Snudger:
Yay! The vid’s back again, twice in a few days! Again, appropriate here.
watch this bloke 
youtube.com/watch?v=F0NRIRIBlr8&NR=1
d4c24a:
Snudger:
Yay! The vid’s back again, twice in a few days! Again, appropriate here.watch this bloke
B trains are easier than drawbar A trains.
Roger Breaker:
d4c24a:
this blokes qiute goodSeen that a few times on here, but I had to watch it again, never ceases to amaze me! I know several people that’d make a worse job of that with just the 6-wheeler alone!
We had a Daf 2500 with an A-frame at the place I worked when I left school. Whenever it was out in the yard i’d go and have a practise with it, takes some mastering though, and ours was a flat! I always remember sitting in a busy Cherwell Valley services in my 7 1/2 tonner, and watching this guy sail in with his tilt-bodied MAN A-frame, pull up in front of me, and back in a space between two other motors like he was in his car! I was only 18, but he left me with my jaw on the steering wheel!
It is great to watch a proper lad or lady on one, it still amazes me to think back to the ferries in Pireaus and all the Greeks turning up with old wagon and drags with produce. The normal procedure was to line up in the ferry door, then they pulled their mirrors in and just followed the finger of a loading officer. They packed them in like sardines and you never saw them lose any sweat.
I drove them for around 2 years and became reasonably adept. I wouldn’t mind having another go 30 years later in a large open space.
The Dutch and Germans make it look so simple too, but they are brought up with them and they are still common.
A lovely example of a proper motor
I was on drawbars for about six years for Glass Glover Distribution.I used to do relief shunting as well as overnight runs and there was no “nosing” trailers,all backed in for loading and split,plus dolly swaps just to make life interesting.If I saw one doing nowt when I first started there I’d have a go on the trailer park and like they say “practice makes perfect”,just a matter of taking your time,not too much lock and watching the trailer like a hawk through the mirrors.
When the drawbars were disbanded and I went back on artics I used to put the wrong lock on,always somebody around to take the p***.Although they were longer - 18 metres IIRC - than a max length artic,they followed like the proverbial pup and I did some overnight drops with them easier than with an artic.
Mind you,I used to get mesen in a right tangle when I first shunted them. 
I had one for many years and wish I still had one, I actually prefered it to an artic.
On the plus side too, no one wanted my motor 
and no jibes about why I was doing a particular job, handing them the keys was enough to silence them !
I have driven a few and loved them. I would say that I might even prefer an “A” frame to an artic. 
These are a couple of “A” frames I have driven.
1992, Left ■■■■■■ DAF 3300. brilliant truck, tough as nails.
Learned to drive an “A” frame in this one. Pic taken at La Jonquera, October / November 1981.
The main benefit of an artic was that you can drop the trailer and get off into town or down to the beach in the unit which obviously is more difficult to do with a drag. I haven’t driven one for quite a few years now but im sure they are like riding a bike, once learnt never forgotten.
As a tip, and this will sound weird, but use your mirrors only when reversing, looking out the window wont help,and try to imagine that the eye of the draw bar is attached to your arse and that will help you gauge the steering!!! Well, it worked for me! 
Take your time and use all space you have available when you first start. How you set yourself up BEFORE you start reversing will help you out a great deal. If you have to shunt just do a little short shunt forward to get the drawbar as you wanted. It isnt unusual when you first start to go 10 feet back then shunt 15 forward to start again!!
bullitt:
I have driven a few and loved them. I would say that I might even prefer an “A” frame to an artic.These are a couple of “A” frames I have driven.
1992, Left ■■■■■■ DAF 3300. brilliant truck, tough as nails.
Learned to drive an “A” frame in this one. Pic taken at La Jonquera, October / November 1981.The main benefit of an artic was that you can drop the trailer and get off into town or down to the beach in the unit which obviously is more difficult to do with a drag. I haven’t driven one for quite a few years now but im sure they are like riding a bike, once learnt never forgotten.
As a tip, and this will sound weird, but use your mirrors only when reversing, looking out the window wont help,and try to imagine that the eye of the draw bar is attached to your arse and that will help you gauge the steering!!!
Take your time and use all space you have available when you first start. How you set yourself up BEFORE you start reversing will help you out a great deal. If you have to shunt just do a little short shunt forward to get the drawbar as you wanted. It isnt unusual when you first start to go 10 feet back then shunt 15 forward to start again!!
That second Chapmans one looks like hard work, Fancy having to deal with household removals & people rather than have some zb shooting at you 
My first middle east trip was in a drawbar, and a left ■■■■■■ to boot. had to not only learn to drive a left ■■■■■■, but to also reverse the drag. this had 2 points of swinging motion, cos it was a six legger truck, then a bogi with a fifth wheel, ( a set of wheels with an A frame ) then another trailer. It was a great truck driving forward, and when i reached felixtowe, to back on the Townsend Thoresen ferry to holland, i couldnt do for love nor money…and it was very embarrasing with all the other drivers watching this Astran driver making a fool of himself. In the end one of the dockers offered, and i watched as he put it on deck in one hit…what an experience…but you soon learn…never to beat the germans or danes, but you learnt very quickly…
All impressive stuff and a real skill. It’s another situation where If they got one of those people who just can’t reverse to practice doing it with a large trailer of any kind under proper instruction then anything else they would encounter would be easy.
truckyboy:
you soon learn…never to beat the germans but you learnt very quickly…
Unless you’ve got German demount outfits and you have to pass exactly the same (difficult) company test as the firm’s continental drivers have to and especially if your Dad had already beaten the zb’s at their own game using a Diamond T drawbar tank transporter outfit and who would have taken the zb if you’d have failed it.
