This was in my Grandads days in the heavy haulage indunstry, He was one of the best in his heyday who was reallly along with his workmates pioneers that created present day haulage work, , Im very proud of him, My son is still in the haulage industry, He works for J.R.Adams Ltd at Swalwell & has done so now for over twenty years, It must be in his blood Eh. 
,J R A dams Ltd is a classic Co.IMO. To work for they allways look after their workers, Regards Larry.
pv83:
Rikki-UK:
DIG:
I think we all at some point had some unpleasant “tête a tête” with law enforcement.About 8 of us got detailed to take some SMPT’s from Boro depot to Albasserdam in Holland- Econo had loaded out a yacht onto a Ocean barge in S.Africa and it was going to Holland to be fitted out - the SMPTs were to lift it off the ocean barge to one that would fit in the canals to get it to the outfitters - we were supposed to have a week off (on pay) on the ■■■■ in Albasserdam, until someone remembered we had a 6 axle semi in Lastras yard in Breda - I got "volunteered to go pick it up and take it to Rotterdam and put it on the ferry.
Now my old DAF would do 50MPH- flat out in top gear - but at that speed it was screaming its testicles off and to be a bit honest it was painful to the ears so I used to happily sit at 40 just out the green on the rev counter so I had a week to get from Breda to Europort so gave my ears a rest
Trouble is being empty I wasnt permitted so could move when I wanted- and Holland has the no overtaking by HGV’s rule - which led to a little build up behind me- first I knew of an issue was in my passenger side downside mirror I couldnt see the car just a lolllipop going round in circles so ignored it, a mile or so later the cop car pulled ahead still in the outside lane and waved his lollipop (not a euphemism) even more viigoursley
As we appraoached the services he obviously had enough and waved me in- walked over and asked for “permit” - I Looked blank and said “empty” he went and consulted obviously found out I didint need a permit came back and said YOU must go faster
I pointed out that it doesnt go any faster- its built for heavy not speed- he goes away and consults again, comes back as says I must pull into every service area to let the traffic go behind me, then let me go
Well I really wanted to get back to Albasserdam as I knew the other guys would be out on the town- so set off but I did pull into every service area (straight through no stopping) and it may have been coincidence but at every one there was a Traffic cop car sat at the exit to see if I did
I do have another story about Holland, a PIlot car and being taken off route and some “Difficulties” but thats probably not a story to be publicaly published
Nice story Rikki
Were the coppers driving the famous Porsches? As it would have been in that era I believe? At least they did let you go with a warning, something they’re not keen on doing nowadays…
This happened 10 or 11 years ago, came off the ferry in Europoort with some sort of working platform (loaded that in the old yard of Somerscales) and was destinated for a shipyard in Krimpen a/d IJssel (Rotterdam region), we had just one pilot car (there were two of us loaded with a platform) and when we got of the motorway I had a little “touche” with the car in front of me. Coppers came out and first thing they asked was where the second pilot car was… we all got fined E450, and had to wait for a second pilot car…
Shortly after this event a colleague and me were coming from eastern Germany with wide cases, and had to tip them at Rotterdam docks, permit stated that we needed a pilot car from the junction to the offloading address, which was only 2 clicks away from the junction. We pulled into the street and 200m before turning into the yard we got stopped by the old bill… E350 each for not respecting the permit… I’ve tried to stay away from the Rotterdam area ever since!
What was the DAF plated for? And the gig in Alblasserdam, was that at the shipyard? Or at the IHC yard?
Nice one Rikki I don’t think I have heard of any truck drivers over here being told they need to go faster 
The fines were a bit extreme Patrick who pays that you or the company. 
An amusing incidence I experienced a few moons ago,we had just started a weekly second freezer/general oil field freight service to Onslow a small coastal town 1300km north of Perth and then service to an onshore oil rig working in the great sandy desert a further 1000kms north of Onslow.
I was unloading in Onslow when one of the skippers of a barge doing the Barrow Island run approached me and as he was on 6 weeks break asked if I wanted company for the trip to the oil rig,I had first met him about 3 years before and we had got on well as so I had said no problems I will be ready to leave shortly grab your swag and we will be on our way.
Ray my companion was proving to be good company so once we got north of Port Hedland we had 700kms of just open road before our next town Broome just some station turn offs and 2 road houses anyhow I said to Ray would you like to have a drive he jumped at the chance and he told me had a licence but hadn’t had much chance to use it being at sea a fair bit anyhow off we went I sat with him for a while then said your going well I might have a snooze if your ok he replied no problems so I settled down and had a couple of hours when I woke to hear Ray calling.
I said whats wrong he said I passed a F100 ute heading south and it turned around and he’s behind us flashing his headlights ,I Looked in the n/s mirror and realised it was the Heavy Haulage inspectors who carried the portable scales and at that time it was manned by 2 police officers who lived in Port hedland.
We pulled over and I jumped out with my paper work and was immediately fronted by one of the officers the other went to chat with Ray ,my paper work was all in order then he asked me if I owned the truck I said yes then he said and whats your drivers name I said Ray he said Ray who I replied buggered if I know what his surname Iv known him for a while but we never got around to surname unbeknown to us Ray had the same problem with the other officer not knowing my surname he just knew me as Dave ,as everything was in order paper work plus driving licences and they could see our weight was low plus all the mechanicals and tyres were ok they buggered off leaving me and Ray to get better acquainted .
