Definatly Not All Sunshine & Sand!!

Posted on May 25, 2013 by truckbloguk

Some of you may and some of you may not have read the book “Not All Sunshine & Sand” by Paul Rowlands, available from Old Pond Publishing for those who haven’t. Paul just wanted to share a little anecdote of the not so glamorous side of Middle East Trucking, during his days driving for Felixstowe based firm Trans Haul UK.

“Aaargh, shit! I don’t believe it” By Paul Rowlands
‘Donkey’ Pete and I were on our way to Tehran and Tabriz respectively and had pulled off the road onto a bit of scrubland about 40kms West of Sivas in Central Turkey, to have a wash and clean up in the sparkling stream which bimbled good naturedly along the almost dried up valley floor. It was the height of summer ’78. In spring this stream would have been a raging torrent from all the snow melt and rain and would have washed you all the way to the Black Sea in double quick time. Now though it gently swirled and meandered its way back and forth across the rock and shale covered valley floor and although freezing cold, looked extremely inviting. I grabbed a bottle of the ubiquitous Fairy Liquid and a towel and locking the cab door, scrambled my way down across the scree in my shorts looking for a pool of still water in a back eddy to have a good wash and scrub up. In these dusty driving conditions, with the windows open to catch any prevailing breeze, your body attracted accumulations of dirt and grime like a magnet.
Pete had disappeared in the opposite direction, upstream. Plenty of peace and quiet and room for a private soak! Having found the perfect little pool below a substantial sized boulder, I slowly sank down into the chilly water. With the ambient temperature in the 90’s, to be sat waist deep in this little backwater with the little stream eddying around me was sheer bliss. I was going to make the most of this, no chemical waste or pollution up here in this barren and semi arid part of Anatolia. From here I could see all along the valley floor, and in the distance, the ramshackle and battle weary old concrete bridge that still spanned the river bed, that’s not going to last many more winters, I thought, hope i’m not driving across it when it goes….

Luxuriating in the cool melt water, I started to wash my grubby torso while watching the water bubbling and gurgling round the edge of my quiet pool. Just occasionally a small branch or bit of detritus, washed down from the surrounding hills, circled my pool and threatened to invade my space before catching the current and floating off downstream.
Then, my state of contented bliss dissolved in a moment of sheer panic!
“Pete, you effing bastard”! I screamed in dismay, just as he appeared from around a large boulder adjusting his zip. “What?” he said, grinning. “Just found a great rock to have a dump Paul, should reach the sea in a couple of weeks”.
“I know”, I shouted. “We’ve just been introduced”. Pointing accusingly at the offending objects….two large floating turds circling my pool on the edge of the eddy, threatening to attack. I splashed water at them, vainly trying them back into the mainstream.
Pete was in stitches watching my futile antics, when around the rock, hove, hove into view his re-enforcements, a soggy mass of newspapers….
“Enough”. I yelled, struggling to get up off the pebbled river bed without making contact with the offensive mess. “Look at that bloody lot”. I said, scrambling out of the water and making my escape. “Sodding floaters! What’ve you been eating…..polystyrene? and i’ll bet that’s my newspaper an all”. Pete was giggling like a schoolgirl. “And there’s no way they’re reaching the Black Sea any time soon”, I called over my shoulder as I made my way upstream to find somewhere less tainted to complete my ablutions….

The photos are courtesy of the Trans Haul drivers collection on www.toprun.ch

Netherlands – UK – Gambia

Posted on May 7, 2013 by truckbloguk

When you get a photo like the one above, you have to start asking the age old questions;

Who? – Ashley Pearce
What? – Magirus Deutz 6×4 V10 ex German Army tractor units
Where? – The Netherlands
When? – Last week

Could have guessed Mr Pearce would be involved (it did come from his phone after all!). There’s a lot more to it than that but that’s a good start………..