Wheel Nut:
Roger Breaker:
d4c24a:
this blokes qiute goodSeen that a few times on here, but I had to watch it again, never ceases to amaze me! I know several people that’d make a worse job of that with just the 6-wheeler alone!
We had a Daf 2500 with an A-frame at the place I worked when I left school. Whenever it was out in the yard i’d go and have a practise with it, takes some mastering though, and ours was a flat! I always remember sitting in a busy Cherwell Valley services in my 7 1/2 tonner, and watching this guy sail in with his tilt-bodied MAN A-frame, pull up in front of me, and back in a space between two other motors like he was in his car! I was only 18, but he left me with my jaw on the steering wheel!It is great to watch a proper lad or lady on one, it still amazes me to think back to the ferries in Pireaus and all the Greeks turning up with old wagon and drags with produce. The normal procedure was to line up in the ferry door, then they pulled their mirrors in and just followed the finger of a loading officer. They packed them in like sardines and you never saw them lose any sweat.
I drove them for around 2 years and became reasonably adept. I wouldn’t mind having another go 30 years later in a large open space.
The Dutch and Germans make it look so simple too, but they are brought up with them and they are still common.
A lovely example of a proper motor
ive seen this outfit expertly reversed a few times-fancy borough market or spitalfields anyone?
andrew.s:
The Dutch and Germans make it look so simple too, but they are brought up with them and they are still common.
A lovely example of a proper motor
ive seen this outfit expertly reversed a few times-fancy borough market or spitalfields anyone?
[/quote]
That is one hell of a HIAB isn’t it?
One hell of a mudflap too
Where’s the other Hiab for the trailer.
ook well carryfast i have to disagree i drove a A frame left ■■■■■■ in 80s and thought it was easier to reverse than the btrain im now on …one reason A frame s are usualy on flattish rds ,no in quarries …like i am…one thing though at least im no on a artic & dog!! got to say this guy was ■■■■ good. jimmy.
JIMBO47:
ook well carryfast i have to disagree i drove a A frame left ■■■■■■ in 80s and thought it was easier to reverse than the btrain im now on …one reason A frame s are usualy on flattish rds ,no in quarries …like i am…one thing though at least im no on a artic & dog!! got to say this guy was ■■■■ good. jimmy.
I only meant in the context of a comparison between artic A trains like that ozzy outfit and B trains not a rigid truck pulling a single drawbar trailer versus an artic B doubles outfit.With an A train there’s a minimum of 3 points of articulation,or 5 if it’s a triples outfit,which is why moving that ozzy A train triples outfit in the video just a short distance in reverse was more impressive than the video which showed reversing the b doubles and triples outfits.
But I’ve argued the case plenty of times on here that an ordinary Scandinavian type rigid with a 40/45 ft drawbar trailer is easier to work with in the real world than a b doubles outfit or an artic with a short close coupled or drawbar dog/pup trailer in and the advantages that an A train has in load deck space and axle weight flexibility outweighs it’s more difficult reversing over a B train. 
The big green parcel machine has a frames because we got them cheap. Inherited hand me downs from atlas and other places getting rid of them.
I tried to parallel park mine the other night but some London driver kept moving forward every time I went back so I couldn’t correct myself. Nearly stopped to put the interior light on so he could see me staring at him.
What I’ve learnt. Don’t steer too much, full lock like an arctic just doesn’t work. Take it steady. If it’s obvious you need to correct you’ve gone too far so straiten up with a shunt. And the bit that helped me the most, set your self up with the right angle before you start.
I never did manage the parallel park. I reversed beyond the area and then drove myself inî…
Any tips on this? You basically parallel park in the c and c+e test but those manoeuvres don’t defy all logic.
Carryfast:
I only meant in the context of a comparison between artic A trains like that ozzy outfit and B trains not a rigid truck pulling a single drawbar trailer versus an artic B doubles outfit.With an A train there’s a minimum of 3 points of articulation,or 5 if it’s a triples outfit,which is why moving that ozzy A train triples outfit in the video just a short distance in reverse was more impressive than the video which showed reversing the b doubles and triples outfits.But I’ve argued the case plenty of times on here that an ordinary Scandinavian type rigid with a 40/45 ft drawbar trailer is easier to work with in the real world than a b doubles outfit or an artic with a short close coupled or drawbar dog/pup trailer in and the advantages that an A train has in load deck space and axle weight flexibility outweighs it’s more difficult reversing over a B train.
Try saying that with a Rowntrees Fruit Pastille in your mouth! 
Roger Breaker:
Try saying that with a Rowntrees Fruit Pastille in your mouth!
With false teeth, they come out when I say context
It sounds like a competition
Wheel Nut:
Roger Breaker:
Try saying that with a Rowntrees Fruit Pastille in your mouth!With false teeth, they come out when I say context
It sounds like a competition
It’s a lot easier when you’re only thinking it,not saying it,to just write it or read it though,and the context is important if it’s a case of sorting out the differences between artics,drawbars,A trains and B trains etc etc especially if someone tells you to reverse one of each .
peterm:
Where’s the other Hiab for the trailer.
You don’t need one. You just screw the whole rig round to fold it in half.
Once they are side by side, facing in opposite directions, you just tip the trailer with your wagon crane