Jona:
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Mick Ellis, ■■ Ron Hawkins?? Think not , tall guy standing - from Telford - pain in the rear - the guy who caused that major cut in Stan Brindleys arm, Hathaway and Bill Renhard (Bullyboy)
Ken b
Jona:
0
OMG. How young!! With Johnny Mathews and Stan Brindley behind the young one!!
Ken b
Jona:
0
Remember this incident with Yo Yo lifting up the tail end of this Arab pick up - he was mesmerised by Yo Yo
It was extremely funny at the time
Ken b
Jona:
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This cabin cruiser had just come off a Barber Lines vessel from the states - not sure if it was the one that went to Doha by road or back on the ship many months later having been sold to the Saudi Navy - I refused to take it over land - far to big
The one that went by road to Doha as taken I think by Gypsy Dave with Doug the Telford burner mechanic, I met them at Hofuf and went down to the boarder to ensure they got over ok - the thing wouldn’t go through the boarder post and had to circumnavigate via the salt flats.
The big one that went back into port was driven by Johny Mathews and a Mack - trailer almost tipped over on turning into the port rear entrance due to a huge pt hole - Johny saved the day with his quick thinking and very reactive right foot.
Kenb
Jona
Some very interesting pictures you have posted on more resent Trans Arabia operations - how did you come to go there again??
I and three others were planning to go last year but unfortunately one died ( Gordon Homer of Binzagr)and the other (Bernard Fisher frm the Steel wire factory BRC) is far from well so there’s only 2 of us left and. Had a couple of serious health issues at the end of last year.
I was in contact with TA via e mail regarding visas.
Ron commented on the state of the equipment - that it had not done much work!! But probably what he does not realise is that there are strict new weight limits in operation - max 40tons on 5/6axles hence the 4 X 2 units wth nice large fuel tanks. They have weigh bridges on all the major routes to check!!
Oh and just to put the record straight that Mack that burnt out on Taif mountain road wasn’t caused by Mazola - it was cased by the vertical exhaust stack S bend was too closed to the wooden base under the sleeper cab - the timber caught alight and away she went. On checking the others they were all chard and changes were made to the wooden base - a metal heat sheild was installed.
Obviously at the age of 27 this was a huge challenge to me having never done anything like this before - it certainly gave me some experiences to carry forward in life - and look back on - amazing .
Living and working with these guys was a real experience, Rons hair would drop out if I wrote some of there history on this page - it was most enlightening especially taking into consideration local rules and regs!! and punishments!!
S Jones was a very unionised company and Mick Ellis was one of there shop stewards/ union rep - having said that he was a real nice guy and I was sorry he had to go home having got involved with a scam!!
All part of life
Ken b
Kenb:
Jona:
0This cabin cruiser had just come off a Barber Lines vessel from the states - not sure if it was the one that went to Doha by road or back on the ship many months later having been sold to the Saudi Navy - I refused to take it over land - far to big
The one that went by road to Doha as taken I think by Gypsy Dave with Doug the Telford burner mechanic, I met them at Hofuf and went down to the boarder to ensure they got over ok - the thing wouldn’t go through the boarder post and had to circumnavigate via the salt flats.
The big one that went back into port was driven by Johny Mathews and a Mack - trailer almost tipped over on turning into the port rear entrance due to a huge pt hole - Johny saved the day with his quick thinking and very reactive right foot.
Kenb
Even in more recent times Hofuf was a bit of a guessing game to negotiate as few meaningful road signs existed to help the hapless trucker! 
. A lot of Middle-East driving was guess-work but we all found our way through. Happy days!! Robert
The Kentucky Fried Chicken & the Mazola MAC ? WOW . KB !! even after 35 years you are still a NAIVE as ever ? That Mac 114 with Mr Perfect was driving in 35deg red hot conditions with the MARBLE the half hight of marble where 25ton , God only knows what the weight of 2 full containers where , you did not even think of the weight !! It was just another 2 containers on a 40ft to you ,driving the trucks with 40 ton made the engine blow black smoke from the stack , as if to tell us this is heavy ? But this was normal for T/A ,the Mazola Mac had much more weight than 40 ton ? Probably more like 70 ton ,now to clime that mountain !!! As you crawl up Taef mountain ? For 3hrs , the air gets thinner the further you go up ! At about 7000 ft As the engine starts to labour , slowing down the engine needs a lower gear ,So you have to change down ? If Mr perfect had any more in the Box ! Now when you DIP the double de clutch with the Mac slow change on this mountain road , with this WEIGHT , THE HOSS WILL STOP DEAD , then it will then Rear up bitting the bit hard ! We have all done this ? Trying to pull away That’s when it happened, every thing was red Hot , Tony had in his tool box a gall of Mozola cooking oil and a chicken out of the fridge ?the one with the chain round ? !!! sitting on his chains & stretchers, directly over the red hot exhaust This tipped over and dripped onto the glowing exhaust pipe , this fired up the plastic sleeper box cutting off the air supply to trailer , with all the buttons jumping out on the the Dash 114 was. ( Doomed Doomed ) I tell yah , Tony Tomkins you did your best , and certainly lit up the mountain that night almost at the top of Taef ,it must have looked like Krackatower Har Har , Ron
