davemackie:
Hi all, just spoke with Chris on telephone, he is well, totally compas mentas, going for another scan next week.
dave
Hullo Dave,
That is really good news. I hope everything shows up well for him next week. Please pass on my regards.
Cheers, Archie.
bigr250:
[zb]
anorak:
A simple air dump valve on the non-driven axle would be a cheap way of transferring weight to the drive axle. Not as good as a lift axle, admittedly: the weight of the âdeadâ axle and its springs would be left on the road, rather than being added to the load on the drive wheels. Nevertheless, if the non driven axle normally grosses about 6t, then dumping its air will add another 5t or so onto the drive wheels. What is the cost of specifying a lift axle?The cost was clearly too much for whoever speccedâ my truck new in 2006, & as you say, a dump valve would be better than nothing but whilst empty, the middle axle only had about 3 tons on it so not too much air pressure for the spanset to handle but the difference it made was unbelievable!!
Ross.
I think the problem really was caused by the laws of our land. The FTG Daf was really a UK specced motor to cope with the difference in weights at home and abroad. If it had been standard setup I am sure it would have been sorted. The Twin Steers were a compromise
davemackie:
Hi all, just spoke with Chris on telephone, he is well, totally compas mentas, going for another scan next week.
dave
Dave have sent you a pm.
cheers
John.
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Ah well, Tony How are the Mighty Fallen tell it not in the streets of Ashkelon. In retrospect it matters not whether you won or lost but how you played the Game,and it really was agame was nt it. I hope thats satisfied your curiosity Fred and maybe one day another event in similar vein may spring to mind. Cheers everyone and now back to Ludlam. Crow.
A far more interesting incident Geoffrey was when I got locked up in a Turkish military prison.I donât have the literary prowess of Jazzandy or Mushroomman,but this is 100% true.It was my first trip to Baghdad and I was with the 2 Daves, Ireland and Mason.We had left Baghdad in the afternoon and reached the border at Zahko in the late evening.I was the lead truck which was a bad idea because Dave Ireland had done the job before and should have been in the front.In those days the border wasnât open all night,and as we approached it in the dark I saw line of trucks parked and I drove past all of them and went straight to front,I didnât realise they were waiting for the morning, I thought it a queue for a garage.The border guard came up and he was pretty angry and told us to go to the back of the queue.There was nowhere to turn round or we would have gone back,so we negotiated to with him to stay where we were.He was open to a bit of backsheese and we asked him what he wanted in return for letting us stay.First off he wanted a kettle,so Davey Mason gave him his kettle,the guy wasnât too happy with it(he wanted one with a lid,not one with a whistle) but he kept it any way.Next I gave him our last â â â book,he still wanted more so Dave Ireland gave him a broken calculater.He said âit doenât workâ,Davey told him it was solar powered and would work ok in the sunlight.He still wasnât satisfied so I gave him 2 packets of marlboro,still not enough,he wanted my shoes and my shirt.We drew the line there and said enough is enough,so he let us stay.The next morning we were first through the border and set off on the way to Gaziantep.About 200 meters down the road there were 2 bulgarian trucks parked up half on and half off the road.The road there has quite a steep camber,As I pulled out to pass them there was a 4 wheel Tonka loaded up to the sky with timber coming the other way,the thing was already rocking side to side.When he saw me coming he panicked(there was enough room to pass) and drove on to â â â â at the side of the road and as he went to straighten up, the truck just fell over on to itâs side.I stopped, which was probably a big mistake because suddenly I was surrounded by angry Turks,god knows where they came from.I wound up the window and locked the door and just sat there nervously wondering what was going to happen next,Iâd heard all the scarey stories about what happens to foreign truck drivers who have accidents in Turkey.The Turkish driver got out of his truck through the door that was now the roof and was holding his head in his hands.The border police came up and made me get out of the truck and go back to the border with them accompanied by the Turk.At the border the Turkish driver and the police were jibber jabbering away with each other and making gestures to me,I was getting pretty aprehensive by this time.The police started writing down what the driver was saying and when they finished he made his mark on the paper,the police then wanted me to sign it as well,which I refused to do.This made the policeman angry and he gave me a hard whack across the face,which made me angry and scared and I shouted for the 2 Daves (who outside) to get hold of the Britsh Consul and tell them what was happening to me.Sometimes I think the gods look down and smile at us,because just then along came the army(Turkey had a military government at that time) and wanted to know what was going on.They had a long talk with the police and then said to me âyou are coming with us,go back to truck and follow usâ.I and the 2 Daves followed them to an army camp at Silopi,where they put me in the cells,I didnât expect that and I must