backsplice:
Talking about Arabic at SARAMAT newcomers were sent to the office to see “Admin Dept” I was looking for him Too■■?
Mah Salam
Ma’a salaama, ya Backsplice! If ever you find any more old pics of those ERF NGCs, just remember me, won’t you! Cheers mate. Robert 
Hiya A J , thanks for the family history of ■■■/ Jake ,you are jend up! I am/ was, very good with ■■■■■■■ engine and also Rolls Eagle Gardner& Scanner etc, I have built up early Gardner’s 4-5-6 -8 dry cylinder ,from white metal main ,to shells ,the Rolls where just ok ,as was the Scanner ,but the one that impressed me the most was the ■■■■■■■ ,as you may know they entered a race car in the Indi 500 this had there diesel engine with the driver in charge of the fuel pressure and drove it just bellow its disturction rpm, this was something special,completing the race ,it could be seen clearly on film with a trail of blue haze behind it,I could go on about it but I won’t anyway back to Trans Arabia here is a photo of the interior of the Mac truck make of it what you will its a dead ringer of the Massy Ferguson?image1.JPG The coloured buttons on the dash are the brake control ,the Red when you have full air charges the trailer the yellow is to park and and the Blue Is to release the brakes,The gear sticks ,the one on the right should be in the forward pos when starting down steep descents ,but it must not to be taken for granted ,this is not a patch on our ERFs
I know I am getting on a bit as my army n/o suggest ,22970325 but I am English to the core Ron
I found this ‘stock’ picture on the internet, showing a lorry being loaded from a container ship in Jeddah. It looks to me, suspiciously like one of Trans Arabia’s Macks! Can anyone confirm or refuse this? Robert 
Whoops…
IF i could but my accent on here , i would say “you old boys are more than just ordinary drivers ,just clever men” !!, to even, try to learn ,and probably speak ARABIC is beyond the normal run of the mill driver.
I wonder, what attracted skilled educated men to work with trucks in the Middle east .was it ,adventure, money,or just pioneering spirit.
deckboypeggy:
IF i could but my accent on here , i would say “you old boys are more than just ordinary drivers ,just clever men” !!, to even, try to learn ,and probably speak ARABIC is beyond the normal run of the mill driver.
I wonder, what attracted skilled educated men to work with trucks in the Middle east .was it ,adventure, money,or just pioneering spirit.
In my case, DBP, it was CHANGE - and yes, adventure and travel. While these lads on this thread were sweating it out in Jeddah in the '70s I was a teacher in the UK. Then I went long-haul driving (for that change) and eventually I returned to teaching from which I retired as a head-teacher in Cairo. With regard to Arabic, the egg sort-of came before the chicken because I started to learn Arabic as a trucker who regularly drove to Arabic speaking lands. If I hadn’t learnt as much Arabic as I did, it is almost certain that I would never have ended up teaching in an Arab-speaking country. Robert
deckboypeggy:
IF i could but my accent on here , i would say “you old boys are more than just ordinary drivers ,just clever men” !!, to even, try to learn ,and probably speak ARABIC is beyond the normal run of the mill driver.
I wonder, what attracted skilled educated men to work with trucks in the Middle east .was it ,adventure, money,or just pioneering spirit.
Good question
In my case - Adventure and cash. At the time I worked for Lovells Shipping Group Plc as GM of a subsidiary Railhead Services I had always wanted to work abroad but there were no real opportunities and S Jones came along with an opportunity - big descission that took some making. At the same time we had had a baby and wife finished work to bring him up(know 39!!!) and I could see savings being used - so earning became an issue although I was very well paid - it was a slightly better pay offer and no tax that swung the decision. Brilliant opportunity, thourgly enjoyed and should have stayed longer with hindsight.
Arabic - a question of need - I went to Arabic classes of an evening - that was hard - so really learnt on the job
so there we are
The drivers - £200 per week all found - 12 weeks on 2 off or was it 3?
Ken broster
Ken and I are clearly singing from the same page of the National Songbook here, DBP! We’ve more or less given the same answer! Robert
robert1952:
I found this ‘stock’ picture on the internet, showing a lorry being loaded from a container ship in Jeddah. It looks to me, suspiciously like one of Trans Arabia’s Macks! Can anyone confirm or refuse this? Robert0
Robert
Yes - it is a Trans Arabia Mack loading empty containers direct to a Barber Blue Sea Ro Ro Vessel n Jeddah on the Ro Ro berth
Import containers would have to go through the long process of customs clearance before leaving the port- Empty containers were not allowed to be stored in the port and had to be brought into port to the Quay 12 hours before ship arrival as a max time scale
Ken broster
I thank you very much for your candid reply,s ROBERT ,AND KEN .
