If you dream it, we'll make it!
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1906 Trentham Road
KYNETON 3444 VIC AUSTRALIA |
THE FIRST LONG DISTANCE TRANSPORT ADVENTURE
BY IAN LEE
After returning from a working earthmoving holiday in North Queensland in 1960 I started operating a ‘Stick Model Tournapull Dumper” for a private contractor at the Lake Eppalock construction site near Bendigo. After a dispute over my wages I gave notice and left that same weekend.
I found out Express Freight were looking for an interstate driver so, on the following Monday, for 27 pounds per week regardless of the hours I worked, I was leaving for Sydney in a Diamond T 531 with a tandem trailer, this was 10 pounds a week less than my last job, however this was a new adventure.
I found out Express Freight were looking for an interstate driver so, on the following Monday, for 27 pounds per week regardless of the hours I worked, I was leaving for Sydney in a Diamond T 531 with a tandem trailer, this was 10 pounds a week less than my last job, however this was a new adventure.
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Example of the Diamond T 531 I drove. This one and the Trailer are restored and in our collection. |
After driving the Diamond T for maybe 8 or 10 weeks I was able to get a job driving a new Ford Thames Trader with a new 34 foot Freighter trailer for a private sub contractor with Ansett for 35 pounds per week.
Ansett paid their contractors higher rates than most other Freight Companies, to Brisbane it was an extra 3 pounds, as I remember it was 17 pounds, Melbourne -Sydney 6 pounds 10 shillings, Adelaide 5 pounds 10 shillings, Darwin 40 pounds, but back loading would half the rate, the negative was it was all maximum height and weight, eg: my first load was maybe 8 tons of cutting edges for earthmoving equipment, then back to their depot where they loaded boxes of all shapes on top, this sometimes took 2 days because if one of their own trucks came back first then it got preference, in one case they actually unloaded freight I already had packed on my truck.
Then you were expected to reach Brisbane in less than 2 days, quite a big ask with a small diesel of less than 120hp with 4 speed gear box, however if the wind was kind it would travel along at 80km per hour and 100 plus down hill.
The first trip I travelled along the Newell and New England Highways but after that I used the Newell only
although we were instructed not to go through the northern end as the vibration on this totally unmade section of road damaged the goods.
The trick was, on the top of Cunninghams Gap, to unfold the rear section of the tarps and shake out the worst of the dust. There was a spring where you could have a wash. Most loads required at least 2 deliveries. Ansett sent their own truck back with little freight, there was zero for the subies, so you had to find your own loading, it would be produce, vegies, potatoes, watermelon, sometime the only option was a Sydney trip which meant finding loading out of Sydney, not so easy because at that time most freight came out of Melbourne. It soon became obvious that Ansett was not the best option and I was able to get work with Express Freight.
The truck I drove had high gates and few trailers had gates, most drivers would not use them as they involved a lot of hand work, loading and unloading. Almost nothing was carried on pallets so a trailer with gates got loads like refrigerators, petrol bowsers, biscuits and car wheels, also egg carton packaging, the type which is still in use today.
With a load of refrigerators you would load light boxes very high on top, if you got a low load like oil drums, then maybe you could get 2 cars up on top but generally it was just general freight from the depot.
One of the loads I did to Perth was petrol bowsers, and then to top up the load to the legal limit height I carted Hills laundry trolleys on little wheels, each was in its own cardboard box, when you had half loaded you tarped that section then put up two tarpaulins to cover the rest, as you loaded it was necessary to keep folding the tarps forward and tying them to stop the wind.
In most cases by the time you had loaded all these boxes it was knock off time, so you had to pull out onto the street to finish the tarping. If you had not bought your tarp forward collectively then you had to climb up on top using a rope, if it was windy it was necessary to tie a weight on the tarp. Climb down and tie it, and then climb back up again to roll out the cap tarp. In winter this often finished up in the dark and quite wet.
To travel to Perth with this type of load you had to have a ticket with the Commonwealth Railways for your truck and trailer to be carried piggy back on flat top rail wagons from Port Augusta across the Nullarbor Plain to Parkerson, just out of Kalgoorlie, and then to complete the trip to Perth on a sealed road.
The reason for using the railways was because these particular loads of refrigerators and bowsers would not stand the vibration of crossing the 1600km of rough unmade road on the almost treeless Nullabor Plain. The other problem with the road at that time was if you broke down or struck wet weather the delay could sometimes run into weeks.
