RFW Brochures From Overlander

Did RFW make many trucks or any amount of trucks in volume

I think were pretty much a custom truck maker but might have that wrong

I dont remember Herman either, but we never had papers delivered to the farm as kids or read comics as kids so theres a lot of this stuff I never new about


Paul

Paul, I don't read many cartoon strips- Ginger Meggs, Snake, Insanity Streak and The Phontom. Don't get Herman any more in the Advertiser but I always liked them. Another good one was Frank & Ernest. But I used to read these in the UK in the mid 80's. Pete

Mrsmackpaul wrote:

Did RFW make many trucks or any amount of trucks in volume

I think were pretty much a custom truck maker but might have that wrong
Paul

Paul, Forum Member Jumbo Worked for RFW back in the day & (I believe) has all the Records/build sheets. He also Runs a RFW facebook page.. He'd be able to answer all your Questions..

All trucks Buses etc where hand made custom built to customers spec
Ansett Pioneer 8 chassis where the same
Qantas we’re all same spec
Yarra Trams
Malaysian Air Force three rear engine 4x4 & ten 6x6 fire tenders
Most customers were single special requirements
380 total vehicles built
4 built in Melbourne where Bob sold / retired to Greg Rudson

I knew Gregor Rusden in Melbourne for the last few years of his life.  He was a mate of Robert (Bob) F. Whitehead of RFW.
Gregor had an engineering business in Glen Waverley, Melbourne and was a brilliant, if somewhat eccentric and forgetful, engineer.  He was developing a method of dry evacuation of material for mines in Western Australia. In his yard in Melbourne he had a test rig of one kilometre of steel piping on a huge rack.  His method was basically a giant vacuum cleaner that sucked rubble and "paydirt" up out of the mine.
After Bob Whitehead was no longer able to build trucks, Gregor designed and built four RWF's that were 6x6 road-railers to install overhead cables for the extension of the electric rail network in Brisbane. The trucks carried a huge spool of the cable used, with a hoist to lift the cable drum to operating height and also space for a second drum. He had to shorten drive axles so that the road wheels ran on the rails. (They had retractable railway-type non-powered wheels to keep the truck on the rails) Because the vehicles were so big and heavy, it was more economic to register them in Victoria, drive them to Queensland, cancel the Victorian registration and re-register them in Qld.

After these trucks, Gregor built a special four wheel drive fire-fighting vehicle with a Cummins (I think) motor in a chassis he had imported from Hungary, Poland or somewhere.  (Sorry to be so vague about these details but my rememberer is failing and my forgetter is improving)

On the way to demonstrate the vehicle to operators of the pine plantations in South Australia, the vehicle slid off the road in very heavy rain, overturned and unfortunately, Gregor was killed. Had he lived he could well have built many more RFW's.

Hi,

there might be some photos around of the truck(s) Greg built as I recall going on a  HCVCA trip to his factory one night/afternoon not long before he passed. I remember the square'ish cab on the road rail truck.

Probably an issue of The Monitor with some photos and pictures of who else was there that may have more photos.

Terry