I guess someone objected so they changed it to the arabic words!
John.
Hi al! Found these on the web,not my pics so credit to who ever tok them!
Toughts they should go fine on this thread 
Danne
Hi GS Overland,
Scanias.
I loved the 140, but the gearbox failed me. The back bearing went in Turkey (although one driver said it was my fault - wasnât driving it properly! Not sure what else I could have done, a synchro box is about the simplest thing to drive this side of automatic.)
How was the 141. Any problems?
John.