Until the outbreak of World War 11, no constructed road existed west of Penola, although stock tracks did exist, having first been crossed in 1912 by Francis Birtles in a motor vehicle, type not known. Work was carried out in 1941/42 under wartime security in case the railway, which crossed the Nullabor, which opened in 1917, was put out of commission by enemy action. The road had few improvements until 1962 when it was upgraded and traffic increased from a few vehicles to an average of 30 vehicles per day in 1976 before it was fully sealed.
To load your vehicle on the train you drove up a ramp and along the flat top, your vehicle crossed from one flat top to another with ramps, the Railways were responsible for tying down the vehicles.
You were given a rail van to travel in with other drivers, you had to take your own bedding and food, it was very primitive, maybe a quarter of a star rating, it was no Trans-Continental Express, the train stopped at all the rail workers camps dropping off supplies.
The rail van was equipped with a wood stove but I just used tin tucker and a loaf of bread, tinned fish and fruit mainly, and starting and finishing the trip with a good feed.
On this trip when I got to Kalgoorlie a big feed was first on my mind, so rather than drive down the main street where parking would have been a problem I drove down the next street across and travelled quite slow in the dark looking for a parking spot, I hit a heavy cable which crossed the street, the cable pulled the top off my load, slicing the front tarps and spilling washing trolleys both sides, what a mess.
While trying to stack up the broken boxes, along comes the local traffic cop on his motor bike and removes his book, pencil and his tape from his Panther bag and climbs up on the now exposed front gate and measures the height, with a big grin exposed by the street light.
I knew the load height was legal in South Australia but in the west the laws were different, I though this is all I need, when I tried to make small talk he just made a woopping sound like an eagle about to make a kill, he then climbed up and does the same procedure again and then the tape, book and pencil go back into their bag, hell what now, he was built like a gorilla and by this time a good crowd was looking on to see the local lad bring down the lad from the east.
He now spoke for the first time, “You have every right to sue the local council”, pulling on his big leather gloves and gives a kick to his motor bike, with one sharp blow it roared into life and he was gone.
After hours trying to reload and tying down, many of the baskets were beyond restacking and some local kids left with big grins, the wheels would make good billy carts.
On that load I got a part load of seed for the trip back east, I was the only driver on the train.
Halfway across a group of Aborigines jumped onto my van and got a free lift into Port Augusta, they did not speak any English, there were five women and one man, they were aged from say 20 to 40. The women talked nonstop and appeared to make some joke about me. When we finally reached Port Augusta on the out skits, they were all looking out and pointing they became quite excited, I suspect it was their first trip to town, what a big change from their life in the desert, it must have seemed like another planet.
People criticize the Aborigines but I often wonder how I would cope with an alien world 40,000 years advanced on the life I was born into.
My 74 years has seen huge changes and in general I have adjusted to most of these changes but not in the one day as society expect these people to do.
On returning to Adelaide it was the Thursday before Easter and after unloading I was able to get a load of Kraft cheese wooden box ends, they were say 75mm long by 50mm wide and were later stapled to a cardboard section. These ends were in small bundles about 30mm long. They were delivered to the dock side by two men but I had to pick up each bundle from the dock myself as the storemen would not help, it was quite a job to stack on 12 tons, then tarping up next, but the desire to be home for Easter was very strong.
The traffic was very heavy going out through the Adelaide Hills and winding through all the little towns out to Murray Bridge, it used to take about 2½ hours.
Once out on the open road, I could get going, instead I got stuck behind the truck drivers nightmare – caravans, they were travelling faster than most, usually they travel at 40 mph, (64km-70km), at best the little Ford Thames would get along at 80Km per hour with the wind in the right direction, there was a big build up of traffic behind me and in the dark they all looked the same in a small bouncing mirror, even when you held it steady, next thing a Chrysler Royal passes me, it is the traffic cops, they stop me, I am gone for speeding as the speed limit in South Australia is 25mph (40Km), my excuse that I was only travelling with the traffic does not wash and I am booked for exceeding the speed limit by 30 Km and later fined 25 pounds, close to one weeks wages.
However I never paid the fine, after many summons to my parents home and then for a number of years the South Australian police used to come to my parents home looking for me, and telling my mother I was going to jail, but I was working in the construction industry away from home. They did not catch me as they had to find you in person for interstate fines in those days. If you did not have the money then it was jail and I always carried travellers cheques to the amount of the fine for many years.
