Small world aint it ? I live 3-5 miles from were Colin Ewen Lives now but never seen him, I live in A small village
called Halsham near Ottringham.
I was an owner driver and I did a bit for MAT on euro work and at that time I ran a DAF 2800 PRO 724R Red with a White band, it came from
Lancs area and for the life of me can’t remember the previous owners surname his first Name was Brian …
think it was Connell ■■? maybe some of the lads from Lancs maybe can help me on this.
I did a bit of M/E for a company called M & M from kent.
Do you remember them all you M/E Drivers. They had 2 palm trees as there logo on the sides of there own trucks and they
used to hire out trucks to drivers as well on a subby basis, Not too bad to work for.
I can clearly recall the old Fiat Bill had in the garden then he got the Merc and his own tilt with the logo J.A.W.S. Trucking
the logo was his initial, Wifes and Kids. Not sure how long he ran to the M/E with the old Fiat though as it was pretty beat up
to look at.
Haven’t been on here long and its great to relive old memories
Look forward to speaking to more of you soon, Take care
Had a look on Topruns latest offering tonight(cracking site imo).Shows an Astran Scania listing to 45 degrees on Tahir.
Would this be the one that Mr Williams talked about on the DD dvd ? dated 1972
mushroomman:
Hi Archie, I can’t remember running with Bill Hyde or should I say that I can’t think of any particular incidents which stand out. I am sure that I met some of his drivers who were pulling for Whittles from 1980 to 1987 and I remember that his trucks were similar to those of Bill Robertson’s. I think that you once confirmed for me that Harry Woffenden once worked for Bill Robertson.
B.T.W. Archie, what’s a Wessie .
Regards Steve.
Hi Steve
This Astran vehicle was parked next to me at Leyland Transport Museum Sept 2006 I have not seen it since.
I don’t know if it ever belonged to them or was just painted in their livery when restored.
By the way I met your brother at The Transport museum Sunday 12th July we had a real good natter (nice chap)
It just shows what a small world it is, during our chat it turned out in 1975 we worked on the same job. I was working
for CJB building a pipeline from Preston to Partington, your brother was working for Greenbooth on a low loader on
the same job. Regards Big Al
Hi Al, it’s good to hear from you again , that’s a great photo of Gertie and I presume that’s Mildred on the back.
As regards the Astran truck, I can’t remember seeing that one but maybe Gavin or Roger know something about it. It does seem a bit strange to keep the water barrels on the roof rack and not on the trailer unless he is using one as a shower . One possibility is that the driver picked up a take away as he passed the Pilsen Brewery in Czechoslovakia as it was alongside the T.I.R. road .
I think that Barry drove a Diamond T for a mate of his to a vintage lorry meeting at a coal mine in Haydock around about 1989, I must ask him has he got any old photos.
Best regards Steve.
The Astran truck in the picture above is one that was restored and the Astran livery was used, its never been to the middle east.
The truck was in Gaydon recently and after chatting to the owner he filled me in on the above details, he is a nice guy too.
tc trans:
The Astran truck in the picture above is one that was restored and the Astran livery was used, its never been to the middle east.
The truck was in Gaydon recently and after chatting to the owner he filled me in on the above details, he is a nice guy too.
Hi tc, I hope I that wasn’t sounding a bit negative towards the roof rack on the 141 . it certainly looks like the right tool for the job and the real deal. The owner deserves top marks for all the hard work that he has obviously put into it and I wish it was mine .
Tucked away behind the wind deflector on one M.A.N. that I had, I used to keep a plastic crate where I stored my spare gas bottle and a couple of ropes. The trouble was that the vehicle had no hydraulic jack for lifting the cab so if you wanted to tilt it then you had to do it manually. As you know this involved taking most of my heavy belongings out of the cab and placing them next to the vehicle at the side of the road. This was always a right pain in the aris whenever it was snowing or freezing cold and I had to change the fuel filter because it was waxing .
Regards Steve.
mushroomman:
It does seem a bit strange to keep the water barrels on the roof rack and not on the trailer unless he is using one as a shower
or unless it was an intravenous supply of EFES
Hi Malc, you kept that idea a secret .
I was hoping that you might of known something about the three guys from the Hull area who had the three old
Volvo F88’s doing M./E. about 1987. I think that Jake Brake could be right about Ken Cutsforth and Andrew Hodge, I am sure that I have heard those names before.
Regards Steve.
I didnt know Ken Cutsforth did middle eastern work. I remember the company as it was the very first Triaxle trailer I worked on, it wasn’t a triaxle as we know them but a close coupled Boden 33’ flat with 6 wheels running D20 tyres.
