having a chat with an old boy - (who has been there and done it) he reckons that the first Almaty/ China transfer was done by Cantrells(who he worked for at the time- ) around the late 70’s , he is more than happy to be proved wrong but thats the first one he knew of - does anyone know any better?
No, but someone will 
I think Almaty and China is,for drivers,up there with the SAS and the Herald.Years ago when i was on contract to Nesotra[Nederland Soviet Transport]for Veelo we went almost all over in the old USSR.As far down as Samarkand and Taskent,but even then [and they were specialised loads]the logistics were quite overwhelming.I know that Peter dyke from Fransen went to Almaty once at least.Logistically there comes a point where the trip is not viable[even with good rates]as the punishment to the vehicle and time taken must also be taken into account.As for going to China,i’ve yet to see a write up in any magazines of such a noteworthy trip.I will gladly be proven wrong just to read about it.
The Middle East in the early days was different as there were no viable aternatives and there was a lot more money being offered.Time was not a constraint in the old Soviet Union and many parts were closed to outsiders giving their own trucks a virtual monopoly.
hutpik:
I think Almaty and China is,for drivers,up there with the SAS and the Herald.Years ago when i was on contract to Nesotra[Nederland Soviet Transport]for Veelo we went almost all over in the old USSR.As far down as Samarkand and Taskent,but even then [and they were specialised loads]the logistics were quite overwhelming.I know that Peter dyke from Fransen went to Almaty once at least.Logistically there comes a point where the trip is not viable[even with good rates]as the punishment to the vehicle and time taken must also be taken into account.As for going to China,i’ve yet to see a write up in any magazines of such a noteworthy trip.I will gladly be proven wrong just to read about it.
The Middle East in the early days was different as there were no viable aternatives and there was a lot more money being offered.Time was not a constraint in the old Soviet Union and many parts were closed to outsiders giving their own trucks a virtual monopoly.
Several years ago, the company I worked for at the time looked seriously at going to China, but unfortunately, as the BBC who were going to
make a documentary of the trip backed out, the “adventure” never happened. However, somewhere on Toprun, there’s an account of a trip
undertaken by a French haulier who went there carrying equipment for (IIRC) Citreon, as part of a publicity exercise.
Hi gb1.Whilst i am not saying it has never been done,such a trip would only have been done as an ‘‘adventure\entertainment’’ exercise when money was no object,or a government\taxpayer was footing the bill.Transport is about making a profit and to make a profit on such a trip with the trip time,wages,costs of fuel,repairs,paperwork,makes it economically unfeasable.
Some years ago i went with a landrover from London to Nepal and Tibet for National Geographic magazine.Even with the backing of such a prestigious organisation the logistics and trip were horrendous.
Yes in the 70s a lot of trucks went to Pakistan,i met a lot in Islamabad and Karachi.At the time it was economically viable,the same thing happened in the 80s\90s in USSR.Both of these destinations died a death when local tranport and transhipping became easier and railways improved.
If anyone has done these trips why has there not been aticles in every transport and travel magazine in Europe and why have none of us not got a dvd at home[like destination Doha].or a book.For such a trip there should be a site on here,with more pages than Astrans.Mike
from what I understand Almaty was the furthest you could go as from there to the Chinese border was a restricted zone, which is why Almaty became the transfer hub where local hauliers took over the trailers and took them onto their final destination wether in the restricted zone or onwards into China - it is certainly a trip that was done, but by so very few getting definative facts or details is very difficult.
I was told that in the 70s you couldn’t get much further than Moscow, rest of the country was closed.
China transfer has been done by many, in the 90s, they were mostly loads to Russia, sometimes not so legal, drivers were given a bunch of dollars to bribe their way through “problems”. The transfer terminal is actually on Chinese side, but you were not officially in China.
V8Lenny:
I was told that in the 70s you couldn’t get much further than Moscow, rest of the country was closed.China transfer has been done by many, in the 90s, they were mostly loads to Russia, sometimes not so legal, drivers were given a bunch of dollars to bribe their way through “problems”. The transfer terminal is actually on Chinese side, but you were not officially in China.
LOL Lenny if only a quarter of the stories about Cantrells is true then a few dollars back hander is the very least of them 
hutpik:
Hi gb1.Whilst i am not saying it has never been done,such a trip would only have been done as an ‘‘adventure\entertainment’’ exercise when money was no object,or a government\taxpayer was footing the bill.Transport is about making a profit and to make a profit on such a trip with the trip time,wages,costs of fuel,repairs,paperwork,makes it economically unfeasable.
Some years ago i went with a landrover from London to Nepal and Tibet for National Geographic magazine.Even with the backing of such a prestigious organisation the logistics and trip were horrendous.
Yes in the 70s a lot of trucks went to Pakistan,i met a lot in Islamabad and Karachi.At the time it was economically viable,the same thing happened in the 80s\90s in USSR.Both of these destinations died a death when local tranport and transhipping became easier and railways improved.
