I know the Mac’s burnt oil but that’s taking it to far ? The ERF’s where not as good as Backsplice 's F 89,s 6x4s !!! but bloody hell they did good , so much so I think they influenced TMS in there purchase of over 300 B series that I worked for in Damman Ron
Great pictures and tales, Ron. Personally, I loved driving the B-series ERFs too, even in the '80s when they getting a bit long in the tooth! Robert
Thanks for that R 52 ,I to loved the Bs they aways got back to the hive , Ron
Great stuff Ron !!!
Thank Backsplice , I was talking to JD about your photo of the Bogged down Mac he said it could be Jypsy Dave ,he was bogged down so much they had in the end to get a dozzer to pull him out , all this was in45%+this is absolutely exhausting !!! in doing this the front of his Mac was pulled off ,his front axel bumper & the spring bracket ripped away from the chassis ? But getting to the camp to unload he welded up the hanger bracket and tidied up his Mac getting back to Jeddah he did fantastic , !!! JD fixed up the font end ,linishing off the weld and re bolted the hangers our lads where great, good job done Ron
I posted this one a while back… but it illustrates how regulated things were …I don,t remember where the load was going but somewhere in Jeddah …42 pallets of rice …42 tons I guess and not much roping just a cross on the back ■■?
I can,t remember all the different loads I had from Scaffolding pipes …containers with Vimto or italian furniture for some Princes palace floor tiles you name it we carted it
Backsplice what a "Rice " tidy load ,that would have been handy with our Philo’s ?when you say name it ? You carried it !!! SO I will !!! When I was with TASEC we collected trailer loads of cattle ,!!! straight off the the cargo plane and bales of food for a farm out towards Ryhad its " herd "to BELIEVE , in that heat !! it was a big Dairy farm ,with massive shelters , producing milk and cheese , I seem to think there was an Irish lad running the show , the cows where black & white , there was a milk factory on the Abqake rd about 50 klicks down from Damman on your right , there was a stagnant lake which stunk to holy Aly,and flies as big as cockroaches winding up the widows as you past it we had no A/C . " We had it hard " Har Har thanks for the reminder ! Ps You can understand them making ! Sandwiches!!! but milk was a udder surprise.!!! It’s aways better to be seen not herd , :seize every opportunity and milk it for what it’s worth 
Ron
Hi Ron,
I think the dairy farm was Sanibel. This was a company which operated on Sanibel Island, just off the west coast of Florida.
If you remember, when we first got there, the only milk was nestle ‘nido’ in powder form. Then in about 1980, Caravan got the contract (through Behring, the American partner) to take hundreds of loads to near Al Kharj, about 50 miles south of Riyadh. This was the Dairy Farm.
We didn’t transport the cows - obviously you did!
The cows were in calf. The guys in charge (I’d forgotten they were Irish) said that even though Florida was hot, the mothers would have the calves, suckle them, but then die, not being able to stand the heat. The calves, having been born into that heat would survive.
They were right. Fresh milk appeared in the supermarkets and as you can imagine, they never had any problem selling it.
John.
Thanks for that John ,we used Long life in Jeddah , Ron
I distinctly remember heading off the road between Riyahd and Ta-if much closer to Riyhad though anyway just to buy a couple of litres of fresh milk in paper cartons …and there were Europeans working at the dairy as for milk at the depot can,t recall I,m sure we had fresh there too but don,t forget we at SARAMAT were pretty well catered for !!!.. There are loads of things I,ve forgotten about but am sure something posted on here will pull a switch ■■? I,m trying to locate one of my mates from Saudi in the hope I can source some more photos !!! … John there was a SARAMAT bloke got in touch with me about a year ago he has (or had) a little convenience store outside or near Barrow and spent time between there and Spain …he did,nt keep in touch and had said he would send some photos but although I did …he never !! thats life hope wirrlinmerlin does,nt mind me freeloading (freewheeling ■■?)on his thread
Another thing that comes to mind was there was a road accident on the Riyahd Highway …a big Buick smashed and 4 people had been incinerated I was,nt at the scene but apparently it was buried using a front end loader the first time I past it there was a mound but over time the wind had been blowing the sand slowly away …after that every time I drove by I half expected to see a couple of skeletons hanging out wher the windows were !!! strange how things come back … I never did see any evidence of bodies !!!
how weird … conversations go from pints of milk to bodies !!