A transport friend of mine got caught in Adelaide over unpaid fines and could not pay and was jailed where he shared the same cell as a sideshow worker who was being held for killing a young girl, recently this case was on TV and this chap who was convicted at the time, and from new evidence may not have been guilty.
Truck driving has seen some major changes since the 50’s, few, if any trucks had power steering or heaters, some trucks would get so hot that they did not need a heater, the International R190 and the B Series Mack are two that come to mind, they were hell in the summer. Most trucks were extremely cold in the winter and you drove with lots of clothes and a big heavy rug over your legs, it was better to wrap the rug around your legs like a skirt and then climb into the truck.
Windscreen wipers were one speed, so in light mist it was necessary to keep turning them on and off. All trucks made hard work of towing a semi and ranged from 100 to 200hp for say B Model Macks, but then they were towing a lot more weight.
The type of truck which were most common for long distance were about 120hp, you start in low gear with the diff in low ratio then high low, second low, second high and you went up and down always changing diff ratio with each gear change. However when in low gear you did not change from high to low on a steep pinch as this was the common cause of broken axles.
Brakes were not the best, British trucks generally had terrible brakes, American trucks were better but unable to stop like today. Most trailers had servicable brakes and as with the truck were vacuum over hydraulic. In the 60’s there was a slow change to air brakes, mirrors were small things on a long arm as cabins were generally quite narrow and needed to be held by hand to see clearly.
To indicate to traffic following there were no turning indicators, but a single imitation hand on a lever, you had to wind down the window and raise the lever which moved the hand straight out for turning right or pull it back for stopping, there were no left signals.
Angel gear was coasting down hill and out of gear, as you built up speed the road noise would increase then disappear, then you knew you were flying, it was an eerie feeling.
Although our cities were connected by highways on the map they were generally at best, narrow strips of sealed road just wide enough to pass on, even on the Melbourne to Sydney Hume Highway there were narrow one way bridges, as an example the “Little Sydney Harbour” remains today on the left at the Tumut turn off, looking down in the gully it looks like a foot bridge, almost every town you always went through the main street.
The Newell highway to Brisbane was mostly unsealed in New South Wales, these sections were very corrugated or pot holed, one of the worst sections was between Forbes and Parkes, on the first trip with the new Thames truck the unsupported steering column vibrated so much that the copper pipes to the trailer brake control broke on this section.The volume of trucks on the Brisbane – Melbourne run were not like today and often you would travel up to 20km or more without meeting a truck and the tourist traffic was almost nil.
Ansett paid their contractors higher rates than most other Freight Companies, to Brisbane it was an extra 3 pounds, as I remember it was 17 pounds, Melbourne -Sydney 6 pounds 10 shillings, Adelaide 5 pounds 10 shillings, Darwin 40 pounds, but back loading would half the rate, the negative was it was all maximum height and weight, eg: my first load was maybe 8 tons of cutting edges for earthmoving equipment, then back to their depot where they loaded boxes of all shapes on top, this sometimes took 2 days because if one of their own trucks came back first then it got preference, in one case they actually unloaded freight I already had packed on my truck.
Then you were expected to reach Brisbane in less than 2 days, quite a big ask with a small diesel of less than 120hp with 4 speed gear box, however if the wind was kind it would travel along at 80km per hour and 100 plus down hill.
The first trip I travelled along the Newell and New England Highways but after that I used the Newell only
although we were instructed not to go through the northern end as the vibration on this totally unmade section of road damaged the goods.
The trick was, on the top of Cunninghams Gap, to unfold the rear section of the tarps and shake out the worst of the dust. There was a spring where you could have a wash. Most loads required at least 2 deliveries. Ansett sent their own truck back with little freight, there was zero for the subies, so you had to find your own loading, it would be produce, vegies, potatoes, watermelon, sometime the only option was a Sydney trip which meant finding loading out of Sydney, not so easy because at that time most freight came out of Melbourne. It soon became obvious that Ansett was not the best option and I was able to get work with Express Freight.
The truck I drove had high gates and few trailers had gates, most drivers would not use them as they involved a lot of hand work, loading and unloading. Almost nothing was carried on pallets so a trailer with gates got loads like refrigerators, petrol bowsers, biscuits and car wheels, also egg carton packaging, the type which is still in use today.
