This is our ( kid ) he reads this thread , he thought ! and I thought ! why not print it all about trucks and who knows what memories may spring from it Ron
Ain’t life funny with associations of the past , our Kid was transporting Radar to Tilbury docks for the Middle East !! In early 1950 , Trans Arabia where delivering Radar equipment from the ship in Jeddah Docks in 1980s ■■? Bloody he’ll that must have been the ship Backsplice was Steering 
? Talk about the slow boat to China !!! Tony Cope I remember he had the job of picking up these 20ft Radar boxes full of electronics ? ( And delivering what was left )■■? 
to there stations over the east side , there defence batteries you could see from the Abqaqe Rd sitting up on top of the sand banks with rocket missiles pointing towards the North West !! ,if they had lit the blue touch paper the could have blown away Caravn Trucking , 
Ron
Great stories from your brother Ron.
I believe Frederick Forsyth Flew vampires in the early fifties. Maybe Jim met him without knowing.
Photo of a bit of me, you, Merlin and JDL at a party on Pat Conway’s roof - hope you didn’t get thrown in the pool!
Back to the military. This bus was scoured round at an abandoned quarry outside Dhahran. I took these photos in 1977, surely not possible anywhere else in the world. You can see the Dammam - Riyadh highway in the background in one of the photos. When I showed the photos around - sharp intakes of breath. I hadn’t realised that just to the West, was a military base with anti aircraft missiles etc. nobody could figure out how I hadn’t been arrested. Sometimes it’s good to be naive!
John.
Hi , Dean B , Hi , Dean , its good that you have put those photos on , I am sure there are many memories that your father had of Trans Arabia please feel free to put anything of interest on this Thread . It’s extraordinary how just a spark can light up stories that other wise may be lost , Ron !!! Ps John your photo of that marooned coach , someone had a good sense of humour and your recording is good for us all to smile at the antics that went on in 1977. Saudi Arabia was very different to say the least , Ron
Our kid has just sent this through , As you can tell all of us old boys , know what it’s like to be british to the core , you have to live the life we have had to speak about Our beloved Country , woe betide anyone who runs us down , Ron
Thanks Jim ,and thanks to Brexit , let’s hope that we can break free from the fat cats Burocrats , who we liberated in 2 world wars !! They have short memories To think that millions of our lads where giving there lives to free Europe from that Evil scum !!! and there armies of France , Belgium etc etc where laying down there guns cowards that they where , while the commonwealth armies fought on , they watched the slaughter of our young men as we defeated the scum ,and would not help , but with the help of America we won , and now they are trying to bring us down the very nation that bled for there freedom it’s disgusting , and even now our own scum who look after there selves at the top of the tree with greed in there hearts , not a thought for the men and women who struggle to keep Britain free , I have climbed this tree of life and got to reach the Apples at the very top ■■? Only to find that they are rotten on the inside this was Trans Arabia , Ron
Thanks DeanB message received , looking forward to new stories from Trans Arabia , via Yoyo’s son Dean. Meanwhile I have just found this 4 in hand photo from browsing the blog , Ron
Perhaps I should explain ? The changing of a 2 steer road spring on a LOADED 8 wheeler is no mean feat !! It was on nights and this truck came in for inspection finding this shattered spring it was a danger and I said it could not be moved ! ( So we will change it !) sending up the tipper with this full load 18ton of coal ! To a hight that we could actually build a bridge under the body near the cab , with railway sleepers !!! and then lose back down the loaded body onto the bridge? As we did this the load came onto the bridge at an angle and the chassis came back up ■■ At first it still came in contact with the chassis!! So I built the bridge higher until I was able to change this shattered spring The new spring was even more difficult to re fit but we made it and the 4 in hand rolled out next morning JD & Me where well pleased. Ron WE WHERE A GREAT TEAM TOGETHER ! And proved to be again in Saudi Arabia . Don’t try this at home ?
