cav551:
Spardo:
It is a LOT more difficult to tie a dolly anchored to a closed rail rather than a hook.
I beg to differ. Tie a hitch on the bite, pick up the tail and tie another hitch.
Retired Old ā ā ā ā :
cav551:
Spardo:
It is a LOT more difficult to tie a dolly anchored to a closed rail rather than a hook.
We know that, cav, but you have to make allowances for the convicts down under!
Oi! I resemble that remark.
I think that it was Jack Brabham who wrote that when he came to Britain he got some āstickā about arriving from the land of the convict. He said that he was far more concerned about being in the country that they had originally been deported from! 
Pete.
Star down under.:
cav551:
Spardo:
It is a LOT more difficult to tie a dolly anchored to a closed rail rather than a hook.
I beg to differ. Tie a hitch on the bite, pick up the tail and tie another hitch.
Yes, just a slightly different way of doing it, but all those little ropes you have to carry and no consideration made of the differing heights of loads. You may be lucky and each rope fits perfectly, or you have lots of little bits left over or, end up tying bits together.
Must admit I never had to do it myself, was never on flats, but I have seen it done and, of course, I learned the hitch, just in case. When I was in Darwin working for a local distributor, I watched the Scottish OD with a Mandator and one semi, loading up for longer distance customers. He had all the side gates and, because the load was small boxes of varying sizes, he merely loaded it up to the top of the gates and threw all his one-size-fits-all ropes over and hitched each one to hold the gates against the load. But if he had had larger items which were higher it would have been more difficult. I appreciated the good sense of the side gates, but think the British system of long ropes and hooks much more versatile.
windrush:
I think that it was Jack Brabham who wrote that when he came to Britain he got some āstickā about arriving from the land of the convict. He said that he was far more concerned about being in the country that they had originally been deported from!Pete.
Ha ha yes, a good riposte, but I had one for all those ācolonialsā, especially Americans, who berated our treatment of invaded populations of the Empire. I said it is not us, but you who are descended from the Empire builders who did all the land grabbing, we are descended from those who stayed at home and took no part.
Not true of course, but as Jack knew, just as well to have a good reply ready just in case. 
A very good driver, and engineer, Jack Brabham of course.
Lawrence Dunbar:
When I first started work for Baxters Road Services on the Quayside, One of the drivers used to very odd style hitches in, In the winter it was bloody hard work getting them loose, He was a canny lad but Cak Handed as the old saying goes, In later years he worked at Waughies when Baxters joined forces with them, Plus it was the old Sysal rope as all you Oldies will remember,The created Keens quicker than you could say Jack Robinson, I used pee on them as told by one of my mentors & It worked im pleased to say & of course hauling soap from Thos Hedleys as it was called in those days I used to use Camay to wash my hands
Larry, the man in question was George Fearns, he was a lovely man but ohhh! his roping, it was a nightmare to undo, apart from his cak handed dollies he also doubled the loops, as you say getting them out was a chore especially in winter. He was a native of Hazlerigg, and of course as you know they were a bit primitive there 
. Oops sorry Larry, I forgot you were from that vicinity also. .Regards Kev
Spardo:
Star down under.:
cav551:
Spardo:
It is a LOT more difficult to tie a dolly anchored to a closed rail rather than a hook.
I beg to differ. Tie a hitch on the bite, pick up the tail and tie another hitch.
Yes, just a slightly different way of doing it, but all those little ropes you have to carry and no consideration made of the differing heights of loads. You may be lucky and each rope fits perfectly, or you have lots of little bits left over or, end up tying bits together.
Must admit I never had to do it myself, was never on flats, but I have seen it done and, of course, I learned the hitch, just in case. When I was in Darwin working for a local distributor, I watched the Scottish OD with a Mandator and one semi, loading up for longer distance customers. He had all the side gates and, because the load was small boxes of varying sizes, he merely loaded it up to the top of the gates and threw all his one-size-fits-all ropes over and hitched each one to hold the gates against the load. But if he had had larger items which were higher it would have been more difficult. I appreciated the good sense of the side gates, but think the British system of long ropes and hooks much more versatile.
The āAustralianā rope rail is more versatile than hooks when roping, and much easier when youāre using dogs & chains too.
There was one owner driver here in Adelaide mind - a chap from Manchester, who had a new trailer built with rope rails and āpommie hooksā , which apparently caused some raised eyebrows at the buildersā¦
Another useful thing here are ratchet straps that are mounted in rails under the tray, I guess theyād probably get full of salt in the British winters and seize up maybe??
