Looking at this photo of dhtriyadh ! back in my mind ! I remember fleet no 123 ERF 4MW this was a truck to drive .it felt solid and stood out along side with fleet no 104 Stan Brindleys truck , starting up it was though the starter just turned over a two ton block of solid metal with a thud without a shudder it roared into life just brilliant happy memories of Trans Arabia
Good morning Ron!
You’ll notice that I’ve popped a couple of these new NGC pictures on the ERF 1975 thread. I’m writing no more ERF books so they’ll go no further than this forum.
You’ll also notice that as a gesture of goodwill, I’ve removed a certain comment that you took objection to, from a post I made a while back on page 70 defending my position regarding the books.
Stay safe old mate and I wish you a peaceful Christmas season as it unfolds before us in these strange times.
Ro.
RO ! Well SORRY seams to be the hardest word , something got under my skin , where did that all come from ? Let bygones be bygones forever , I do put my foot in it sometimes , Happy Christmas to you and all on truck net Ron
ronhawk:
RO ! Well SORRY seams to be the hardest word , something got under my skin , where did that all come from ? Let bygones be bygones forever , I do put my foot in it sometimes , Happy Christmas to you and all on truck net Ron
Bless you sir! 
Nice one Backsplice , that photo of your fleet parked up looks like it was just after the port had been freshly tarmacked , I remember Specfically as Parts where out off bounds so the tarmac could have chance to set , I was parked up on the dockside with a NGC and the fuel tank was leaking , the port official went barmy ( diesel and tarmac do mix ) I later stick welded the seam outside the villa this was our workshop at the time the heat created an explosion and the fuel cap opened up bloody hell could have been a Disaster !! Jonny Davies had the fire extinguisher we jumped back , thankfully it was ok PS your outfit was on a different level to ours , we only had what we stood up in Ron
Nice one Backsplice , that photo of your fleet parked up looks like it was just after the port had been freshly tarmacked , I remember Specfically as Parts where out off bounds so the tarmac could have chance to set , I was parked up on the dockside with a NGC and the fuel tank was leaking , the port official went barmy ( diesel and tarmac do mix ) I later stick welded the seam outside the villa this was our workshop at the time the heat created an explosion and the fuel cap opened up bloody hell could have been a Disaster !! Jonny Davies had the fire extinguisher we jumped back , thankfully it was ok PS your outfit was on a different level to ours , we only had what we stood up in Ron We where the Cinderella Trucking comp in Saudi the loads we pulled where Unbelivably outrageous the lads where up to every thing that was put on the trailers ,and the ERFs had the bit tightly between there teeth Ron
Hello dhtriyadh, could you tell us more about the trucks and men that we may know ? How did the Jake brake stand up on the B series , what wieght did you take up Tief mountain ? How far where the ops ! You sound like a mechanic of some distinction ? There must have been many exciting times Ron
Hello Ron,
Hold on a minute! Your imagination is giving me far more street cred than I deserve. The biggest, heaviest thing I drove in Saudi was a Chevy Caprice Classic and I have never held a spanner in anger. I confess to being the man that drove the air conditioned desk, operated the buttons on the phone and chased drivers round in the night to make sure all the empty containers were in the port before the berth closed. That said, I did ride a Honda 750 around Riyadh and that took some balls! Probably the most stupid thing I have done in my life.
I don’t believe I have ever met any of the contributors to this thread, but, I did meet the late Gogi, just once, in Riyadh, in the final weeks before he left TA in 1983, he was the last of the UK drivers. My time was between 1982 and 1986 so I thought I would not know any people you guys knew. Having now looked through some of the earlier posts to this thread I think there may be a few names we both know and I certainly recognise Billy Belnas in your latest photo. Billy was the only Phillipino driver to travel to the UK for his leave rather than go home to the Philippines, he booked to go for a month, but, returned after 1 week having spent all the money he took with him. On about page 2 you have a story about a driver going through the window having pressed the dead mans handle. I think I recognise him as being Conrad Dimaculangan. If it is him, here is another picture taken in the TA villa kitchen in Riyadh. He was still with TA in 1986.
As I looked at the photo of Conrad I just posted, the conversation we were having came back to me.
Several drivers were discussing the food at roadside cafes, their english was not great. I said I liked the hummus, with hot bread, usually laced with olive oil. I looked at a room of blank faces.
I looked to Conrad for help and said. “Conrad, you know what I mean, you know olive oil.”
“Yes”, he said, “Girlfriend of Popeye”.
Hi Dhtriyadh I was there in 1982 to 83 my name. Is Jerry Cooke I worked in the workshop with Gordon Taylor previous to that I had worked in Dammam and had been to the Ryiadh villa times the last time I went Abdulla was the cook he had also been at Dammam when Martin Mears was the manager there I think our paths must have crossed somewhere along the line
Hello Jerry Cook!
Yes we did meet in Jeddah. I would cover in Jeddah when Campbell Waddell took leave. For some reason I have been confused by the years and thought the Jerry Cook posting on here was your Dad. Was your Dad ever an employee of the company or am I going mad.
I reckon I have you and Gordon to thank that, when everybody else was trying to get their yeast/bacon/■■■■ past the Jeddah customs I got pulled aside to explain what was in my bag, an ERF starter motor and a set of brake shoes!!
Hi dhtriyadh I do reconise Abdullah he worked for caravan trading before he came to Trans Arabia he was a good laugh about my Dad he worked for S Jones on the European side and collected some of the second-hand units for trans Arabia and then ran them down to the docks for shiping out to Jeddah we all had to bring the spares out I had to carry an ERF B series headlamp panel one time and Tony Cope had to bring a halfshaft for a Mack it used to cost a fortune in excess baggage but it was all good fun
Hello ( dhriyadh) you are a breath of fresh air I love your sence of hummer !! My wife was just cooking breakfast and has she trickled olive oil on the bacon ? I said that’s Popeyes girlfriend ■■? She looked puzzled and still is Har Har , The story of the Philo was something that I lead myself into ? Showing the ropes to all the new faces going over the trucks that they would be driving how to tilt the cab , oil a water tyres and coupling up to the trailers etc all was OK , So I took two lads out in the oldest wreck A series with NO windscreen to show them the layout in Jeddah . Well being R/H drive ? I was close to the Tonkers sitting in the spare seat with a Philo on the bonnet and I think Manny driving !!! keep over mind the drain hole keep over I kept shouting has I got panicky as we bounced up and down with the windscreen wipers trying to poke our eyes has the came on automaticly ■■ Into the cab well going round to tobacka street and Pepsi cola road I shouted turn right !!! There was a HISSING sound ■■? Has Manny used the blue lever for the indicater , it was that very second that we all whent into orbit The lad on the bonnet just disappeared through the hole where the windscreen should have been with the wipers shaving his ears ? I held on for dear life , it was scary !!! what I though I told them was whatever you do don’t touch that Blue lever by your right leg on the columb when driving it’s the dead man Bloody hell , Dhriyadh it may well be that lad in your photo the last time I saw him he was covered with a Tarmac Rash Was I glad to get back to camp Ron
hello dhtriyadh , that was the lad Conrad for sure he was only a slightly built lad ,
When I bought my camera in Jeddah I was warned to be very careful about taking photographs of Saudi people. In practice, whenever I produced my camera, locals would appear out of nowhere and pose uninvited in my shots of trucks, scenery etc. On a particular morning I was taking pictures of trucks outside the villa. I was just getting artistic with fancy angles on the bumper, when, out of nowhere, these two characters, no idea who they were or what they were doing there, just posed themselves in front of the trucks.