These Magirus Deutz were being collected from the Netherlands on behalf of a very interesting man called Frank, who will be shipping them to Gambia for the next 20 years of their lives. They are ex German Army and of course are in excellent condition and have very very low mileage being in mind they were built in 1980. The main point behind it all is that they are basic. They can be maintained easily and can be repaired at the side of the road. Frank runs a business in Gambia that moves a lot of aggregate so he requires tipper trailers too. As I said the trucks were bought from a dealer in the Netherlands and Ashley and a couple of Franks henchmen went to collect them and drive them back to deepest Suffolk, UK to Franks hide away HQ. It just so happens that about an hour from Calais another dealer was selling a number of old tipper trailers that suited Franks strict requirements for African Trucking. After collecting the trailers it was back on the ferry from Calais to Dover. Did you spot them on their journey? I’d love to see any pics if you spotted the German invasion making its way back to Suffolk. Email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Franks love of the Magirus ex army trucks comes from the fact that they are German and they do as they say on the tin! As you can imagine trucking across Gambia requires something that can handle the many unmade roads and the rains that come in the wet season. Having a high ground clearence is essential and also the age old ability of being able to be repaired with a minimal amount of local faciities. Frank says that the Africans can fix anything or make any part that is required, all you need is some form of a donar part and some tools. How many modern day vehicles can say that?? Much like the golden days of Middle East trucking when trucks could be repaired with basic mechanical knowledge and not a dealership or expensive bill insight! One of the aging Magirus dropped a cylinder or 3 on one journey across Gambia. So the driver blocked off the 3 faulty ones and trucked back to the depot on just 7 of 10 cylinders, again with anything newer than 1990 you wouldn’t even think about trying it.

The trucks are 6×4’s with diff locks on each axle. They also come with spare wheel carriers fixed behind the cab with a small crane to lift and lower the wheels. Air cooled engines, steel sprung suspension and even gun holders (all removed before shipping to africa), a varied array of chassis mouted lockers and a dash board full of switchs and buttons labelled in German, mean these old girls really are top spec for trucking in Africa. Also in Franks conversion and pre-shipping yard were a couple of ex British Army 6×4 Seddon Atkinsons. These have turned out to be a labour of love and for the forseable future no more will be purchased. Since Gambia left the British Empire in 1965 all vehicles have to be Left Hand Drive, so the the first thing to do was to convert the Atkinsons from RHD to LHD, not to difficult but still a ball-ache when the German trucks are already LHD. Next the Seddons Atkinsons are standard road spec, so the air tanks and underslung exhaust have to be removed and redirected to a purpose built frame behind the cab, to try and improve the ground clearence. Again not a difficult job but one that can be avoided by buying the German trucks. Still the big Seddon looks great and ready for the African roads, in its natty orange paint work and illegal to use in the UK train horns!

I often wonder what will happen in the countries that recieve all of Europes old trucks when we run out of the correct vintage. There isn’t an endless supply of mechanicaly simple and computer free trucks to ship around the world, so whats going to happen? I have no idea what will happen in the future, but for now Frank says the value of the simple trucks is far greater than anything newer. In fact newer trucks are getting cheaper as they are unwanted in such countries as Gambia. The way forward for now is computer free trucking and what better place to find well kept, low mileage trucks than the huge supplies of ex military vehicles available. The Dutch dealer that Frank bought these 4 trucks from had 54 of these 6×4 Maggies for sale at Christmas, now he has none. 50 were sold in one go to a Nigerian buyer and then these 4 are bound for Gambia. Hopefully Frank is going to send some more pics as and when the trucks reach Gambia and also of some of the things still running around out there. For now it seems Africas roads will continue to be filled with older rather than newer trucks, but for those who love their trucks and enjoying doing repairs and tinkering with engines then perhaps its the place to be.

Not All Sunshine & Sand

Posted on March 26, 2013 by truckbloguk

Hello guys. Three years ago I wrote a book called ‘NOT ALL SUNSHINE AND SAND’, a series of tales about my time in road transport including the Middle East run in the 70s. Most have been very complimentary about it. However all copies were sold out and a new publisher said they were very interested on re-publishing, this time in paperback. So on April 20th, next month, the book is being released by Old Pond Publishing at the exorbitant price of £7.95. !!!

Email. Info@oldpond.com
Phone. 01473 238200

If you decide to buy it then I hope you enjoy it. The stories are mostly humorous, but some are serious and some almost life and death.

By
Paul Rowlands

Camiones Espanoles – Entonces Y Ahora

Posted on March 12, 2013 by truckbloguk

Recently at work we have been loading quite a few Spaniards back to Spain or back to Paris so they load from the french markets and then head back to Spain. Also recently I have scanned the next batch of 750ish photos from the David Scarff collection. What is the link I hear you ask?? The answer is that some of the haulage companies that Scarffy used to photograph back in the 1980’s are still the same firms that I am loading back to the continent. How many Spanish truck spotters can say the same for the British firms still running to the sun and back. Two Spanish firms that are still doing the run and providing our super markets with year round goodies such as Strawberries, Broccoli and of course those gorgeous Spanish oranges, are the names of Campillo Palmera and of course Transportes Caudete. I’ll start with Palmera.