With a load of refrigerators you would load light boxes very high on top, if you got a low load like oil drums, then maybe you could get 2 cars up on top but generally it was just general freight from the depot.
One of the loads I did to Perth was petrol bowsers, and then to top up the load to the legal limit height I carted Hills laundry trolleys on little wheels, each was in its own cardboard box, when you had half loaded you tarped that section then put up two tarpaulins to cover the rest, as you loaded it was necessary to keep folding the tarps forward and tying them to stop the wind.
In most cases by the time you had loaded all these boxes it was knock off time, so you had to pull out onto the street to finish the tarping. If you had not bought your tarp forward collectively then you had to climb up on top using a rope, if it was windy it was necessary to tie a weight on the tarp. Climb down and tie it, and then climb back up again to roll out the cap tarp. In winter this often finished up in the dark and quite wet.
To travel to Perth with this type of load you had to have a ticket with the Commonwealth Railways for your truck and trailer to be carried piggy back on flat top rail wagons from Port Augusta across the Nullarbor Plain to Parkerson, just out of Kalgoorlie, and then to complete the trip to Perth on a sealed road.
The reason for using the railways was because these particular loads of refrigerators and bowsers would not stand the vibration of crossing the 1600km of rough unmade road on the almost treeless Nullabor Plain. The other problem with the road at that time was if you broke down or struck wet weather the delay could sometimes run into weeks.
Until the outbreak of World War 11, no constructed road existed west of Penola, although stock tracks did exist, having first been crossed in 1912 by Francis Birtles in a motor vehicle, type not known. Work was carried out in 1941/42 under wartime security in case the railway, which crossed the Nullabor, which opened in 1917, was put out of commission by enemy action. The road had few improvements until 1962 when it was upgraded and traffic increased from a few vehicles to an average of 30 vehicles per day in 1976 before it was fully sealed.
To load your vehicle on the train you drove up a ramp and along the flat top, your vehicle crossed from one flat top to another with ramps, the Railways were responsible for tying down the vehicles.
You were given a rail van to travel in with other drivers, you had to take your own bedding and food, it was very primitive, maybe a quarter of a star rating, it was no Trans-Continental Express, the train stopped at all the rail workers camps dropping off supplies.
The rail van was equipped with a wood stove but I just used tin tucker and a loaf of bread, tinned fish and fruit mainly, and starting and finishing the trip with a good feed.
On this trip when I got to Kalgoorlie a big feed was first on my mind, so rather than drive down the main street where parking would have been a problem I drove down the next street across and travelled quite slow in the dark looking for a parking spot, I hit a heavy cable which crossed the street, the cable pulled the top off my load, slicing the front tarps and spilling washing trolleys both sides, what a mess.
While trying to stack up the broken boxes, along comes the local traffic cop on his motor bike and removes his book, pencil and his tape from his Panther bag and climbs up on the now exposed front gate and measures the height, with a big grin exposed by the street light.
I knew the load height was legal in South Australia but in the west the laws were different, I though this is all I need, when I tried to make small talk he just made a woopping sound like an eagle about to make a kill, he then climbed up and does the same procedure again and then the tape, book and pencil go back into their bag, hell what now, he was built like a gorilla and by this time a good crowd was looking on to see the local lad bring down the lad from the east.
He now spoke for the first time, “You have every right to sue the local council”, pulling on his big leather gloves and gives a kick to his motor bike, with one sharp blow it roared into life and he was gone.
After hours trying to reload and tying down, many of the baskets were beyond restacking and some local kids left with big grins, the wheels would make good billy carts.
On that load I got a part load of seed for the trip back east, I was the only driver on the train.
Halfway across a group of Aborigines jumped onto my van and got a free lift into Port Augusta, they did not speak any English, there were five women and one man, they were aged from say 20 to 40. The women talked nonstop and appeared to make some joke about me. When we finally reached Port Augusta on the out skits, they were all looking out and pointing they became quite excited, I suspect it was their first trip to town, what a big change from their life in the desert, it must have seemed like another planet.
People criticize the Aborigines but I often wonder how I would cope with an alien world 40,000 years advanced on the life I was born into.
My 74 years has seen huge changes and in general I have adjusted to most of these changes but not in the one day as society expect these people to do.