I think going off forum a little ,however very interesting, suspicion arises when you both write so fluently, as for me! to say ,these men were not at the back of a class in a secondary modern school in a class of 40 pupils at 14/15 year old ,and i am probably a little bit of enviousness at [71] ,wishing i had your knowledge and achieved what you have done.
Nothing wrong in second or third change of employment i myself have done exactly that, however in a working mans range ,one highly dangerous,however most lorry drivers of the in the late 1960s 1970/80s had no choice but to stay where they were as their goal had been achieved, being a lorry driver.
We are fortunate to have men like you both and others with that little bit of extra go in them to have achieved what you have done within transport.
To be brutally honest all the years while i was driving i did not give to monkeys-f–cks about, makes of trucks, specs ,engines,running gear,paint jobs,all the things i now enjoy reading about, and was unaware that some men actually took notice , most men i knew did not care, even S.A.JONES, i used to see them all the time and used to take empty containers to a yard north of Birmingham, i never knew anything about the middle east operation .and i like thousands used to get about every where .out side the actual area it was not common knowledge.
Like the magazine HEADLIGHT i never brought it, we used to call it mickey mouse comic
All the test done between all the differnt manufacture of trucks ,power ratio, fuel etc if the ordinary driver had said to his boss "i think so and so would be more economical than the fleet you have you would have been told "you drive what i give you, or there is the gate"that is why it was then of no intrest to me ,now i do not drive trucks it is interesting, all thanks to men like you…dbp
deckboypeggy:
I thank you very much for your candid reply,s ROBERT ,AND KEN .
I think going off forum a little ,however very interesting, suspicion arises when you both write so fluently, as for me! to say ,these men were not at the back of a class in a secondary modern school in a class of 40 pupils at 14/15 year old ,and i am probably a little bit of enviousness at [71] ,wishing i had your knowledge and achieved what you have done.Nothing wrong in second or third change of employment i myself have done exactly that, however in a working mans range ,one highly dangerous,however most lorry drivers of the in the late 1960s 1970/80s had no choice but to stay where they were as their goal had been achieved, being a lorry driver.
We are fortunate to have men like you both and others with that little bit of extra go in them to have achieved what you have done within transport.
To be brutally honest all the years while i was driving i did not give to monkeys-f–cks about, makes of trucks, specs ,engines,running gear,paint jobs,all the things i now enjoy reading about, and was unaware that some men actually took notice , most men i knew did not care, even S.A.JONES, i used to see them all the time and used to take empty containers to a yard north of Birmingham, i never knew anything about the middle east operation .and i like thousands used to get about every where .out side the actual area it was not common knowledge.
Like the magazine HEADLIGHT i never brought it, we used to call it mickey mouse comicAll the test done between all the differnt manufacture of trucks ,power ratio, fuel etc if the ordinary driver had said to his boss "i think so and so would be more economical than the fleet you have you would have been told "you drive what i give you, or there is the gate"that is why it was then of no intrest to me ,now i do not drive trucks it is interesting, all thanks to men like you…dbp
DBP
Thanks for the compliments - however things a never quite as you see, for instance when I left Junior School to go to Secondary Modern A- yes I could hardly read and write as I had not started at school untill I was 9 due to poor health in and out of hospital. I was in the 1947 bulge as they call it. In the bottom of the class struggling to keep up. By the time I left(early) from the final year sixth form, not in the top set but head boy I carried on my education at night school. I went into the shipping industry in Liverpool , progresses from a office junior to dept head and then moved internaly into the start of the container industry which was really interesting being on the ground floor of a new period in transportation, eventually I was asked to go to the companies operation in Preston dock, his was the start of a new venture and where I drove my first truck - a Leyland Octopus 8 legger, hydraulic brakes and no power steering - what a beast to handle. I had had an involvement in transport from a very early age as my fathers side of the family had been in it from the horse and cart days - my great great grandfather hauled coal from the coal mine at Little Neston on the Wirral to ship side in Parkgate and Thursaston where they loaded coal boats for the IOM and Ireland. My father was involved in the business - a joint venture but paid no real part in the management as he was not the type and was not good when he returned from World War Two after 3 1/2 years in a pow camp.