The livery on the original Pegaso above has developed into the livery on the trailer behind the Magnum below. I think you can see how its developed. The Magnum has the trailer livery that I know and recognise as being Palmera, with the Palm Tree logo on the back doors. Where did the Palm tree come from?? Was it on the back doors of the Pegaso? I’m not sure.

But you can see the livery on the Magnum has moved on a bit and as an outfit the truck and trailer show the earlier livery and the newer livery. These days the new Campillo Palmera trucks still have the Palm tree on the side but the overall livery is much more of a European logistics company rather than a classic Spanish haulier. This doesn’t mean they don’t still look good! The new black cabs are smart and I guess these days with air conditioning, climate control and roof top coolers, the cabs no longer need to be white to reflect the sun and keep the heat down in the cab. Even so it’s still good to see the company are still going and are still coming to the UK for our enjoyment in all respects!

Now as for Transportes Caudete, they still have a fairly traditional livery that is very close to how its always been. Red tractor units and white Spanish looking frigo trailers. Much the same as British hauliers the Spanish used to favour using their own trucks, like the Pegaso, the Spanish Seddon Atkinson. But now due to the demise of these small manufacturers, the Spanish, like the rest of Europe, use the same as everyone else. Although Renault and Iveco seem to be the favourites for these 2 hauliers, we have had a couple of new Volvos come in for Palmera.

Most of the Caudete fleet nowadays are Iveco with a few MAN. This Iveco was only a week or 2 old as the tyres were still immaculate and had that look of brand new tyre about them (good description huh!). The driver was quite happy with it.

As you can see the Caudete trailers have remained very much the same. Old and new just having what they need to have on them, the company name and what they do. The older trailers do look more continental but again this is down to the improvements in modern trucks I think. There is no longer a great need to keep water and food on the side of the trailers as a modern truck cab has plenty of room for storage inside. I do still like the idea of a water tank on the truck some where, there’s nothing like a cold wash to cool you down or wake you up!

The one thing that is missing on the modern trucks is the 2 light up sign boards on the top of the cab. The yellow square one and the yellow triangle with the blue background. As I understand it these used to be some thing to do with the ferries, but I need one of you lot to tell me more please? Email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave a message below.

Hopefully more Then & Nows to come, thanks to David Scarff’s collection of photos. It’s possible to find photos of everything, so a big thank you to Mr Scarff and I look forward to the next batch to be scanned (the wife’s not so keen on the idea!). For those whho didn’t get it, the blog title is “Spanish Trucking – Then & Now.”

Somebody Knows This 111

Posted on February 24, 2013 by truckbloguk

As some of you know I am slowly scanning many of David Scarffs photos and let me tell you there are 1000’s! Quickly flicking through the latest batch, this Scania 111 stuck out like a sore thumb. Taken as it was approaching the bottom of Jubilee Way, Dover heading for a boat. What i’d love to know, like many other photos in Scarffies collection, is who’s was it and what happened to such a good old girl. Surely it was an Owner Driver? FOO 146T, a Scania 111, 6×2?, and what a paint job, very smart for its day. A roof rack full of kit and some super smart “Bus” trims on the wheels. A very clean and tidy frigo box behind, actually you could be forgiven in saying that both truck and trailer look fairly freshly painted. Unfortunately I can’t quite make out the drivers face, so it’s down to your expert knowledge. Leave your comments below or send me a quick email: ben@truckblog.co.uk and hopefully we can name who ever was in charge of such a good looking girl. According to the DVLA the truck ran out of tax back in 1990, so another lost to the big scrapyard in the sky. T reg vehicles were launched on the road in 1978 and the reg FOO was originally registerd in Chelmsford, Essex………..Over to you……….

