Thanks for a brief overview of how things progressed, both with you and with ERF. In the article there is also quite a range of pictures.
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Yes I did purchase the Trucking Mag and found it interesting thanks Johnny I remember an A Series With a 6LX the driver reported that something was hitting his left foot when he changed gear ? On investigation I found that the OSF engine mountain on the Gardener engine had broken and it had tilted over !!! the radiator fan blades had sliced through the fibre glass cab and was trying to amputate his toes Har Har also one of the first R/R 290 eagle engine that I had the pleasure of over hauling , we had the 240 gardner 8 pot , the last two cylinders stuck out the back of the cab , it was a very busy time in my life at S Jones , working on ? From the KV series? I did not know it had an association with the (Corvette sports car) !! Wraparound wind screen !!! And All models up to the 6x4 ERF of Trans Arabia of course the engine that drove the reliability was the ■■■■■■■ thanks Johnny for the memories , Ron
Glad you found it interesting
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I’must say that I find it (ironic) if that’s the word? that on the same page of this thread we have a Western Star , as you can see its parked alongside our trucks in Jeddah ,this Canadian company bought out ERF, and today our truck lives on in the thread that Wirlinmerlin Started quite a coincidence
Ron
Gogi & Taffy on route to the mine , good mates ,looking after each other , at least 5 days away from Jeddah
Trucking in Saudi Arabia , I found it thrilling , the carnage of the trucks on there desert roads stretched from coast to coast, and up and down the mountains , Trans Arabia did fantastic , I Carn’t remember us losing any ERF apart from the Mac,s of cause , thanks to our lads , although Jerry Cook came close ! With a double blow out and a double load of oil drums , This photo was from 1953 the DC 4 Crash landed near to Qatif , it was loaded onto the back of an ARAMCO KW and transported to Dhahran traveling over soft dunes ,it could only happen in S/A remarkable photo of this KLM DC 4 with its bent props ,on the back modified trailer , it was reported that none of the 66 passengers where hurt , Ron
Nice one Jona , rebuilt to a high spec ,by the man himself , fuel rail eventually obtained from Komatsu ? yet to be sprayed in ■■■■■■■ yellow ,and the Air intake will be masked off just to be on the safe side Ron
I briefly wrote this tail some time back , I slept all night ? With a Philopeano ,in the cab of 120 ,1/2 way to Riyadh in 40 deg ,C ,the only trouble was it was a Heeee , just my luck ,for the best part of two days with a dead horse ,if you saw a she out there it would have been a camel , sitting in the truck on the night whatching the christmas trees go by, the conversation was limited , any way this truck had broke down with partly seized engine blowing blue smoke , I was waiting for Jimmy Wells to come back from Riyadh with an empty trailer ? Then to load up 120 ? On its back , This is in the middle of nowhere just soft sand as far as the eye could see and bloody red hot no shade , I had a plan ! If I laid out flat oil tins and made a path up one of these sand dunes may be I could drive this unit up and over onto the trailer , so I got Matt the Philo and myself collecting any thing that disperse the weight of the truck and made a track up this sand dune , I know K B said that they where better drivers than our lads , and it was not that Hot I beg to differ !!! ! Wellsie came back late afternoon and I backed his trailer as hard as it would go into this sand bank . ( Well you can imagine the gap ) it must have been about 2 ft between the top of this sand bank , filling this gap up with old tailgates and bits from wrecks in the desert I thought it was possible . They thought I was mad ? Let’s go for it , nobody won’t to stay out there Believe me unbearably hot , Ron . To be continued
The suspense is killing me Ron [emoji15]
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Yes Johnny , I can hardly wait ! I know how you feel ,Fir’ing up the truck in the early morning Sunshine the ERF looked sad with this vale of blue haze which surrounded it , reaching full air !! I released the brake , and tip toed across this rail of Tins which had been laid on the soft sand with trepidation ? Will it hold , will the front wheels sink ? Will I get stuck ,Matt was supposed to guide me along this twin track to incircle the soft sand dune from behind ? He was busy drinking the small amount of water that we had left ? We could Die out here ,To be continued Ron ,
Eating boiled rice with sand , i eagerly awaited Wellsie to appear , the Sun had gone well past the vertical , when he pulled up , water water I shouted looking at the bloated Philo Drily i quenched my thirst drinking his hot water , back to the truck I told Wellsie of my plan , ( he said that he wanted nothing to do with it ) you need a crane he said ? There’s nothing for miles and miles and miles and more miles ,so what could I do ? It’s got to work I had Planed it out to the very last detail . The ERF was in position doubling up the tins from the first part of the tin road , and having the bridges in position it was now or never only one time to do this , the Virgin Sand dune was a bit steep and higher than the trailer ? Reversing the truck I then rolled up to the bank, I could not see the trailer ? Reversing again , in alinement with the trailer and rechecking the tin track,I had calculated that I had two inches to spare , I prayed to Allah , he was the big chief out there , at the time , !!! with full air I put the truck in gear and Roared up this sand dune ,belching out blue and black smoke ,with the sun blinding my right side ? The Philo and Wellsie had run off !!! as I hurtled up this tin road I could not see the trailer , but I knew it was there ? ■■? To be continued , Ron
It was fantastic, one second I was on the tin road ? Looking at double row of now fast disappearing red oil tins ,the blinding sun on my right side , and blue sky as I felt the bridges giving way under the front end as the ERF pushed away the improvised span of desert junk at an unstoppable speed I felt a big bump bang clatter ? it actually landed on the trailer ? It stopped abruptly !!!and had tipped to the right ? It was still and not moving ,Thank god as I slipped down the side of the truck with just enough room to stand on the trailer with skid marks on my shorts i had survived ,the truck was 3 parts on with the NSF wheel overhanging the trailer and the back drive wheels wedged between the Trailer and the sand dune , lying on the trailer I then jacked up the axle of the ERF on the trailer ,till the wheel was level with the deck , I greased the trailer floor by the OSF wheel to assist the truck to move over , ( this was the wrong thing to do ) Flagging down a Peterbuilt of Zahied tractors , he could see the predicament I was in ? He came in from the side and chained up our truck,? he was good? To good he pulled the truck to much and the OSF wheel now dropped over the other Side , ( that was the grease that made it slide to easy )he repositioned and idid the same again (I know it’s getting a bit boring by now ) but I have to finish this story. Eventually I drove the truck to the centre of the trailer and chained it up , with another night in the desert I was exhausted , let’s get back , engine rebuilt Pistons & liners with no pit back in Jeddah back on the road as good as new . This is a true story as they all are , Ron. The moral of this story is never trust a Man who drinks more water than his horse ,
Thanks Ron! Quite an experience!
