Philippe:
Hi Chris,
so we can create " the school million miles club " !When I was not drawing,discretely Iâ imagined driving a truck, an imaginative steering wheels in my hands posed on my legs ( tissue of my trausers were worn with all thes miles turning the steering wheels !) ! ), changing gears , looking at the mirror,⌠I think my school neighbor should find me something strange with thess hands movement !
now thats weird philippe
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?
freshir:
Yes Dave the same Billy (RIP) - legend ? On the M/E job you seemed to have two shifts the âOutboundsâ and the âHomeboundâ and consequently you always seemed to meet up and run with regular faces and for that reason I used to see Mr Hamm quite often - I got on ok with him as I am a good listener been there got the âTâ shirt and all that, his stories were a bit weird and wonderful but chuckelfull (New word on the thread) but to sum him up - yeah not a bad-un - Cheers - Fred
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Went to a Kamukazi reunion last night - - no one turned up
Thanks for the info fred.
regards dave.
Laurie Dryver:
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?
Whatâs a âTâ form ? - - Yeah go for it Laurie, lets hear of your experience, but only if you have crossed the bridge !! Fred
Laurie Dryver:
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?
As Istanbul was beyond the range of T forms,(Well it was when I was last down that way!),I donât see why not,go for it!
dafdave:
excuse the interruption but is the billy hamm the same man who drove a mack and came from my hometown Bolton,he was [as I remember]a bit of a legend.I wasnât driving till 1970 so saw very little of him.
regards dave.
Billy Hamm drove the Mack on Chapman and Ball.
I take people as I find them,and when I was on Chapman and Ball,I was forewarned by other drivers that Billy was strange,to say the least.
I have told the story on these pages quite some time ago,about Billyâs antics on C&Bâs,and when on his last trip I had to fly out to Belgrade to recover the Mack ,en route to Dahran Air Base.
The episode was extremely weird,(Suspicious?),and it was the end of Billyâs m/e career.
Alan(Pop) Warner was in Belgrade and had been running close to Billy from Austria,and he told me of the strange behaviour and comments made by Billy leading up to his âAccidentâ.
The last time I saw him was when John Jones,(A manager from C&B),and I went up to see him at his home in Bolton,sitting at home,he claimed he was housebound due to an injury sustained while he was working for C&B,and he intended to make a huge claim on C&Bâs insurance.
However,C&B went to the wall shortly after,so I think Billy had to get another job,Iâm not sure,but is this when we lost him?
Billy was another of those memorable characters we met while on the m/e run,the job would have been boring without guys like him,a pain in the arse at the time,but time mellows the memories.
RIP Billy.
Laurie Dryver:
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?
Of course it will Dryver 
any of your memories/stories would be most welcome with or without the correct documents and you wonât even have to pay a âBacksheshâ.
I.I.R.C. when you had your belly tank full of âCherryâ sealed in Dover you had to put it on a T2 until you had crossed the E.E.C. countries before you broke your plumb.
Here ya go Fred, another one of Barry Longdonâs old motors from his Jenkinsonâs days.
Iâll check my passports for registration numbers,but I probably did Poland for a couple of trips in one of these in the couple of weeks I worked for Jenkinsons after the demise of C&B.
bestbooties:
Laurie Dryver:
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?As Istanbul was beyond the range of T forms,(Well it was when I was last down that way!),I donât see why not,go for it!
Thanks bestbooties and freshir - I know who the former is as I am no stranger to this site & Toprun .I donât wish to sound patronising but I am absolutely in awe of you guys who have"Been there and done it" and my experience has been miniscule by comparison with yours so I hope you will be patient and tolerant at my futile first experience of venturing further than Athens or even Igoumenitsa - when I had to drive there overnight due to a strike by dockers in Patras! I am just going down to the shed to dig out my old diaries and find the one from 1993 in order to refresh my memory and then Iâll get it written down!
Laurie Dryver:
bestbooties:
Laurie Dryver:
I was just thinking ,having read some of the fascinating stuff on this thread ,would it be in order for a " T-form Charlie" to put something on here about a trip I did about 20 years ago (in esteemed company) to Istanbul?As Istanbul was beyond the range of T forms,(Well it was when I was last down that way!),I donât see why not,go for it!
Thanks bestbooties and freshir - I know who the former is as I am no stranger to this site & Toprun .I donât wish to sound patronising but I am absolutely in awe of you guys who have"Been there and done it" and my experience has been miniscule by comparison with yours so I hope you will be patient and tolerant at my futile first experience of venturing further than Athens or even Igoumenitsa - when I had to drive there overnight due to a strike by dockers in Patras! I am just going down to the shed to dig out my old diaries and find the one from 1993 in order to refresh my memory and then Iâll get it written down!
Bring it on Laurie, We all have interesting experiences to share, be careful when you go down to your shed ĂÂf you have not been there for a time, you may find something/someone that you may have hid there and forgotten about 
Fred
Itâll be good to here some stories for the 90âs Laurie as it was my time as well. I left all my stuff in a a box in my dads shed when I moved to Australia and my mate was going to send it out with some other stuff, but when he got round to the house my mum had thrown it all out. 
If you do have to pay some backshesh Iâm sure some one will write you a facturah.
JeffâŚ
Jelliot:
Itâll be good to here some stories for the 90âs Laurie as it was my time as well. I left all my stuff in a a box in my dads shed when I moved to Australia and my mate was going to send it out with some other stuff, but when he got round to the house my mum had thrown it all out.
If you do have to pay some backshesh Iâm sure some one will write you a facturah.JeffâŚ
I used to write my ownâŚ
Poor old Fred is orf on hols:for a week tomorrow (Tues) cannot afford a fortnight, Iâve got a nice little timeshare at a place called Kapicule, so talk amongst yourselves till I get back and keep it clean, if you wish to make a small contribution it would be welcomed 
bestbooties:
Jelliot:
If you do have to pay some backshesh Iâm sure some one will write you a facturah.JeffâŚ
I used to write my ownâŚ
How very enterprising of you, give your self a bonus!!!
Oh you probably already have !!! lolâŚ
JeffâŚ
After being outbid by âcabcurtainsâ on e-bay I found a copy of Cola Cowboys at the main library in SF. It is the large print edition (1984) and there are no pictures or maps. The pictures on this post add a lot to the story. Is there a possibility that the maps could be posted?
I did start reading, and so far, I find Woods a bit overdramatic. I spent a couple of monts in Turkey in '82 and somehow I was unaware of many of the dangers Woodâs chronicles. I do remember that the Turkish government was trying hard to encourage tourism so I was treated quite well by anyone I met who spoke English. I did hitch a couple of rides in Tonkas, they were memorable and scarry. The hand of Allah, attached to a spring, suction-cupped to the front window only gives you so much protection. I switched to busses. Later, when I was sitting in the cafe at Londra having beers, these British drivers told me I was crazy to ride the busses. ( I was better off in a Tonka) I guess they were right.
SFSusan:
Is there a possibility that the maps could be posted?
I hope these are of some use to you, there not my pic`s, just stuff of the net
Cheers
all good stuff great pics ect! I really wish i would have had a go at that middle east game when it was going on! ah well, hindsights allways 20/20 and allways useless!
M&C Jamie:
Hi Steve, regarding the middle east minerals 142, you are correct it was driven by Barry Bradshaw an ex Duncan McCrae driver from the Darlington area. Middle East Minerals was a company which had their head office on the Island of Arran where they had Quarry interests. They believe it or not, had a very succesful business selling Sand to the Arabs. They purchased three bonnetted double drive 142âs with wide tipping trailers, these trailers were loaded with screening plant equipment and fitted with sheets to T.I.R. spec. I think that the units were taken to Baghdad solo and sat there idle for over a year. They bought the 142 that is in the picture to supply the site in Iraq and it was driven by Barry Bradshaw. On one of his trips with a tipper trailer behind him he, whilst in convoy with a few british lads was involved in a multiple accident on black ice in southern Yugoslavia. The 142 was extensively damaged to the front and was taken back to the Scania dealer at Ghent Belgium by low loader.This is mayâbe when this photo was taken??
Their Manager in Iraq, who came from Carlisle, decided to bobtail from Iraq to Gevgellia with one of the bonnetted 142âs to recover the trailer. I caught up with them at Incillat and we set off from there together. It appeared that the rear axle propshaft had mangled a UJ so they had taken this off and then found out that it would not drive with the rear prop removed so by engageing the interaxle diff lock they had traction, but not for long they came to a grinding halt and that was the end of the 142âs recovery escapade, it was now its turn to go on the bar. We changed over trailers as his had a towbar fitted on the back,and set off for Iraq. I was in crawler going over the mountain south of Zahko and can remember Barry walking allongside as we went down the other side. He was going from wheel to wheel feeling them for overheating as we crawled down the mountain. We arrived at their compound near the Kahrk water complex just outside Baghdad without further incident where i was treated to a night in camp before carying on alone to Oman. Someone told me that Barry and M.E.M. had parted company the following year after he had rolled one of the trucks in Iraq.
Regards Jamie.A Scot Lost in the Valleyâs
my name is mark bradshaw and it was my father barry who drove for middle east minerals the scania in question was a bullnose 113h i think it had 17km on clock when my dad collected it from hull docksand according to scania the first left â â â â â â bullnose registered in the uk. it certainly was not the wagon in the photo on the low loader that must have been someone elses. my dad ended up getting the sack from the company due to the fact the boss ordered him to against my father wishes and advice load the tipper trailer to full capacity my father warned him of the risks loading a 60ft tipper this way on uneven ground the inevitable happened and the lorry tipped over and my father was sacked.from there he got a job (i think) driving a leyland land train in the falkland islands on a 2 yr contract.my father finally give up driving hgvâs mid 2013 aged 75.
I will ask my mother to sort photos out as the lorry in question (due to being all marked up in arabic) actually made the local paper and a little story was run.my father was also one of the lads covering the front pages of the national papers during the french strikes that closed the roads near the mont blanc for near a fort night back in the 80âs
bring back those days i say, when drivers were drivers.not just people that have class 1 licenses
Unfortunately back then there were a few steering wheel attendants as well.
Jeff