robert1952:
I took this picture (I think in the 90s) from the top of the cliffs overlooking Dover Eastern Docks. Can you see your wagon? Robert0
,
Great pics ,-of times now past…
roadcruiser:
robert1952:
My Dover pics seemed to amuse a few of you, and I’ve now found some more photos I took in Dover in the '90s for you to pore over. RobertHave to say i like those pics of Dover Robert , i remember when murfitts were everywhere down there, there is even one of those elusive Scania drawbars which Murfitts operated in the top pic --its all in contrast to the current climate, when i was down there in august for a few days this year ,there were very few uk registered vehicles passing through Dover…
Regards Roadcruiser
Cheers Roadcruiser! The last ex-Murfitt wagon I saw was this Strato parked next to me in Tangiers, Morocco. I used to run with its owner-driver sometimes. Robert 
Dirty Dan:
Well Jeff thats not good,time to buy some real lorrys? At least try somthing different from the KWs… My old FH610 got 1200000km on the clock and only one gearbox and one clutch,i think thats good for a heavyhuling truck.Danne
Before I started with them they used to run a fleet of series 1 FH’s but the drivers preferred the KW’s and the Volvo’s got voted out. I was speaking to the boss man today and he told me if they don’t behave themselves the trucks would get replaced with Commer Knockers and every one would have to do their own repairs at the side of the road.
The problem is that we do a lot ( over 80% ) of our running on dirt and gravel, and the rest of it on the highway, so it’s hard to get something that will do both jobs. We can’t use oil rig style trucks as there is requirement for fast road work, and the highway trucks have to work on dirt road on mountainous terrain. The day cab I’m on at the moment is getting scrapped at the end of the year. It’s 4 years old and has over 1,300,000 on it most of which was on gravel, they looked at doing a refurb on it but there’s to much needing done to make it viable, so it’s going to get cannibalised…
There’s a new job coming up which is 130k’s of highway then 58k’s of gravel across a mountain range each way… There’s no real happy medium ground…
Jeff…
Yeah its a difucult to spec a perfect truck when you drive like you do.
But how about for exampel an FH and the whit the ishift but hevyhaul spec same whit the drive axl? I think my new FH750 has the ishift for over 200 ton if i rember right. I hope that will work good when its delivered 
Never driven a US truck so i dont know what they are like… But it would be nice to compere diferent trucks in your hauling game. One KW,DAF,Volvo ect just to see
Danne
Hi Dan, all up the trucks aren’t to badly specked, it’s really down to the drivers to use them in the best possible way. if the road is rough then slow down a bit.
some of the country roads we us are as bad or good as some of the forest tracks… If the roads have just been graded and rolled then we can sit loaded at 60 to 70 kph… It the access tracks get to bad then we wait up for a few hours and call in the grader to… A lot of the time it’s the weights of the loaded trucks that push down on stump holes and all it takes is a blob of gravel and a back hoe to sort it out. The company has a policy to fix the roads as quick as they can, it’s in their interest to so or we can’t get the product to the mill… Wouldn’t mind a 770 Volvo though Les Walkden have one on the front of a tri tri at the moment working at 68 tons…
Jeff…
As far as I know this is the farthest south that a T.I.R. has been photographed attached to a working truck… Seen here at Cockle Creek in southern Tasmania this morning Friday 21st November 2014…
Unless you know any different■■?
Jeff…
Dirty Dan:
Yeah its a difucult to spec a perfect truck when you drive like you do.
But how about for exampel an FH and the whit the ishift but hevyhaul spec same whit the drive axl? I think my new FH750 has the ishift for over 200 ton if i rember right. I hope that will work good when its delivered
Never driven a US truck so i dont know what they are like… But it would be nice to compere diferent trucks in your hauling game. One KW,DAF,Volvo ect just to seeDanne
hi Danne. This is an important statement you make, on these threads! We often speculate about the best truck, the best drive-line, the best cabine etc etc. In the end, we can only have a ‘favourite’ truck for specific applications. I have always qualified my statements about ‘favourite’ or ‘best’ trucks by specifying LONG-HAUL (TIR) because that was my thing. If I was doing the work Jeff does, I would choose very differently. Likewise, if I were running frigo trailers up and down the M2 (in UK) all day and home by tea-time, I would choose differently again. Horses for course, then. Cheers! Robert
Dirty Dan:
Jelliot:
I loved my days on tilts, when I was no for Trans Mondo we had tilts and fridges and even though the fridges were easy work I always put my hand up for the tilts.
