Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.This is the stuff that 15 year olds read,these flights of fancy could have been taken straight from the Wizard or the Hotspur comics.Poetic license is one thing,downright lies are another.It insults the intelligence of the hard working men (and sometimes women) who did the job as a way of life.It insults and denegrates the real pioneers of the middle east drivers,drivers like Ken Corrigan,Roger Hayward,Andrew Wilson-Young,■■■■ Snow, Barry Barnes,Gary Lyons,Ian Taylor,John Williams,Curly Connor,I could go on…These inane ramblings are the product of an over active imagination.I think that this Chris Arbon has read too many Ian Flemming books and needs to get back into the real world.If these stories are meant as a work of fiction,then that is one thing, and he should state that,if they purport to reflect real life on the road,then he should give himself a good talking to, and go and see a psychiatrist.
Thanks for that forthright view, Tony Taylor. You’re right when you say a lot of better men went a lot further, more often and did a better job than me. I met some of those guys on your list and respect them all. The reason for my posts on this thread is my of saying “Thank-you” for all the hours of enjoyment I have had from the stuff I have read and the pictures I have seen on Truck-Net. I’m just trying to give some enjoyment back to those who have taken the trouble to put their stuff on here.
All the stuff in the stories is true. My trips may look more interesting than what really happened because they have been “consolidated”. That is when events from 2 or three trips are put together in one story. As the Crow said, most Continental trips are humdrum and much the same; that doesn’t make for an exciting and readable book. So, one of the writing tips that I was given; was to “consolidate”, both characters and events.
I think my stories are a true description of what my life was like in the Eighties. Let’s here some of your tales,Tony!
Your stories ring true to me Chris. I was on the road in the early seventies, first in Europe then down to the M.E. and we used to backload mainly in Turkey or Bulgaria. I also agree that of course you combine trips otherwise you’d be recounting the hours of monotony that we all experienced.
Keep up the good work!!
Thanks for taking the time to post your stories Chris and please keep them coming. Some of them have certainly reminded me of things that I had completly forgotten about over 30 years ago.
Have Chris’s posts rekindled some happy memories for anybody else, come on own up 
.
WINTER IN EASTERN EUROPE.
The first full week of January saw everybody back at work and as I started another trip to Istanbul, it seemed that every Middle East haulier had also waited to get the Christmas break over and done with, before heading into the inhospitable east European winter. There were already seven British trucks parked at the Pilsen Motorest when I pulled in, just after dark. To stop the fuel lines freezing, all the lorries had their engines running at fast idle. If you had switched them off, it would not have been long before the antifreeze would have started to gel, such was the severity of the bleak Czechoslovakian weather. The British drivers had retired to the restaurant, leaving the ignition key in, but making sure they locked the cab doors.
I knew all the faces and most of the names, Mickey Thorpe seemed to be in charge and had with him a huge wad of Czech krona. Apparently, he had changed up a very poor quality forged £50 note at an hotel in Prague on his last trip. Now he was trying to dispose of the proceeds from his black market dealing. To do this, Mickey bought all the beer, all the food and even a girl for his mate from Wales. At the Londra Camp, I had drunk with Mickey several times before; he was always generous when it came to getting the beers in. Some people found the impressively built Welshman to be threatening and gave him a wide birth, but Mickey had always been friendly towards me, with helpful advice emanating from his well told stories of disaster, confrontation and the inevitable violent results. Mickey Thorpe went to the original school of hard knocks and followed that by attending the university of life. On nights like this, he was in his element, with his mates, his stories and his Kenny Rogers tapes playing on the restaurant’s stereo. The night only ended when we had drunk every bottle of beer in the place and the wine was found to be totally unpalatable.
All the engines of the trucks were still running in the morning. Sleeping in the Mercedes with its vee-eight motor rumbling was not my first choice for a peaceful night, but if my right Timberland was laid on the accelerator pedal in a certain way, the engine speed rose to a steady purr which freed me from the irritating vibration of normal tick over. There was the added advantage of waking up to a warm cab, even though most modern vehicles had independent warm-air heaters, these were always the first things to pack up at the first sign of a severe frost. The curtains of the other Brits were still firmly closed when I pulled on to the snow covered road in the direction of Prague. From the previous evening’s conversation, I had concluded that the others were going to run together in pairs, but I was not too concerned about being on my own, if I was in front. Sooner or later, somebody would come to my assistance, if I had any difficulty.
