Thanks for the offer of Shi Backsplice that was drink we all enjoyed , and yes the lads all struggled up that hill the hill that was Tai’f in fact we stopped 1/2 way up to let the gearboxes and hub reductions to cool down , due to the gross weight T /A carried , I think even if we had had a fleet of Whites it would have broke there backs ? The ERFs did marvels,? Stretching the mechanics skills to the limits and beyond to keep this show on the road , a cup of Tea was always welcome, The inside of the Wester star note the trade Mark of the White steering Wheel , JD blowing the air horn ,this went across the Christian by pass doing 120mph , with the Peddle to the metal ,Blowing the flies off the sacrificial Tons of rotting sheep,goats ,carcasses that had been tipped in piles and piles alongside the strip of Tarmac That by passed Mecca , there was a water hole about 1/2 way along this rd on the left side with large boulders this gave some shade for those lucky enough to get the chance to pull over ? No chance there was always a Tonker or two parked up , You could get the occasional wave , from the young bints goat herders on your right side if you got the " Horn " On !! Ron
Well lads I for one am glad I had my days in the 70,s and not in the KSA nowadays ■■?
Il hamdulillah
This truck looks as if He ran out brakes and may be the driver went through the wind screen this was on the way down Tai’f mountain empty ? This was the start of a 1.1/2 hr drive down the Mountain , To venture over the top and see the first concrete down decent just dropping away for 1000 ft with a sharp right at the bottom , This was first initial test of your bottle !!! loaded with 40 ton pay load was extremely unwise , But I know Toni Cope did it!! and got to Jeddah by the skin of his teeth using the Jacob brake ,and brake continually on the way down then he told me that there was a noise from the back end ? On investigation I found the planet gears in the diff had broken up !!! and by some miracle the diff was locked in drive? Little did TC know !!! How close he came to grief ,the spines on the 1/2 shafts had locked up in the centre of the crown wheel , I was? I think ? The only one to realise just how close he came to see Alha !!! Can any one imagine what it must have been like to go down with a 95ton Road Train doubled up with full load oil drums on both 40fts using all the air to feed all the 18 brake chambers you must brake together with the Jacob Brake ? How could the compressor cope ? The first decent would make me change my Religion Trans Arabia drivers where not just lorry drivers,sorry (John West ) these men where super men , Ron
This lot was in our yard for ages Ron… Dutch overlander I think bit of a mess… may have been arguing with the Tonkas we nearly always came down Ta-if to Jeddah empty … going up that was a different story
Thanks Backsplice for reminding me of going up Ta’if , Trans Arabia has the all time record ? Which will never be broken !!! Because that mountain rd is only used as a scenic route, no trucks allowed !!! It must have cost a few Tonker drivers there skins coming down with there druped hand hanging out the drivers window ? !!! Telling us that Allah was driving , then again it was some sort of an air brake I suppose,the carnage ,the alligators on the rd ,the thrill was just brilliant no wander we all talk of this Red hot drive in 40% +that you had to do ,to get out of Jeddah , and the return ticket that you had to use to get back ,The mountains going to Khamis and Abha where more scary not only because we where days away but the mountain where bigger and steeper with longer descents , quieter but more demanding ,being fore warned with scull and crossbones at the top of each Cresta Run , Low gear ,was respected ,heavy loads where suicidal full stop , Ron
Manchester
Ribchester.
Ron … that truck was a Scania 141 V8 … some Dutchman who came a cropper it was there for ages I can,t remember if it was recovered with one of the SARAMAT recovery vehicles as for that burnt out wreck ■■? could be a Tonka !!! I,ve added a pic I came across of one of your lads bogged and being pulled out of the soft sand by another Mack… maybe its been on already I,m not sure also another couple from the shoebox
Just admiring backsplice’s photo of the 4 containers on the trailer. I keep wanting to shorten Backsplice, but it keeps coming out as BS… So perhaps not!
I ran Toyota pick ups on a car transporter trailer for a few months from Dammam as a subby to John Lancaster. Pat Conway, who I knew from Dunderdale and Yates in Preston, where I bought my two Mastiffs from, got me the the job. Pat had driven out overland with the trailer I used. The daily trunk to Riyadh which Pat was involved with, was now being run with a bigger trailer.
Occasionally, we used to deliver to the middle of nowhere. Hail, or Sakaka - hundreds of miles from Dammam. We would be paid in cash by the local Toyota dealer.
Geoff Collins taught me how to count notes and I still use his method to to this day, quicker than most modern bank tellers! It’s a bit like tying a dolly, once learnt, never forgotten - it’s in the fingers - it doesn’t actually go back to the brain! Take the notes in your left hand - your little finger above the notes, the others behind. Your thumb then feeds the top of the notes to your right hand. You can count quicker than the eye can see!
On one of these deliveries, Pat and I stopped for a cup of tea. We pulled off the Tarmac on to the desert. When we set off, I was in front. As we moved from the hard packed sand to the Tarmac, I was probably changing from first to second in the 5 speed Scania.
When we next stopped, Pat said ‘You have no idea how near you were to rolling that trailer, have you?’
‘Errr, no!’
The single axle trailer had mounted the Tarmac, which was probably a good eight inches higher than the surrounding desert, and continued on one wheel for several hundred yards before settling back instead of turning over!
