I know, but I notice that some of the infants and Americans have not yet mastered the new TN2 yet 
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What I used to find a bit odd, was that whenever I went into Austria with two Massey Fergusson agricultural tractors on a stripped down tilt, the customs men would often put a seal on the door handle of each cab.
When I crossed the border into Hungary, they would also put a customs seal on the same door handle, even though the cabs were never locked.
Some drivers had it easy.
SINOP, TURKEY.
That Romanian ‘TIR’ trailer seems to have an interesting axle configuration. Perhaps Carryfast could enlighten us on the possible advantages of such.
Re above post: When I used to drive lorries through Damascus I never really got a chance to explore, so some years later I went back and explored. Wonderful place! Isn’t now, of course. That railway station had by then become a sort of museum piece and one of those steam locos stood proudly outside. It was, as I’m sure you will know, the old Hejaz railway that ran down the coast to Jeddah - the one Lawrence of Arabia used to blow up from time to time. Shame that part of the world is a closed shop now.
Looking at these two pictures, it is possible that the Avon Line C-series ERF is the same one as that on the loading bay. The Avon Line ERF did Middle-East and the line of lorries are clearly Middle-Easters (Astran, Jan de Lely [Dutch] and the bonnetted Merc which is probably Jordanian). The livery is the same and even the little marker lights above the windscreen match up. Anyone know? Reg is ODM 41Y.
Swiatrans: was that a Swiss company? Doesn’t look very trim with the pin perched on an elevated turntable. I suspect the Merc was either a local or an ‘internals’ unit on docks traction out of somewhere like Jeddah. Someone will know!
Looking at the latest news from Syria.
After leaving Bab Al Hawa for Damascus I often stopped in Homs (or maybe Hama it’s a long time ago) for a break & a brew.
There was an army camp behind a wall & trees on the right that made an ideal stopping place, nice & quiet with plenty of room to stop.
Hama & Homs were good places back in the 70s, though even then you didn’t have to look too far to see Assad senior’s iron grip on the country.
I’m not that keen on Jihadis, but I do have sneaking support for those guys who now seem close to ending the Assad Family’s unpleasant rule over what was a friendly and pleasant land.
There was a terrific truckstop at Homs when I was doing it in the early 2000s. It was where the convoy stopped for a leisurely break. The stop was long enough to get a good meal in the drivers’ restaurant, do a bit of shopping, get your hair cut… I still have two excellent, comfy collapsable garden chairs I bought there. They’ve had a hard life are still in good condition. They used to serve a wonderful Syrian sweet thing in squares called kanafa bi fustuq which I’ve only ever seen elsewhere in Cairo, where the cake shop was owned by a Syrian.
After transiting Syria a few times in a lorry I went back there as a tourist and explored Damascus. Fantastic place! Yet another country ruined by war. I’m so glad I did Libya, Sudan, Syria, Lebanon and Ethiopia before they all got trashed by the careless world.
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Time flies - it doesn’t seem that long ago that I photographed this Syrian Merc in Tangiers port flying black mourning flags the day after Assad’s father died. I had a brief chat with the driver. He’d arrived by ferry, not overland.
^^^^^ incidentally, whilst chatting to the driver of what, to all intents and purposes, appeared to be a 32-tonner on four axles at 240 bhp (in Britain) he told me it was rated at 64 tonnes. I looked incredulous so he took me to the trailer bogie and showed me the suspension between the axles. It was stacked high with leaf springs. Clearly, a 50-tonne payload wasn’t going to worry this trailer!
50 years ago!
Happy Days, Les 
With Syria looking like it is settling down at last, maybe the route will open up again and make some overland traffic viable again.
Obviously too late for us, but easy for the new breed with Motorway virtually all the way to Saudi.