Trouble was not long in tracking me down as the mercury stayed firmly at the bottom of the thermometer. Slowly, but surely, I felt the drag of the trailer brakes coming on, when my foot was nowhere near the centre pedal. On investigation, I found nothing obviously wrong, but presumed it was due to the air valves on the trailer freezing shut. An easy cure to this problem was to disconnect the air lines between the truck and trailer in order to pour some methanol down the pipes, hoping the inflammable fluid would mix with any ice in the frozen valves, thus raising the freezing point temperature of any liquid. I used all my spare methanol on the remedy and got back behind the wheel to find the brakes working perfectly.
However, about 20 minutes up the road, the same thing happened again. I spent half an hour poking about and standing around, looking baffled, but then found that the problem had gone away all by itself. Annoyingly, this turned out to be the start of a sequence of stops, which allowed for 20 minutes driving, followed by 20 minutes of waiting while the brakes thawed themselves out. The logical source for all this trouble was the container that gave a constant methanol supply to the whole pneumatic pipe system, but I had made a point of having the reservoir topped up before I left Ipswich. I had even watched the fitter do the job before asking him to let me take his half full methanol bottle with me.
I gave the whole situation some serious thought; finally working out that it was the heat from the engine thawing out the brakes, as the weather had not warmed up at all. This led me to believe that it was one of the air valves situated behind the engine, above the gearbox that was the culprit. Sure enough, when I poured half a cup of hot tea over the valves, the brakes released immediately. The valves were the cause of the problem but hot water was not a practical cure. I decided to check the methanol reservoir to see why it was not doing its job. On taking it apart, I found the area that should have contained methanol was one big block of ice. It was not the fitter’s fault when he told me the container did not need much filling — how was he to know that it was already full of water. Pouring all my spare methanol into the trailer pipe work now showed itself to have been a bad move, but I was not going to be beaten. After hack sawing two foot off the end of the exhaust pipe. I laid under the lorry in the snow and hammered the remaining pipe towards the misbehaving valves in a last ditch attempt to keep them warm.
The overall result of my pipe bending was that at speeds of over 30 miles per hour, the wind chill factor brought on the trailer brakes, so I resigned my self to slow, steady progress while thinking about where I could purchase some methanol.
The Brits behind me were favourite, but they still had not caught up, even with all my stopping. Help came from a Dutchman parked on the services at Brno, he had no spare methanol, but advised me that Scotch whisky worked just as well and added that my best chance of getting a cheap bottle was at the duty free shop at the border. For once, alcohol cured a problem rather than giving me one; I bought a litre of Metaxa, Greek brandy, which was on special offer.
The cold weather that had frozen the trailer brakes in Czechoslovakia, seemed to be all across Europe. The temperature never rose above freezing point all the way to Turkey, but the brandy did its job as well as providing me with a body warming night cap before I went to sleep with the engine running. My load of diesel engines had been delivered to Izmit before I saw Richie Thorpe and the rest of my Pilsen drinking partners again. I was back at the Londra Camp, having a day off, before I tackled the arctic conditions in Romania, when they rolled in. All of them had enjoyed an incident free run — the only problem they had was in spending all of Mickey’s krona, which had taken another two nights at the Motorest after I had left.
The weather in the Balkans was as grim as I had expected. The 4 x 4 tractor tow up Cobblestone mountain cost 40 Marlborough and I had perfected the art of snow chain fitting so well that putting a chain on each outside wheel of the drive axle took less than 10 minutes. Snow chains gave excellent traction, but could only be used on snow or ice covered surfaces; they also tended to break, throwing themselves off at speeds over 20 miles per hour. This fact I had found out to my cost. The chains were only repaired with the help of my brand new padlocks from the trailer boxes.