I hadn’t even realised, but it did make me more cautious in future! I suspect that you had to be just a touch careful with four containers on a 40’.
John
Happy new year Wirlinmerlin, !!! I must confess that I did think about you on Christmas Day can you Believe that ,it wasn’t a night mare but it s close to !!! , how it came about ? We had a great time about 19 of us , that Marchial lamp I got from Spain I wired it up to a battery and the game was to follow zig zag live wire with a small ring attached to the return wire if you touched the zig zag the main beam would light up the " Wenches "it was powerful ? you would like that !!! Now when this happened you had to pay a forfeit ? Now this is when I thought of Mirlin in Damman !!! You had to pick a potato up with your buttocks ? And drop it in a bucket ■■? you being a Tight Arse that crate of Spuds flashed to my mind , You Swine, Ron
ronhawk:
Happy new year Wirlinmerlin, !!! I must confess that I did think about you on Christmas Day can you Believe that ,it wasn’t a night mare but it s close to !!! , how it came about ? We had a great time about 19 of us , that Marchial lamp I got from Spain I wired it up to a battery and the game was to follow zig zag live wire with a small ring attached to the return wire if you touched the zig zag the main beam would light up the " Wenches "it was powerful ? you would like that !!! Now when this happened you had to pay a forfeit ? Now this is when I thought of Mirlin in Damman !!! You had to pick a potato up with your buttocks ? And drop it in a bucket ■■? you being a Tight Arse that crate of Spuds flashed to my mind , You Swine, Ron
Excellent photographs AND stories, The potato carrying forfeit, is[ OFFICERS MESS R.A.F.] a true story, my now passed away father in law ,wartime air crew .Lancaster’s. landed somewhere at a fighter squadron airfield ,DOUGLS BADER was there ,he told me this 50 years ago, they were all in the mess, usual antics and DOUGLES BADER HAD TO “PICK A APPLE UP WITH THE CHEEKS OF HIS ARSE” for a forfeit, he said it was uproar, with laughter and encourage meant ,he tried his best ,so you were in good company,
Well DBP , Thanks for the history In your family ,I am impressed , we had a great night with the spuds although I think they where all thrown away after ? There was a couple missing ■■!!! And like Douglas Bader we where leg less !! Our kid Joe !! Actually worked on this very same Lancaster when it was in service , he was in the RAF now in the museum at Cosford the plane of causes , Ron
Remember the school buses , that overhang on the back end caught this bloke out !! He had to come out straight ,or have a roll Ron
What a nostalgia moment for your brother. as rare as hens teeth I bet .FATHER IN LAW flew A FULL TOUR WITH 460SQD then did the full term, out in 1966/7 ish there is a Lancaster museum in FREEMANTLE/PERTH ,Dedicated to that squadron,I have visited it .he was M/NAV W/O. typical mans man, good at all things you should not be. when I first met him he was on queens flight ,RAF BENSON.NEVER DID A DAYS WORK AS WE KNOW IT ,RAN DRINKING CLUBS ,Casinos, dogs ,horses, hated any memorabilia , was asked to take retired parades, refused, no time for the BRITISH LEGION at all.
please keep putting up anything new on “your posts”
did you ever get the nickname JACK .DBP.
If you parked to close to the wall the Goats will jump on the roof to get to the foliage on the trees , this Arab new this ?
The docks at Damman , waiting for the containers to be cleared , I had time to look into the clear blue sea ,red hot of cause, the fish that where there where not as colourful as Jeddah , just north of the north creek in the Red Sea it was fantastic , just like Jewels dashing about in there bright red,blue ,black ,and yellow , This fish in Damman was a Grouper I think ?!! It was big ? About the size of a tin bath !! deep body light brown in colour it was just hanging around in deep water but only about 6ft down almost waiting to be caught right by the concreat deck ,not that I wanted to catch it it would have taken the Mac to pull it out ? Sorry the ERF A series !!! The fish market in town was an eye opener !!! Nearly all the Yemenis cutting up monster fish had one eye missing ? It must have been an occupation hazard ,it might have been because of them scrapping of the scales ,washing them away with hose pipes ? the island in town had a giant coffee pot on it,this was there emblem standing 30 ft or more John West will Know !!! I used to pass it every morning in the early sunshine when working for GCC , but if you won’t to see fish ? !!!Then it’s the Barrier Reef 70 miles out from Hamilton Island with trees of coral , clams as big as dustbins fish of every colour and size, turtles just fantastic !!!down Backsplice’s way, Go with Fantasea, on there Catamaran to there raft and Snortle !! or best sit in there Submarine , Ron
117, TC Setting out In the twilight to climb Tai’f with re bar for The hospital at Khamis the head lights on the ERFs where good ,before the sand blasted the glass making it frosted , I remember him delivering a brand new tipper Mac to Khamis with a load of wood on the back,!!! A valuable load ,!! ,no trees in Saudi ? The Truck got there OK , but the load some how disappeared !!! He must have forgot and left the PTO in !!! it easy done !!! Going up the mountains !!! There was about 4 or 5 of these Mac’s. He had first Choice his was the only one loaded ■■ He was and still is street wise , He runs his own fleet of tippers now good luck to him , just looking after his family , Ron
