A modern tale......edit #1 with images

There have been a few issues with posting large blocks of text onto TN, that… and because I’m not good with these here computer machines I usually have rely to on my wife to post for me… I’ve decided to write straight onto the forum… so every week or so I’ll go back into it and a few lines here and there to make it flow a bit better… or just add stuff that I forgot the first time round…

So I’m sitting here at the computer machine… I have a long list of a thousand or more thing that need to be done… and that’s even before I get the important things, but I have things brewing in the cogs of my mind… It has been posted recently that there isn’t any adventure any more, I my self have recently looked down that path, but… back in the day when it was all going on, we weren’t actually having adventures we were just getting on with the job… ( Gav ) it wasn’t until a long time after… or a few beers after that we realised that an adventure had been had…

“Hay… mister… Abby… ah my friend… this you like… I can see you are man of honour… and you must have a beautiful wife… For her I think this would look good… My friend… my friend. your are Een-glazzy yes”

“No, no, mate Scotland” straight away I though why did I tell him that. There was a distinct smell of spice in the air, mixed with the underlying smell of stale cigarette smoke form the chap in the nice suit that was going to be my best friend until I could get rid of him…

" Ahh my friend, abbi… Scotland I have many abbies from Scotland… You know Jimmy Riddle■■? we are good friends"

I couldn’t remember what I was doing in the bazar, or for the life of me what bazar I was actually in… but it was comfortably warm and not the kind of place I wanted to leave to quick… What was round the corner? I had a scenes of curiosity, I had explore. I kept walking… stalls with meat hanging in the open, fish that I’ve never seen before… all there out in the open… no ice… just hundreds of flies to keep then company… a bit farther it changes to interesting looking brass pots, some shiny and plain, others bright colours. Just by looking I can tell they’re not mass produce… every one is individually made and hand painted… probably been done that way by one family for generation, crafts handed down from father to son… sold by mums and sisters… My abbi had now turned to his next victim as I made my way weaving and winding through the thronging crowd. Music and smells, sounds that were seldom heard in my home country filled the air…

The sounds… sounds… the kind sounds that busy people made when they’re confined in a covered space … but not captive… happy people that could freely move about… That distinctive bustling Middle East sound of their screeching pipes mixed with conversation in many different launguages , and that equally distinctive rhythm… not the kind of benign thing you get in Western shopping malls…the aromas that fill the air, people in Arab dress, Westerners, Indian, Asian and Afghan … and that instinct to explore even farther… but then there’s another sound coming in over the top…

A horrible kind of computerised jazz funk, and it’s getting louder…

“Is that your phone” my wife shakes me by the shoulder… " Your phone… ringing… phone"

The bazar disappeared in a instant … I was sure the trader I wanted was just round the corner. I still wasn’t sure what I was wanting, or even what he was selling… but now I’ll never know…

" It’s your phone, can you get it before you wake everyone else up" The shoulder shaking is now accompanied with rib poking, and some kind of gently leg kicking… I reach out to get the phone as I’m turning the other way to have look a the alarm clock… just in time to see my wife getting tucked back under the covers…I cant make out the clock… My eyes aren’t awake enough yet…

Who the hell thought that electronic muzak was a good idea, that used to be a great jazz song I remember hearing a few of the greats doing fantastic renditions of it… Now it’s been butchered by Samsung just to annoy me at what ever time of the morning it was…

" Get you phone before it wakens the whole house" says my half sleeping wife…

I don’t even know if I can speak! but I manage a very sleepy " Yep… hallo " well that didn’t sound to good, I was sure I was more awake than that… so I crock down the phone again… just as bad…

" HI mate… houzz it gaahn"

The bazar has totally gone now… I can remember being there, I think it as Istanbul or Bishkek… Samalkand would have been good, I was never there in real life… but in a dream it would have worked… maybe it would have turned into a giant cat or something strange like dreams often do…
" Yeh… Hi, what’s up dood" In my mind I’m thinking I’ve slept in, but I’m managing to focus on the digital alarm clock glowing in the darkness on the dressing table… 00 32… YOU HAVE TO BE &(*#ing KIDDING…

" Fancy an early start? "

"Sorry… who "

"It’s Chris, I can’t sleep… Fancy an early start? "

"When? "

"I was just about to get goin now if you was up for it… We’ll get a couple of loads each before the rush starts at 6 "

"What… A… Who is it "

“OK I’ll see you up there”

By this time I’m sitting on the edge of the bed, experience has told me not to lie back down, not even for a second. Outside the rain is getting lashed against the windows by the accompanying gale. Three minutes ago I was in a bazar, warm an cosy…

" Who was that" said a half sleeping wife… “don’t tell me you’re going in now”

“Well I’m awake now” I thought I was , but as I was getting up it quickly became apparent that even if my mind was awake, my body was still a bit reluctant… Of I staggered to the toilet through the darkness of the house. I know that putting on the light was bad idea and it would sting, but it would also wake me up a bit more…

00.38 That’s only about 3 hours kip I’ve had, I’m not 25 any more… splash some water on my face… look in the mirror…
“Look at you…you daft old bugger… what the hell are you doing… go back to bed… you don’t need this crap… there must be a better way to make a living than this… It’s bad enough starting on time at 2 am but this is just stupid… Who the hell invented half past midnight… it’s not a time it’s a punishment…”

I’m getting about doing my stuff, trying to be quiet, don’t waken anyone up… then it dawned on me… Where the heck an I meant to be loading. Yesterday at the end of shift the yard hand told me, 4 loads out of the Puzzle… but before I got out the office that had been change to 3 out of Moogara… then that got change to… see me at the start of the shift and we’ll see what kind of work the night shift has done, see how much wood’s left on the landings. and work it out from there… I think there’ll be truck in the yard… the guy I’m sharing with’s of for the start of the week so I should be right to go…

Smell… toast… where’s the marg… was a time when I would have had butter…that used to taste good… I like butter… but no … not now… you have to be good… Butter Bad… Polly unsaturated good… Taste like axle grease… anything that’s tastes good is bad for you…you can’t even have a bacon and egg roll any more… down here it’s an egg and bacon roll, if you ask for a bacon and egg roll they look at you funny… not as stupid as pouring half a pint of gravy into a brown paper bag full of chips… they don’t have a problem with that… now that’s stupid… they still haven’t worked that one out yet…

I should make lunch… can’t be arsed… I’ll have a bacon and egg roll from the Eagle snack bar later…can of Coke as well… just watch me I’m a rebel… :sunglasses: :sunglasses: :sunglasses:

Toast with marg, fill my water bottle… got my time sheets… camera…batteries charge… Hi Viz… Hard hat…Kiss wife… kids… I forgotten something… no… must be something… ah yess go back to bed… no,no ,no can’t do that… Boots on…out the door… back in for my Hi Viz jacket… it’s still chucking it down… going to get a soaking today…

Jeff…

Just in case there’s some kind of bulk posting problem I’ve decided to write this straight onto Trucknet so I’m sitting here just typing it up as I go along… Any way I’ve had my tea now so I can get some more words down…

Well I’m going to get a soaking to day… but never mind that… I’m sure I’ve forgotten something… I’ve only gone from the house to the car and I’m soaking wet already… not worth putting any chicken food out yet… it’ll be mush by the time the hens get up… I wish I was a hen,at least they get a lie in… The AMB temp tells me it’s 4c, I can see it’s raining and as long as this wind holds up there won’t be any fog… Now where am I meant to be going… Puzzle…Moogara… Plenty… I would call Chris and ask him but I don’t have his new number… Last week he lost his phone… Special Number One found it when he tracked the loader forward… under the tracks in the mud… a bit flatter than it was designed, and not much more than scrap… 00.51 I’ll put 00.45 as a start time… yeh stuff em’ I’ll show them…

Dodge the possum,. what the heck is it doing sitting in the road in this kind of weather… Down the hill round the corners and into the town… still chucking it down but the wind has eased a bit…

This week I’m in 178, a day cab Kenworth K1 with a Cat C15 in it B- Double log jinker.19 and a bit tons empty 57 loaded 37 and a bit pay load… It’s seen better days, it’s got over 1.3 million on it and most of that was done in the bush… It used to be a real flyer but it was taken to Cat a few years ago for a rebuild, but it was done by kids and when it came back it was just a shadow of it’s former self… It’s meant to have been retired a few months ago, but as there has been a series of breakdowns recently it never got there… Gear boxes mainly… the trucks are at that age where they need big money spent… Engines, gear boxes, and diffs, the trailers are cracking as well and sometimes the on board weighing system is just as good as a guessing game…

Round the round about, across the bridge, right at the end and along to the mill…just past the rowing club there’s a truck coming… the first sign of humans I’ve seen since I left the house… It’s a K1 but I can’t make out who it is in the water spray… on to the yard… the light outside the office has blown again, the rain gets blown straight into it and does it every time, so I’ll have to fumble for the key, and get another soaking for it…In the office I check the white board, but there’s only dumb ass jokes and stupid comment that the night shift though funny enough scrawl on it while they were having there break… Nothing that’ll cast any light on where I’m meant to be loading or what I’m doing for the rest of the day…

Keys fro 178… get it cranked up, and after about a minute, get the cruise control going, set it about 1500 rpm to get the air up… Did I mention that this truck was meant to be retired a few months back… I think I did… any way one of the other things on it’s last legs, other than the tires, and all the air leeks is the compressor… it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to build the air up and that’s at 1500 rpm…but at least it gives me time to do the rest of the safety checks… like dip the oil… Oh bugger I should have done that before I started the engine… Oh well I can do the water, it still won’t be to hot yet…As for using oil… for all it’s faults it really doesn’t use much oil… Make sure the CTI ( Central Tire Inflation is switched of, that’ll help the air build up a bit quicker… I’ll just flick it of on the dash switch…

Stash all my gear in the usual place… Gloves wet… and dry, behind the drivers seat, I can get hold of them easy when I open the door… Hard hat on the centre consul, along with my bag of everything… Just in front of that, time sheet in it’s all weather cover…rain jacket over on the passenger seat… I used to hang it on the hook behind the seat… It looks neat and tidy, but it’s just to fiddly to get to. I’m all ready wearing my light Hiz Vis with the glow in the dark stripes… The truck’s running… I think that’s it… Just do my time sheet and I can go…

Time sheet… no tacos here… just a company time sheet… Drivers name… that’s me… day and date… Ah bugger it I’ll have an extra 15 minutes there… that way I can fiddle a break a bit later in the day and still finish on time… Truck reg number… fleet number with trailer numbers and reg numbers… Start mileage, yeh that’s a good one. One of the other special features on this mobile scrap yard is the fact that the odometer hasn’t worked since… well for a very long time… so I jut put a question mark in that box… Activity… Pre start chech… tick all the boxes down the right hand side… one day I’ll actually take the time to read what ever it is that I’m ticking… At the bottom of the sheet there’s a box to record defects… Can you hear me laughing?? can you?? … :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: and sign it at the bottom of the page…

I still remember the days when I used to roll out the bunk… start the truck… sit on the centre consul and drink a can of coke… open the curtains… then just drive as I was… Sometimes for the rest of the day, depending what country I was in… If I had to get out to do customs, ferry, interact with other humans, or peage, I’d probably have jeans on by then… I managed to get most of the way across Kaz in only my undies… I though that was quite an achievement… Not now though, all limbs have to covered at all time… Hard hat, safety boots… can’t climb on the load. High Viz…glasses if there’s any kind of breeze blowing… No walking across the roof bars pulling a tilt cover back on this kind of job… Health and safety would have a heart attack if they saw that kind of thing going on…Some sites you need a permit to go to the toilet… Yehhhhh…

I’ll have a shout on the UHF… see if Lurch ( Chris ) is about… " Lurch… Lurch… Lurch are you there"…
" He’s not about, what are you shoutin for him for at this time of the morning… He’ll still be in bed on a day like this"… the rain pounded on relentlessly… The air was now up to about 700 I need 800 to blow the brakes of… that’ll be another couple of minutes… should be out of the yard about 5 minutes… lights full on… LED’s as well… I’m fully awake now… got al my gear stashed in the usual place… I used to leave it in the truck, but I found out that if the truck brakes down on the other shift and ends up at the mechanics then that’s where my gear will be as well… Not very handy at half 1 in the morning… so now I take all my gear out at the end of the shift…

The air’s up now… press the trailer supply switch… foot on the clutch… Hand brake switch of… it’s one of those American in the cage jobs…
into 3rd high… clutch out and movement… well that’s a change, the brakes usually stick on for a few seconds… I bet there’s something going wrong with that as well…Lights on dip in case I blind someone in the wood yard and back along the road to the town going the same way as I have just come in… Picking up speed… under the old rail bridge… It hasn’t been used for 30 + years… but it still has to be maintained… more tax payers money…

I still don’t have make a decision about where I’m going yet. I won’t have to make that for a 20 minutes yet… I’m sure it’s the Puzzle… am I… It might be Plenty… But there’s a good stack of wood at Moogara… Oh I don’t know… who the hell invented half 1 in the morning… with rain ? must have been some kind of sadist…

Jeff

Thanks Jeff. This looks like a good one. Now waiting for the next episode!

By the way you can still bulk upload. The problem seems to be if you have inadvertently pressed a wrong key which means something you don’t understand text wise. I only had one problem and I got over it by experimenting with the blocks of text I was pasting and eventually found the offending sentence but to this day do not know what the problem was.

Great writing Jeff, I can almost feel your pain ….00.32■■ You’ve taken me back 45 years
Reminds me of 1969, I loaded washing powder at Levers Warrington, got back into the yard at 9pm, boss waiting for me by the DERV pumps… “Go home and get your bed, I’ve booked you in at Lancing for 7.30 am tomorrow morning!” (If you were late they were known to refuse to unload you till next day)……………and in an ERF with a 180 Gardener, M6 finishing at Birmingham, no M40 then, you had to go through London, it was an 7 or 8 hour run ………Happy days!!
Pete

Ah yes Peter the good old days, I find I can still get into a much crap as I used to… and that’s with out trying to hard…

I’m not to good on these computer machines Andy, so I’ll keep going like this for now, it’s a bit slower and I have keep going back into it to edit it, but I can do it myself with out getting my wife involved… :wink: :unamused: :confused:

Back to it then…

The trucks are fitted with satellite trackers… good enough to place them anywhere with in 2 meters on the planet… so once you hit the restricted speed limit zone it’s a good idea to be doing the right speed, or some sarky ■■■■■■■■ in the traffic office will phone you and remind you where you are and what your responsibilities are… So I’ve ben told, but in reality at that time in the morning, they’re all in bed so your on your own… Freedom… However because were driving past the only 24 hour take away with in 50k’s there’s usually some kind of undesirable hanging about who are just looking to do a random breath test… or just point their new radar gun at you… A well… drop it to 60kph back into 8th low and dip the clutch… rattle, rattle crunch… there we go… just like a professional… I"ll give a shout on the 2 way radio… It’s got a better range, see if someone can give me a bit information… “178 to 120 or 121, over”… it’s all proper stuff on this one, none of your foul mouth stuff here don’t you know… "178 to 112… no… no 121’'… Concentrate, concentrate, pay attention… your a professional… try again… “179” oh ■■■■■■■■… “178 to 121 or 120” … Oh what’s the loaders call number. With a bit of luck the night time loader will still be about, he usually doesn’t need much encouragement to hang about and get a bit more double time… 141?..I think??.. “178 to 141 copy, over” …Indicator on drop another couple of gears and left over the Derwent Bridge… 178 receiving, over…the rest is just static, I missed it… up to the round about and hang a right onto back river road… I’ll wait till I get out into the open then call back, the high rock banking along here blocks the signal, it just bounces back to Hobart… Get up through the gears again. a bit crunchy, and I miss the split completely, and that’s using the clutch… The split’s really slow… I bet the air line’s leaking under the cab again… Last week the air line split and it wouldn’t go through at all… I had to get it back to the yard using only the low split… still at least the governor on the Cat’s stuffed as well so I could rev the clackers of it in one gear which was just high enough to get it up a whole gear to the next one… Professional or what?

100kph on a 16 foot wide road, and that’s legal… In Britain it would be 40 mph… probably still is…
“178 to 141,over”
‘141 receiving over loads of white noise… and static… not much else’’
■■■■■■■■, no luck… still don’t know which landing he’s at… What I really need to do is find where Lurch is hearing in 120… I’m supposed to be running with him today anyway…but at least I know the loader driver’s up here somewhere… I’ll keep pushing… I’m, sure they said on the weather last night it was going to be snow to 300 meters… every coup up here is at least 500… and I have to cross a pass @ 600 to get to two of them… It’s still raining… CTI… get that going, get the tires down… flick the switch, then poke the start switch, to get it to deflate. twist the knob, screw it to the left… Back up through the gears and start the climb.

" Coming up Glenfern road " back up through the box… out along the Jack shaft… the roads down to about 10 feet wide but the speed limit is still 100… I’m doing 50 60 and 70 where appropriate though… don’t want to put it in the ditch… this road hasn’t seen any maintained since Noah was about.
" Sawmill straight coming in " … that’s a good one, there isn’t a saw mill there, never was, and it’s a series of bends… took me a while to work out that one… the next call is roll over corner… like many corners out in the bush it’s cut into the hill side… it also has an adverse camber on it ( going the wrong way if you like) … I was told they used to build them like that so it would throw all the cornering weight onto the inside of the bend… if you do it the opposite way then the cornering weight of the trucks can make the road collapse…
Down through the box… not much crunching going on now… low box… right hander… " Roll over corner coming"
There’s someone shouting for me on the UHF but I can’t make them out, they must be up the mountain somewhere… keep pushing…Jake of and down past the houses…
“Peirces Bridge coming in” there’s an answer " Coming down the China Man" …
“Who’s that” … “Number one special, what the f%4k are you doing up here at this time, early start or something” …
“Lurch phoned early, said he wanted a good start, have you seen him”
" No but Sharpy said he saw lights on going south on the other side about 10 minutes ago, don’t know if he was going to the Puzzle or the Plenty"
“Eye thanks for that… I get parked up on the top side of the bridge… keep it rolling”
I’m looking at the CTI and see it’s still up on 110 psi, and the red light’s on… Oh ■■■■■■■■ I’ve forgot the switch the valves on at the hubs… now it’s really chucking it down, but I’ll have to go out and turn them on or I’ll get stuck…Parked up… out of gear… hand brake on… climb out. I can hear Number one Special banging away on the Jake brake as he descends the China Man…It’ll be a minute or two before he gets here, but I’ll switch the head lights of onto parking… enough time to turn the CTI valves on… I’m thinking to my self that’s not far from snow, bloody cold as well…
Back in the cab just as the lights of #1 are coming round the corner… Into gear… brake of and hold it on the foot brake… rev the clackers out of the engine, so there’s enough air the blow the brakes of…
" Thank’s for that… Sharpies about 30 minutes behind me. He was loading his second bunk as I was pulling away… After…" cracks the UHF as #1 pitches and rolls his way round the tight bends… Streaks of bright LED light up the darkness all around… defused by falling rain which is quickly turning to snow…He flashes past as white lights change to red, then disappear into the rain dappled gloom of the rear view mirror. There’s a moment of still and darkness until I flick my headlights back on…
I get rolling again, the CTI in now bleeping away telling me it’s doing something… hopefully going down… Right well I’ve established that Lurch is either at the Puzzle or Plenty… If I get it wrong and go to the wrong one then I have to turn round and go to the other one… Easy you say… but to do that I have to driver all the way up the wrong coup turn round then back out 40 k’s on steep gravel roads then retrace my steps back to the bottom of Glenfern road, cause that’s the closest place to turn with out risking getting bogged… so an hour in, and another hour back to the other place… Take you pick… you guess is as good as mine…

The road starts to climb… it’s not worth calling on either of the radios as the valley is steep and windy so the signal just bounces about… I might get round the corner if I’m lucky, but that’s about it… That’s snow and I’m only up about 200 meters… the CTI’s down to about 40 psi, so I flick the Power divider in as well… Onto the gravel and keep pushing… 300 meters and climbing… The road is gouged into the steep cliff face… 250 meters down one side. no barrier… not enough room… cliff face on the other 5, 6, 700 meters straight up…hard to tell… bottom of the drop is the Plenty river… this time of year very cold, fast moving … most of the year very cold. not much between me and it other than pointy rocks to slow me down… the better choice it to concentrate on the road and get on with the job… Up ahead is the split… time to make a decision straight on or down Leesons road…Well thank god for snow there are tire tracks going down Leesons road. I can make out Special number ones tracks coming straight down, they’re pretty fresh… but there are older tracks going down Leesons… Have to assume that’s Lurch… I commit to Leesons… drop into the low box and start to slid down Leesons… It’s 250 meters down to the bridge very steep… limited traction… very limited… Hold it on the trailer brake… it’s stalled on the Jake so now I’m just sliding with the drive locked up… No engine… no steering… very eerie without the engine noise, just the sound of tires fighting for traction as 19 tons of trucks trailer and driver are now just sliding like a giant mechanical tabogin powered only be the lack of traction and gravity heading for the ultimate DOOOOM … We’re all going to Die… AHHHHHHHH…

Never gets dull that bit… it usually happens 3 or 4 times a week …Is a hell of laugh if you have a trainee driver with you …especially if you start screaming as the truck’s sliding… :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

But its not getting faster …Half way there… slowing to a stop as the snow turns back to slush… Hand brake back on and start it up… Low 4th and let it roll… both diff locks in for the climb up the other side… the CTI is now down as far as it’ll go 19 psi… even running empty I can see the tires are bulging… Over the bridge at the bottom then the climb… all the stuff in the cab is thrown back against the back wall… A couple of months ago I actually walked some of the way up here… bloody steep…Keep it in 4th low and back it of when it looses traction… It backs and pitched as is grabs onto anything it can to get just a bit farther up the climb… Back diff lock out… do the hair pin to the left then the right… it’s bucking badly now… just a few more meters then I can get the diff lock back in… Bugger it that’ll have to do… get the diff lock back in… Steering’s gone now… it’ll only go in straight line and I have to get back of the throttle or I’ll never make it… I’ll just flick the trans lock in and out a few times… and … and …and, there we go straight up to the top of the climb… Easy… professional or what… Hang on there’s no tires tracks any more… this snow’s fresh… I stop for a better view as the snow blows all around… there were defiantly tire tracks heading down to the bridge… no it wouldn’t have covered up as quick as that… defiantly nothing there now… I can’t turn round up here there just isn’t any room. I’ll have to go up to the coup and turn there … from here…half an hour at least, and then another 50 to 60 minutes back from the bottom of Glenfern turn round and 40 minutes back to the split… That’s just lost me an hour and 40… I should just have stayed in bed… ■■■■■■■■… ■■■■■■■■ … ■■■■■■■■…and even more ■■■■■■■■…and just in case you didn’t get that last bit BOLOCKS!!!

Jeff…

A fine piece of writing; I could really feel what you were going through; bad weather, bad communication, poor quality equipment. It reminded me of all the times that the best I could do was " muddle through."

I agree with what you say about the Middle-East. Nobody went there looking for “Adventure.” Every driver I met always seemed worried about the truck breaking-down, worried about getting caught-up in an accident, worried about getting robbed and worried about getting through the borders. Nobody thought of themselves as the big “I am” or of becoming a legend. It was only the alcohol at the watering holes along the way where drivers let off steam that seems to have generated the adventure stories. But with all the pressure that the job entailed; it was only natural to relax when you knew that someone was watching your back. Even the most experienced M/E drivers never seemed confident and always drove defensively.

I met some pretty cocky drivers, but they used to change companies quite quickly, then just disappear…

Jeff…

Woooooh jeff,just found the story ,very good!,especial writing direct in to space…yeh…for a start i was losing the will to live ,then it clicked and got it.i now know why on your photos of your truck the connecting pipe valves typie things are there on the drive wheels i thought there must be a reason , but not as you have described for the air pressure upping and downing.clever i would never had guessed… dbp

Jeff, just so much like the world that I knew as a young man!!!

A million miles from where you are, and light years away from the equipment that you are used to…but the scenario…mega early starts…not really knowing where you are going…worn out equipment…and as Chris says, “muddle through”"…

We all did, (do), it, on so many roads, in so many places…will the true worth of the lorry driver ever be realised■■?

My goodness he should be…but sadly perhaps he never will…but we small band of brothers understand!!!

Good luck, health, and happiness for 2015…and keep on writing Jeff!!

Hi Vic glad I could help… I’m thinking I should put some photos up as well… but I’m not sure the forum rules allow it… that personal clause stuff… perhaps Ricky could give me a better idea… I wasn’t intending to give personal details about people, but I’m not sure how far I can go… I don’t want to get the thread locked…

Thanks for the kind sentiment Saviem Health, Wealth, and Happiness to you and your family for 2015…

I’ve got my last shift of the year today… 14 hours start at 2 PM… The wheels of industry must keep rolling…But that’s what happenes when your a rooky driver :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Jeff…

OK so I’ve had a brain wave… what I’ll do is say that this tale is totally made up and all that writing and stuff that you see at the start of movie… No part of this tale is true and none of the places or people bare any resemblance to real life places or people… if they it’s only a coincidence… that should cover it… Tall drivers tale…

OK here are some images that " I made on photoshop "

For the sake of argument I’ll call this one New Norfolk Rowing Club…

CTI control…

Clutter in the cab… and remember they’re not real photos they’re all photoshop…

Trailer control panel and on board weighing control…

Early one wet morning…

CTI running about 30 psi with 22ton of wood on the front bunk

Jeff…

And ■■■■■■■■ again… The snow hasn’t been falling so fast that it would have covered the tracks so soon… that and the fact the it isn’t really that deep yet… Well not as deep as it was last month, it looked almost alpine… The funny thing about snow is peoples inability to measure the depth, as soon as it starts snowing you get people saying it’s over a foot deep… when in reality it wouldn’t even cover the toes of your boots… I saw deep snow in Canada when I was doing the Alaska high way if you wandered about in the deep parts it probably was 3 or 4 feet… Tasmania… 3 feet of snow… Yeh right…

There’s enough snow to cause traction problems, and the problem with that is that drive tires spin and rip the top layer of gravel of the road… and that quickly becomes corrugations and pot holes… so a trip into the landing that would normally take 50 minutes is going to take an hour and 5… well that’s not to bad I hear you say but…that’s an extra 15 minutes in and 15 back out… Half an hour a trip which is an hour and a half after 9 hours, and that can mean the difference between getting out for a 4th load or just doing 3… 4 trucks doing 2 shifts a day… that’s 8 loads a day that we missed out on… The company doesn’t like that, and they’ll have to send the grader out for half a day to fix the road…I can just hear him now at the next tool box meeting

" MORE MONEY!!!.. You guys are a bunch of A&& holes, who spun and ripped the top of the road… Do you know how much the company looses when you do that■■? … Well yes actually we do because you’re never shy about telling us, every opportunity you get…

So the best thing is not to gouge your way through… I’m over the worst bit for now… the next climb is up round by Leesons quarry… very steep with 2 more hair pins on it… however we’ve been asking for the grader up there for a few days as it’s already washed out after the heavy rain we had last weekend so me clawing my way up there through the snow isn’t going to do much more damage…
Get it back into high range and plod along in 5th high… I get the window open a bit so I can hear the virgin snow squeaking… The Cat’s just ticking over about 1200 rpm and the only other sound is the worn out truck as it continuously encounters undulations and a constant succession of pot holes… there’s a mixture of squeaks from light rattles like door panels and things moving about in the cab… heavier stuff like worn out cab mountings and loose bolsters on the jinkers, and really heavy thuds… really not quite sure what they are… but so long as I can keep going forward I’m not even going to have a look…

I pick up the UHF mike " Lurch… Lurch… Lobster legs… Is there any body out there… Coming up Leesons road’

Nothing not even static… up into 6th… I think… no that’s 8th… It drops the revs and bogs the engine as it snorts back at me… very quickly back onto the stick and grab any gear that’s isn’t going to complain to much…

A bit of crunching… and there’s something… that’ll do… what one’s that… 6th… that’s just what I wanted…
The cab is bolted straight to the chassis, and the seat has been drained of all the air. so we all bounce along in harmony to the of beet jazz rhythm of this delightful section…
The week before last Kit kat and I had a look at the air suspension on the seat, we thought we’d it cracked when we reconnected the airline. However the seat just went up and kept going up… It was so high I was looking straight at the 2 way on the overhead consul… and I couldn’t even touch the floor peddles… after playing with the various setting controls for a few minutes we had to disconnect it. it’s been sitting back down on the seat mount ever since… just like it was before we started…

Coming down Leesons Quarry on a good day…

A bit earlier in the morning on not such a good day…

I’m out into a clearing now, and in the day light there’s a good view of the towering mountains… that’s pretty cool until you realise that you have to claw your way over then to get the wood… Then you have to come back over then fully loaded…
The mini B I’m on is classed as a tight access vehicle…it’s 22 meter long when it’s folder out about 16 when it’s riding on top… and when they say tight access they mean tight access… The routes we’re on mean that we have to get across many tight mountain bridges usually with sharp bends at the entrance and exit… if you do it right there’ll be about 2 inches either side… If not then it’s down the tire shop and get a couple of new wheels and probably tires… of course that’s accompanied with the usual bollocking… Option 2 usually means a bit of reverse, but more often than not that’s not available as that would involve reversing back up the mountain, and most of the time there’s just not enough traction, so you have to set it up a couple of hundred meters before most of bridges… that’s if you remember where they actually are, cause most of the forest looks the same at night…

The road starts to climb even steeper up to the quarry… twisting to the left and right, the corners are getting tighter as I climb… get the ATC turned of… Active Traction Control… if that’s on it’ll pick up tire spin and slow the engine… a good idea if your out on the high way… but up here it just stalls the engine just when your busy fighting everything else that’s going on… It 's so rough up round here that the truck’s going forward, backwards, left right and up and down all at the same time… The rain just runs down here like a river, there’s really nothing that can be done other than weekly grading… 5th get the revs up… diff lock out… trans lock in…watch I don’t bang my head on the side window as I get thrown about… Hang out as far right as I can…Spin the wheel hard left… gas the floor… It’s so thigh and steep that I can’t see the road… have to do this one on blind faith… The banking flashes past me as I continue to hold left lock, I try to keep the wheel spin to a minimum. and every thing is bucking and writhing about… The lights momentarily point straight into open darkness… straight into space… nothing out that way other than the Milky Way… That’s my queue to get onto full right lock as fast as I can… after a whole life time flashes by in one second, the lights come back to find the snow covered edge, then the road its self… Ah well no trip to oblivion today… not yet any how… I’ll get another crack at that in about 4 hours…
I ease of the gas and let it all get back under control… feather the right peddle until I get full traction… then ease it back on as the road flattens out a bit…

Up into the pines for real now… A kangaroo eating grass at the side of the road isn’t at all phased by the truck illuminating everything in this eerie white glow… I dodge round it as it sidles to the side… It’s a tough enough existence living up here, scraping for grass through the snow in the winter, everything dry and covered in dust in the dryer months… The last thing you would need if you were a native animal is getting under the wheels of one of these things… I can give it a couple of seconds to move over a bit…
The next bit is straight for about 2 k’s, just commit and get going through the dips… But at all time be ready to stop…

Jeff…

Love it!!

Such a shame this technology wasn’t about years ago, the stories that could be told.

I did a blog for a while, big 6000 word diaries of a trip, so I know how much work is involved in putting it all into words, so we’ll done Jeff.

Hopefully this spurs some more of you to get typing, you all have stories to tell.

Nice work, Jeff! Real ‘boy’s own’ stuff in real life. These descriptions are what keeps TNUK alive… Happy New Year! Robert :smiley:

Thanks again Jelliot! Brilliant evocation of forestry trucking.

All good stuff Jeff. A real good read. Thank you.

Thanks for the kind words guys… I’ll plod on in the low box…

Jeff…

Right hand indicator on… Yeh yeh I know, but let me tell you this… Many years ago when I was on holiday in America land ( holiday was it… 800 miles a day in K1 Aerodyne with a fridge on the back ) For the sake of an argument I’ll call it a holiday… I was sent to a place in Alabama… fairly remote by any standard, and I was told by the boss "You’ll never find this place, it’s way out wonder in the boon docks… Phone this number from the truck stop and the guy’ll come out to meet you and you can follow him in…

So I was at this "Truck stop " for want of a better word, thinking if this guy doesn’t show up soon not only won’t I have truck, but I’m sure I’ll just disappear as well… Yall come back now ya hear… The guy eventually turned up in an old Alpha Romeo, ( Yeh in America… an Alpha, but it wasn’t rusty or anything… Doesn’t matter where I go in the world I always end up working for Italians… Prego… Alora … )… and I was instructed to follow him… We headed out down the interstate for a few miles, then he turned of down one of the nationals… about ten minutes after that we were on a minor road… Still pretty good… fairly wide, but more of rural feel to it… That turned into a road through the forest, and by now it’s the best part of an hour… Nice scenery… a few villages… more forest… gravel roads, but fairly good… wooden bridges… it all looked like the place where they filmed Dukes of Hazard…time’s getting on… and the Alpha’s still going along this gravel road, me in the K1 not knowing where the cricky heck we heading… The Alph indicates right then stops at the junction… Because I’m sitting much higher I just slow down, have a peek about and roll through… 50 yards down the road I’m being followed by the local red and blue flashing light supporters club… Well that cost me $15 on the spot… ( I bet the local county never saw any of that…The boss was right I would never have found the place… So now even in the most remote place I still indicate, even at half 1 in the morning.

Rattle long for a bit getting up the gear box, and not a lot of crunching going on now… That’s the good thing about the 18 speed Fuller road ranger I can crunch it just as good with or without the clutch, both going up and coming down the box… Bang !!!.. First thing to do is switch all the rear facing lights on and have a look… And when I say all the light I mean “ALL” the lights… 2 Led spots on the back of the cab… 1 on each mirror arm…2 on the back of the unit… 2 on the top of the cab protector. … 4 on the back of the top trailer and 2 on the back of the front trailer… Its good fun just to watch the volt meter as you switch then on…

I’m doing about 10k’s an hour by now, peering into the rain dappled mirror… The snow is now falling quit heavily and defuses the light quit well… I can’t see anything out of the ordinary… Wheel it round to the right and over the bridge… half an eye looking out front and half on the mirror… the steer pushes a bit farther into the corner than I would have like, and I can feel it catching the bigger rocks on the outer side of the road just before the edge of the ditch… Come on Bit… Don’t fancy going over the bridge… Back it of a bit more and check I haven’t left the diff lock in… Still can’t make out anything in the mirror and I’m not game enough to get out to have a look… There’s more light going backwards than forwards. but I can’t quite see anything that would go bang like that…
No option I’ll have to stop and have a look… Clutch, in knock it out of gear, select low range… and bring it to a stop… I swing the door open and the mirror lights take up their new projection into the darkness of the sleeping forest that I’m sure would rather just enjoy it’s cold slumber… The Cat sings it’s song and everything else just rattles along in time playing theirs own rhythm… Spin round on the top step, swing out to the hand rail and find the second step behind the slush covered wheel… Down to the snow and have a wander about… What ever it was it must have been heavy to make a low base sound like that… I can’t see anything… nothing jumping out me… nothing underneath… Half walking and half sliding I continue my check as I peer and peek into every space I can find… down one sided, across the back and up the other… Nothing…The Cat still sings as I climb back into the cab…

Foot on the clutch and hand brake of… ccccccccrunchhhhhhhhh… I see they haven’t fixed the clutch brake yet… 3rd… and clutch out… 15 50 slide the stick back into 4th… lift the range… 1600 …and wiggle it into 5th… 15 50 back of the revs and into 6 th… high split… and that’ll do for now… I’ll just walk it about like this for a while…
" Lurch… Lurch… Lobster Legs…" I’m in the tall pines now, the UHF signal just bounce about up here… you can’t tell where the signal’s coming from… Someone round the corner might not hear you, but it can bounce about and someone on the west coast might sound like they’re in the cab with you… ’
" Ground control to major Tom… commencing countdown engines on "

" Is that you Jesus yeh hippy ? "

At last someone " Hello Lurch where are you ? "

" Jesus! Jesus ! is that you " the rest is just static and white noise…" I’m up "

"Oh come on … Up where■■? I’m staring straight at the radio… cause that’s going to help… Just like the people that duck when they go under a low bridge in their truck…
Oh ■■■■■■■■ were am I now, I’ve lost the plot… I came over the bridge… Heard the bang… got out and had look… It all looks the same in the dark… even more confusing when it’s covered in snow… There’s a corner up here somewhere… it starts by looking just like any other corner… round to the left… then it drops away very quickly getting very steep… and even more tight… coming back out it’s 2nd low split… you have to change down before you get anywhere near it and just walk it up… if you loose it on this this one it’s crawler… So I’ve been told… even worse last year someone did it when the road had just been graded so everything on the top was still loose… they ended up having to walk a machine 2 hours from the landing to help push it up the hill…
Once again the lights shine out into oblivion as I crest the top of the mountain pass… I know where I am now…
" Hello Lurch… copy " Still nothing, I still don’t know where I’m meant to be going… nor where he is either. I was coming over here a few weeks back and was talking to driver on the Midlands Highway, and that’s about 80’k form here… But I still can’t get round the corner…
I push on, looking for the bad left hander… The K1 bucks along like a docile bronco … every once in a while giving it a bit more… don’t get complaisant… concentrate … concentrate… Gear… gear … speed… bit of foot brake… sliding… sliding again… Catch it on the trailer brake… To hot in here… Air con on…thrown to the left… thrown to the right… rattling over pot holes and corrugations…Bang ! … Bang! don’t give a rats arse, I’m not getting out to have look now… Not far now a few more drops and rises… I’ll keep it in 6th… that way I can just go up and down the split… Walk it through… spin the wheel this way and that… avoid the pot holes as much as I can… Gas on and up the rise… back it of a bit for the drop on the other side… Not to much I don’t want it to stall on the Jake…Well look at that… rain… When did it stop snowing?..It’s not far from snow! but rain’s better than snow any day… Things are looking up…
I pass the outer sign for the landing “Warning Forestry Operations up ahead” Yeh I hope there is! just another couple of k’s …drop the UHF to channel 17…
" Coming onto Duncans job " It doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it is, or what kind of ■■■■■■ mood your in you must shout out when you arrive or leave…
Nothing… no answer… ■■■■■■■■… now sign of any lights… Just me and 178 in the rain at quarter to 2 on a wet morning…
I sneak along in 4th just let it tick over… There’s a lot of wood here… couple of thousand tons… There’s a loader… but I’m not allowed to use it… I still only have my provisional loader licence… I’m not allowed to use Duncans loader until I get my full loader licence sorted out… I was assessed about 6 weeks back, and told that I had a full licence, but until it actually turns up I haven’t officially got it… That’s why I still have to rely on either a loader operator or one of the other drivers with a full loader licence loading me on this job… Our loader is still up at the Tarraleaha job… I can use that one, but we’ve been snowed out of that job for over a week… I’ll head for the far end of the landing, about 3 k’s form here… maybe Lurch’ll be up there…

Jeff…

Brilliant jelliot doubt you would be able to show a inside wheel photo so i -we all can see how the deflat-er works when the wheels are turning where is the connection…please.dbp