Up at Radauti, the barbecue making workforce finally seemed to have got their act together. This time, there was no waiting around for things to be manufactured. I wondered if this had anything to do with Marina not being there any more. The same little blonde who had gone to get my bread the last time, came out to see me again. With what seemed to be a corkscrew perm, Olga seemed quite attractive, even in her cheap, ill-fitting nylon tracksuit, but she had the disconcerting habit of holding her hand over her mouth when she talked. I did catch her name, but I did not understand anything else, so she might as well have kept her mouth shut. The kind-hearted part of me thought Olga was probably acutely embarrassed about her poor dental condition. Due to an inexplicable loyalty to Marina, I did not invite Olga to share my evening meal, before heading back to the UK, after my fastest ever barbecue turn-around.
My newly found prowess in snow chain fitting was a big factor in my decision to take the Transylvanian mountain route across Romania. By the end of the first day, I knew it was the bad option. Progress was slow, as darkness fell. I was stuck at the bottom of a particularly steep incline, with only the knowledge that all the brown bears were in hibernation to console me. At the crack of dawn, I was out with one of the world’s most travelled shovels, trying to guess if the raised humps on the snow covered verge contained heaps of grit. Invariably they did not, so I had to make do with chunks of turf to provide my grip. It took over two hours to give the 300 metres up to the brow of the hill a liberal sprinkling of dirt, stones and grass. Once I began moving, I did not want to stop again, on this or any hill, so I brewed up a cup of tea and had something to eat before I started. While I was drinking my well earned cuppa, a snow plough came over the top of the hill, pushed all my hard work into the side of the road, swerved round me and disappeared out of my rear view mirrors. I was stunned, not only because I had wasted the whole morning, but I had never before seen a snowplough in Romania.
In frustration, I attacked the hill as it was, gunning the Merc at full throttle in third gear. All this did was to spin the wheels and the offside snow chain flew into a hundred pieces. Fortunately the snow plough returned an hour later, when he put me on the end of his tow chain. For the next 40 miles I was towed up hill and down dale until the driver came to his home town. At times, I thought the snow plough driver had forgotten that I was till attached; but he was only trying to maximise his Kent cigarette income on a mileage basis. The driver was well pleased with his 200 king sized. I felt for a thousand, he would have pulled me all the way to the Hungarian border.
Out of Romania, it was no warmer, but driving conditions improved as I got further west. For the last leg of the journey, my sole surviving snow chain was able to stay hanging on, its hook at the back of the unit — shining brightly, like it was made of stainless steel, for a few days, before slowly returning to its usual rust.
Tony Taylor:
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.
Having never driven a tilt trailer any further than Birmingham I’m a bit confused about what he meant about the ‘welds holding the posts’,if I’ve read it right,considering that for some of those miles it was stripped down to a flat. 
Maybe he’s also one the lot who think that getting on International work was easy during the 1970’s-80’s because there was so much of it compared to uk zb work. 
Carryfast:
Tony Taylor:
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.Having never driven a tilt trailer any further than Birmingham I’m a bit confused about what he meant about the ‘welds holding the posts’,if I’ve read it right,considering that for some of those miles it was stripped down to a flat.
Maybe he’s also one the lot who think that getting on International work was easy during the 1970’s-80’s because there was so much of it compared to uk zb work.
Quite a few of the old Belgian/French junkers that arrived in Dover to be tipped then reloaded were welded together.
If they required a strip down for reload then out came a grinder and hey presto it was a flat.
Building back up again was the problem for the Kermits.
14 TOO:
Carryfast:
Tony Taylor:
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.Having never driven a tilt trailer any further than Birmingham I’m a bit confused about what he meant about the ‘welds holding the posts’,if I’ve read it right,considering that for some of those miles it was stripped down to a flat.
Maybe he’s also one the lot who think that getting on International work was easy during the 1970’s-80’s because there was so much of it compared to uk zb work.
Quite a few of the old Belgian/French junkers that arrived in Dover to be tipped then reloaded were welded together.
If they required a strip down for reload then out came a grinder and hey presto it was a flat.
Welding the thing back together again every time it was rebuilt to be used as a tilt was the problem for the Kermits.
Fixed that.
Which obviously would have been a bit difficult if it was re loaded and then needed to be re built here.
Carryfast:
14 TOO:
Carryfast:
Tony Taylor:
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.Having never driven a tilt trailer any further than Birmingham I’m a bit confused about what he meant about the ‘welds holding the posts’,if I’ve read it right,considering that for some of those miles it was stripped down to a flat.