If anyone has done these trips why has there not been aticles in every transport and travel magazine in Europe and why have none of us not got a dvd at home[like destination Doha].or a book.For such a trip there should be a site on here,with more pages than Astrans.Mike
Totally agree with what you’re saying hutpik. The particular trip that we were looking at was part of a music tour, and included playing in several other “obscure” destinations. The Chinese show was to be roughly halfway through the tour, with 5 more shows in various Russian cities on the way
back. The tour had the backing of a German promoter, and the BBC were going to film from Ulan Bator into China. Once the BBC backed out, the
potential revenue and publicity for the band concerned diminished to the point of making the whole exercise financially unviable. It was planned for
the band to perform during the Beijing Olympics, but because of the difficulties in predicting travel times between the various shows, generous
travel times were arranged, which unfortunately increased the costs even further.
I also think that not everyone has the same interest or foresight to record such journies. We sent 15 (IIRC) trucks to Georgia last year, and not one
driver made any record of the event. That’s a shame for those of us that would like to have gone.
Rikki-UK:
having a chat with an old boy - (who has been there and done it) he reckons that the first Almaty/ China transfer was done by Cantrells(who he worked for at the time- ) around the late 70’s , he is more than happy to be proved wrong but thats the first one he knew of - does anyone know any better?
Will you be returning from Almaty “Rikki” ? 
Cheers Bewick.
Rikki-UK:
having a chat with an old boy - (who has been there and done it) he reckons that the first Almaty/ China transfer was done by Cantrells(who he worked for at the time- and he did the trip) around the late 70’s , he is more than happy to be proved wrong but thats the first one he knew of - does anyone know any better?
As to being the first i wouldn’t know but there is a few guys on here who have done both the middle east and central Asia. M&C Jamie and Dave Mackie are a few I can think of at the moment but I’m sure there is a few others as well. The seventies must have been a great time to go to these far away destinations
Mike is dead right. I was doing the job all though the 70’s and I never once heard about anyone doing Far Russia / China commercially - and we would have heard for sure. But there were publicity / try-on trips going on though, again, I never heard tell of Almaty (only first heard the name in the CD of those two pillocks that went through on BMW motorbikes and what they experienced I certainly would not want to be doing in a road going artic) and I had done Russia with Altrex but only to St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Also, unless the diminishing memory fails me again, I’m not even sure that Cantrells were even still existing by the late 70’s?
David
i think exelcior a coach company has done a trip to china by coach in the 90s.
Hi all.I haven’t said anything as i don’t know for sure.but i would like to know more from Rikki’s mate who says he went there.Having run with guys from Cantrells through the 70s i never heard of anyone going to USSR for them[please correct me if i’m wrong].Like the rest of us Cantrells specialised in ME,pedominantly Iran all following the rainbow to the pot of gold.European and Asian USSR was like a closed book to most of us then.
As to when Cantrells ceased i’m not sure but i thought that the bad winter of 75\76 was the nail in the coffin when they lost so many trucks in Turkey.Mike
Hi everyone!
Here in germany we have a buscompany that does germany (freiburg) - china (shanghai) since a few years.
There was altough a tv-documentry about it.
Think you can find it on youtube.
Next thing is a travel around the world (check the maps in the link).
freiburg-shanghai.de/aus-der-presse/
busweltreise.de/index.php/routenkarten
Almaty, or Alma Ata before, is not a problem for trucks, it has been done a lot, and I think that in the 70s during Soviet times the roads were better than today but the problem was you were not allowed to go there.
I wrote in Astran thread that some finnish trucks went to Pakistan through Afghanistan during Soviet invasion in 1986, they must have been gone through Kazachstan region but I don’t know how hard it was to get all the permits. Maybe it was already a little bit relaxed before the Soviet Union went down. But no return loads from China…
browncow2:
i think exelcior a coach company has done a trip to china by coach in the 90s.
Excelsior from Bournemouth went overland to China with a Volvo B10M in the Summer of 1990.I’ve got a feeling they also went earlier than that with a Ford!
Hi all.From the 60s onwards coaches,buses and adventure trucks have been going east as far as Nepal and Tibet and even down as far as Singapore.Top deck,Das Rollende Hotel and Dragoman are 3 that i know of.But as i said adventure\entertainment is a totally different ballgame for both economics and logistics.Mike
hutpik:
Hi all.From the 60s onwards coaches,buses and adventure trucks have been going east as far as Nepal and Tibet and even down as far as Singapore.Top deck,Das Rollende Hotel and Dragoman are 3 that i know of.
Maybe not through Soviet Union?
Hi Lenny.During the 60s\70s and early 80s there were very few western European companies that went to the USSR.For us it was more difficult than for the Finns who had a closer relationship with USSR.In the late 70\early 80s i worked in Holland for a company on contract to Sovtrans.My company was 1 of only 4 in Holland that were able to get Year visas for USSR.The visas were a large sheet of paper sealed in plastic with all the major places we could go to and also were printed in large red letters places and areas which were forbidden to us.
Certainly during the 60s and 70 the road to the far east was much simpler via Turkey,Iran, Afghanistan Pakistan and India.It was reasonably safe and relatively hassle free,and for many people more interesting because of the different cultures.Mike