Trans Arabia /S. Jones of Aldridge:A few pics

[erf-continental]

Ron, also I had a smile on my face to see how you all experienced a good time, even with the Home Guard
in mind…a bit coming home and back to good memories on what was, so many miles from home…>40*C.

A nice reflection to Dad’s Army and that makes all of us smiling…you British deserve a Noble-prize on humor!

There is good progress on the TA-register…quite a job with the ‘replacements’ as some fleetnumbers were
frequently used…well I patiently give priority to Jerry and Ken to allow their gems and input on that. As an
example…#111 was a ERF LV (JRE276K) and replaced by a Mack, #115 was a Mack and replaced by a ERF B 6x4.

Spoke to some persons who are hands-on with 3D-printing and #123 from TA should be an easy job in scale!

Attached a recent ■■■■■■■■■■■■■ in scale…not bad they preferred TA-colours though At this moment
shares of ■■■■■■■ dropped enormously but they will succeed with a sound come back!

[ronhawk]

The way we where ? TC , taking the lime light , he reminds me of Ernest Borgnine ? Ron

[erf-continental]

@Ron…did you pump up your bicycle-tyres for tomorrow? I overheard tomorrow again a
reunion as there are some leftovers! Wish you a good weekend and be nice to Bernadette!

Where was your wallet during the meal? Empty or just under the roof of your tin-hotel?

A-J

Question, when did the MAN’s came in at Trans Arabia?

[ronhawk]

Thanks for reminding me, A-J That tin hotel was 5 star ?and yes there was a donkey living in there , also substantial raised deck this was just right for a good nights sleep, the floor was covered in Donkey droppings which added to the ambiance almost like a carpet , thunder storms all the way down from the top of Tief to the mountains of Khamis , this drive stands out in my mind ,water falls the roads where washed away in places , with fast flowing rivers that appeared over night . I do intend to get in touch with those lads that are still around for stories strait from the. donkeys mouth so to speak ,The wallet you speak of can be seen in TC back pocket previous photo of “lime light”, the front tyre on the BSA is low ? But I have the heart to pump it up ?!! Ron ps Taffy Bill ? MAN this was his favoret truck ,?

[erf-continental]

What about smoking in KSA? We all know that Joe Walker was a frequent smoker…but
I wonder if smoking in extreme warmth still was attractive.

[erf-continental]

ronhawk:
The trouble is that when have second thoughts about something I put on this web ? I can’t find a way to take it compleatly off ? Without replacing it with more words !! Sorry about the former Ron

Ron, when you go back to your post and look at the right…press “EDIT” and than you can remove the picture you attached.

A-J

[john_west]

This scene will be familiar to all you Trans Arabia lads. Heading out of Riyadh towards Jeddah. Courtesy of my brother Andy. He has stitched 2 photos together. This was Andy Sindstat in a 1418 Merc circa 1979.

Some way further on the road started to thread its way through massive rocks like in the old cowboy films. Sadly neither Andy nor I have any photos of them, but I’ve pinched this picture of Monument valley Utah off the web. That’s how it looks - or does in my memory anyway!

John

[backsplice]

Ah John a familiar scene…these times are embedded in the brain I don,t remember “monument valley” but do remember similar places … there was a very similar long hill with a left hand curve (think it was on the Medina route to Riyahd ) some of the SARAMAT lads used to get up a bit of speed going down why free wheel in an F89 is beyond me ■■? or when they used the exhaust brake there would be the biggest cloud of black smoke you would have thought the motor had blown up … me I was more inclined to cruise it was SAFER !!! a lot of lads took to many risks … I never fancied a ride in the back of a RED CRESCENT bus ■■

Mah Salahm

ERF Continental…was never without a carton of these

[robert1952]

Trans Arabia fleet no. 107 was supplied new with a ■■■■■■■ 290 and 13-speed Fuller. However, it had accident damage to the chassis that would have prevented it from operating on UK roads, but would have been no problem in Saudi Arabia. The parent company, S Jones, had recently taken an ERF demonstrator to an exhibition and crashed it on the way, writing it off. It is possible that this is one and the same vehicle. Can anyone shed any light on this? Bearing in mind that I am still piecing together the history of the 91 ERF NGCs,if it can be shown that they are the same, I can eliminate the written-off demonstrator from my enquiries!