Maybe he’s also one the lot who think that getting on International work was easy during the 1970’s-80’s because there was so much of it compared to uk zb work.
Quite a few of the old Belgian/French junkers that arrived in Dover to be tipped then reloaded were welded together.
If they required a strip down for reload then out came a grinder and hey presto it was a flat.
Welding the thing back together again every time it was rebuilt to be used as a tilt was the problem for the Kermits.Fixed that.
Which obviously would have been a bit difficult if it was re loaded and then needed to be re built here.
I suppose the return loads could be retained by the dropsides of the tilt- surely they would not have cut those off. Maybe the tilt canvas was simply roped and sheeted on the load, the scrap value of the tilt frame paying for the ropes!
[zb]
anorak:Carryfast:
14 TOO:
Carryfast:
Tony Taylor:
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.Having never driven a tilt trailer any further than Birmingham I’m a bit confused about what he meant about the ‘welds holding the posts’,if I’ve read it right,considering that for some of those miles it was stripped down to a flat.
Maybe he’s also one the lot who think that getting on International work was easy during the 1970’s-80’s because there was so much of it compared to uk zb work.
Quite a few of the old Belgian/French junkers that arrived in Dover to be tipped then reloaded were welded together.
If they required a strip down for reload then out came a grinder and hey presto it was a flat.
Welding the thing back together again every time it was rebuilt to be used as a tilt was the problem for the Kermits.Fixed that.
Which obviously would have been a bit difficult if it was re loaded and then needed to be re built here.
I suppose the return loads could be retained by the dropsides of the tilt- surely they would not have cut those off. Maybe the tilt canvas was simply roped and sheeted on the load, the scrap value of the tilt frame paying for the ropes!
Blimey maybe I was better off doing just local uk work with it.It was either used as a flat or a tilt with never any need for an angle grinder or welding gear to strip it and rebuild it in the yard.
But as for using the tilt cover to sheet the load when it was used as a flat.Absolutely.
Carryfast i ve returned to this site un willingly just to see whats being said , i think you ve missed Carbons statement completely almost all tilts were built with the aim that they could be stripped to the bare bones if needed, the uprights which held up the roof for want of a better word slid into pockets that were welded to the rave or what we up north would have called the chock rail, as simple as that . the fact that our hero had not strapped his load meant that it was sliding about in the trailer side to side hitting the side gates which are fastened to the uprights time after time which weakens the welds with the consequence that they snap so now you re going up the road with the trailer looking like a banana, elementary my dear Watson. regards Crow.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Carryfast i ve returned to this site un willingly just to see whats being said , i think you ve missed Carbons statement completely almost all tilts were built with the aim that they could be stripped to the bare bones if needed, the uprights which held up the roof for want of a better word slid into pockets that were welded to the rave or what we up north would have called the chock rail, as simple as that . the fact that our hero had not strapped his load meant that it was sliding about in the trailer side to side hitting the side gates which are fastened to the uprights time after time which weakens the welds with the consequence that they snap so now you re going up the road with the trailer looking like a banana, elementary my dear Watson. regards Crow.
Evening all, geoffthecrow, I learned many years ago as a youngster, that you never, never, never ever loaded anything inside a vehicle with enclosed bodywork, (except bulk cargo in a tipper), without securing it first!!! If you did, well then you knew the consequences!! As you say, elementary, “our kid”. Cheerio for now.
Having just read some of the stories Chris Arbon has written,I am amazed that anybody could believe such drivel.Who is this person?Does he think that we are all simple minded or what!!.This is the stuff that 15 year olds read,these flights of fancy could have been taken straight from the Wizard or the Hotspur comics.Poetic license is one thing,downright lies are another.It insults the intelligence of the hard working men (and sometimes women) who did the job as a way of life.It insults and denegrates the real pioneers of the middle east drivers,drivers like Ken Corrigan,Roger Hayward,Andrew Wilson-Young,■■■■ Snow, Barry Barnes,Gary Lyons,Ian Taylor,John Williams,Curly Connor,I could go on…These inane ramblings are the product of an over active imagination.I think that this Chris Arbon has read too many Ian Flemming books and needs to get back into the real world.If these stories are meant as a work of fiction,then that is one thing, and he should state that,if they purport to reflect real life on the road,then he should give himself a good talking to, and go and see a psychiatrist.
