This time when John Parry ran out of brakes he was still with the truck about 2 1/2 days away near to Khamis the brake linings where like glass and the drums where blue with the heat, that’s when I got to him I can only imagine the scene as he strove to stop his Mac and about 35 +tons ■■? of steel going down these long straight stretch of steep mountain rds for about a day, and just before Khamis Mushiat he was in trouble his brakes must have been on fire , he knew that we had already lost 2 Mac,s on this mountain , so I must give him credit for some how stoping a 3rd runaway, it may have been a bad trailer to start with ? Brake wise who knows ? But once they overheat the heat forms a barrier between the shoe and the drum , on along steep down hill the weight factor would just over rule the brake on this Mountain rd , with heavy work our trucks and trailers where pushed beyond there limit, testing every aspect man and machine ,other companies had better equipment than ours and more sensible loads HEAVY LOADS AND MOUNTAIN RDS. DONT GO TOGETHER !!! Another aspect is if the driver finds that he has to break continually to keep his engine brake in the correct Rev range because of the heavy load and the brake slack adjusters are in need of adjustment this would take more air out of the air tanks and then with low air, the compressor could not build up the air tanks quick enough ? Then the spring brakes would start to drag on creating this very sinario ? When this happens the brakes will compleatly Fail , Hope you can appreciate what I am saying as the manager was ignorant to this fact , it would have been suisidle to com down with a 95 ton road train ? Feding 18 brake chaimbers !!! Ron
ronhawk:
This time when John Parry ran out of brakes he was still with the truck about 2 1/2 days away near to Khamis the brake linings where like glass and the drums where blue with the heat, that’s when I got to him I can only imagine the scene as he strove to stop his Mac and about 35 +tons ■■? of steel going down these long straight stretch of steep mountain rds for about a day, and just before Khamis Mushiat he was in trouble his brakes must have been on fire , he knew that we had already lost 2 Mac,s on this mountain , so I must give him credit for some how stoping a 3rd runaway, it may have been a bad trailer to start with ? Brake wise who knows ? But once they overheat the heat forms a barrier between the shoe and the drum , on along steep down hill the weight factor would just over rule the brake on this Mountain rd , with heavy work our trucks and trailers where pushed beyond there limit, testing every aspect man and machine ,other companies had better equipment than ours and more sensible loads HEAVY LOADS AND MOUNTAIN RDS. DONT GO TOGETHER !!! Another aspect is if the driver finds that he has to break continually to keep his engine brake in the correct Rev range because of the heavy load and the brake slack adjusters are in need of adjustment this would take more air out of the air tanks and then with low air, the compressor could not build up the air tanks quick enough ? Then the spring brakes would start to drag on creating this very sinario ? When this happens the brakes will compleatly Fail ,Hope you can appreciate what I am saying as the manager was ignorant to this fact , it would have been suisidle to com down with a 95 ton road train ? Feding 18 brake chaimbers !!! Ron
Oh Ron
You’ve been on that Hubble pipe again!! Or is it the maturity of those King Edward cigars - you must have got a a good haul!!
Your stories keep getting further from the truth but I guess that’s time and old age and dreams!! And they make me smile and chuckle.
Did you realise that all this York and Crane Fruhauf trailers had 40ton suspension on them? So 2 @ 20tn containers were not overloading them nor was 30ton of steel. It was the landing legs on the initial Yorks that were the problem and collapsed/folded that were replaced with heavy duty Intertruck land gear that were more then capable of the job.
Life was a major learning curve for us all in many directions - but yes it was a great experience which has certainly stood me in good faith over the years in many ways and I am glad that I went although I had major second thoughts at the time.
Interesting that Trans Arabia is still running and S Jones (Aldridge) Ltd is long gone also with our pension money!!
I guess the financial controls etc went when Edward Jones died
Keep smiling
Ken b
Hi did anyone on this thread used to work for Jones in the mid 60s?
euromat:
Hi did anyone on this thread used to work for Jones in the mid 60s?
