ronhawk:
Donkey water bowsers in Jedda. These were narrow so that they can go downtown in the alleyways. KB you did well and so did JP looking after the Philopeano. Good on you both.
Ron.
God - what a ■■■■ hole of place it really was - should have set Fire to the lot
Ken broster
Looking back at life in the KSA I do miss it, There was a job to do getting this country to start up and belong to the later part 20,th century this was certainly true in Jedda , we knew that SA needed help and we had volunteered to do it ,TransArabia was a bee hive and the lads went out helping this desert town to get a grip , we where busy ,trucks and trailers in and out of the Jedda dock , Parking up in the dust and rubbish filled streets, dead animals decomposing we had a job to do and got on with it ,even the port started laying kerb stones and tarmac , the roads round about us the wrecks where moving out ,giving us more room to park ,every body was busy,the school girls started to speak as if they knew we where hard workers , we where out in the midday sun ,repairing trucks trailers in a very busy street.The boxes of Safer water could be clearly seen by passers by, On our Villa steps They would always ask for a bottle,You could not refuse them,Saudi law ! We finished up putting a tarpaulin over them !! loads going coast to coast then Down to Khamis and Nazran it was Buzzing. The sheer heat of this place was something else. but dressed in just shorts and in my case boots as well , We all loved the Sun and we looked well ,going on leave , they thought you had the time of your life , we did for the three weeks we had off !! The job was so different KB had got work for a mining Comp ,driving mining equipment out the dock for King Solmonds mine then loading for Nazran at least 2 days down the track , this went 60mls off road into a mountain- different again the barren scenery with tumble weed blowing around, it was a challenge I loved it. Ron
ronhawk:
Looking back at life in the KSA I do miss it, There was a job to do getting this country to start up and belong to the later part 20,th century this was certainly true in Jedda , we knew that SA needed help and we had volunteered to do it ,TransArabia was a bee hive and the lads went out helping this desert town to get a grip , we where busy ,trucks and trailers in and out of the Jedda dock , Parking up in the dust and rubbish filled streets, dead animals decomposing we had a job to do and got on with it ,even the port started laying kerb stones and tarmac , the roads round about us the wrecks where moving out ,giving us more room to park ,every body was busy,the school girls started to speak as if they knew we where hard workers , we where out in the midday sun ,repairing trucks trailers in a very busy street.The boxes of Safer water could be clearly seen by passers by, On our Villa steps They would always ask for a bottle,You could not refuse them,Saudi law ! We finished up putting a tarpaulin over them !! loads going coast to coast then Down to Khamis and Nazran it was Buzzing. The sheer heat of this place was something else. but dressed in just shorts and in my case boots as well , We all loved the Sun and we looked well ,going on leave , they thought you had the time of your life , we did for the three weeks we had off !! The job was so different KB had got work for a mineing Company,driving mining equipment out the dock for King Solmonds mine then loading for Nazran at least 2 days down the track , this went 60mls off road into a mountain- different again the barren scenery with tumble weed blowing around, it was a challenge I loved it. Ron
Hi Ron
Oh those photos bring back some memories - spend days and hours on them
The mine was called Almasane - the King Soloman Gold mine is in the area but is off on a different track 4 x 4 route on a mountain range - went there on the original journey to Almasane off the Najran to Riyhad road - an amazing mountain side climb in the Blazer with 2 other vehicles - camped at Solomon mine overnight in tents with some Cornish tin miners who had been there for a solid 18months with no break.
The track for Almasane was nothing but a rabbit run when I came out of Almasane for the first time- it had to be graded and cuts out of mountain sides - the first 2 trucks that went in were the new 2 @ 6 x 4 ERF. Gogy and Taffy bill - Gogys broke down with that dam thermostatic radiator air fan that had to be locked in for permanent use. We had trouble with the first 2 runs due to lack of weight!!! On the drive axle and some of the gradients were to steep and had to be re routed -.afterwards that why we put 10ton cement bags over the drive axle!!
The job was for a Canadian a Mineing Co. Think the rate was 12,000SR.(£2000) per trailer load
Must get my pics out - there is a fab one of the trucks coming up out of the mine on the Trans Arabia brochure - I have one
Cheers
Ken Broster
ronhawk:
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
Hi
Love the term of the “House of the Riseing Sun”
We took on the rental(120,000sr)(£20,000)(per year) for these flats about 12/15 months of starting up - some time before the Philipions were hire - Bill Smith lived in the penthouse suite on top floor.
