Old truck photos

As only a young whippersnapper I have only seen photos of many of these workhorses but they are awesome I especially like the NR Macks as I know of one here in town that comes out for the special occasions but they were excellent and I don't think people of these days (non truck related) could actually comprehend what it would have been like actually pulling up at the top of Jimna Range to have lunch before going down and driving the many hours to Redcliffe that now only takes you 1.25hrs to do

Thanks again for these photos

Bruce (Cunningstunt),
by the looks of things you are a native of Sydney - did you live or work near Five Dock?

Small world as they say, my dad died 40 years ago and I still have a lot of his truck pics & company books which I will post one day. I also have his "subby" records from the 1960's and I recognised Richardson as one of them. I dived into the books and sure enough, "A. Richardson Five Dock - 18 ton to Mereweather - Feltex - 22 pounds, 10 shillings".
Also on the same page from 1963 is "S. Levy Cabarita - 17 to ton to Newcastle - BHP - 18 pounds, 3 pence"
and the classic
"T. Thomas Newtown - 12 ton to Moonie - Moonie Oil - 112 pounds".
S Levy is Stan Levy who created Westgate Transport, and T Thomas became Thomas Nationwide Transport (TNT) in the late 1960's.

Pittman's is also listed as one of his subbies..

Dad's company was Petersham Transport which was in Milton St, Ashfield - "Master Carriers" was the slogan on his trucks. I must dig out his pics again, scan them and get them on here - great reading and wonderful transport history including the first direct service from Sydney to Darwin! He had, just before his passing in November 1969, over 30 trucks.
cheers,
Bretto

and T Thomas became Thomas Nationwide Transport (TNT) in the late 1960's.

quote]

Wasn't it K.W.Thomas as in Ken Thomas that became T.N.T

A friend photographed this truck near Abercrombie National Park. Any ideas what it is?


Also, this is an S21 Foden I found last week, an 8 wheeler & crane. can't let it just sit there.
Regards, Stephen

it looks like that foden would just grow on you .. how bad is it?

We've been talking about the NR Macks on the ACME forum, after a contributor from Portland put up a pic of an NR Mack that is for sale for $2000 (he didn't say where, I guess it's in Western Vic. or S.A.).

A newcomer to ACME .. a Dutchman I'd guess, by his name - Jeroen Sleijpen .. is restoring an NR, and appears to be a bit of a whizz-kid on them. He gave us a run-down on the NR history and development, and the following info from him may be of interest to those who want to increase their knowledge about the NR's.
It appears that there were many different versions of the NR, with each development or design improvement followed by a number after the NR.

Here's his knowledge base quote, with minor spelling corrections, as English is obviously not his first language, although it's pretty good ..

"Mack NR were built from 1940 till late 1945.
The NR1 succeeded the Mack EXBX trucks in 1940, they used the Mack-Lanova 131BHP Diesel 6 cyl.
Diesel engine with a TR12 duplex OD-top gearbox, and a power divider between the 9.02:1 rear axles.
Dayton 6 spoke wheels with 10.50-24 and 13.50-20 rear tyres.
The NR2 and NR3 built in 1941 were the first to have the L-series styling for front end and cab.
On the NR3 the tyres were 11.00-24 front and 14.00-20 at the rear.
The NR4 was built in 1941 as a light tank carrier, same as NR3, but with heavier leaves in the springs, and higher ply rating on the tyres.
The NR5 was built in 1941, and similar to the NR4 but with a wooden cargo body like the NR2.
The NR6 and 7 built in 1942, were basically the same trucks as the NR5, but with minor differences in body and cab styling.
The NR8 built in 1942 same as before but with 2 fuel tanks and open cab.
The NR9 to 13 built in 1943 were similar to the NR8, and were improved with many detail differences.
The NR14 and NR15 built in 1944 had detail improvements on the engine, and standard military pattern dashboards.
Tyres were 11.00-24 all round, with duals on the rear axles.
The NR14 used the standard wooden cargo body, and the NR15 started using an entirely new body.
The NR16 to 20 built in 1945, had same chassis/cab as the NR14, but with the new style all steel cargo body with tall sides and rear doors.
The NR18-20 had civilian style Mack nameplates on the bonnet/hood side panels. Technical specs were the same as the NR14.

I have dug up some pics from the AWM site, and it appears that Australia didn't get any Macks before about late 1943.
The main use for them, appeared to be on the Stuart Hwy, running between Darwin and Alice Springs and Adelaide and Darwin.

The Stuart wasn't called the Stuart during WW2 .. the military constantly refer to the Stuart, just as the "North-South Military Hwy".
In common parlance amongst the soldiers it was just called "The Track".

The military North-South hwy early pictures (1940-43) all show Inters, Chevys, Fords and Blitzes as the main vehicles in use on "The Track".
The Macks don't appear until 1944 and later dated pictures.

Military Macks at Ti-Tree Wells, North of Alice Springs, June 1944 ..



Military Macks at the Devils Marbles, 114km South of Tennant Creek, June 1944 ..

Quote .A newcomer to ACME .. a Dutchman I'd guess, by his name - Jeroen Sleijpen


no more clog wogs

JuanTrak
GuddayM8

Gr8 info n pix

I never new there twaz so many variantz of the NR Mack
Probly most never seen Austalian shores

Cya
[ch9787]

The old-man took this pic (1976 ish) when he was with Atkinson Australia as service manager. He went to make saw the owner was happy with hes new Atkinson truck's. And yes he was.

Roy Shaw Transport Winton QLD