With Bustone in the mid 90’s I was starting to get " not wanted here " looks when I pulled up with a tilt at some of the tube factories. Once the Euro linners came on the scene with the electric roll back roofs that was it over for the tilt. I remember being in a steel works in the south of Italy with my tilt and was told to strip out the front bay outside, ( it was mid summer and just after lunch ) there was a line of French German and Dutch Euro linners that got processed while I was getting stripped out and not one of them offered to help. They all just sipped coffee in the air conditioned office while they watched me. After I was loaded I had to do the same again to build it up again.
As for brake downs as Robert mentioned outside Europe most folk used to stop, and do what ever they could to help, even if it was to take a message to get help, or a bit of moral support, but in the EEC you were invisible. I even got passed by a line of Hangartener trucks when I was changing a wheel, a very disappointing day.Jeff…
Hi Jeff! Is this the company you worked for?
Danne
Hi Dan could you post this photo on the Middle east Not Astran thread
Thanks…
Jeff…
No probs mate
Danne
Thanks for that Danna I’m not to good on the computer machines…
Interesting point there Uncle Bob… so just as a side project what truck would you have to do my job?? any truck… any era…you can make the spec yourself… It doesn’t have to exist in real life…
Here are the parameters…
Must haul B Double logging trailers and runs at 57 to 67 tons…
Has to be as light weight as possible as you are paid on bulk weight…
Must be capable of doing steep gravel roads… up and down, both empty and loaded… what engine and what brakes?
Retarders are out as we need short wheel base units as the job title is “tight access”… and retarders weigh to much…
Must be capable of running at 100kph ( fast Highways )
At 4 years old it will have about 1.4 million k’s on it as it gets fired up at 1 am Monday morning and won’t get shut of until 4 am Saturday morning…
What’s the answer ■■?
The floor is open…
Jeff…
Jelliot:
Thanks for that Danna I’m not to good on the computer machines…Interesting point there Uncle Bob… so just as a side project what truck would you have to do my job?? any truck… any era…you can make the spec yourself… It doesn’t have to exist in real life…
Here are the parameters…
Must haul B Double logging trailers and runs at 57 to 67 tons…
Has to be as light weight as possible as you are paid on bulk weight…
Must be capable of doing steep gravel roads… up and down, both empty and loaded… what engine and what brakes?
Retarders are out as we need short wheel base units as the job title is “tight access”… and retarders weigh to much…
Must be capable of running at 100kph ( fast Highways )
At 4 years old it will have about 1.4 million k’s on it as it gets fired up at 1 am Monday morning and won’t get shut of until 4 am Saturday morning…
What’s the answer ■■?
The floor is open…
Jeff…
An Iveco EuroTrakker with the 17-litre 520 in it would probably do the the trick (n your neck of the woods you could probably have one of these off-the-shelf with a ■■■■■■■ 500 in it!). Not the lightest of units but with a basic sleeper cab it’d probably pass muster. They have disc-brakes anyway and a Jake-brake would cover secondary braking. They can also be bought with SWB. You can have a Twin-splitter in a EuroTrakker, but if that wasn’t up to the high torque-load I’d probably want an 18-speed Fuller at those weights.Robert
Well as im now in a Volvo and im geting a new FH 750 
so a Volvo it is,but a 600 and manul gearbox and the webbreak.
Hevyhaul spec driveaxl. Flatroof for the wieght
But then a 750 and heavyhaul spec ishift and driveaxl should do the trick to!
Danne
Hi jeff, I take it from your posts that your running in Aussie now. Whereabouts are you operating. I was driving in Western Australia many years ago but things have probably changed a lot now…yoyo5
I like that Trakker Robert, but I think the 5th wheel position would be to high, ■■■■■■■ power would be a big seller.