Sorry to say it , but I think you will struggle with that request A are you looking for someone specifically ■■
Ken b
Hi Uromat , I did work for S Jones in the mid 60s , as the workshop Foreman on nights until I went to join T/A , some , 10years later , the drivers names that I remember where Graham Griffiths , Gordon Taylor , Dicky Grantham , Tony Cope ,Tutie , Jonny Arnold , Vince Cook ,Stan Brindley ,Charlie Owin and quite a few more, if you have any reference to an individual’ let me know , was he on general or tippers ? Ps JA went to Ozzie 6ft -2 or 3 big lad ,good company, Ron
One of the drivers mentioned was in a fatal on the M1 ? A van came down the slipway onto the M 1 and stooped in front of him ? The van roof came through the windscreen an Broke off the steering wheel bracket dropping the column on to his feet , ERF. ? I was led to Believe modified this bracket from this unfortunate Accident Ron
If I remember correctly ? It may have been Jonny Arnold ■■ that parked up on the Blue Bore , with his loaded Artic Atkinson ? Now this had a very poor designed park brake in my opinion !! You had to roll this hand brake lever to its locked poss,this was situated bottom right near the driver seat , he did just that and got a lift back home !! The police phoned and said that the truck had gone into the river can I go out and recover , getting the spare Keyes from the office , John Davies and myself went out , it was a freezing cold night and sure enough the unit was half submerged in the river ? Which was froze over , the only thing that stopped it going in the river completely , was the trailer legs They had dug into the bank , the recovery went well ,winching out with Our Man ? Or was it Clay ? Anyhow I remember JD in the cab building up the air with the exhaust under water you could not see him for smoke ? You all know what the Gardeners where like when Cold ? that is apart from one one this thread ? This type park brake was a bad .? Any body else had this experience ? allowing the lot to travel down the slope !! Missing all the trucks into the river this park brake was also modified Ron
Hi Ron,
I’ve followed this wonderful thread for ages, terrific contributors and great stories.
Am an ex fitter from them days, only here in Blighty. Can appreciate the work you did in those conditions in KSA.
Anyway, keep the memories coming, Brilliant thread.
Re your runaway, that Atki had Lock actuators on the parking brakes, useless idea. You could beat the mechanism and the brake was not on.
Horrible things, the other problem was not releasing, having to hold the lever down and revving the ■■■■ of the thing to build the air up, Happy days.
All the best.
ronhawk:
One of the drivers mentioned was in a fatal on the M1 ? A van came down the slipway onto the M 1 and stooped in front of him ? The van roof came through the windscreen an Broke off the steering wheel bracket dropping the column on to his feet , ERF. ? I was led to Believe modified this bracket from this unfortunate Accident Ron
Hello Ron the driver of that truck was Graham Griffiths nice bloke, the steering column bracket broke and wedged behind the foot brake poor Graham couldn’t stop the truck. The van driver was killed. Jona
Well thanks for coming on board AV 760, and thanks for your comments , it’s good to have you on this thread , you know about all aspects of mechanics and trucking , I remember the old trucks with the engine in the cab , lifting the blankets of the bonnet to repair fuel lines , then bleeding the system , saying to the driver OK start up ■■? Then looking in amazement at the fuel pump as it moved away from the block with the heavy thud of a con rod that had come through the crank case hitting the pump every two revelations of the engine ? The driver must have been deaf , That was on the A 45 coventry by pass Good Old days Ron Ps thanks Jona for your amendment Ron
Ron, had exactly the same, called out to a Daf, oil leak.
Had an oil leak alright, thrown a rod which knocked a chunk of camshaft through the block, which then broke the injector pump of it mounts, must sounded like a bomb going off under the cab. !!
Oh well, gives us something to remember from the past. Had a good living out of the industry.