Truck Detectives Required

Posted on February 16, 2013 by truckbloguk

Intrepid TB reported James Cartwright, spotted this Scania 141 in Navyard, Harwich the other week. One of you must know some more about this old bus. Remember that little saying, Who What Where?? James and I both agree that it has been imported from the East, could be anywhere between Harwich, Germany, Turku and Russia!! What we need to concentrate on is who has bought it. I’m sure it is now in the UK some where, heading for a restoration shed. Did you see it on the back of a lorry leaving Harwich or heading away from Essex?? Is it parked in a yard near you now? Has it crossed the Irish sea?? If you have any answers then please feel free to leave your answers on a postcard below. It will make a cracking restoration, I’m very much a fan of a 141 rigid. I hope to see it soon on the show circuit. Get detecting!!

Martins Moody Motor

Posted on January 14, 2013 by truckbloguk

Now there’s a beauty! As these are the days of modern classics in the trucking world, along with other well loved late 90’s models, Scania’s 3 Series Streamlines must be among the best. Whether or not it would be your choice, I think it fair to say we’d all like to restore our favourite Diesel Daisy if we had the time and money. So for those who have got the money (or not as they may claim), rebuilding a 143 500 just had to be done. What a good job too! But then again what did you expect from the combination of top independent Scania sales man, Mick Moody and top canal boat builder Guy Martin (apparently now and again he rides a bicycle with a motor on it too). The end result is some thing along the lines of a near on brand new truck, which I hasten to add is for sale if your interested, but be prepared for a nearly new price too. Justified in my opinion as where can you buy a virtually brand new 143?……Exactly. Any way after another of our little chats, Mr Moody told me of a little video of Guy, talking about the rebuilding of said Swedish beauty. I have put the video on here but if you search the YouTube for “Guy Martin” you’ll see what else he gets upto inbetween mechanic-ing for Mr Moody. Great truck.

Its Not All Grim Ooop North

Posted on November 13, 2012 by truckbloguk

Surely piloting a big Cummins powered Leyland Roadtrain can’t be a grim job?? Can it?? One of the UK’s last home grown truck talents. I love the big old Leylands, but there doesn’t seem to be many about now even on the show circuit, although I think I might be right in saying BH Cecil from Gloucestershire have one in restoration. The British Bulldog above was driven by top international heavy haulage pilot Stephen “Geordie” Pattison before his days of big red Scania’s. I have to say that Horns Transport from Tyneside is a new one on me, but some of you will no doubt remember them.

Geordie gave me the following info on his days at Horns Transport, apparently his 4th job but also the firm that gave him the long distance driving bug. Any hoo, Why-aye-Man and all that, here’s what you need to know about these few photos and Horns Transport, literally straight from the horse mouth;

“The orange anchors we loaded in Walker & took em 2 Peterhead.
The sheeted loads was 4m Caberboard at Cowie 4 Northsheilds.”

“It was run by Harry Horn & his sister Mavis. 6 artics & 6 rigids, 3 of which were tautliners, 2 rigid hiabs, 2 flat rigids and 1 fitter Terry! It was just Harry & Mavis runnin the trucks, Caroline was the secretary & that was it. We were quite well paid, all the trucks livery was hand painted & we were 28t gross in them days no limiters! The yard was at Wellington Road, Dunston. They were coal merchants originally, but when I was there (94-99) we mainly did waist paper 2 Purfleet, rubber 2 various places and steel castings from Charlie Taylors in Southsheilds (where I had me accident!). 2 London & 1 Scotch trip a week! Oh and their mam & dad started the business”.

“3 of us were classed as hurry up men (asap anytime anywhere) UK work only & mainly rope & sheet which is were I learned 2 do it (Handy for current HC Wilson work – TB) By the way there was a guy who worked there called George Horn, no relation, but he still drives at 74 & also his 2 brothers !! When we did wastepaper 2 Purfleet, if we ran on Sunday, u could never get passed the weighbridge at Sawtry on the A1, as it was always open & pulled every North East truck!! No phones in them days, u would find a payphone when emty and ring in. If no reload we’d wait by phone till they rang back. No fuel cards either we had 2 do whatever trip we had on the tank which was normally about 400ltr & that C reg I had had a belly tank on 200ltr maybe.”