There were a lot of F series Volvos doing logging, but once the FH came out… not so much… The opinion was that there was to much stuff hanging down under the chassis, tanks to low… plastic bumpers and steps getting ripped of…when you have half a dozen trucks and it’s a weekly occurrence the cost quickly mounts up on stuff like that… The KW is pretty well suited to that kind of stuff as the front wheels sit well forward and if you run over stuff the first thing that gets in your way is the wheel not the bumper or step… I do like the idea of 770 hp… makes me happy…
Yoyo I’m in Tasmania. I did do a bit of Adelaide to Perth in the 80’s but haven’t been back that way since… mainly on the east side, B doubles and a few triples as well… I don’t like going over 67 tons… not unless the boss has given me a 700+ hp truck… which they don’t… I really don’t get road trains… don’t get me wrong they’re fantastic to look at, but every time I see one I wonder whey they don’t just send 2 or 3 trucks especially on the dirt roads out back. There are plenty of guys out there looking for driving work…
I was watching Steve Graham getting bogged up the west side on Out Back Truckers, and thought it that was 3 single trailers then none of that would have happened. I can only deduce that if the rate they’re working for is so low it requires one truck to pull 3 trailer, then the job’s not worth having…
Look at what they achieved, they blew up the truck with all the stress of hauling 3 trailers through mud, every bit of heavy equipment in the territory had to pitch in to lend a hand, and they destroyed the road in 4 places. 3 trucks running a few minutes apart, no problem, or at leas they could have got them selves out of trouble … It wouldn’t of made such a spectacular TV program, but the job would have got done a lot better and safer…
I bet the producer of the program was thinking $$$ Pay Dirt at last when he saw that bit of footage… it left Ice Road Trucker for dead…
Jeff…
Jelliot:
I like that Trakker Robert, but I think the 5th wheel position would be to high, ■■■■■■■ power would be a big seller.There were a lot of F series Volvos doing logging, but once the FH came out… not so much… The opinion was that there was to much stuff hanging down under the chassis, tanks to low… plastic bumpers and steps getting ripped of…when you have half a dozen trucks and it’s a weekly occurrence the cost quickly mounts up on stuff like that… The KW is pretty well suited to that kind of stuff as the front wheels sit well forward and if you run over stuff the first thing that gets in your way is the wheel not the bumper or step… I do like the idea of 770 hp… makes me happy…
Yoyo I’m in Tasmania. I did do a bit of Adelaide to Perth in the 80’s but haven’t been back that way since… mainly on the east side, B doubles and a few triples as well… I don’t like going over 67 tons… not unless the boss has given me a 700+ hp truck… which they don’t… I really don’t get road trains… don’t get me wrong they’re fantastic to look at, but every time I see one I wonder whey they don’t just send 2 or 3 trucks especially on the dirt roads out back. There are plenty of guys out there looking for driving work…
I was watching Steve Graham getting bogged up the west side on Out Back Truckers, and thought it that was 3 single trailers then none of that would have happened. I can only deduce that if the rate they’re working for is so low it requires one truck to pull 3 trailer, then the job’s not worth having…Look at what they achieved, they blew up the truck with all the stress of hauling 3 trailers through mud, every bit of heavy equipment in the territory had to pitch in to lend a hand, and they destroyed the road in 4 places. 3 trucks running a few minutes apart, no problem, or at leas they could have got them selves out of trouble … It wouldn’t of made such a spectacular TV program, but the job would have got done a lot better and safer…
I bet the producer of the program was thinking $$$ Pay Dirt at last when he saw that bit of footage… it left Ice Road Trucker for dead…
Jeff…
Jeff
Correct me if I.m wrong here but I am seeing your photos on a regular basis of this KW and its 2 bogey trailers running at a gross weight up to 67 tonnes that means at that weight your 12 1/2 tonne over loaded and 1.1/2 at 57or two tri axle trailers is 5 ton under at 57 and 5 tonne over at 67 I.m sure on logging roads the rules don’t apply but I can’t imagine that the saw mills are all at the end of the logging roads off the highway and some highway travel is nessacary.If you are running overloaded you have answered your own question as to why companies don’t send 2 trucks to do the same job you are doing with one, in their eyes economics.
