Re: Cannington -- PCT -- CCT -- PCT Road Lines P/L.

Hi All, I

g'day PCT .. congratulations on cracking the 20,000 mark and a nice testimonial to millen donovan...

millen went on to purchase the big truck seven and indeed operated it in with kingstons, still in the PCT roadlines colour scheme, until the fateful accident..

..have a couple of pics to post this arvo and on the back of one is the caption ...millen donovan (driver later owner)....cheers

here's millen at the bowsers (for the umpteenth time !)..photo..phillip geer





just a couple more pics in its long and illustrious working life...


this is peterbilt 351STL ch/no 19422 (truck seven) fresh off the boat and straight into the bond yard at peterbilt australia mid 1965..photo credit unknown





photographed at blaxland in the blue mountains heading west april 1976...ron knight photo via tony petch




into owner/driver territory and soldiering on under the new name...photo credit unknown

Thanks Detective, Heres another shot of may be the same shift. Another early B Double.

...you know .. i've got to add something here...millen and probably most of the other bloke must have struggled sometimes, if only because when carting the big loads and your mirrors are useless, and you're under escort in many situations.. and then the load is liberated.. and by this stage the escort guy has zoomed off and you've been used to slow going and a heap of two way contact and you kind of revert back to a general carter...just getting a great big float back home !...using your mirrors, no more friendly coppers and probably dead tiredness from all the concentration....

s'pose todays world is no different...cheers

I think it would be termed skill Detecta...
The bit that sorts the operators from the drivers..
You would be surprised what you can see in the mirrors you can't see out of..
Every shadow tells a story..
There are a few blokes here that could add a whole lot more to that too...


chocs

I agree Chocs, and it would be good to here from a few of the senior fella's to share some of their stories.

Here is another shot of Millen [out of picture] and Truck 7 delivering a 150 Ton WABCO Bottom Dump Trailer to the Kiewa Dam Project in Victoria.

G'Day Detective and All, Re the trucks in bond, Are the two at the rear possibly the red and white 282 sleeper that carted the bogie pan and one of the Caltex 671's on the right?.

Regarding #19422 parked up against the gate. There obviously is another side to the "true and correct" side of things--- when you look at the photo and then think of the transition that this truck undergoes from the beginning, to then become Truck 7 in the Cannington Plant Hire & Earth Moving fleet in around mid 1966.





This photo below taken by Len Bartlett supplied by Tony Petch shows Truck 6 in service late 1964 which seems to dictate the paint scheme for the Cannington/later Pacific Coast Trucking lineup
as it was its original two tone livery of Vintage Caterpillar Yellow and Alaskan White.. Sometime after the addition of Truck 7, Nigel Holts 351A was acquired also, and became Truck 4.



Not including the Dodge. left--- Truck 7. middle--- Truck 4. right--- Truck 6..

g'day PCT and all .. i'm having a fair stab in the dark and reckon that the two cabovers in the background at the bond yard are (1) the esso sleeper cab 6X4 (ch/no 20265) which came in as a stock truck in red complete, and more than likely (2) the AFL sleeper cab 6X4 (ch/no 19186)...especially seeing the white hub/rim combination that applied to their fleet and arrived as ordered for them in that colour scheme combination..

also noticed the right front steer hub odometer on truck seven, which was a fitment to quite a few aus. peterbilts ex factory, and in itself a forward look on maintenance, mile correction, etc

also an interesting thing to note is the fuel tanks are placed well forward to try to get some weight over the steer axle particularly as the pin placement on a low loader set-up is usually directly square over the drive (no forward overhang)...these big bonneted petes with their longer wheelbases bought a whole new set of problems to proper weight distribution

hope all that makes a bit of sense...cheers

Hi Doug, Phil and all

Still loving this thread. When I was last in Alice I was asked to identify the following shot and they were surprised how much I knew lol!!

Obviously this can't be used for commercial purposes etc but I hope you all enjoy it. Courtesy of The Road Transport Hall of Fame