The big bonus with these flats is that there was a telephone!!! Bingo. So telephone wire was purchased and connect made across the roofs, only problem was that when the phone bill required payment they cyst the phone off and re instated when paid but it took us a exile to cotton onto this just report the phone not working, when the engineer came he would say phone not here but over there and would disconnect from Villa Trans Arabia only to be rewired when he had gone!! Eventually I just have him 100sr and he would just go!! But that was our connect to the outside world
We had quite an incident there early in - we bought a drinks fridge that required taking upstairs - the 2 guys doing it were Stan Brindley( 5mw man fleet 104 ex S Jones overland to Doha) and an obnoxious man from Shrewsbury who never really wanted to do anything. Stan was carrying the bottom of the fridge and the other the top. - going up the stairs Mr Shrewsbury suddenly lifted/pushed the fridge up and back towards Stan - the sharp edge of the bottom of the fridge cut into the biceps on one of his arms - Bill Smith tried to get him to the Leb hospital but he was bleeding to badly so took him to the hospital round the corner - what a fleet pit it looked - they fixed him and kept him in for a few dayside- had to sent him home as it was seriously infected - huge scar. When I caught up with them at the hospital there was was blood on the wall up to the sealing from Stans arm. He must have cut an artuary.
Needless to say Mr Shrewsbury did not last long - home leave don’t come back!!
Cheers
Ken Broster
Stan Brinly there’s a name that s just jumped up ? I had a scrap book and used to draw caricature of the lads ? At Trans Arabia one was of SB the caption read !! One pot one hour ,he loved his cupa,may be he was trying to replace the blood he lost, !! That was before I got there ,when he was over land at Jones I could always tell his truck!! there was a trail of Beens down the os side, but he was a good hard working sort of a chap, going back to the Canadian mine co’p there mobile Crain that was outside the Villa ,the clutch had burnt out !! JD & me renewed it ! I was a difficult job but we did it, removed the engine just enough to get to the flywheel with not much tackle Gogi took this down to the mine it was an awkward load , The Canadians where good, I remember one lad thick set strong man , I think he was Polish ? He was un fortunately killed in the mine. The side loader which I drove out of the dock which I thought was a stupid design the driver sat side on ? Was the machine that ran over him RIP , in poor light so I was lead to believe, they found his belt buckle it was a distinctive Bulls head on it bloody bad look I came back with one of there managers wives on the flight to UK there camp was in the mountains just a handful of men ! She fell for one of the workers !!!and split up with her husband She confest to me that she regretted it ? " I did not want to join The mile high club" ! !as a looker? As Marline used to say ! "Ile give it Five ". Martin Mears was not on this flight. Ron
ronhawk:
Stan Brinly there’s a name that s just jumped up ? I had a scrap book and used to draw caricature of the lads ? At Trans Arabia one was of SB the caption read !! One pot one hour ,he loved his cupa,may be he was trying to replace the blood he lost, !! That was before I got there ,when he was over land at Jones I could always tell his truck!! there was a trail of Beens down the os side, but he was a good hard working sort of a chap, going back to the Canadian mine co’p there mobile Crain that was outside the Villa ,the clutch had burnt out !! JD & me renewed it ! I was a difficult job but we did it, removed the engine just enough to get to the flywheel with not much tackle Gogi took this down to the mine it was an awkward load , The Canadians where good, I remember one lad thick set strong man , I think he was Polish ? He was un fortunately killed in the mine. The side loader which I drove out of the dock which I thought was a stupid design the driver sat side on ? Was the machine that ran over him RIP , in poor light so I was lead to believe, they found his belt buckle it was a distinctive Bulls head on it bloody bad look I came back with one of there managers wives on the flight to UK there camp was in the mountains just a handful of men ! She fell for one of the workers !!!and spit up with her husband She confest to me that she regretted it ? " I did not want to join The mile high club" ! !as a looker? As Marline used to say ! "Ile give it Five ". Martin Mears was not on this flight. Ron
Hi Ron
I had forgot about the crane. Yes it was an awkward lump
Do you remember the White Truck and low loader?
The camp was set up for quite a lot of men - they had a doctor on site who use to ask as the local GP - one day one of the locals brought a young baby in that had fallen in a fire and was badly burnt - unfortunalty he couldn’t save it - but the local police got involved and they held him responsible - that was the end of the locals GP service
It was a funny thing for the Canadians - if they worked abroad and there wife era back in Canada they still had to pay tax - hence why some came with them and dome dusted in Cyrus
Martin not try is hand!! Unusual!!!
ronhawk:
21
Hi
Was this Nelson Daddag on his way into the Alsarme mine?
