Be Luky Backsplice Ron
Ah Ron … When I arrived in Jeddah I had about a week to doss around before I was allocated an F89 … did a couple of runs into the port area to start with then had to pick up a 20 ft box loaded to the roof with scaffolding pipes on a 20 ft Skeleton for Ras Tanura …early the next morning I left the depot following a couple of older hands I had heard all the tales the week before about the famous mountain road but just then it was closed and the lads were taking some back road …well trying to keep up was a flamin nightmare and I certainly did,nt want to get left behind and it shook the very bones out anyway I was away for almost a week ,from Riyahd to Ras Tanura I was on my own and that was it …I was .broken in I came back via Taif the rest was easy …all in all Ron I always got on with the locals at least I think I did you had to I thought and once you got a grip of a few phrases and numbers you could get by …when parking up on the christian bypass at Medina there would be trucks from Syria /Jordan / Europe everybody got on …I even shared a tin of “ham” with a Dutch driver one afternoon (tinned ) I wonder how that got past …plenty memories my old mate stay well …Ken wanted to know where I was well I,m about 100 cliks North of Sydney cbd
Bukerah Inshallah
You did well Backsplice a baptism of fire indeed , mine was picking the lads up in th beat up pick up truck from kilo 21 we had a park area just short of the Christian by pass , driving back to base with no credentials with the lads sitting on the side boards , they put there hands through the open back widow over my eyes tight and Jonny Mathews along side me his foot came over and stamped on the throttle they where all shouting turn right right as I tried to see then they slammed a concreat block on the deck as I just missed a Toyota ■■ This Arab thought I had hit him ? he chased after me and I stoped ? all the lads where pointing at the dents all over his Toyota befor I knew it there where more Arabs it was building up to a linching !! when eventually they dropped the concreat block that we used for the trailer legs !! again marking the same noise and started laughing !!! the Arabs had no sence of hummer, I think he thought he will get a compleat paint job out of T/A and I drove back to the villa that was my first day in the heat of Jeddah Ron
Hi Ron … stay down the bottom of the yard and keep your head down … I wqs thinking back ,when I got the job in the office (till I had cooled down ) it was really cushy I had about 20 drivers to look after … I had a couple of local lads one was a young married kid in his late 20,s …I used to give him all the Jeddah stuff and surrounds gave him good money and he was home every night hee would take trailers out drop them on delivery site shoot back for another and so on at the end of ramadan he invited me with his family out somewhere when they were gong to slaughter a goat and all the celebrations n ( even said he had a bottle of Scotch for the occasion …I declined still we became good friends like a lot of drivers some Sudanese, Greeks and Somalis we all got on … As it happened I was,nt long from my stint in TAIF we had a challenge match at darts from T/A and I took the VW combi bus with about 10 blokes across to your villa …where I can,t remember who won but they all got plastered on sadiqie not me but driving them home was a nightmare with all the yahooing and shouting at folk I was as nervous as billyoh thinking I,d end up in the calaboosh so I whisked them home too sweet I.ll tell you …drunken Bar stewards
PS did I tell you because I was interested in Racing Pigeons …I thought about keeping a few and sending them back to Jeddah from the desert but could,nt find the right birds itr was only an Idea but the arabs called e Aba Hamahma (spelling might not be right but thats how it was said )_
father of the birds ( pigeons ) how about that mate
Mah Salahm
Pigeons Backsplice , that would be faster than the mail from KSA What a good idea they could follow the tap line to UK Internally you could have trouble with the Hawks ■■ The Arabs loved there Falconry hunting Pigeons ■■ , Getting back to the Darts ? I can’t remember ■■? I may well have been out on recovery or in DAMMAM I did a good stint there ,T/A where short of drivers , and desperately in need of a Safe Cracker !!! Ron
If I remember corectly !! We all went looking for the keys including the" Beach “on the coast rd , to no avail
he was desperate to get this safe open and he asked me if I could help , well we dragged the Safe into the yard it was as big as a Tea chest and solidly built and I said put it on its back and fill it with water, and I will cut it open , leaving the hose pipe running all night it eventually filled though the key hole , lighting up the hot spanner with my cigaret end , it took some doing the front door was an inch thick ,spitting and ■■■■■■■ I was getting scalded but I kept on getting the metal glowing red hot I started to cut and once I succeeded in cutting through the door Ito the box I cut a foot square section in the door this took some time the molten metal was like larver bubbling in the hot water ,this bloke was panaking on about the money money , I was happy with my job but it was still locked solid , hitting it with the sledge hammer and chisel it started to move and I lifted it up about an one inch , I could see the round locks into the case on all 4 sides , struggling and twisting the burnt panel the long bolts eventually retracted into an open position The door opened up it was amazing this bloke was in so excited as if he had won the pools ■■? Maybe he had ■■? He never gave me the drippings of his nose , That’s managers for you !! the money was untouched it was full of King Fizels He scuped up wades and wades of cash and hurriedly locked his door , the tight git !! I looked as if I had got the " Pox’” ,