With all due respect to your opinion mate, what you might not be aware of is the fact that quite a number of members of this forum know Chris Arbon very well. Many are close personal friends. Obviously that doesn’t prove anything to you but I can assure you that he is certainly not a random story teller who can hide behind anonymity.
I am sure if you knew him personaly or read his excellent books you would have a different opinion altogether.
Ive started giving trucknet a swerve lately as its so bitter & twisted,
I never knew Chris whilst going overland through The Balkans etc, that doesnt mean he didnt or his tales arent real does it, why shouldnt the chap post his tales on here its his thread ffs?
I happen to see Chris on a regular basis nowadays as like me he moved across here to continue a long distance driving career, the blokes a gent & if his tales offend you stick with the red & yellow thread end of.
John Cooper
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Carryfast i ve returned to this site un willingly just to see whats being said , i think you ve missed Carbons statement completely almost all tilts were built with the aim that they could be stripped to the bare bones if needed, the uprights which held up the roof for want of a better word slid into pockets that were welded to the rave or what we up north would have called the chock rail, as simple as that . the fact that our hero had not strapped his load meant that it was sliding about in the trailer side to side hitting the side gates which are fastened to the uprights time after time which weakens the welds with the consequence that they snap so now you re going up the road with the trailer looking like a banana, elementary my dear Watson. regards Crow.
Thanks for clarifying what he meant.If he’d have said that he’d allowed the load fly about on the trailer against the drop sides enough to tear the ‘anchorages’ for the posts away from the trailer without bothering to do something about it I’d have understood it. 
Probably another one of those who doesn’t think that a tilt is effectively just a flat and everything needs to be tied down on/in one just the same wether it’s stripped or not.But I would have thought that having a tilt hanging off the trailer,because most of the post anchorage points have been torn off by a loose load,would have caused some problems at the border crossings when the customs officers started asking questions.
I hate to disagree with industry sages such as Saviem but I spent a lifetime in International transport and have loaded countless tilts. The only time we ever lashed anything down was if it was an obvious risk. Otherwise the stowage plan was designed to create a stable load bolstered by the tilt framework. Originally in the sixties and seventies these were composed of wood slats but these were developed into side gates which gave a good secure load retention capability.
Very few tilts had floor rings so there was not a lot you could do to lash down anyway apart from using straps which had to go around the underneath of the chassis because trailer manufacturers gave up fitting hooks to tilt trailers.
Jazzandy:
I hate to disagree with industry sages such as Saviem but I spent a lifetime in International transport and have loaded countless tilts. The only time we ever lashed anything down was if it was an obvious risk. Otherwise the stowage plan was designed to create a stable load bolstered by the tilt framework. Originally in the sixties and seventies these were composed of wood slats but these were developed into side gates which gave a good secure load retention capability.Very few tilts had floor rings so there was not a lot you could do to lash down anyway apart from using straps which had to go around the underneath of the chassis because trailer manufacturers gave up fitting hooks to tilt trailers.
So all those ropes,chains and straps etc used to tie loads down were/are really just a waste of time when just putting some drop sides on a trailer and a light metal framework with a few bits of wood and a cover over it would/will hold just about anything. 
Good point Carryfast and of course it was up to the drivers discretion how the load was or was not secured the fact that it was in atilt and you could nt see it did nt make things alright.Jazzandy the first tilt that we bought was in 1975 it was nt new had had a rough life but it did have lashing rings and so did all the others that we bought. I think that all tilts were supplied with lashing rings and because people double skinned them with plywood and did nt cut out the squares where they were located did nt mean that nthey had nt got em. Romanian roads in those days were notoriously rough so it was up to you to make safe regards Crow.
I did a the odd “occasional” job a few years ago, driving a 7.5t curtainsider. One load was a single 1t tote bag of stuff. It was placed in the middle of the load bed, say 2-3m in front of the back axle. When I suggested it should be strapped down, the answer was, “The weight will hold it down.”