Yes the White Freightliner that was a truck and them some!! The Aloy running gear the Aloy fuel tanks ,top spec, the paint job ! was midnight blue with thousands of sliver stars I was really impressed with this motor, B’■■■■■■■ 400 engine, with a 13speed fuller box Covered in dust inside and out just waiting to be fired up , Some one took it round the block ■■? Tell us what Happened KB!! It came back with a crumpled OS front wing ? I know this motor went along the ChristianBy pass at 120mph the driver thought it was Klicks until he cleaned the dust of the clock, The Mac in that tumble weed was Nelson , when it go back to Jedder I found the rear bogey subframe was cracking up along the seams, this was welded up by JD & my self ,back in service it was fixed good , the graded road to the mine took its toll on the Mac, Ron
ronhawk:
Yes the White Freightliner that was a truck and them some!! The Aloy running gear the Aloy fuel tanks ,top spec, the paint job ! was midnight blue with thousands of sliver stars I was really impressed with this motor, B’■■■■■■■ 400 engine, with a 13speed fuller box Covered in dust inside and out just waiting to be fired up , Some one took it round the block ■■? Tell us what Happened KB!! It came back with a crumpled OS front wing ? I know this motor went along the ChristianBy pass at 120mph the driver thought it was Klicks until he cleaned the dust of the clock, The Mac in that tumble weed was Nelson , when it go back to Jedder I found the rear bogey subframe was cracking up along the seams, this was welded up by JD & my self ,back in service it was fixed good , the graded road to the mine took its toll on the Mac, Ron
Morning
2 stories out of this post!!!
The Mack - thought it was Nelson Dagdag - probably the best Philipino driver - he had loads of overseas experience in the Gulf and working for the Americans in Vietnam - you should have seen his family pad in the Philipines s lived like a king. Onto the story - yes he was on his way to Almasane when the truck broke down - he turned up in the office unexpected - what up a truck broken boss - where - road in Almasane - how the !! Have you got here? Well I started walking back to the main road (that’s some miles in the mountains) and a Bedouin came along in a pickup and gave me a lift to the main Najran - Khamis road then I thumbed a lift to Khamis and got a taxi to Abha airport and got a ticket to Jeddah plus taxi to office!! I had to take my hat off to him for his positive actions - fitter JD I think off with him in the Volvo or was it my Blazer. Job done but you right that road did take its toll on the trucks.
The White Freightliner - imported by Watts Griffiths McQuatt (Our customer a Canadian Mining Co) for the Almasane job - they thought they could move some of the equipment to site themselves initially !! So they brought this truck in with a low loader and employed a local driver who did one trip - blew all the tyres off the trailer - weight and speed. So Tim the GM asked if we would look after it - so we parked it up behind the Binzagr main warehouse for months gathering dust until they asked if I wanted it - cannot remember what I paid but it wasn’t much.
Then you are right some clown decided to crack it up and have a play!! She was parked as I said behind the Binzagr warehouse in front of the local police station with armed guard outside !! Picking his nose - which is what they usually did. She cracked up fine, built up the air and moved forward with hard tight lick on trying to avoid another vehicle - it didn’t and scraped the left hand corner - the police guy could see what I had done and just turned away - thank god. Yes you lot gave some grief for that. I thought she had a transverse box in her for heavy haulage - hence the high speed. She was a fine truck - don’t know what finally happened with her
Clearly you have a brain like an elephant - never forgets!!
Cheers
Ken Broster
Hiya AJ ref ■■■■■■■ V8? This was in a 20ft container Jen pack , the left bank cam shaft had broken and to save time we removed the 8x8 ft radiator, and the front timing gear train !! Wiring up the cam rollers on left bank etc etc I removed the front half of the broken cam shaft ? The back half was still in there? Using an electric stick welder ,we carefully attached 3. Sticks together then struck the up the welder and welded on to the broken shaft, through the drillings of the block , gradually the broken shaft was "removed ". New shaft fitted timed up OK. this was a failing with some of this engine !!apparently when the block was being bored out In the Factory sometimes the left side bore was slightly out of line Due to swawf getting under the machine bed ?this resulted in the failing !! I Hope you understand its was a long time ago !! Ron
@Ronhawk…what’s up Ron? I enjoy diverse posts of the men who really experienced this M/E operation!