A lovely little snippet into the ways of the North East, although to be honest it sounds to me the way all firms used to be. Those were days of hard graft and long days to make the next load. Also slightly less regulated must have helped! 😉 If you have anything to add about Horns Transport or you want to share some thing on the blog, just email me; ben@truckblog.co.uk

Scania 141 – HVF 520V

Posted on November 11, 2012 by truckbloguk

Back in August I reported on a Scania 141 cab I had delivered to Canacraft in Suffolk, if you missed it you can search for it on the blog by typing “Wrecked to Riches” and hitting enter. The idea is that Howard at Canacraft is going to put HVF 520V back to its original spec of a 4×2 tractor unit rather than a 4×2 recovery chassis. I have a fair history for this particular truck, but not through any effort of my own. As many of you know I have been lucky enough to be given album after ablum of 70’s and 80’s truck photos taken by David Scarff. HVF 520V is a truck that has spent a lot of time in and around East Anglia, having had a long career at MRCT (the chicken people!) and also a career before MRCT at local haulier DA Garnham. I have managed to find from the thousands of photos in the Scarff collection this right gem of HVF 520V in full MRCT colours at Scania in Stowmarket, I did think there was one of here heading down Jubilee Way into Douvres but its only a 111 not a mighty V8.

Any way having put up “Wrecked to Riches” up on the blog, as seems to be the way, I received an email…..This time a fascinating email full of info from an ex driver of said Scania 141. Now to me this makes the blog all worth while (although these days I don’t do the blog half as much as I’d like to!), I put stuff up on here purely what interests me and now and again what might interest some of you. What I love is the romance of trucking (as GW will testify!), I like the life story of a truck and these days a trucks history/pedigree can even increase its value on the 2nd hand market. So to find pics of this truck in its original guise, to seeing it in its current sorry state, to then hopefully seeing it in a few months time, back to a tidy decent truck, makes it all worth while. The only thing that can add to the icing on any cake is a few extra sprinkles, in this case an email from ex driver Gilbert McClusky. Mr McClusky said the following on his email;

“I have just seen the picture of HVF520V in its current sorry state!! and I’m glad that somebody has rescued it for restoration. I worked at MRCT for about 10years from the early eighties to the early 90’s and if you google “HVF520V” you will find a couple of pictures I took on the Thetford road near Garboldisham in about 1983. I also have a couple of others kicking about. The unit was originally new to DA Garnham and Sons of Diss and came to MRCT second hand. After being resprayed It was driven originally by Denis Carlton then Timmy Riches and finally by Melvin Farrow up to being converted to a recovery truck by Mick.. Garnham??? (Sorry surname forgotten) at the MRCT workshops in Stuston Road Diss, in about 1991 or 2. As a 4×2 unit it was a phenomenal machine compared to the 111’s that all the other lads were slugging around in. A lot is obviously written about the Scania V8 and how good they were / are. As far as I can recall we didn’t touch that engine in the 10 years I was there, and I doubt very much it was touched as a recovery truck!. As with most 140’s and 141’s The only weak spot when in the hands of “fleet drivers” were the gearbox range changes and especially half shafts which could break very easily if not treated with respect. The cab had 4 resprays from being in Garnhams colours when new then the cream and red in about 1982 ( As per my photo) Then it had a further respray into white and red in about 1987 – 1988, finally being done for the last time in the blue and white as you have in about 1992 or 3.”

So good to hear all this info directly from the horses mouth. All ex drivers are welcome to email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk , and tell me your stories, knowledge and what ever else. Photos to accompany any info is perfect then at least we can relate to what kinda trucks your talking about. Hopefully I’ll soon have some photos of HVF 520V restored and ready for another owner. Just to finish off, Mr McClusky mentioned all other MRCT drivers were “slugging around in” Scania 111’s, so to anyone who’s in the slugging gang, I found a photo of sister truck HVF 521V, which was in fact a Scania 111.

Hey What’s your Number…

Posted on November 6, 2012 by truckbloguk

Yes ok it’s another Scania but this one needs a bit more input from you. This dear old girl has been relegated to the corner of some ones yard these days but what secrets does she hold from her past. Was she once an international motorway pounder? Was she the pride of an English fleet when she was the newest in the yard? If any of you have any information about said wagon please leave your comments below.

What’s the reg number? My guess is D853 PKK or possibly PXK. The letter behind the greenery does seem to replicate the K at the end, does it not Mr Watson?! As I’m sure you know most truck regs come in batches from particular dealers…….I’ve just searched tinternet and it can’t be “XK” as it didn’t exist. On that style of number plate the last 2 letters of the 3 denoted the area code. If the reg is “KK” that is the code for Maidstone or “KX” is the code to Luton. As its a “D” reg she was new in 1986. This gives you a few clues, so see what you can come up with. Hopefully a few more pics if the old girl at the end of the week.

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