I have had a very interesting and enjoyable live and experiences in the transportation industry - would not have changed it although I have always had an eye for the engineering side - I really like solving engineering problems with equipment, for example in the job that I did for 6 years before retiring for a large retail company - saving £4500 a months on road side repairs on trailer electrics for redesigning the rear trailer light positioning, re jigging the decking formation on the double decker fleet to give the business a further 8 pallet positions (18 per cent extra payload) , developing the curved roofs for double deckers giving a 17 percent improvement on fuel, train a driver to teach the drivers to drive there vehicles properly, you would not believe the improvement in fuel efficiency and the unseen bonus - reduced accidents. And on and on I can go - but would bore you all.
It takes a special driver/person to come off the road into the traffic office - most go back on the road as they cannot believe what’s involved and the hassle . Believe it or not shop stewards are usually quite successful !!■■
I could write a book about my experiences - but i won’t
Cheers
Ken Broster
ronhawk:
Hiya A J , thanks for the family history of ■■■/ Jake ,you are jend up! I am/ was, very good with ■■■■■■■ engine and also Rolls Eagle Gardner& Scanner etc, I have built up early Gardner’s 4-5-6 -8 dry cylinder ,from white metal main ,to shells ,the Rolls where just ok ,as was the Scanner ,but the one that impressed me the most was the ■■■■■■■ ,as you may know they entered a race car in the Indi 500 this had there diesel engine with the driver in charge of the fuel pressure and drove it just bellow its disturction rpm, this was something special,completing the race ,it could be seen clearly on film with a trail of blue haze behind it,I could go on about it but I won’t anyway back to Trans Arabia here is a photo of the interior of the Mac truck make of it what you will its a dead ringer of the Massy Ferguson?image1.JPG The coloured buttons on the dash are the brake control ,the Red when you have full air charges the trailer the yellow is to park and and the Blue Is to release the brakes,The gear sticks ,the one on the right should be in the forward pos when starting down steep descents ,but it must not to be taken for granted ,this is not a patch on our ERFs
I know I am getting on a bit as my army n/o suggest ,22970325 but I am English to the core Ron
Hello Ron
Apologies over my coment on our Brit drivers! Yes we had some very good ones but by en large the Philos were better, they were more hungry for the cash . Goggi,Taffe B, Gypsie D, Eric M I think were the bests, maybe you saw it from a different angle to me.
So the above Mack - who’s was it? What’s that on top of the dashboard? Two way radio?
Found your comments on Jake Brake interesting, I guess they had the system covered by patent writes? So how did the Mack one work? I think it was called the “Maxi-dyne”
Cheers
Ken Broster
I was all ready working for S Jones as a mechanic. And was regarded as a good bloke, only because of my skills and hard work ,Edward RIP and Michael Jones interview me with the opportunity for me to go and work for Trans Arabia as driver mechanic ,they where aware that I had received. An award from ■■■■■■■ and knew that I knew the ERFs inside out after 12years of working for them,they wanted me , I talked it over with my wife and kids, I thought if only I could only pay off the mortgage it could worth it?? so off I went ,not being put off by the state of this God forsaken sh-t hole I worked my balls off ? Only to be told after 2/1/2 years!! By Ken Broster the very same ?bloke who’s is on this thread ,Ron you are no longer needed here,? shocked I came back in the" Recession "nobody was hiring still having to pay the bills I looked for more work abroard ’ landing a job In Alkhobar I had a job , this was bloody none stop ,re building ■■■■■■■ engines of all shapes and sizes from the. Oil fields on contract ,I was promise three grand bonus ?again for hard work?this I did NOT get ! So I went to the Saudi Labour courts in Damman and played up holy sh-t to no avail Fighting for my rights they would not give me my letter of release ■■? So I sat in there main office corridor in Oshco Kobhar for one week and would not budge until I got it That’s men in high places for you playing God Saudis and So called White managers frightened of there jobs I was stronger than most ,
Then I got a job, the best one ,as Product engineer For TMS 150 ERFs 300 C /F Trailers I was again very well thought of. And more than proved my worth, Then do you know they employed another so called manager who cut the leaves and dropped our living allowances , so when i read of some bloke running our lads down and Knowing that Saudi took some of our chaps lives indirectly and rubbish there hard work makes my blood boil Ron.