ronhawk:
The Kentucky Fried Chicken & the Mazola MAC ? WOW . KB !! even after 35 years you are still a NAIVE as ever ? That Mac 114 with Mr Perfect was driving in 35deg red hot conditions with the MARBLE the half hight of marble where 25ton , God only knows what the weight of 2 full containers where , you did not even think of the weight !! It was just another 2 containers on a 40ft to you ,driving the trucks with 40 ton made the engine blow black smoke from the stack , as if to tell us this is heavy ? But this was normal for T/A ,the Mazola Mac had much more weight than 40 ton ? Probably more like 70 ton ,now to clime that mountain !!! As you crawl up Taef mountain ? For 3hrs , the air gets thinner the further you go up ! At about 7000 ft As the engine starts to labour , slowing down the engine needs a lower gear ,So you have to change down ? If Mr perfect had any more in the Box ! Now when you DIP the double de clutch with the Mac slow change on this mountain road , with this WEIGHT , THE HOSS WILL STOP DEAD , then it will then Rear up bitting the bit hard ! We have all done this ? Trying to pull away That’s when it happened, every thing was red Hot , Tony had in his tool box a gall of Mozola cooking oil and a chicken out of the fridge ?the one with the chain round ? !!! sitting on his chains & stretchers, directly over the red hot exhaust This tipped over and dripped onto the glowing exhaust pipe , this fired up the plastic sleeper box cutting off the air supply to trailer , with all the buttons jumping out on the the Dash 114 was. ( Doomed Doomed ) I tell yah , Tony Tomkins you did your best , and certainly lit up the mountain that night almost at the top of Taef ,it must have looked like Krackatower Har Har , Ron
Fortunately Ron you are talking total bull ■■■■ as usual!!
I knew exactly what was in those containers and the weight and who we were carrying for, as I have previously explained.
Notice the spelling of Taif!! And there is no mountain 7000ft in Saudi again Bull ■■■■ and on that Hubble bubble pipe talk again
Kenb
robert1952:
Kenb:
Jona:
0This cabin cruiser had just come off a Barber Lines vessel from the states - not sure if it was the one that went to Doha by road or back on the ship many months later having been sold to the Saudi Navy - I refused to take it over land - far to big
The one that went by road to Doha as taken I think by Gypsy Dave with Doug the Telford burner mechanic, I met them at Hofuf and went down to the boarder to ensure they got over ok - the thing wouldn’t go through the boarder post and had to circumnavigate via the salt flats.
The big one that went back into port was driven by Johny Mathews and a Mack - trailer almost tipped over on turning into the port rear entrance due to a huge pt hole - Johny saved the day with his quick thinking and very reactive right foot.
Kenb
Even in more recent times Hofuf was a bit of a guessing game to negotiate as few meaningful road signs existed to help the hapless trucker!
Robert
What I failed to mention was the drive from Hofuf to the Qatar border last afternoon and dusk!! Obviously the boat was a wide load with all the flashing lights but the Arab drivers coming the other way took no notice as usual - it was fairly hairy going as I remember. The border crossing was very funny as the boarder guards would not accept that it wouldn’t go either under the canopy or even width wise.
At least the the lads got a drink or two in Doha
Ken
Taif is 6165 ft high. C’mon Ken, give or take a couple of hundred feet Ron is not so far out. Just erring on the higher side… Be good, Johnny
Sent from my Hol-U19 using Tapatalk
You could see Taef mountain from Jeddah , we use to look at the Lightening strikes on a night when it rained , if we had only looked up that fateful night we may have seen Tony frying up that Chicken Mac,Sola , the trailer looked like a low loader with the heat , TC and me had a hell of a game trying to couple up , TC managed to reach its destination I came back with the burnt offering ,and it was used for spares , ie one OSR engine mounting , used for Mac116 down King Solomon’s mine , Ron
I just love the look on Jonny Mathews face ! That says It all He was a great lad , a good mate of mine , he would start an argument in the canteen ? Then walk away and with his infectious grin ,he would turn around and smile at me , sadly missed ,what a character ,I remember when I drew his portrait on the sketch pad He liked it a lot Ron
This is a fact one of these 1/2 heights loaded with Marble was 20 ton+ the containers on 114 as you can see is loaded to the top ? I was amazed it got as far as it did , what a shame ! Tony. nearly got to the top of Taef ,the clicker jacks struggled to lift the trailer to couple up ,to TCs ERF it was incredibly heavy , the plimsol line on the ship must have rose another 2 ft in the Red Sea when it got unloaded in Jeddah docks , Ron
I do apologise for my behaviour on this thread ,although my stories are all basically true , reading back I must admit that the Micky taking of KenB is out of order ,and I apologise to him unconditionally Sorry Ken , Trans Arabia what a ride it has been , I do hope that if we ever meet that we can have a pint and laugh at our Duels we have had together , Ron
