From the archives (NMP)…
In the USA thanks to Raymond Clarke.
Oily
Cheers Oily 
Vermeulen was a well known name in Holland when it came to haul dragline cranes from A to B, they were eventually taken over by v.d. Bogerd and the name was dropped.
All that’s left are photos of that era…
Now to some the name might ring a bell, that’s because they operated some ERF’s, the NGC model being one of them and they appear from time to time on the thread dedicated to that model (do you want anything to add Robert 
).
Courtesy of Leo Mes
Thanks Patrick OILy Spardo DeanO Johnny you and all those others I haven’t mentioned but should as your doing a great job keeping things ticking over in this time of world wide drama, I don’t know how transport on your side of the planet is coping but I know without the trucks here running between the eastern states of OZ and us in the West we would be dire straights ,I take my hat off to them all.
Heres another out of that old shoebox I found and keeping up the KW presence.
Cheers Dig
DIG:
Thanks Patrick OILy Spardo DeanO Johnny you and all those others I haven’t mentioned but should as your doing a great job keeping things ticking over in this time of world wide drama, I don’t know how transport on your side of the planet is coping but I know without the trucks here running between the eastern states of OZ and us in the West we would be dire straights ,I take my hat off to them all.
Heres another out of that old shoebox I found and keeping up the KW presence.Cheers Dig
Nice one Dig, at first I couldn’t see a driver in that, even though by the dust it was obviously mobile, and I thought perhaps you had parked at the top of the slope and forgotten something (the brake?) and it started rolling all by itself just as you got in position with the camera.
And then I thought that is one well trained KW. 
Are the roadhouses still open for the truckies? A mate told me the other day that the routiers in France are closed and everybody has gone back in time to cooking in the cab. Plenty still rolling though, I pass my old firm twice a week and, out of over 100 wagons, there are never more than half a dozen in the yard, and half of those on the dock loading and tipping with the remainder probably waiting for night drivers.
Hats off to them all, it is reported that several ‘transport workers’ have died in the UK including about 7 London bus drivers, not heard about the routiers though. The bus drivers union is advising them to stop working if they can’t get PPE and restrict passengers to entering and leaving by the middle doors. Hard times.
Spardo:
DIG:
Thanks Patrick OILy Spardo DeanO Johnny you and all those others I haven’t mentioned but should as your doing a great job keeping things ticking over in this time of world wide drama, I don’t know how transport on your side of the planet is coping but I know without the trucks here running between the eastern states of OZ and us in the West we would be dire straights ,I take my hat off to them all.
Heres another out of that old shoebox I found and keeping up the KW presence.Cheers Dig
Nice one Dig, at first I couldn’t see a driver in that, even though by the dust it was obviously mobile, and I thought perhaps you had parked at the top of the slope and forgotten something (the brake?) and it started rolling all by itself just as you got in position with the camera.
And then I thought that is one well trained KW.
Are the roadhouses still open for the truckies? A mate told me the other day that the routiers in France are closed and everybody has gone back in time to cooking in the cab. Plenty still rolling though, I pass my old firm twice a week and, out of over 100 wagons, there are never more than half a dozen in the yard, and half of those on the dock loading and tipping with the remainder probably waiting for night drivers.
Hats off to them all, it is reported that several ‘transport workers’ have died in the UK including about 7 London bus drivers, not heard about the routiers though. The bus drivers union is advising them to stop working if they can’t get PPE and restrict passengers to entering and leaving by the middle doors. Hard times.
The fatals are a real tragedy our thoughts go to the families.
Double click David and you will see Mick quite well badge on the shirt and sunnys on, he supplied the photo not bad for a Kiwi lol.
The roadhouses are open and will supply a meal on a take away basis most of the roadhouses have hf radios which the drivers can call the r/h staff 15 or 20mins before arrival so no real delays, Most are double manned so its pretty much non stop.
Dig
DIG:
Thanks Patrick OILy Spardo DeanO Johnny you and all those others I haven’t mentioned but should as your doing a great job keeping things ticking over in this time of world wide drama, I don’t know how transport on your side of the planet is coping but I know without the trucks here running between the eastern states of OZ and us in the West we would be dire straights ,I take my hat off to them all.
Heres another out of that old shoebox I found and keeping up the KW presence.Cheers Dig
Great pic Dig ! 
This may be of intrest from 1957.
Click on page twice.
DEANB:
This may be of intrest from 1957.Click on page twice.