There’s a possibility that JLG 35N, an ERF demonstrator with breather pipes, Kysor and visor may have been the unlucky vehicle in question (see below). Robert

[ronhawk]

Realy good photo John , of monument valley I had a Chevi , suburban and toured the US including the M/V the drive down to the valley floor reminded me of Saudi , this was impressive the Chevi I mean ? We can’t get away from sand and sun ,taking the laces out of my trainers I made a clothes line in the back of this truck to dry the washing as we traveled all over great place the USA ! A-J the contacts have yet to bear fruit Ron , ps R52 maybe JD can help with 107 ? I did contact him this morning before I saw the web ?

[erf-continental]

@Ron…you’ll look alike Jethro Gibbs from NCIS in this SUV!!!

I remain patient for the low- and high fruits to be picked out of
your (reunion-)contacts! I am sure that JD knows more.

[robert1952]

Need to include the RHD day-cabbed B-series ERFs; and the LHD C-series ERFs with surplus B-series cabs. Jerry Cooke knows about these.

sjonescontainers.co.uk/info/history.asp

Robert

[kenb]

robert1952:
1

Trans Arabia fleet no. 107 was supplied new with a ■■■■■■■ 290 and 13-speed Fuller. However, it had accident damage to the chassis that would have prevented it from operating on UK roads, but would have been no problem in Saudi Arabia. The parent company, S Jones, had recently taken an ERF demonstrator to an exhibition and crashed it on the way, writing it off. It is possible that this is one and the same vehicle. Can anyone shed any light on this? Bearing in mind that I am still piecing together the history of the 91 ERF NGCs,if it can be shown that they are the same, I can eliminate the written-off demonstrator from my enquiries!

There’s a possibility that JLG 35N, an ERF demonstrator with breather pipes, Kysor and visor may have been the unlucky vehicle in question (see below). Robert

1

Hi Robert

You have prompted my memory - yes there was an issue with 107 - a bit of lemon - If remember correctly
The accident was not a S Jones/Aldridge driver but a Sandabach delivery driver
The vehicle had a problem with front suspension and went through steering boxes like sweets.
We were not told initially about this vehicles history but when questions were asked the truth came out!!
I need to speak to JD -I think we need to prompt each others brains or what is still working.

The comment by someone ref MAN - we did not have MAN whilst I ran the bussines - but after I left and Ian Carmichael took over as GM there was a big influx of 2nd hand ERF s to cope with the increased workflow form the P & O contract that had been taken from Saramat. Mainly to do local work but obviously went further afield - not good when the vehicles had probably done a million miles before Jones bought them to repainted and tart up!!

In my time we did not do a lot of out of town breakdowns and recovery - JD always insisted on service and inspection before magor out of town excursions!!

I have to say I have been appalled at seeing some of the pictures of both ERF and Mack trucks as if they were in a scrap yard - someone lost the plot

Ian C. Had worked for the Dawson Group Leighton Buzzard on a joint venture in Oman that went wrong !
He was very pro Volvo and had used them in Oman and TA turned over to Volvo and still today uses them - a very good truck
Ian had worked for. TDG company in Scotland prior to going to Oman - when he came out of TA he joined S Jones but was ousted when the bank took control of SJones board, he joined Mearsk and ran there UK Transport operation untill he retired

After Ian there was a Scottish guy that took over - cannot remember his name and Michael Jones son was there for a time not sure what he did!! But he know heads the S Jones Container bussines that they bought from the receivers when S Jones went into liquidation

Ken b

[robert1952]

Thanks Ken, that’s very helpful. Glad it wasn’t an S Jones driver! Robert

[john_west]

Oddly enough, I don’t ever remember breaking down in the middle of nowhere, despite the massive distances we covered.

We did take maintenance seriously. I regularly cleaned out the oil bath air filter on the Scania 110. I could never believe how much desert would be in there! I’m sure a few days worth of that would have ruined the engine.