On returning to Adelaide it was the Thursday before Easter and after unloading I was able to get a load of Kraft cheese wooden box ends, they were say 75mm long by 50mm wide and were later stapled to a cardboard section. These ends were in small bundles about 30mm long. They were delivered to the dock side by two men but I had to pick up each bundle from the dock myself as the storemen would not help, it was quite a job to stack on 12 tons, then tarping up next, but the desire to be home for Easter was very strong.
The traffic was very heavy going out through the Adelaide Hills and winding through all the little towns out to Murray Bridge, it used to take about 2½ hours.
Once out on the open road, I could get going, instead I got stuck behind the truck drivers nightmare – caravans, they were travelling faster than most, usually they travel at 40 mph, (64km-70km), at best the little Ford Thames would get along at 80Km per hour with the wind in the right direction, there was a big build up of traffic behind me and in the dark they all looked the same in a small bouncing mirror, even when you held it steady, next thing a Chrysler Royal passes me, it is the traffic cops, they stop me, I am gone for speeding as the speed limit in South Australia is 25mph (40Km), my excuse that I was only travelling with the traffic does not wash and I am booked for exceeding the speed limit by 30 Km and later fined 25 pounds, close to one weeks wages.
However I never paid the fine, after many summons to my parents home and then for a number of years the South Australian police used to come to my parents home looking for me, and telling my mother I was going to jail, but I was working in the construction industry away from home. They did not catch me as they had to find you in person for interstate fines in those days. If you did not have the money then it was jail and I always carried travellers cheques to the amount of the fine for many years.
A transport friend of mine got caught in Adelaide over unpaid fines and could not pay and was jailed where he shared the same cell as a sideshow worker who was being held for killing a young girl, recently this case was on TV and this chap who was convicted at the time, and from new evidence may not have been guilty.
Truck driving has seen some major changes since the 50’s, few, if any trucks had power steering or heaters, some trucks would get so hot that they did not need a heater, the International R190 and the B Series Mack are two that come to mind, they were hell in the summer. Most trucks were extremely cold in the winter and you drove with lots of clothes and a big heavy rug over your legs, it was better to wrap the rug around your legs like a skirt and then climb into the truck.
Windscreen wipers were one speed, so in light mist it was necessary to keep turning them on and off. All trucks made hard work of towing a semi and ranged from 100 to 200hp for say B Model Macks, but then they were towing a lot more weight.
The type of truck which were most common for long distance were about 120hp, you start in low gear with the diff in low ratio then high low, second low, second high and you went up and down always changing diff ratio with each gear change. However when in low gear you did not change from high to low on a steep pinch as this was the common cause of broken axles.
Brakes were not the best, British trucks generally had terrible brakes, American trucks were better but unable to stop like today. Most trailers had servicable brakes and as with the truck were vacuum over hydraulic. In the 60’s there was a slow change to air brakes, mirrors were small things on a long arm as cabins were generally quite narrow and needed to be held by hand to see clearly.
To indicate to traffic following there were no turning indicators, but a single imitation hand on a lever, you had to wind down the window and raise the lever which moved the hand straight out for turning right or pull it back for stopping, there were no left signals.
Angel gear was coasting down hill and out of gear, as you built up speed the road noise would increase then disappear, then you knew you were flying, it was an eerie feeling.
Although our cities were connected by highways on the map they were generally at best, narrow strips of sealed road just wide enough to pass on, even on the Melbourne to Sydney Hume Highway there were narrow one way bridges, as an example the “Little Sydney Harbour” remains today on the left at the Tumut turn off, looking down in the gully it looks like a foot bridge, almost every town you always went through the main street.
The Newell highway to Brisbane was mostly unsealed in New South Wales, these sections were very corrugated or pot holed, one of the worst sections was between Forbes and Parkes, on the first trip with the new Thames truck the unsupported steering column vibrated so much that the copper pipes to the trailer brake control broke on this section.The volume of trucks on the Brisbane – Melbourne run were not like today and often you would travel up to 20km or more without meeting a truck and the tourist traffic was almost nil.
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The northern end of the Newell Highway near the Queensland border in 1962. It was a dust bowl in summer .and a bog hole in winter.
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Lee No.3 Pty Ltd
Trading since 1961 ACN: 005 204 599 ABN: 40 005 204 599 |
For more information please contact Ian Lee on 0428 507 408 [email protected] |
PO Box 614
KYNETON 3444 VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA |
