Forgot the Turkish lads,Andy. True Knights of the Road,always an offer of tchai & will never go past if you got in trouble anywhere in Eastern Europe.
harry:
Forgot the Turkish lads,Andy. True Knights of the Road,always an offer of tchai & will never go past if you got in trouble anywhere in Eastern Europe.
I would always stop and help Turks and Iranians, and on several occasions Iâve been able to help Turkish drivers in UK, even if only with directions. Iâve been helped out by many out on the road: the Iranian who guided me through the notorious Kapicule border after I had been separated from colleagues on my first Turkish trip; the Turk who stopped and helped me to fit my snow-chains near Tekedagi; the Alisan driver (TR) who gave me perfect instructions for where to tip in Paris while I was loading in Izmit; the Turk who pulled up alongside me on the Bucharest ring-road at dusk and led me to a decent, safe Turk TIR-park - and lots more examples besides. As you say, Harry: true knights of the road. Robert 
Most of the Turks and Iranian truck drivers I met were top blokes. Regulars on the China run and always good for a game of volly ball in the down time. I never went past one at the side of the road. Real old school gents.
JeffâŚ
Jelliot:
There are a few photos on here with an A series ERF, and a the old Motors Pannel Guy, doing Iran, I beleive someone did it in an Atki Borderer as well as Bob Paul in the Guy Warrior, and I thought they were doing it tough.JeffâŚ
Even as late as 1976 when I went over Tahir the first time, I caught up with a Rentco trailer in a cloud of blue smoke crawling over.
When I eventually got to pass him, it was some brave soul in a Mk 1 Atki, no sleeper cab and the old Gardner smoking as they do.
tiptop495:
hey, maybe already known here but Pat on the Col the Larche.Cheers Eric,
A good picture Eric. I wonder why Pat was stopping there, it looks like theyâre shut. Or I suppose it could have been a Sunday. 
tiptop495:
hey, maybe already known here but Pat on the Col the Larche.Cheers Eric,
great pic
Coming down death valley to Ankara.
I thought to myself, thatâs unusual no one gone over the side. Does anyone remember a D8 Caterpiller Machine chained down on a low loader in the valley? I seem to remember it was there for a while, similarly two mobile cranes that died on the way to Iraq.
All the very best
Mick
Terrific picture Mick, where did that come from ? get delving into the attic mate. regards Fred
I canât remember if this photo was shown in Ash,s book, but it,s one of
several original pics lent to me by Graham Wainwright, one of the early drivers
on for Asian Trans.
Hello All. I suspect the registration of that LB76 is SVB 300F and was sold to Fridged Freight about 1969. Pictures of it as a FF ridged with a drawbar trailer are in our family possesion but may be subject to copyright. I believe they belong to Chris Wyatt so I would hesitate to post them.
I drove that motor round Italy in the 70âs and loved it. It is in itâs environment there - in the snow. The old girl hated hot weather. We had to remove the front panel, exposing the radiator, to try to keep her cool in the Italian heat and rope it behind the cab. Top speed 65mph. Twin stick, noisy compared to a F88, but a dream to drive. I dropped a mate who ran a cafe near Livorno a thousand Lire to watch the trailer while I finished Brindisi and Naples, then would hook up again to collect fruit anywhere near Ferrara. A realy great lorry and brings back good memories seeing her again. Jim
All the poor quality photos I have seem to have the left hand side of the photo cut off. Any tips on getting the whole poor quality photo up loaded.
Theyâre not great anyway and 30 years later they have not improved, I still take cr*p photosâŚ
all the very best.
Mick
> PanX:
> All the poor quality photos I have seem to have the left hand side of the photo cut off. Any tips on getting the whole poor quality photo up loaded.
> Theyâre not great anyway and 30 years later they have not improved, I still take cr*p photos⌠all the very best. Mick
I think most of us have the same problem Mick - Iâve just invested in a film/neg scanner with technology to get rid of dust & scratches but the they still need a lot of work in photoshop
Iâve had a quick go at your Death Valley shot - altered the colour balance / sharpened it up a bit & reduced the size to get a bit more sharpness.
My suggestion is if you havenât got access to Photoshop, look for a free download of something simpler and scan to the photo editor at the highest possible resolution - then you can play with it before saving it.
Try this
harry:
Try this
Excellent suggestion Harrry. I have used it for a number of years. I like its ease of use.
[quote=âPanXâ
Coming down death valley to Ankara.
I thought to myself, thatâs unusual no one gone over the side. Does anyone remember a D8 Caterpiller Machine chained down on a low loader in the valley? I seem to remember it was there for a while, similarly two mobile cranes that died on the way to Iraq.
All the very best
Mick[/quote]
mushroomman:
I came across this photo that somebody posted on here a couple of years ago, I canât remember who posted it but I did wonder if it was taken in June 1980 when I was doing my first trip to Dyerbakir in Southern Turkey. We were travelling along the road somewhere between Adana and Gaziantep when we came across a brand new yellow crane lying on itâs side very similar to this if itâs not the same one. The guys who I were following were a long way in front of me and stopped to see if they could help and by the time that I caught up with them they were ready to set off again.
O.K. so accidents do happen but why this photo sticks out in my mind is that about another ten miles further on there was another identical crane also lying on itâs side at the side of the road. The story was that they were being delivered from Coles somewhere in The North East of England to Baghdad and that they had sailed from the U.K. to the Port of Mersin in Southern Turkey where the drivers were then taking them overland.
Now, can anybody make out if they are actually Coles Cranes or shed any other light on this as I canât remember if they were British drivers or Turkish drivers although I have a strange feeling that they might of been the latter.
Regards Steve.
Hi Mick, I mentioned about the two Coles cranes that died on their way to the Middle East in August last year on page 197 and I donât think that there were any replies. 
You must admit that seeing a brand new Coles crane lying on itâs side is quite unusual but seeing two of them on their side within half an hour of each other is something that seems to stick in your mind after all those years. I have just been looking through my old passports and I would say that these accidents happened in the second week of June 1980 somewhere between Adana and Gaziantep but it might of been nearer to Urfa so have a look in your passport Mick and see if you have got a Zacho stamp for around that date. That photo that I showed above was not one of those that were involved at the time as I remember that one of them if not both of them were on a stretch of dirt road and I think that both cranes were a lot bigger that than the one in the photo.
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve,
I remember seeing your post last year, but I also thought that the two cranes were bigger than the one in the photo. I thought that they were 4 axle cranes and youâre right it was between Gaziantep and Zacho. It did seem strange to see both of these very expensive bits of kit, just lying by the side of the road. (I am using the term âroadâ in the kindest terms in this case).
all the very best.
Mick
Thanks Geoff and Harry for your technical supportâŚI think it could all be down to a " Picnic" errorâŚProblem in Chair Not in Computer! 
Will give them a go.
All the very best
Mick
I was wondering if any of you lads who are still doing the job would know if the Wally-Stop at Eynatten is still operating and if so does Lillian still own it ? Regards Fred 
It blew up a few years ago, Iâm sure Iâve seen pics of it somewhere since then though. It maybe on the R&H thread (if one exists) as Iâm sure they lost a driver when it went bang.