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Hey Ron … was your helping hand (zahied tractors) a Scots bloke called Eddie■■? think hard ■■?
Mah salahm
Hello Backsplice , glad you are still standing ! Although you are upside down living in that place we call OZ ,to be honest ( ref ) Zahied driver ? I was in that much in the Zone at that time that I can’t say ! He could well have been Scottish , he was great , he was loaded up with tractors on his low loader and there was not much room for manoeuvring , putting his tail end in danger as he turned into a position thrice to help .was I grateful !!! Ron
Remember the fruit &. Veg market by the side of the water tower , down town Jeddah , the Land Rover , i had a safari in Dammam,with the double skin roof ,it was supposed to keep it cool ? The trucks where mainly Turks bringing in the fresh veg if I remember correctly !! Road much improved from 77 , we obtained the driving licences from a concreat office block somewhere down on the right no widows just bare concreat up rough stairs to an official sitting at a desk with pools of dried red spit on the floor ,Ron
Oh Ron. So many memories. I sometimes think of things, then think, oh, did I post that before? The problem, when you get to our age is that one memory bumps another, but it may have bumped it before!
I wish I’d been a photographer, so many unbelievable scenes!
When I first arrived in Saudi I spent at least 8 hours in the PTT waiting to be put through to the Douglas Freight office.
Later I read in the British Embassy ‘advice to workers in Saudi Arabia’ that ‘touching other people - such as in a queue or a crowd is frowned upon.’
Nobody wearing a Thobe and Ghutra in that throng of people waiting for a connection had read that! They were happy to climb over you to get to the front!
My call came in after the eight hours on a hard bench (you couldn’t leave - even for a sh**, because if you weren’t there the call was forfeited.) ‘Oh, right. Roger’s not here now, I’m his mum. He’s switched the calls from the office, but he usually calls in at the pub on the way home. Any message?’
‘Erm, I really need to speak to him about a problem…’
‘Oh, right. Ah well, call back tomorrow, goodbye.’
That would be 1976.
By the time I left Saudi, in 1987, I could dial anywhere in the world, instantly.
I’ll try and tie together some more memories and hope that you’ll forgive me if I’ve told them before.
John.
ronhawk:
Remember the fruit &. Veg market by the side of the water tower , down town Jeddah , the Land Rover , i had a safari in Dammam,with the double skin roof ,it was supposed to keep it cool ? The trucks where mainly Turks bringing in the fresh veg if I remember correctly !! Road much improved from 77 , we obtained the driving licences from a concreat office block somewhere down on the right no widows just bare concreat up rough stairs to an official sitting at a desk with pools of dried red spit on the floor ,Ron
Would the picture be frack to bunt, Ron? That Atoyat is surely a Toyota driving on the right-hand side of the road, as is usual in Saudi. Just checking… Robert
robert1952:
ronhawk:
Remember the fruit &. Veg market by the side of the water tower , down town Jeddah , the Land Rover , i had a safari in Dammam,with the double skin roof ,it was supposed to keep it cool ? The trucks where mainly Turks bringing in the fresh veg if I remember correctly !! Road much improved from 77 , we obtained the driving licences from a concreat office block somewhere down on the right no widows just bare concreat up rough stairs to an official sitting at a desk with pools of dried red spit on the floor ,RonWould the picture be frack to bunt, Ron? That Atoyat is surely a Toyota driving on the right-hand side of the road, as is usual in Saudi. Just checking… Robert
My favourite was in Dammam. A huge neon sign on the top of a building. We always seemed to approach it from the wrong side, where it read AMAHOKOY!
John
Hi All
Just picked up on this thread, loads of names I remember, started my life at S.Jones then 8 years at Trans Arabia. Reading through 52 pages of posts brought back loads of memories. THANK YOU ALL.