love your attitude you could,nt be closer to the truth about brexit love it bring it on best regards alan 
Thanks Alan for your support , we must never forget the youth of Great Britain That where sacrificed in two world wars for enduring unimaginable hardships in the face of death and indeed death itself thinking they where fighting for the good of mankind,only for our nation to be trodden on by the very countries we liberated , Europe can feel the warm sunshine on there faces , while our men and women who rest cold under there soil , with our backs to the wall we must let them know that Brexit is where we stand for generations to come . Ron 
ronhawk:
Thanks Alan for your support , we must never forget the youth of Great Britain That where sacrificed in two world wars for enduring unimaginable hardships in the face of death and indeed death itself thinking they where fighting for the good of mankind,only for our nation to be trodden on by the very countries we liberated , Europe can feel the warm sunshine on there faces , while our men and women who rest cold under there soil , with our backs to the wall we must let them know that Brexit is where we stand for generations to come . Ron
Thank you Ron for what you have written . I was a war baby but still remember the many empty chairs in the homes around us , lads that never made it home , and for what ? The greedy self serving so called politicians that we are saddled with who,s only interest is a fat pension and an easy life . Very few of them are old enough to remember the war and the hard times that followed and those that remember just shrug it off . I’m nearing the end of my lifetime now , but I feel great sadness at the future my grandchildren face . Maybe Brexit will improve the present situation , I hope so . Regards , Dave
Meanwhile back in the land of the living , and remembering the old Suek in Jeddah ,where we exchanged our King Faisal for Queen Elisabeth’s the money’s where outside in huge piles of every nomination just sitting on old tables with a solid gold bars holding them down , the end of each month the workers Pakies, Indian , etc etc got there sweat money and would barter the best rate from about 6 - 7 Arabs sitting X legged you could buy sovereigns 24 carrot. With a small mark stamped in otherwise perfect i purchased a couple myself it was unbelievable sight to see this amount of paper money , talking of Mirlins favourite subject !!! the manager before Mirlin in Dammam , lost the keys to the Safe and was in a uncontrollable panic , and asked me if I could open it ■■ I said what’s in it ? His eyes lit up and said its full of money , 
( I know I have told this before ) but it’s a good tail !! The safe was as big as a tea chest and heavy , remembering the same safe in Jeddah this had a double door , i said I can burn it open but there’s no guaranty with what was inside , he said do it ? I have got to get it open So we dragged it outside down a couple of steps and struggled to turn it on its back , running the hose pipe through the key hole until it was full of water !! This took forever but finally it was full , Striking up the bottles I burnt a square hole through the door about a ft Square this must have been a inch thick and still have the scars to prove it ? It was spitting and ■■■■■■■ blowing back onto my bare chest , levering this molten square it finally started to move and then it still would not open , I knew the sliding bolts where holding it but on the inside , not to be beat !!! I managed to lift it just clear of the door and twisted it ? This in turn drew back the bolts and hey it opened up it was full of King Faisals, This bloke was in a trance scooping up the money out of this scalding water he felt no pain until it was empty , what did I get ? Just a reputation not a bean , True 
Ron
For all the old bikers out there , started up the BSA yesterday and road only 10miles but the adrenalin rush was great , the battery has had it but the Dynamo put the lights on Ron
Love the Beezer Ron, just finished an old Yamaha that I bought as bits in a box. Like yourself, can’t stand to see something in bits so I rebuilt it.
Would love an old Brit but they are just too much, anyway keep up the great posts. All the best.
AV 760 thanks for you interest , my son Mark had a Kenny Roberts Special me and Gizachuk went out for a ride it was bloody quick to fast for me !! We nearly went over the bars pulling up a the lights on the Chester rd with the twin front discs ■■? We where only use to drum , I rebuilt a 650 AJS and went to London on it ! I could not get the Ton !! only 95 ish the vibration spun off the head light switch I could see it getting ready to blow away on the headlamp but I was to late to stop it , the petrol was dripping onto the twin exhaust from the front bolts holding on the tank when I parked up outside the Palladium ? To get back home I took off the tank and strapped to my chest then filling up the tank with the hose under my chin !! We started back ? We where on the M 1 in the fast lane still in the nineties and a Daimler Dart blowed his horn and past us on the inside , we got back OK, Ron
Heres a pic, hope you dont mind