As for Stevey Graham I.m assuming he was running to Kalumbaru a remote aboriginal community at the top of the Gibb River Road in West Aus I used to go there in the 80s with fuel about the time it had passed into the hands of the “government funding” and with progress earth moving machinery is permanently based there,in my day it was single trailer and a shovel and most of their hard stores came in by barge from Wyndam but why would they pay for that in todays world when you can get a road transport company to load the freight in Perth and deliver without any further handling, the only difference is that in my day the administration of that area made sure their wet season fuel and stores were delivered before the wet season started,in todays world people tend to leave things until the last minute its called manipulative funding so one can only hope Stevey has done his homework and is getting payed accordingly,he’s been around a while. One driver one triple door to door against One triple to Wyndam a Barge and crew plus wharf fees and lots of handling charges and dumped on the beach some way from the Mission, As I said Steve probably has rates involved that would make most of us envious and he would still be a lot cheaper than the old system.
It all makes good viewing for those who don’t know how it really was.
Road Trains Gravel/Dirt roads are a way of life in Australia one truck to do the work of 3 is economics and it is possible to make a good living and you don’t need 700+ hp 500hp is fine but I can say that because I have operated them pulling triples from 250 up to 600 on all types of road and if I was asked for a preference it would be dirt/gravel these roads/track remove delivery time pressures unless its raining then you just park it.lolhttp://www.trucknetuk.com/phpBB/post … p=1863383#
Cheers DIG
Hi Dig, I though that would Rattle you cage 
I was just sitting here waiting for you response…
Yes I can see it from both sides of the coin. I never thought one moment that Steve was naïve about such things, I don’t think there would be much that got past him and wonder how much was laid on for the TV crew. Yes it was Kalumdaru, it wouldn’t of been much of a program if they did it with 3 trucks, or loaded all the stuff on a barge and sailed it there.
The loggers we are using are tandem tandem B Doubles with a 3 axle prime mover, @57 tons. They’re classified tight access vehicles, length empty 21.8 meters so they just come under the 22 meter limit.
The other trucks we run are tri tri B Doubles with 3 axle prime movers, they run @ 67 or 69 tons with permits and are under Mass Management scheme, length 25 .9 meters. Just under the 26 meter limit, so are restricted access, and have to follow code.
Frankly I would be happy if I was running a single trailer @ around 42 to 44 tons, it would give a better opportunity to employ more drivers. They can survive that kind of work in Europe and America…I’m sure it would work well here as well…
It really irks me every time I see a train pulling containers., Every time I see one I think " there goes 70 truck driving jobs " The state is crying out for employment opportunities and is preparing to spend muti millions of dollars propping up an antiquated state rail system with a band aid solution…They can’t seem to see farther than the end of their nose…
Jeff
Jelliot:
Hi Dig, I though that would Rattle you cageYes I can see it from both sides of the coin. I never thought one moment that Steve was naïve about such things, I don’t think there would be much that got past him and wonder how much was laid on for the TV crew. Yes it was Kalumdaru, it wouldn’t of been much of a program if they did it with 3 trucks, or loaded all the stuff on a barge and sailed it there.
The loggers we are using are tandem tandem B Doubles with a 3 axle prime mover, @57 tons. They’re classified tight access vehicles, length empty 21.8 meters so they just come under the 22 meter limit.
The other trucks we run are tri tri B Doubles with 3 axle prime movers, they run @ 67 or 69 tons with permits and are under Mass Management scheme, length 25 .9 meters. Just under the 26 meter limit, so are restricted access, and have to follow code.Frankly I would be happy if I was running a single trailer @ around 42 to 44 tons, it would give a better opportunity to employ more drivers. They can survive that kind of work in Europe and America…I’m sure it would work well here as well…
It really irks me every time I see a train pulling containers., Every time I see one I think " there goes 70 truck driving jobs " The state is crying out for employment opportunities and is preparing to spend muti millions of dollars propping up an antiquated state rail system with a band aid solution…They can’t seem to see farther than the end of their nose…Jeff
Hey Jeff be careful rattling my cage they let me out once a week lol.