0
Certainly of interest to me, for 2 reasons, the hauliers’ names are not familiar to me, maybe to Dig? Also I thought that cattle haulage with road trains started earlier than '57 with more familar names such as Baldocks, Johanssons and even Buntine. I’ll have a look in my book later. Perhaps these blokes were in WA whereas the ones I mention were NT?
Spardo:
DEANB:
This may be of intrest from 1957.Click on page twice.
Certainly of interest to me, for 2 reasons, the hauliers’ names are not familiar to me, maybe to Dig? Also I thought that cattle haulage with road trains started earlier than '57 with more familar names such as Baldocks, Johanssons and even Buntine. I’ll have a look in my book later. Perhaps these blokes were in WA whereas the ones I mention were NT?
Thanks Deano you keep coming up with some gems
I think your correct about the NT being the first to operate cattle road trains David but I don’t think the West Ozzies were far behind.
The Browns transport company was definitely a Meekatha based company right into the 1980s I believe I.m not sure about the Bell company possibly related to the large earthworks and transport company called Bell brothers of Guildford a Perth suburb.
The road north of Port Hedland in those days was only passable during the night and early mornings Wallal Downs is situated about halfway between Hedland and Broome because of the deep sands the road being close to the coastal sand dunes,My first trip through to Broome was in 1971 and although all gravel/sand was passable any time with care other than when it was the wet season it had been moved inland about 10miles and at the northern end of the Roebuck Plains the road changed to single lane bitumen between Broome Derby and Fitzroy Crossing and was gazetted a Beef road constructed for the cartage of Cattle to the 2 meat works based in Broome and Derby.
Dig
DIG:
Spardo:
DEANB:
This may be of intrest from 1957.Click on page twice.
0
Certainly of interest to me, for 2 reasons, the hauliers’ names are not familiar to me, maybe to Dig? Also I thought that cattle haulage with road trains started earlier than '57 with more familar names such as Baldocks, Johanssons and even Buntine. I’ll have a look in my book later. Perhaps these blokes were in WA whereas the ones I mention were NT?
Thanks Deano you keep coming up with some gems
I think your correct about the NT being the first to operate cattle road trains David but I don’t think the West Ozzies were far behind.
The Browns transport company was definitely a Meekatha based company right into the 1980s I believe I.m not sure about the Bell company possibly related to the large earthworks and transport company called Bell brothers of Guildford a Perth suburb.
The road north of Port Hedland in those days was only passable during the night and early mornings Wallal Downs is situated about halfway between Hedland and Broome because of the deep sands the road being close to the coastal sand dunes,My first trip through to Broome was in 1971 and although all gravel/sand was passable any time with care other than when it was the wet season it had been moved inland about 10miles and at the northern end of the Roebuck Plains the road changed to single lane bitumen between Broome Derby and Fitzroy Crossing and was gazetted a Beef road constructed for the cartage of Cattle to the 2 meat works based in Broome and Derby.
Dig
Interesting stuff, just had a look at my ‘History’ and it appears that Kurt Johannsen in the Territory started cattle transport in about 1947/8 with war surplus Diamond T body trucks with 2 or 3 trailers. He even built his own trailers and made them self tracking when he was winding through bush without proper roads. As the roads got a little better and the vehicles a little faster, self tracking was discarded as they tended to snake all over the place. Just to amuse the locals in a small town carnival, and to show off, he even coupled a 4th trailer to one of his Diamond Ts.
The roads were very treacherous and often men were employed to walk ahead with sticks, prodding the ground to mark out the soft spots. On more than one occasion a trailer tipped so far to one side that the cows simply ‘walked’ out of the top . 
I believe this because I witnessed something similar with my mate Kevin. He flipped the last trailer off the track and the cows wre shot out of the top. Some were injured or died, but many went back to the bush from whence they came. After several hours getting him back on the road, we had a fire and some breakfast. Moving on afterwards I got my first sight of dingoes, moving in to see if we had left anything worth eating.
Cracking pic DIG, cheers!
The article Dean posted got me thinking, and maybe you or David can say a sensible word or two about it, but wouldn’t using a roadtrain on those roads, filled with cattle, be a case of russian roulette? As I can imagine that cattle will move along the journey, and the third trailer had a habit of “wagging it’s tail”, surely nerves of steel (or big cojones) would come in handy…
Some time ago I was following a French haulier with cattle on board, this was a wag ‘n’ drag, and at certain points the whole thing was hanging to quite a angle, that’s when I thought how careful one must be with such transports, it’s a bit like driving a tanker wagon I reckon?