Trans Arabia ,Jeddah we had a telly and the programs where laughable any film that we tried to watch with the lads all sitting round the box , looking forward to some romance ? was so cut up it was ridiculous the women would go to kiss the guy and the film would jump a mile , it was so frustrating to the our lads you can imagine the comments , like give it some ? #^+^ and then some ? It was like a jigsaw puzzle with the main picture missing no bare arms or legs where ever shown , and that was the blokes !!! the cup finale was broadcast and to see the green grass football pitch in England was mouth watering ,we hired a cini camera and had a roll of films to watch on the White washed wall in the yard , this was a little bit better but still heavily Censored , the lads would keep waving there arms through the projected beam of light shining on the white washed wall stoping the mozzies from biting it was a really mad place to live , All this in 40 at night Ron
I used to drive an Atki (Borderer) … a 220 ■■■■■■■ Ron it used to fly …it had one of these handbrakes being referred to …I remember leaving a trailer away from home on a weekend and had to return to the yard solo for a different trailer on Monday … it was Saturday morning the roads were wet and not much traffic I had the heater going and it was getting warm so I took off my jacket with a struggle and went to stuff it behind the drivers seat (right hand side of ) well you all know where the hand brake was and I accidentally engaged it she locked up and I ended up doing about 3x 360 spins …ended up facing the right direction and on the right side of the road …well I can tell you without exaggeration there was more skid marks on the Y fronts than on the road between Grangemouth and Kincardine bridge so I KNOW about these handbrakes another instance was I was heading up a hill somewhere in Edinburgh after picking ap a tipping trailer that had been loaded overnight there was well over 20 tons in it anyway I knew there was lights at the top of the hill and tried to gauge the run up to get a green go …did,n t make it put on the handbrake but " she no hold " so standing on the foot pedal (nearly through the floor mind you ) hanging out the window trying to wave cars behind to get out of the way crept back and jackknifed into somebodies garden wall not to much damage cops came and sorted it out …then went up to the top stopped traffic gave me a wave then the ■■■■■■■ took me over from a standing start …no ticket no nothing found out later there was a small leak in a diaphragm on the trailer I don,t think that had anything to do with it though
nothing to do with KSA either … Mah Salaahms more Bukra
( Nice one Backsplice ref Atki hand brake ). I remember it well , When I was Working for S Jones ,in the mid 60s , we had a mixed fleet mostly Leyland 680 Beavers Comets ,+ AEC+Albion all of which gave problems with head gaskets ,then gradually the ERFs with Gardener, these faired better less troublesome , then this outfit just took off,ERFs with ■■■■■■■ R/R 240 Gardeners , Atkinson’s , Dennis V8 Perkins , we had 2 off those ,with a ratchet hand brake that could brake the bonded steel cable if pulled to tight !! Fodden 8 wheelers and again the experience gained with the Hard Working Drivers and Mechanics it was the ERF that shone through with ■■■■■■■ power ,I was blest with an award from ■■■■■■■ Darlington ,and was involved with engines rebuilds and every aspect of trucks from the head light to the tail lamp ,then with all the expertise S Jones Trans Arabia started , and again the hard working experienced local lads from Aldridge area , they where the solid foundation of ,Trans Arabia starting from scratch in that hole named JEDDAH , the machines did good but it was the Men who drove the success of T/A , Ron
Skid marks on the M 1 ? North bound, yes and they where Brown? S Jones had a contract with London CC sewerage plant To remove over 1000 ,s of tons of !! How can I put it ? ( Sh-t ) that’s what it was in the form of cack I mean cake ,and transport it to an old mine shaft in Walsall Wood ,where it was dumped , well the tri axle trailers tail gates where made splash proof so to keep it on board , at first this was OK , but then getting into soft stuff the drivers found that if the had to brake hard? this sh-t came over the top of the body over the cab and down the windscreen , to eliminate the smell this was treated with perfume , and the drivers Wives thought something was going on with there men ? Down Soho , and they also created a Stink !! the washers could not cope with this smelly mess and the drivers where complaining , so we started to fit baffle plates in the centre of the tipper bodies hoping this would eliminate the soft sh-t from going over the cab it was brilliant we where all smelling the same , and to make it worse we where on nights , Ron
ronhawk:
Skid marks on the M 1 ? North bound, yes and they where Brown? S Jones had a contract with London CC sewerage plant To remove over 1000 ,s of tons of !! How can I put it ? ( Sh-t ) that’s what it was in the form of cack I mean cake ,and transport it to an old mine shaft in Walsall Wood ,where it was dumped , well the tri axle trailers tail gates where made splash proof so to keep it on board , at first this was OK , but then getting into soft stuff the drivers found that if the had to brake hard? this sh-t came over the top of the body over the cab and down the windscreen , to eliminate the smell this was treated with perfume , and the drivers Wives thought something was going on with there men ? Down Soho , and they also created a Stink !! the washers could not cope with this smelly mess and the drivers where complaining , so we started to fit baffle plates in the centre of the tipper bodies hoping this would eliminate the soft sh-t from going over the cab it was brilliant we where all smelling the same , and to make it worse we where on nights , Ron
Jona:
ronhawk:
Skid marks on the M 1 ? North bound, yes and they where Brown? S Jones had a contract with London CC sewerage plant To remove over 1000 ,s of tons of !! How can I put it ? ( Sh-t ) that’s what it was in the form of cack I mean cake ,and transport it to an old mine shaft in Walsall Wood ,where it was dumped , well the tri axle trailers tail gates where made splash proof so to keep it on board , at first this was OK , but then getting into soft stuff the drivers found that if the had to brake hard? this sh-t came over the top of the body over the cab and down the windscreen , to eliminate the smell this was treated with perfume , and the drivers Wives thought something was going on with there men ? Down Soho , and they also created a Stink !! the washers could not cope with this smelly mess and the drivers where complaining , so we started to fit baffle plates in the centre of the tipper bodies hoping this would eliminate the soft sh-t from going over the cab it was brilliant we where all smelling the same , and to make it worse we where on nights , Ron
Jona:
Jona:
1ronhawk:
Skid marks on the M 1 ? North bound, yes and they where Brown? S Jones had a contract with London CC sewerage plant To remove over 1000 ,s of tons of !! How can I put it ? ( Sh-t ) that’s what it was in the form of cack I mean cake ,and transport it to an old mine shaft in Walsall Wood ,where it was dumped , well the tri axle trailers tail gates where made splash proof so to keep it on board , at first this was OK , but then getting into soft stuff the drivers found that if the had to brake hard? this sh-t came over the top of the body over the cab and down the windscreen , to eliminate the smell this was treated with perfume , and the drivers Wives thought something was going on with there men ? Down Soho , and they also created a Stink !! the washers could not cope with this smelly mess and the drivers where complaining , so we started to fit baffle plates in the centre of the tipper bodies hoping this would eliminate the soft sh-t from going over the cab it was brilliant we where all smelling the same , and to make it worse we where on nights , Ron
Picture of 322 when it was new, this wagon went to Doha with another truck overland and on the way back the fan went threw the fan on the Tapline round about Arar I know the place well. The drivers left the truck there and came back in one truck. It was later recovered when Stan Brindley went on his own to Doha. Les Slymm and Eric James flew out to assist with the recovery, they stripped the tilts and topped the one and towed 322 back to Germany I think Vince Cooke would tell you more as he went out to Europe to meet them. Why they never used 304 on that job Ile never know?
Picture of 322 when it was new, this wagon went to Doha with another truck overland and on the way back the fan went threw the fan on the Tapline round about Arar I know the place well. The drivers left the truck there and came back in one truck. It was later recovered when Stan Brindley went on his own to Doha. Les Slymm and Eric James flew out to assist with the recovery, they stripped the tilts and topped the one and towed 322 back to Germany I think Vince Cooke would tell you more as he went out to Europe to meet them. Why they never used 304 on that job Ile never know?
[/quote]
Jona:
Picture of 322 when it was new, this wagon went to Doha with another truck overland and on the way back the fan went threw the fan on the Tapline round about Arar I know the place well. The drivers left the truck there and came back in one truck. It was later recovered when Stan Brindley went on his own to Doha. Les Slymm and Eric James flew out to assist with the recovery, they stripped the tilts and topped the one and towed 322 back to Germany I think Vince Cooke would tell you more as he went out to Europe to meet them. Why they never used 304 on that job Ile never know?
[/quote]
Does anyone remember George Carr worked as a manager for Trans Arabia went onto work for Offsatt Oman?