I hear what your saying about single trailer operations and that comes from your experiences around the world but you tell me where else you can drive 4000kms between major cities on one highway and pass maybe 500 other vehicles, once AUS has a population of 50million or so traffic volume may change things here but I won’t have to worry about getting across the road in me wheel chair by then.lol .
It wasn’t that long ago 1980 something I put a 2 trailer road train on the chuffer train in Perth and travelled to Alice Springs before unloading and driving to Darwin with the load.those were the days when it was single trailers only across the Paddock[Nulabor Plain]Happy days 14 other drivers on board a 24hour card game fridge full of goodies a bottle with a worm in it, I know I got the worm and a laugh a minute and we were all crushing a buck while the chuffer did the work lol
Cheers Dig
Hi Dig,
Reading you posts I Gather that you run out of WA, I don’t know how far your trucking days go back but I immigrated out to Aussie back in 1970, and stayed until 1973 when the old wanderlust took me back to the UK. I am hoping you might be able to fill in any gaps that have slipped my memory. I was lucky enough to get a job with a Trucking Company running out of Perth ( the owner was a Italian Guy who sold up and immigrated to Aussie at the end of the sixties ). We were based in the rail freight yard of a company called Brambles Manford and I believe it was out near Perth Airport, and the bulk of our work was Mining equipment including supplies ect, upto Mount Newman & Mount Whaleback ( I think that’s correct) But im not sure if we were Subbing for Brambles Manford or Bell Bros. I do know that a lot of the equipment arrived via the Rail Freight hence being based in the rail yard.
When I Started they were running four KWs, two Macks and from memory I think two very old Fiats doing local work. All of the trucks were Cabover models and I was given an F serious Mack the other Mack was also driven by a Pom, The Aussie Guys would not be parted from the KWs and probably for good reason. The other strange thing was both the Mack`s were powered by ■■■■■■■ Engines now I do not know if that was normal just for Aussie but I was never able to find any European based Macks with that power option. But for me this being my first big truck I was like a pig in S**T and I really did enjoy my trucking whilst in Aussie. What I did learn about the Mack was it was always losing bits dropping off and I just did not think that they were up to the job compared to the KWs but maybe we just had a couple of dogs hahaha. But as I said the draw of getting into ME work got me back to The UK and of course that’s another story. But I am hoping you can fill in any gaps in my story that have drifted from my memory… YOYO5
yoyo5:
Hi Dig,
Reading you posts I Gather that you run out of WA, I don’t know how far your trucking days go back but I immigrated out to Aussie back in 1970, and stayed until 1973 when the old wanderlust took me back to the UK. I am hoping you might be able to fill in any gaps that have slipped my memory. I was lucky enough to get a job with a Trucking Company running out of Perth ( the owner was a Italian Guy who sold up and immigrated to Aussie at the end of the sixties ). We were based in the rail freight yard of a company called Brambles Manford and I believe it was out near Perth Airport, and the bulk of our work was Mining equipment including supplies ect, upto Mount Newman & Mount Whaleback ( I think that’s correct) But im not sure if we were Subbing for Brambles Manford or Bell Bros. I do know that a lot of the equipment arrived via the Rail Freight hence being based in the rail yard.
When I Started they were running four KWs, two Macks and from memory I think two very old Fiats doing local work. All of the trucks were Cabover models and I was given an F serious Mack the other Mack was also driven by a Pom, The Aussie Guys would not be parted from the KWs and probably for good reason. The other strange thing was both the Mack`s were powered by ■■■■■■■ Engines now I do not know if that was normal just for Aussie but I was never able to find any European based Macks with that power option. But for me this being my first big truck I was like a pig in S**T and I really did enjoy my trucking whilst in Aussie. What I did learn about the Mack was it was always losing bits dropping off and I just did not think that they were up to the job compared to the KWs but maybe we just had a couple of dogs hahaha. But as I said the draw of getting into ME work got me back to The UK and of course that’s another story. But I am hoping you can fill in any gaps in my story that have drifted from my memory… YOYO5
Hi YoYo5 thanks for the interest ,I recall Brambles and Bells of that era I will give it some thought and get back to you via email
The cabover bogie drive Macks had a bit of reputation for being rather solid.lol
Cheers DIG