@Ronhawk…impressive jobtrack…and on ■■■■■■■■ I suppose you have a large collection of the medals
pcked in each case when you build in a new one? ■■■■■■■ Recon was later on popular, since workshops
were supplied with reconditioned/refurbished parts…need to search for documentation on that.
Thank you all over here for posting a very interesting history on an active transport-enterprise!
ALL i can say is, i tip my hat to you KENB.THANK YOU AND YES! A BOOK WOULD BE GOOD.
ronhawk:
I was all ready working for S Jones as a mechanic. And was regarded as a good bloke,? only because of my skills and hard work ,Edward RIP and Michael Jones interview me with the opportunity for me to go and work for Trans Arabia as driver mechanic ,they where aware that I had received. An award from ■■■■■■■ and knew that I knew the ERFs inside out after 12years of working for them,they wanted me , I talked it over with my wife and kids, I thought if only I could only pay off the mortgage it could worth it?? so off I went ,not being put off by the state of this God forsaken sh-t hole I worked my balls off ? Only to be told after 2/1/2 years!! By Ken Broster the very same ?bloke who’s is on this thread ,Ron you are no longer needed here,? shocked I came back in the" Recession "nobody was hiring still having to pay the bills I looked for more work abroard ’ landing a job In Alkhobar I had a job , this was bloody none stop ,re building ■■■■■■■ engines of all shapes and sizes from the. Oil fields on contract ,I was promise three grand bonus ?again for hard work?this I did NOT get ! So I went to the Saudi Labour courts in Damman and played up holy sh-t to no avail Fighting for my rights they would not give me my letter of release ■■? So I sat in there main office corridor in Oshco Kobhar for one week and would not budge until I got it That’s men in high places for you playing God Saudis and So called White managers frightened of there jobs I was stronger than most ,
Then I got a job, the best one ,as Product engineer For TMS 150 ERFs 300 C /F Trailers I was again very well thought of. And more than proved my worth, Then do you know they employed another so called manager who cut the leaves and dropped our living allowances , so when i read of some bloke running our lads down and Knowing that Saudi took some of our chaps lives indirectly and rubbish there hard work makes my blood bile Ron.
Ron. I am honestly quite shocked - I cannot remember laying you off - thought you were working in Dammam with Martin When I left ? Although that was not planned. January 81
Ken
The Mac trucks that T/A had. The engine brake ? They where obviously not as good as the jake But in both cases, the driver must use braking to control the revs and must not go any where near 2100 if you feel the load trying to pushing you to high and this "feeling " tells you to get the revs down low !! before its too late you must brake hard to have any chance to change down once you dip the clutch the load hits you hard ?you have to feel this when very heavy you will only get one chance ? Prevention is the answer, But if the weight is to high you will eventually on very steep mountain rds ! And they certainly where out there , Run out of brakes. Engine brake alone must have help , The road train ? With the air brakes feeding 16 chambers ,our lads where. Bloody good to control the out fit on the straight !! Loaded light !! never mind Heavy, mountain roads asking for trouble. I hope this explanation is understandable ,And no KB The Mac brake was not very good Ronimage1.JPG
The house of the rising Sun!! This was just across the rd from our villa it was for the growth of TA mainly for the philapeanos and where integrated with our lads,they where young lads and we all got on well ,I got them together in the trailer park and gave them all a demo about the ERFs trucks, how to tip the cab and pointed out all the parts that may have trouble with on there trips out? I/E Water pump, governor, diafram rubbers relay valves wheel nuts, absolutely any part, That may go wrong ? In so doing to give our Mechanic some idea of what to take out on brake downs that could well be days away, this did pay off . Driving round Jedda town in a A sires with 3 in the cab just to show them the ropes ! The one lad !! shot of through the windscreen he was sitting on the engine bonnet , when the driver indicated right using the blue dead man !!!this truck had no windscreen in it so no harm was done!!! He was OK I thought bloody hell lets get back , Ron
ronhawk:
o
John P
On the decent into Khamis loaded with re bar to that Indoneasian construction co building a new market in Abha - we had all there construction stuff in the main yard
J P did not do much running outside Jeddah - he was extremely kind to the Philipino that had to have his lower leg amputated after an accident at a customer site in Jeddah - and dumped him on the steps of a Tans a Arabia without saying anything - ■■■■ did I make them pay for that in more than one way - he came to the Birmingham artificial limb unit for a false leg to to made and fitted plus training and loads of spare parts - john had him at his house when on leave. V kind and a v pleasant man
Ken Broster