admit at this stage I was starting to feel a bit frightened,the worst thing is not knowing what is going to happen next.After about an hour they took me and the Turkish driver to a room in which there was a big table with 3 army officers seated behind it.One was reading the paper that the Turk had signed and they wanted me to write down my version of the events.They gave me a pen and paper and so I started,but they wanted me to write it in Turkish,which I obviously couldnât do and so they gave me Turkish/English dictionary.I donât know if anyone has ever tried to write a description of events in this manner,but I can tell you I found it impossible.When I couldnât do it they put me back in the cells.I was left there all day in the roasting heat with nothing to eat or drink, I was wondering what the 2 Daves were doing,whether they had found a phone and called the British Consul.About 4 in the afternoon an army officer came in and told me in English to go with to have a medical check.We went in a jeep to another building and went into a large room.The officer said he was a doctor and he was going to give me medical exam.I wasnât happy about this, my imagination running wild and asked him why?,he said it was compulsory and he had to check for alcohol and also my eyesight.I relaxed a bit then and expected him to ask me to blow into the bag,but they donât do things the easy way in Turkey,he came very close,pinched my nose with his fingers and asked me to breath out!! no problem there.Then he said âcan you see those 3 letters on the wall over thereâ I said âyesâ,âok cover one eye up and read themâ,âABCâ, âok,cover the other eye and read them againâ.âABCâ.âWell done youâve passed both the testsâ he said.âOk good, maybe you can help meâ.I explained that I had to write down what had happened in Turkish and if I could tell him, would he write it down for me.He said he would and just as he finished there was a knock on the door and in came Youngturks man,the agent we had used at the border.He had been looking for me to try to help.He read the paper that the doctor had written and said to me âYouâve missed out one very important thing.You must say that before you started to pass the Bulgarian trucks you put put on your flasher to indicate that you were going to pull outâ.The doctor wrote this in and we went back to first room,the army officers were re-assembled and the both versions of the events were read.One of the officers asked me a question,which I obviously couldnât understand and so Youngturk answered it instead.Everything happened very quickly then,they said I was free to go.If youâve ever had a feeling of great relief,itâs the best feeling in the world and thatâs what I felt at that moment.Later I asked Youngturk about the question,he said it was about the indicator and the Turkish driver had not repected it,and so the accident was his fault.I shudder to think what might have happened if the army hadnât come along and I was left in the hands of that border policeman.But,alls well that ends well.And let that be a lesson to all drivers who jump queues intentionally or not.
Tony Taylor:
geoffthecrowtaylor:
Ah well, Tony How are the Mighty Fallen tell it not in the streets of Ashkelon. In retrospect it matters not whether you won or lost but how you played the Game,and it really was agame was nt it. I hope thats satisfied your curiosity Fred and maybe one day another event in similar vein may spring to mind. Cheers everyone and now back to Ludlam. Crow.A far more interesting incident Geoffrey was when I got locked up in a Turkish military prison.I donât have the literary prowess of Jazzandy or Mushroomman,but this is 100% true.It was my first trip to Baghdad and I was with the 2 Daves, Ireland and Mason.We had left Baghdad in the afternoon and reached the border at Zahko in the late evening.I was the lead truck which was a bad idea because Dave Ireland had done the job before and should have been in the front.In those days the border wasnât open all night,and as we approached it in the dark I saw line of trucks parked and I drove past all of them and went straight to front,I didnât realise they were waiting for the morning, I thought it a queue for a garage.The border guard came up and he was pretty angry and told us to go to the back of the queue.There was nowhere to turn round or we would have gone back,so we negotiated to with him to stay where we were.He was open to a bit of backsheese and we asked him what he wanted in return for letting us stay.First off he wanted a kettle,so Davey Mason gave him his kettle,the guy wasnât too happy with it(he wanted one with a lid,not one with a whistle) but he kept it any way.Next I gave him our last â â â book,he still wanted more so Dave Ireland gave him a broken calculater.He said âit doenât workâ,Davey told him it was solar powered and would work ok in the sunlight.He still wasnât satisfied so I gave him 2 packets of marlboro,still not enough,he wanted my shoes and my shirt.We drew the line there and said enough is enough,so he let us stay.The next morning we were first through the border and set off on the way to Gaziantep.About 200 meters down the road there were 2 bulgarian trucks parked up half on and half off the road.The road there has quite a steep camber,As I pulled out to pass them there was a 4 wheel Tonka loaded up to the sky with timber coming the other way,the thing was already rocking side to side.When he saw me coming he panicked(there was enough room to pass) and drove on to [zb] at the side of the road and as he went to straighten up, the truck just fell over on to itâs side.I stopped, which was probably a big mistake because suddenly I was surrounded by angry Turks,god knows where they came from.I wound up the window and locked the door and just sat there nervously wondering what was going to happen next,Iâd heard all the scarey stories about what happens to foreign truck drivers who have accidents in Turkey.The Turkish driver got out of his truck through the door that was now the roof and was holding his head in his hands.The border police came up and made me get out of the truck and go back to the border with them accompanied by the Turk.At the border the Turkish driver and the police were jibber jabbering away with each other and making gestures to me,I was getting pretty aprehensive by this time.The police started writing down what the driver was saying and when they finished he made his mark on the paper,the police then wanted me to sign it as well,which I refused to do.This made the policeman angry and he gave me a hard whack across the face,which made me angry and scared and I shouted for the 2 Daves (who outside) to get hold of the Britsh Consul and tell them what was happening to me.Sometimes I think the gods look down and smile at us,because just then along came the army(Turkey had a military government at that time) and wanted to know what was going on.They had a long talk with the police and then said to me âyou are coming with us,go back to truck and follow usâ.I and the 2 Daves followed them to an army camp at Silopi,where they put me in the cells,I didnât expect that and I must admit at this stage I was starting to feel a bit frightened,the worst thing is not knowing what is going to happen next.After about an hour they took me and the Turkish driver to a room in which there was a big table with 3 army officers seated behind it.One was reading the paper that the Turk had signed and they wanted me to write down my version of the events.They gave me a pen and paper and so I started,but they wanted me to write it in Turkish,which I obviously couldnât do and so they gave me Turkish/English dictionary.I donât know if anyone has ever tried to write a description of events in this manner,but I can tell you I found it impossible.When I couldnât do it they put me back in the cells.I was left there all day in the roasting heat with nothing to eat or drink, I was wondering what the 2 Daves were doing,whether they had found a phone and called the British Consul.About 4 in the afternoon an army officer came in and told me in English to go with to have a medical check.We went in a jeep to another building and went into a large room.The officer said he was a doctor and he was going to give me medical exam.I wasnât happy about this, my imagination running wild and asked him why?,he said it was compulsory and he had to check for alcohol and also my eyesight.I relaxed a bit then and expected him to ask me to blow into the bag,but they donât do things the easy way in Turkey,he came very close,pinched my nose with his fingers and asked me to breath out!! no problem there.Then he said âcan you see those 3 letters on the wall over thereâ I said âyesâ,âok cover one eye up and read themâ,âABCâ, âok,cover the other eye and read them againâ.âABCâ.âWell done youâve passed both the testsâ he said.âOk good, maybe you can help meâ.I explained that I had to write down what had happened in Turkish and if I could tell him, would he write it down for me.He said he would and just as he finished there was a knock on the door and in came Youngturks man,the agent we had used at the border.He had been looking for me to try to help.He read the paper that the doctor had written and said to me âYouâve missed out one very important thing.You must say that before you started to pass the Bulgarian trucks you put put on your flasher to indicate that you were going to pull outâ.The doctor wrote this in and we went back to first room,the army officers were re-assembled and the both versions of the events were read.One of the officers asked me a question,which I obviously couldnât understand and so Youngturk answered it instead.Everything happened very quickly then,they said I was free to go.If youâve ever had a feeling of great relief,itâs the best feeling in the world and thatâs what I felt at that moment.Later I asked Youngturk about the question,he said it was about the indicator and the Turkish driver had not repected it,and so the accident was his fault.I shudder to think what might have happened if the army hadnât come along and I was left in the hands of that border policeman.But,alls well that ends well.And let that be a lesson to all drivers who jump queues intentionally or not.
CJA1:
Hi Tony, any u Guy"s remember this, The Lad Dave Barnes From Hindly Green Rf Interport, Worked with a couple of the Guy"s myself, although only europe not M/E Cheers Chris.
Hello all
Iâm not a driver, but have worked in the M.E. in engineering . In 1976 I met an Astrans guy in Ankara who showed me photos hâd taken of an Astrans Scania on itâs side and others of it with a hardboard windscreen with two cut-outs to see where you were going. Also does anybody remember a black guy driving a Magirus Deutz unit with either Dutch or German reg.? Seemed to be based in his motor ( White and Red ) and acting like some sort of agent or trouble-shooter. Also a bloke called Colin with a white Fiat whoâd been mugged ? IIRC he came from Stoke. I also met the guy who was gathering the abandoned rentals.
In 1978 I spent 6 months working in Doha and met en ex Astrans driver in a juice stall near the harbour driving a black F89 pulling two 40ft containers from the UAE regularly and told him the story about the ridgid on its side and he rattled off all the names, but of course Iâve forgotten them all.
Thought you all might be interested. Great reading - Iâm working my way through all the posts and looking out for the books and videos. By the way I Have driven LB76 SVB 300F when at Fridged Freight and she must have had a diferent cooling set-up for the M.E. Sheâd start overheating when you left Calais ! Jim
Hi jmc jr.I remember the Scania with the ââwooden windscreenââ.That was Jeff Ruggins.We had been running together when a turk came down the hill at Sivas,went into a slide,and hit a telegraph pole.The lines snaked across the road and went under the axle of Jeffâs truck causing it to turn over in the icy conditions.They were unable to ââsourceââ a windscreen and to allow him to continue to Tehran the Turks cleverly made the ââspecialââ windscreen.That was one of the most special photos i saw during that time,especially the one with Jeff looking out and smiling[with no teeth].Mike
Hi JMC jnr - Welcome aboard, The man you mentioned who âLocatedâ abandoned rental trailers was Fred Topham, I knew him very well- On one occasion I had my wife with me and he organised a birthday bash for her at the Londra with a few available drivers, I thought that it was very thoughtful of him until I ended up paying (Thanks Fred) 
Regards all
We in Sussex received a weather warning today advising anyone travelling to be sure to carry Shovel,blankets, sleeping bag,extra clothing including scarf dry socks and a 24 hour supply of food and drink, a de-icer, 5 kgs: of rock salt a torch and spare battery a first aid kit and jump leads - I felt a right prat on the bus this morning,
freshir:
We in Sussex received a weather warning today advising anyone travelling to be sure to carry Shovel,blankets, sleeping bag,extra clothing including scarf dry socks and a 24 hour supply of food and drink, a de-icer, 5 kgs: of rock salt a torch and spare battery a first aid kit and jump leads - I felt a right prat on the bus this morning,
[zb] brilliant Fred. Thanks for that. Archie, please just type whatever you like, then leave it.
The need to use stars means that youâre trying to post a banned word. dd.
freshir:
We in Sussex received a weather warning today advising anyone travelling to be sure to carry Shovel,blankets, sleeping bag,extra clothing including scarf dry socks and a 24 hour supply of food and drink, a de-icer, 5 kgs: of rock salt a torch and spare battery a first aid kit and jump leads - I felt a right prat on the bus this morning,
Classic⌠
tracker6666:
hello wheelnut
I worked for johnny williams for a couple of years. drove his old f88 âVictoriaâ lovely old motor. did mostly poland. material out and shoes back. then I did 2 years for barry barnes. heâd drop a tractor unit up to my house and Iâd pick up a trailer load at astran yard which was only 3 miles from where I live. Iâd deliver the load sell the outfit and fly home. cant be bad ÂŁ1500 plus expenses for 3 weeks work. do you remember trevor marks? I worked for him about one and a half years. about 2000. on the first trip I did 4 in 1. I went uk-abu dharbi, back to italy then 2 times from ancona-jubail and then on the way back bob paul phoned me up and said would I do a doha as well, so I did. did 43000km in 14 weeks without coming home. these days I have trouble sitting in the driving seat for 4 hours without my legs hurting like hell. I think it;s called getting old. 69 now. was going to pack up next june but might stay on till next xmas. Iâm sitting at work in my old camper van at the moment. going to oldam tonight, manchester tomorrow night and then home for 4 days. when I get home must see if I can get a pic of one of my trucks on the avater place on the page. got the night heater working in here. need it. it gets cold sleeping in a van in a transport yard. noisy too. they steam clean right next to me.
wow dave that was sum trip what motor was you driving bak then
any one no how this is
bradfordlad9999:
Wow, a Roman with itâs cab over, unusual NOT!!!
Ross. 
Iâve not read every page so I donât know if heâs been mentioned but can anyone remember Bryan Else? He worked for Astrans. He was from Sheffield.
I worked with him at J.G Osborneâs in the early 90âs and Newell and Wrightâs of Sheffield.
Hi bradfordlad9999,
the last three pictures are from the german website âwww.baumaschinenbilder.deâ arenât they 
nice mack
