Back in the 70's

Hi,

Better ask first up in this politically correct day and age if it's OK to ask about blokes from yesteryear, specially if they were well known.

Shooting the breeze with another truckie a little while back and a blokes truck came up, cab over KW with the big 3408 V8 Cat in it. (I reckon it was Barry Cullen from Harden). I even had an idea that he may have had more than one.

The other bloke we were trying to name used to pull for McPhees on the Syd-melb run with an RFW, think it may have had a 903 in it? used to go pretty well, I remember that.

I suppose, like a lot of other blokes in that era, have since retired.

Remember being up in Alice Springs a few years back, done a bit of casual for an old "Territorian", many years my senior. Often used to slag off at me (but not in a derogatory way) for being spoiled by engine brakes, power steering etc.etc.

Round his place one Sunday arvo, having a stubby, telling a few lies and his missus bought this battered old photo album out. Here's a photo of an AEC "Octopus" (eight wheeler) tray body, God knows what era, parked up before a fence with an old cable-blade D8 on the back!

Don't know what one of those old '8's would go, at least 25 tonne or so? Anyway, when asked what the blokes standing around the gate were doing, he said that they were going into this cockie's place to do a bit of roadbuilding and sink a small dam. They were removing one of the gateposts as the dozer still had the blade on.

When I commented on that it must have been a handful he answered, "Yeah, no power steering them days! Learned how to slow a truck without brakes too". He added that if they had damaged the cockie's gate he would have deducted the repair costs out of the hire bill! AS this old bloke said when I reckoned he must have been a tight fisted cocky, he replied "Yeah, you could say he was cautious with a quid!"

But he made me laugh when I suggested that it was a tad overweight, even by territory standards. Wasn't he worried about authorities? (After all, this was in the Alice), "Nah, nobody up here worries too much about that. Get away with anything as long as you don't break the eleventh commandment. You know what that means, don't you? Thou shalt not get caught!"

Cheers, Dave 64

Brilliant story Dave. Any more from that era?

Thanks, Atkipete,

Have to search the old memory banks. Of course, you know the drill. Start gasbagging to someone or other, and once the old amber ink starts flowing, the porkies start emerging!

I do remember being in the same circumstances many years ago, when just about every man and his dog used to use the "Putty Road" a notorious stretch back in the old days if you were doing Sydney-Brisbane. From Singleton Railway gates to Wilberforce was from memory 110 miles of twisting, narrow roads which included the 'nine mile bends'. Lost count of the incidents/accidents it caused. I was working on a dozer up on the ash disposal dam this side of Muswellbrook, must have been mid 1970 or so, had at the time a 253 HG Monaro. Coming back to Sydney on a Friday night and started striking the rigid overnighters, most going north. Frightened you-know-what out of me!

I could do Singleton-Wilberforce at the extreme best, in about one hour fifty in the Monroe. Got mixed up with a bunch of blokes in the old Collingwood Hotel in Liverpool, and as the night progressed we were doing it in about an hour ten! Not rigids, (and there were some VERY quick ones running North at the time), but fully loaded trailers!

I remember thinking at the time that these blokes were too good for me! I asked one bloke what he could do it in and his reply, "I wouldn't want to bag anyone"! See what happens when you mix truckies, alcohol and boasting rights? All good fun at the time.

One other time when I had my old Pete (one of 'Tectives museum pieces), carting grain out of the Gunnedah area, hired a new 41 foot triaxle with 6 foot gates. Got the drum that the portables were weighing around Jerry's Plains way, and when I got to the cocky's place he said. "We may as well fill her up", with Sorghum. Coming through Coolah, remembered many years ago you could cut across through the scrub and rejoin the Putty somewhere near Bulga Bridge. Pulled up for a sambo and this old guy sitting outside the sanger shop said, "Yer a bit outta the way are'nt you?" Asked if he knew the road I was seeking and what sort of condition it was in,. I knew I had a bit on, that load, but he knew what I was up to. Said, "Yeah alright, bit hilly, big truck like that no problems. Just watch out they are rebuilding one of the bridges about twenty miles out, probably one of your mates broke it." So off I head, in a straight line it would be, oh say, fifty miles or so. Straight Line? Straight up and down! I reckon I met two blokes out there, Burke and Wills! Had to use Lo-Lo in the Spicer (250 Cummins) to ease my way out of the jump up that they had pushed over a pipe when re-doing the bridge, but then thought it was all sweet after that. Took me something like six hours to get to the cafe at Garland Valley and guess what? Closed for the night!

Kept plugging away at it and got down to Fielders Flour mill at Rhodes just on daylight. About twenty trucks in front of me! While waiting to unload, bloke I had seen at the grain agents asked what the hell happened to me, he loaded after me. Then to rub salt into the wound, when I asked about the scalies, he said that they packed it in around 4 pm the afternoon before! About the time old mate at Coolah was giving directions!