Cheers, Keith
Short lengths then, thanks for clearing that one up Spardo. I have had steam coming out of my ears and my own personal thundercloud overhead trying to do double dollies underneath a vehicle, trying to pull an axle into line with rope when changing roadsprings. 
The loop nearly always pops out of the wind round when the rope has to go slack to make the second loop.
Retired Old ā ā ā ā :
cav551:
Spardo:
It is a LOT more difficult to tie a dolly anchored to a closed rail rather than a hook.
We know that, cav, but you have to make allowances for the convicts down under!
Its far easier roping off with combing rails and quicker and having done it before I was transported to the colonies I know which way I prefer.
Just for the record I used to cut my ropes to around 32 feet thats 10 feet up 8 feet across the top and 10 feet down with up to 4 feet to tie off,no bloody great lumps of rope to wind up and pile in the cab getting dirty lifting them onto the jack and wheel brace and oil bottles etc and to stink out the cab when wet.
I had 2 tool boxes per trailer one side ropes and straps minimum of 20 of each per trailer and the other 12 sets of chains and binders,each chain lived in an plastic 5 litre oil bottle with part of the top cut off making it easy to drop in and then stack in the tool box.
As for tarping a road train I must have been lucky because most time some one helped but if in our Perth yard the trailers were all un hitched so the forks did not have so far to travel.
Roping a triple no more than walking around than start one side work your way around tie off the other but nothings ever perfect and we did work a bit harder than most but at least the weather was usually better than trying to do it when its snowing.
I shall have to go its lockdown time.
Dig
Please note these loads were tarped to keep the sun off the rolls of roof insulation underneath.
Thats my story and i.m sticking to it.
Sorted!! Nmp off F B
I donāt know what sort of sheets they used in the Long Haul film but they were far too flimsy, must have been made from Diana Dors nighties!
Frankydobo:
I donāt know what sort of sheets they used in the Long Haul film but they were far too flimsy, must have been made from Diana Dors nighties!
And as for sitting 3 abreast in an Otto. 
The only advantage I can see for rails over hooks is you can put your ropes anywhere you like, but if hooks are spaced sensibly, that shouldnāt be a problem as you can split a dolly between 2 hooks. Straps and chains can/should be to or under the chassis. If a side rave was strong enough it must add weight to the trailer I would have thought.
I always found too that with the Aussie hitch, and I have used them to ringbolts in England, the upper loop was prone to fall out if not held till the tension came on.
More interesting to me is how the 2 systems came about in the first place. I assume the hooks came from carts in England so you would have thought that same way would have carried over to Australia. Perhaps carters/lorry drivers were all too honest to be transported as convicts. 
We donāt chain to the tie rail. We take the chain behind the tie rail, under the cross menber (or two)and back up to hook onto itself. All the pressure is on the UB crossmember(s).
Bump this thread back up with a bit of S&R bound for Liskeard & Falmouth, didnāt see the point of trying to sheet over the head board on this one, I only covered it up to keep some loose bits still (& keep it away from prying eyes!!!)
You will only get yourself lost way down there in pasty country Robert, you had better take Gavin with you as a navigator! The poor old lad hasnāt got his organ to play with this year alas. 
A load of bagged China Clay back up country will help the job along niceley as well.
Pete.
windrush:
You will only get yourself lost way down there in pasty country Robert, you had better take Gavin with you as a navigator!Pete.
I think Iāll find my way Pete, I was delivering down there when the A30 was still a single carriageway in a lot of places, Iāve got the keys for the fork lift to tip myself at Liskeard & Iām hoping they might be open at Falmouth by the time I get there, do you think Iāll be alright for a quick ice cream on the beach before setting off back, would you like me to bring you one too??
You can keep your china clay back, I donāt want to spoil a good day, Iāve still got a couple of contacts down there for loads back up here & a cousin with a farm at Bodmin so guess where Iāll be nighting out !!!.
Itās no good asking Gavin to come with me, his daughterās put him on full scale lock down, sheās told him not to leave the house, I donāt know why really he could fight off any virus & come out the other side firing on all cylinders, just like the Ford D1000 he used to have with a ā ā ā ā ā ā ā V8 in.
Hope youāre keeping OK mate, look forward to seeing you at next yearās rallies.
coomsey:
From Truck mag May 87.
0
I wonder what,if any was the response coomsey!
I can only recall dolly as describing the āknotā,however itās not really a knot,itās a device or hitch surely?
David