Life was cheap in Saudi ,The part we played of driving amongst there lorry and car drivers in that country, was exciting ,in the towns it was slower and we had a little more respect because we where big and heavy .But on the open roads with the carnage and wrecks all over the place , well I suppose we thought that won’t happen to me. ■■? The Power of there V8, they were always going to crash , they where not quick thinking the trucks even worse , that was the crack !! When the lads came back ? It was great,how was it , was the talk in the canteen the laughs we had about the narrow escapes and happenings where unbelievable!!! but true, with tales,like cars overtaking then going into a 4 wheel slide , and sliding into the pipe line trench ,it was an adventure every day and hot with it . Would I do it all again !!! Yes !!! The trucking side was great ,the recovery and repair■■? having skills was hard work, And not appreciated , all the lads where fantastic certainly no regrets ,you can’t put a price on the experiences & challenges we all had Ron
For the very last Time It was bigger than that ? JD had got a thing about imitating Jesus !!! , These camper vans went over to Damman the driver seat was an armchair swivel , when you went inside the smell of the lacker finish inside just took your breath away the heat made them unbearable ? I suppose with the curtains drawn !!! And fired up with the A/C on it could be OK , but in that heat they where uncomfortable , flimsy fibreglass Not good for Saudi ,!! there where the American airstream Bullit Chrome finish caravans dotted about covered in sand these where not used , to hot but very collectable , Ron
Derick Farington was the driver of Mac 111 he had the job of transporting equipment to the Saudi Army which was scattered all over the desert , he had with him a guide x British Army bloke ,who knew his way around , finding the tracks in this land of sunshine, to encampments of the Saudi,s , I don’t know wether he ever got bogged down , talking of this, here is a photo of a natural spring, that Ali the companies Saudi. driver took JD to, just out side Jeddah ? A rare site indeed ,when you know that water was more valuable than petrol , Ron
Hi Ron I met this old Arab at a place like that oasis and had a long “chat” ( all be it nearly all sign )with him over a glass of chi it was pretty amazing I,m sure he had never left that place in his life and it was only since there was a clinic being set up near by he had met any westerners and had never had his photo taken either and he was a bit apprehensive about that ■■?
What a brilliant photo Backsplice , we never got that brown , but close to it !!! We used to fill up at the fuel station just outside Jeddah, on a night and sit with the coolies smoking there ugly bubly pipes !!! that picture took me straight back thanks for that ,I was on a break down and went Into the desert and stopped at a Bedowin tent for Shi what an experience that was ,I wanted to take a photo but he waved me away , and pointed to his chickens ? He had three women in the tent you could see they where smiling through there Eyes , I loved that stop , sitting in the tent drinking Shi pored out of the traditional brass and black burnt pot !! This was right up my street I loved it , I had with me a young lad at that time he was the managers son Scott Turner about 14 , he could not believe this adventure ,? I saw him about 12 years ago and this is what he talked about , all the time ,the Bedouins where very religious, this man stood up taking off his cloak , and wafting the sand clean with his cloak he started to pray facing The setting Sun, it was late afternoon this was near Al Jubayl On the East side , this was the real M’coy ,we waved to the women and drove off !!! thanks again Backsplice Ron
Stan the man Brindley , handy load for off road Ron
Hi Ron … are we the only ones left ■■ everybody has left us …maybe fed up reading about our exploits under the blazing sun !!!
were you ever offered another job while working there I got offered a couple it seemed to be easier getting a job while you were actually there on the spot …I myself was always of the opinion better the devil you know that the one you don,t and I always felt secure at SARAMAT the pay went in the bank and there was always a few rats to be made so was never short and I always had more folding stuff in the hipper than I ever had in the UK carried around in my " leather brief case " (free of pig product !!!)
There were few bludgers with us would,nt work in an iron lung but they were soon susst out …you know the kind bad backs etc trying the old flanker ( lets start a union stuff) our Saudis would,nt stand a bar of it … I felt I was there to earn a few quid so got on with it the great thing was that if you felt like a couple of days doing nothing stop on the way back up the coast at the beach nobody had you on the clock
anyway Ron keep em coming
Mah Salahm