Feel free to ask when I might be of any assistance regarding ■■■■■■■
A-J
Things that go bump in the Night ! Following an Arab. in the very early morning pitch black on the mountain rd going towards Khamish in torrential rain, with boulders that had rolled down onto the road ? He was doing great !swerving in and out up and down I was right on his tail ,the rear lights on his Yanky car where just visible with the wipers on fast the rain was the worst I had seen ,I was happy he was in front !. Then all of a sudden he just slammed into Boulder as big as a house , How I missed him ? I don’t know ,but thankfully I did just , I was in KB s blazer his pride & joy , whether it was my main beam lighting up his fan belt in his rear view mirror I will never know, "if you get my drift "but I swerved round him !! His stop lights never came on but they are very slow to react. driving on a short way I had to pull up, the road was washed away it really was to bad to drive . Writing about reaction!! I was changing a NSF wheel on a ERF artic in a sand storm on the Tap line road north of Jubail when a Police car crashed into the trailer ? He looked Dead to me the ambulance staff put the canvas stretcher on the road ,carrying him with his outstretched arms and legs his head was hanging down they just dropped him onto the canvas I can still hear the sound of his head hitting the deck I thought he’s dead now ? Another time in Jedda I was blowing up a 1200x 20 repaired tyre just reaching 100psi the tyre exploded I was sitting on this wheel and it blew up in the air and landed on top of me bloody hell I thought I’d’ had it ! Unknowing to me this tyre had been run flat for some considerable time !! And the side wall which was on the deck exploded ,some one must had been on my shoulder thank god. I am happier today ? I backed Many Clouds in the National last Saturday !!! Ron
Great photos and stories Ron.
I’m amazed you weren’t arrested for killing that policeman - after all, if you hadn’t been there, he couldn’t have hit you!
I remember heading for Riyadh from Dammam, on the old single carriageway road. I had a gear linkage problem on the Saviem on that raised section, where the sands of ‘the empty quarter’ encroached North. The ‘hard shoulder’ was only about four feet , with a drop of about 10 feet down to the desert. It was dark night.
I pulled over as far as I could, then ‘got out and got under’. Every time any vehicle came from the Dammam direction I hurriedly clambered back out, and moved away, so it took me about an hour to do 10 minutes work, but I didn’t dare stay underneath the truck, as you can imagine.
John
Snow in Jedda ? It Was hot as usual I think it was April 1979 !! For a couple of weeks Jedda turned White it was the calling of Mecca, I had never seen any thing like it, my Very first time over night there where thousands upon thousands of shaven headed pilgrims dressed in White cotton robes Jedda was packed to the seams, every road every path, every square inch was crowded with pilgrims. Then there was even more ? I could not believe the sight that was laid out before us, there where now Millions it was incredible ,you had to tip toe when driving to the Docks , The port was chocka block the ships full of white ,thousands up on thousands of pilgrims again it was incredible ,The ships cranes unloading thousands of animals in big nets full of sheep with their legs sticking out thousands of them. Camels in slings !some falling in the sea it was unbelievable ,I am really trying to paint a picture, but whatever I say you must treble it ,the reflection of White in the hot sun was unreal ,it was all moving. Trying to get out port ,looking in the mirrors with containers of Vimto etc the horn was red hot ,then you had to find some where to park up,it was something that I will never forget . Thank God For the Christian by pass . Ron
Two messages for Trans Arabia fans:
I have just scanned an article from the April 2011 edition of Heritage Commercial magazine which contains an article about Jerry Cooke’s early days with Trans Arabia. Because that article is referred to on the ERF ‘Euopean’ 1975 thread, I have just posted the scans on there for all to enjoy.
My book Lorries of Arabia: ERF NGC is now out and available via Old Pond Publishing. It contains innumerable references to Trans Arabia, dedicates about 14 pages to it and includes about 20 Trans Arabia photos.
Robert 
Thanks A-J for the jump start, I did have a flat battery but I have charged up. Also, thanks to John you know the dangers of dead trucks some where out there. I poured fuel onto ropes and lit up at night to keep the sleep drivers away. Trans Arabia? Burnt "trucks ",but that’s going to far,!! sorry KB I could not resist that pun !! We are allowed to have a laugh now that we did it . And got away with it!! Congratulations to Robert 1952 on the launch of his book. Best wishes, Ron.
ronhawk:
Thanks AJ for the jump start, I did have a flat battery but I have charged up. Also, thanks to John you know the dangers of dead trucks some where out there. I poured fuel onto ropes and lit up at night to keep the sleep drivers away. Trans Arabia? Burnt "trucks ",but that’s going to far,!! sorry KB I could not resist that pun !! We are allowed to have a laugh now that we did it . And got away with it!! Congratulations to Robert 52 on the launch of his book. Best wishes, Ron.
Ron. I take it that’s he Taif mountain road burn out - exhaust to close to the base of the sleeper cab!!■■
What was the driver called? Tall bloke from Birmingham?
Ken