The Ridley Raiser

Z
Over Xmas I was talking to my father about my truck restoration and mentioned some of the articles on the Forum and I got around to the "Rhodes Ridley".
When dad was 18/19 (1948) he took a break from the farm and got a job at Bells when their yard was in Guildford about 2 doors up from the Rose and Crown Hotel.
Dad said that Ridley (the Ridley that built the Rhodes Ridley) was then working there for Bells.
Around 1950 Bells lost a contract down at Collie and and over the next 12 months whenever one of their trucks was down that way they would pick up some of their gear as a back load. Well in 1951 dad took a load of super down and picked up an ex ARMY V8 4WD and took it back to the Bells yard. Dad went on to say that Ridley in a matter of weeks made up a crane jib and mounted it out over the cab with a Hydraulic Cyl behind the cab and it was named THE RIDLEY RAISER
Dad doesn't have any photos of it and when I asked if there would be anyone else that might remember it he said he was the youngest there and as far as he knew everyone had since passed away.
Dad was a employed as a truck driver there but maybe there might be an ex apprentice who worked there still around or even a family member of someone who worked there that might remember the RIDLEY RAISER.

Also around this time Bells were about to move to a bigger yard on the Great Eastern Hwy at South Guidford so Bells got dad and another guy to drive 2 trucks over to Newcastle NSW to pick up the steel to build their new workshops. Both trucks were Erf's. Dad was driving an 8 wheel 24ft flat top and the other guy was in an 8 wheel tipper.
They left Guildford with a stack of fuel drums for refuelling and also dropped several off on the way for fuel on the return trip. No one stole any of the fuel and the drums were exactly as they left them.
At the steel works dad said he wanted 18 ton on the flat top but they kept piling it on, the tipper was heavily loaded as well. When he got back to Guildford Bells put dads truck on the scales and he had 23 ton on board.
About a year later dad left Bells and went to drive for White Rock Quarries.....later to become Australian Blue Metal.
I was then 2 or 3 and dad mum my younger brother and myself went back to the farm at West Pingelly/Wandering.
About the mid 50's my uncle was getting married and as the farm wouldn't support 3 families....grand parents, uncle and us Dad decided to move us to Perth and he would go truck driving again. We moved into a Housing Commision house in Chapman Rd in Bentley not far from ABM where dad worked.
In 1957/8 Don Rhodes must have been doing it tough and left 1 Foden and 2 Atkinson's (all 8 wheelers) up at Whim Creek.
Somehow ABM got them and dad and a couple of other guys went up and bought them back. They must have been sitting for a while as I can remember as a kid Dad telling me that there was a bit of a snake problem in the cabs. On the way back one of the Atkinson's did a gearbox in at Paynes Find so It was left there till a mechanic took a gearbox up and it was driven back to Perth.
Dad was also at ABM when they got hold of some ex army tank trailers and mounted mobile crushers on them.
I have asked Dad for any old trucking photos so I can post them. Might take a while to get them as they are now in storage but Dad will get around to it.
As a family we never did it tough...Dad mustn't been making a lot though as I vividly remember when I was about 8 and asking Dad for something special and Dad said he couldn't afford it......I then asked him how much money would we need to be rich......dad said if he could get 10Bob ($1.00) an hour we'd be rich.