"Ron
Kenb:
210
Great pics Ken 
! The NGCs deserve a place on the ERF 1973 Thread. Ro
I’ve just been trying to work out which NGC that is ^^^. You can just make out the figures 10 at the start of the fleet number. They would appear to be one (or two) of the six NGCs supplied new with 290 ■■■■■■■ and 13-sp Fuller 'boxes. Any idea which one it is? Lovely pictures! Ro
ERF-NGC-European:
I’ve just been trying to work out which NGC that is ^^^. You can just make out the figures 10 at the start of the fleet number. They would appear to be one (or two) of the six NGCs supplied new with 290 ■■■■■■■ and 13-sp Fuller 'boxes. Any idea which one it is? Lovely pictures! Ro
Hi Robert
The fleet numbers for the 7 new vehicles were 105 to 110 this included 107 which was a demonstrator that was seriously damaged and rebuild before being shipped to TA
The vehicle in question was 110 driven by a Johnny Mathews who unfortunately is no longer with us, these photos came from his son this morning, posted on Facebook. Johnny was an ex S Jones man and was one of the original team - a great guy always with a smile on his face.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Ken b
Kenb:
ERF-NGC-European:
I’ve just been trying to work out which NGC that is ^^^. You can just make out the figures 10 at the start of the fleet number. They would appear to be one (or two) of the six NGCs supplied new with 290 ■■■■■■■ and 13-sp Fuller 'boxes. Any idea which one it is? Lovely pictures! RoHi Robert
The fleet numbers for the 7 new vehicles were 105 to 110 this included 107 which was a demonstrator that was seriously damaged and rebuild before being shipped to TA
The vehicle in question was 110 driven by a Johnny Mathews who unfortunately is no longer with us, these photos came from his son this morning, posted on Facebook. Johnny was an ex S Jones man and was one of the original team - a great guy always with a smile on his face.
Keep up the good work.
Regards
Ken b
Excellent! Many thanks for that, Ken - you’re a star! Happy Easter to you and to Ron and all who post on this great thread. Ro
The ERF,s where the backbone of Trans Arabia , S Jones certainly put our truck into the history of Saudi Arabian Trucking What an adventure it turned out to be ,every ERF we had where tested way above there Limits and they took it on the chin ,from A, to B & NGC,s .the condition s where deplorable , the loads where impossible , the heat was relentless , the rd’s endless , The ■■■■■■■ power gave us the feeling of reliability , climbing mountains to get onto shimmering desert rd’s for days on end , the lads from S Jones and a few others did it over and over , I can’t praise them enough !! it really was incredible living out there with no contact cooking with a Primus stove limited food and water , we relied on the strength of the ERF ,Pressing the cracker feelingthe shudder of a 2ton block of metal fire up is something you have to do to experience the feeling .Thanks for the ADVENTURE and ■■■■■■■ Ron
@ Ronald F. Hawkins: EVERY TIME ■■■■■■■■■■ This year celebrating 100th anniversary
Happy Easter and not too many eggs
Well thank you A J !!! I must admit ? I did think of you when writing that last story .
Gelukkig Pasen to you , Ron
Well Ron my old sadiq we,ve never met but we certainly trod the same paths keep on keeping on !!! there,s a photo in “Scrapbook memories” thread of an old S Jones vehicle which would have been before your time
Thanks Backsplice for your contribution , That photo is a cracker , two for a pair The F89 looks a brut of a truck The Mac show,s my handy work with the spare wheel !! And was in a bit of trouble 3 days away 3 days back , on its way to King Solamonds mine , I would love to get kitted out to do the same job today ■■? That Sun was warm and cold at night ,what made that job special was !!! meeting Gogi RIP at the top of Tief
Ron
Good shots Backsplice , The first photo interesting load ! No bridges in Saudi !! and the Cotton real marker on the graded track , You had some good tackle ? a recovery truck , and new f89s we made do with whaterver we could use the Photo below is our recker ■■? Ron
I must make a correction to the " no bridges in Saudi ? " the flyovers in Riyhad ! and I found lots of tunnels in the Abha region when I joined TMS .Ron
Nice memories Ron! Good you keep up the good work by reminding us of the TA-adventure in the sand!
Why didn’t your parents put an extra initial E. in front of your name? E.R.F. Hawkins! LOL