We have had a few laughs and beers over that incidence over the years unfortunately Ray passed away recently but he will always be a remembered as a good mate with a sense of humour.
Cheers Dig
short walk:
pv83:
oiltreader:
Thanks to PS-Truckphotos for these.
OilyLooks like the double drive Kubler DAF is fitted with Volvo’s hub reduction axles?
Maybe Meritor axles?
Good thinking short walk, I do know that on 6x2 chassis DAF offered the option of having a ,what I always assumed was a Volvo axle, fitted with hub reduction instead of their own hub reduction axle. But I’ve never seen it before in double drive form.
Here’s a link to the Meritor webpage; meritor.com/products/axles/
As far as I can work out it would seem that the barrel and breech combined would have weighed over 160 tons. Further info can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_18-inch_Mk_I_naval_gun
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160t?! Quite the gun Indeed! Cheers for the link 
Lawrence Dunbar:
This was in my Grandads days in the heavy haulage indunstry, He was one of the best in his heyday who was reallly along with his workmates pioneers that created present day haulage work, , Im very proud of him, My son is still in the haulage industry, He works for J.R.Adams Ltd at Swalwell & has done so now for over twenty years, It must be in his blood Eh.
Some hard craft the job must have been back in those days. Ta for sharing the pic and memories Larry
DIG, did you find out what Ray’s surname was in the end…? Ahum… I’ll get me coat 
Fines were payed for by the firm mate, as they were the ones wanting to take the risk. We as just mere lorry drivers didn’t had anything to say about it
pv83:
As far as I can work out it would seem that the barrel and breech combined would have weighed over 160 tons. Further info can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_18-inch_Mk_I_naval_gun
160t?! Quite the gun Indeed! Cheers for the link
[/quote]
I served on a ship that had 6" guns and the noise, vibration and smell when they were fired was horrendous. God only knows what it must have been like when they fired 18" shells.
Dennis Javelin:
pv83:
As far as I can work out it would seem that the barrel and breech combined would have weighed over 160 tons. Further info can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BL_18-inch_Mk_I_naval_gun160t?! Quite the gun Indeed! Cheers for the link
I served on a ship that had 6" guns and the noise, vibration and smell when they were fired was horrendous. God only knows what it must have been like when they fired 18" shells.
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Excellent detection work Dennis and Patrick quite a lump to carry anywhere,I do remember when doing my appretiship that one 15inch gun barrel cut into pieces required 4 eight wheelers to carry one gun barrel,I don’t know if the breach block was included when the British Battleship Vangard was scrapped.
How do you reckon a broadside of 8 x 15inchguns would have affected the nerves Dennis.
Dig
Superb article that. Author deserves much credit. Suppose I should have bought the magazine.
Isn’t that a Highwayman cab on the Scammell? Seems familiar, and mine went almost as slowly as this lot I reckon. 
Great stuff again there! Why is gear synchronising needed, when all these giants are fitted with torque converters and automatic gearboxes?
DEANB:
jsutherland:
ALE Heavylift - now part of the Mammoet group - with a 70 metre, 145 tonne load meets a small Surrey roundabout.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApuqDou-CmU
ALE: ale-heavylift.com/
Mammoet: mammoet.com/heavy-transport/Heres a bit of reading for you Johnny.
Click on pages twice to read.
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Aw Dean - a big thank you for this.
newmercman:
No worries Dig, I’ll do that, I do have a video I did hooking one up, or more accurately failing to get one lined up so I could get the pins to lock in, it contains adult language, lots of it in fact so I can’t post it here. I shall try to control myself next time, but just in case I’ll take photos too.Anyway here’s what I’m up to this week, I ran empty down to Little Rock, Arkansas as my load down was canceled last minute and loaded this CAT 982 for Calgary, it’s a 2,002 mile trip according to my Sat Nav, so far I’ve done 900 miles and I’m still 1,450 miles away thanks to the routing I got through the State of Oklahoma, 400 miles of backroads totally unsuitable for a truck of any size, let alone one hauling a high, wide and heavy load.
Still the scenery is more interesting than following the big blue line on a map (remember those!) I get to see the real America, warts and all. It’s hard work, but as I’m not right in the head, I actually enjoy it. Now here’s the pictures, two of the truck and one of a town in the middle of nowhere.
Great picture newmercman. Sounds like it is quite a trip so far!
pv83:
Bit more from Italy, most of the trailers shown were made by Cometto (nmp)
Great pictures Patrick
Froggy55:
Great stuff again there! Why is gear synchronising needed, when all these giants are fitted with torque converters and automatic gearboxes?
Well done Deano another highly interesting article I.m not familiar with auto side of truck driving but I assume the synchronising would come into use when the operator goes to manual lockup on a ratio as getting it wrong by a hundred rpm say might end up with a rather large expensive noise coming from the transmission,just my thoughts but like Froggy i would be interested to know.
Very pleasing to read is the companies foresight into employing young people to learn the trade of the heavy lift industry as the new generation of operators when their existing ageing operators retire.
Dig
Somersby NSW