Won't say what I had on, but at the time they used to put you on a hydraulic ramp to unload, open the grain chutes in the back of the trailer and tip the whole shooting match in the air. Bloke on the weighbridge said I had too much for the ramp, so would have to tip onto one of the grates that the smaller body trucks used. Wouldn't believe it , get round the corner and there's got to be a dozen rigid tippers in front of me!

One quick waffle before I go, when young and green, when first on interstate, had to run down from Sydney to load hanging meat in a chiller van. Company truck, before I bought the Pete. This is before they rebuilt the DMT weighbridges at Marulan. Sometimes if you were lucky, they would be closed and once you got past there, had a reasonable run to the border and thereby be able to do something with the book. Got the drum that they were open, so had a brainwave (or a brain failure!) and remembered that you could turn off the Hume and cut across to Taralga, rejoin the Hume at Goulburn. Me and my late father used to go down that way to knock off gravel at the old weir. I remember him telling me you could get through once over the weir, so, being young and stupid, head off. Everything went fine till I got to the river, the weir has been washed away! Great! Got an empty fridge van on, get out and have a look, yeah, just enough room to do a U-turn. Should have jumped up and down a few times first, like a swamp! No weight, no traction, down she went. Mind you, I'm booked in at the Shepp abbatoirs 8am the next morning. Starts hoofing it back to the main drag, there's a cocky's house there. Bangs on the door, no answer. Bloody hell! I'm really in the soup!Go into his shed, yep, got an old Fordson major there, should be able to snig me out. Starting to get a bit cool, theonly thing in this cocky's shed is an old fleece drying on a frame. Pulls it over myself to try and ward the chill off. About 6 am, the back door opens and the cocky's missus is heading out to the outhouse! I must have frightened the life out of her, she gave a yelp and her hubby appears. "Where the hell did you spring from?" After very shamefacedly telling him what happened, he laughed like heck and said that the bad floods washed the weir away about 5 years ago and there wasn't enough traffic to warrant doing it up. They knocked up some brekky for me and the cocky says that we'll jump in the ute and go see the damage. Go down and no way is the Fordson Major gonna move that! Seems to have sank even further. I'm just about to slit the wrists, no mobile phones, no CB radios, no nothing! Get back to his house and his missus says that there was a dozer working nearby, clearing an access track when they were stringing new High tension lines. back into the ute, go about ten minutes down the road and the operator has just fired the dozer up. Tell him what happened and he says he'll come down and reef me out. We eventually get her out after mucho swearing and cursing, I've got twenty bucks to my name, (you could get a good feed at a truckstop for five at the time), After all, I'm only supposed to be gone for a day or so, was bringing hanging meat back to Syd.

Here's me thinking that he'll do the right thing and say at least "go you halves", No way! took the twenty! So after ringing the bloke I worked for, reverse charges, he asked what I was still doing near Marulan. He WAS NOT impressed when I told him I had become "bogged".

cont....

Asked why I didn't hitch hike into Marulan (Frank had the towing service at the time, old AB Inter single drive from memory) I hee'd and hawed, boss told me he would ring Shepp and I had better extract the digit!

Only good to come out of it, had had a break and was legal again. And, you guessed it, Marulan was shut! If my son did something like that, I would kick his butt!

Cheers, Dave 64

Think the McPhees bloke in the RFW was "Curly".

On ya \Dave, thats gold... keep stirring the memory and putting em up will you please?
even better, find some old pics too!
cheers and thanks,
Richard

Curly owned the rfw and a w model kenny . The drivers name i dont know but was called billy wacker which seemed to upset him . I dropped off a truck to the canberra depot one night and got a lift back to homebush and yes the old brown RFW did go very well .
Scummy , ( dog )

Yes, it was Curly, now I've heard the name.
That bloke who drove the W Model, Billy, or Willy, I think he also used to run North (Syd-Bris) in a cab over KW, also for McPhees?

I didn't realise that Curly owned both trucks.
Prodrive. Not a day goes by that I don't regret not carrying the old box brownie (or instamatic) with me!
But, seeing some of these great old jiggers on this forum, sure bought back many fond memories!
Dave 64

Just thinking, should get someone talking about the old Hume Highway between Syd and Goulburn. Saw a few photo's posted not that long ago, of the "hole in the wall" at Picton.

Anyone remembers the two old railway underpasses at Yanderra/Yerrinbool, not far from the apple orchards which always amused me with the sign on the fence, "Thieves Will Be SHOT!"

A very fast rigid KW (who shall remain anonymous!) came to grief with a load of fertilised eggs at one of those 's' bends which were at each end of the tunnel. Must have been summer time, my brother was telling me how even though the firey's came down in the old Blitz and washed it away, you could still smell it months later!

dave 64

...last time I saw the brown RFW (sleeper cab?) was about 1984 in Sydney backed up to a dock that had a pretty steep angle to it....