Colin Ewen. I could go with that
How about John Dobson and Kenneth Matthews for names? Ken had a new 1418 Merc though after a TK
Did anyone ever meet Arthur Joynson out in those parts?
mushroomman:
Hopefully Roger, you can answer me a few questions that I have always wanted to know the answer to for all these years.
I heard donkeys years ago that the two guys who founded Asian Transport were two R.A.F. dentists who were stationed at R.A.F. Changi in Singapore.
At the end of their posting they drove back to the U.K. and that was where they got the idea from for an overland transport service to Iran.
Could there be any truth in this or was it a Mocamp myth ?.
I have asked this next question a couple of times and never received an answer.
Why was Java John called Java ?. Did he have some kind of connection with Indonesia or was it just a bled of tea that he preferred to drink.
And as regards the Gentleman who spoke posh me old sparra, why did some of the Astran drivers drive Scooorniaas, when us people up North was driving Scania’s.
Hello everyone,
I’ve read with interest all that you’ve written about Astran and the Middle East. Just a little thing that I can tell you is that Java John got the name from his and his ex wife’s initials…
Hi Sheeplady, welcome to the TruckNet site and thank’s for the info on Java John .
I hope that John is still around and that you can point him towards this thread as I am sure that he will have many interesting incidents, which hopefully he will share with us .
Regards Steve.
The gentleman who can probably give you the accurate information on the founders of Astran will be Ashley Coghill who has made extensive research for his book or indeed Bob Paul himself. It is however my understanding that Mike Goodman “the dentist” drove back back from Burma after his National Service and that Bob Paul was a Junior doctor at Guys Hospital. Regarding the name of the trucks they were called Scania but with the correct Sweedish pronunciation with the extention on the letter “a”…So not so much posh, but rather correct…
It would be good to know from sheeplady or anyone else if Java John is still around.
WOW , I had to go back 18 pages into January to find that post. I bet when bullit started this thread nearly four years ago he probably didn’t realise how many people would be interested in it, so well done to you Rick ,let’s hope that it carries on for another four years. I am sure that Roger’s reply on page 10 was nearer to the answer that I had expected and hopefully Ashley’s book will answer most of the questions that are still unsolved.
Regards Steve.
mushroomman:
WOW , I had to go back 18 pages into January to find that post. I bet when bullit started this thread nearly four years ago he probably didn’t realise how many people would be interested in it, so well done to you Rick ,let’s hope that it carries on for another four years. I am sure that Roger’s reply on page 10 was nearer to the answer that I had expected and hopefully Ashley’s book will answer most of the questions that are still unsolved.
Regards Steve.
Steve
if you are in contact with your brother over the next few days remind him it is the Transpennine Rally
on the 2nd of August, We will be leaving Birch Services on the M62 between 0800 - 1000hrs and heading over
that Big Hill taking the old A roads to “The Stray at Harrogate” regards Big Al
Reddesertfox:
Sheep Lady got it right about John Abraham (J.A.V.A.) so nice to see some accuracy’s posted…
Hi Reddesertfox and Sheep Lady, thanks for answering a question that I wondered about nearly thirty years ago, so John wasn’t Oriental after all .
Regards Steve.
Hi Al, I shall pass on the message, I hope that you will be taking Mildred to Birch and please take loads of photos.
I shall be over there in April so I might pop in to see Gertie, Mildred and yourself.
I better get off this thread now before we have another Albanian uprising .
Best regards Steve.
Reddesertfox:
Sheep Lady got it right about John Abraham (J.A.V.A.) so nice to see some accuracy’s posted…
Hi Reddesertfox and Sheep Lady, thanks for answering a question that I wondered about nearly thirty years ago, so John wasn’t Oriental after all .
Regards Steve.
Well…Can’t guarantee his blood line, but know that J.A.V.A. had Jack S–T to do with it…
Reddesertfox:
Sheep Lady got it right about John Abraham (J.A.V.A.) so nice to see some accuracy’s posted…
Hi Reddesertfox and Sheep Lady, thanks for answering a question that I wondered about nearly thirty years ago, so John wasn’t Oriental after all .
Regards Steve.
Mushroomman… did you know John back then? He had quite a chuckle when I told him of his “suggested by Roger” roots… By the way, where’s Roger gone!
mushroomman:
Hi Al, I shall pass on the message, I hope that you will be taking Mildred to Birch and please take loads of photos.
I shall be over there in April so I might pop in to see Gertie, Mildred and yourself.
I better get off this thread now before we have another Albanian uprising .
Best regards Steve.
Well to bring it back on track does any one remember either David Meadows or Dave Duxbury both Preston lads
who ran middle east. regards Big Al
.
, that’s a great photo of Gertie and I presume that’s Mildred on the back.
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. it certainly looks like the right tool for the job and the real deal. The owner deserves top marks for all the hard work that he has obviously put into it and I wish it was mine 
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