I remember finishing early one night close to an Oasis, up near Hail. For some reason, I decided that the engine was about to pack up and decided to finish for the night, just as it was going dark. It went dark very quickly at those latitudes, unlike in England, there was simply no twilight - perhaps 10 minutes (maybe longer, it’s a long time ago!) between light and dark. When I looked at the engine, the turbocharger was glowing red, something I’d never seen before!

The next morning, the sun was up and attacking by 6 am. I made a cup of tea and set off. The Scania didn’t break down. In fact - apart from a clutch problem made worse by myself, using tipper oil instead of brake fluid - it never did!

Heading back from Jeddah to Dammam, going up Taif, in the Saviem, I became aware of a high note ‘tic, tic, tic’ sound. Not something in my personal experience, but from previous discussions it sounded like a little end. Still 900 miles back to base, but I decided to let it develop!

The Saviem got me back to Dammam. Sure enough, that’s what it was. The ‘MAN’ garage in Dammam replaced it and I was back on the road.

As said before, the Saviem was not up to the hot summers of Arabia. The temperature gauge would shoot up after about 10 am and low or high fifth on the ZF splitter would be the highest you could go without going into the red.

Pat Conway said that the 1418 merc was the same - the Merc had a buzzer. Pat would change down as soon as the buzzer sounded. One of the other drivers on the same run (Toyota pickups from Dammam to Riyadh) said ‘that buzzer gets on your ■■■■ after a couple of hours doesn’t it!’ Pat was appalled, he changed down and slowed down, but hey, the Merc never seized up!

John.

[ronhawk]

Jeddah ? The streets around T/A villa there where lots of scrap Yanky cars , just up from our street ,one in particular court my eye it was a Trans Am with a T bar roof and the Eagle on the Bonnet it was a dull Red in colour , working on the weekend the car was full of sand , parts missing from engine Tony Cope could see the potential and got me 4 new tyres and the after some work on the engine it fired up finding the exhaust was blowing bad , the idea was to get into our yard ? And get the paper work for this rare machine ? But before I could finish the work !! The streets where being cleaned up and the T bird disappeared. ■■ Ohhhhhh bloody hell what a waste ? Ron

[erf-continental]

Well, it will take some time to fill in the gaps in the Trans-Arabia-register with regard to the fleet.

[ronhawk]

There was little or no control of driving in KSA it was more or les left to the common sense of the people there ? That was the trouble the majorette had none there reactions where slow Truck Driving in Dammam ,the cars in town the would over take you ? On the other side of a duel carriageway Under take you on the pavements absolutely crazy even on the pavement on the other side of the road ? Oncoming traffic it was hilarious , getting out of town !! The desert road a black strip of Tarmac with deep ruts in disappearing into a mirror ! With trucks coming towards you on stilts ? No horizon just as if you where driving on an island with the sea all around it was unreal , the hot sun of 45+ it was hot hot the D 10 dozers scrape the sand dunes off the road with Tonkers blasting through in a clouds of sand .then clear flat empty desert accidents made you take notice , the carnage was littering the desert roads unbelievable head on crashes that must have killed ? trucks cars wrecks all over the place , not to brake down was the prayer ,I survived the Aqake rd was the T shirt ? Not that any body ever bought one ,Jerry Cook can claim this T shirt!! Losing his double load of oil drums ■■ In the midday Sun ,that must have been frightening,!! Thankfully living to tell his tail , still with days away from base Saudi was exciting to say the least this was just the east side ?the mountain rds of South west , where spectacular, trucks that never made it you could imagine how some crashes happened , overloaded with no respect for the steep mountain roads was a recipes for disaster Ron

[ronhawk]

Where not Doomed !! Have faith in your own ability !!there are still stories to find out there in the memories of Trans Arabia x truckers , "where there a WILL there’s a Relative " Har Har. The photo below was given up as a lost cause, after 2 attempts to recover this artic 900 miles away ,This was achieved with two Thi drivers and a Philo it was a difficult recovery in the Mountains 1800 miles in 5 days with very little tackle and food in 45+ "Ron

[ronhawk]

Jeddah Early morning after breakfast ,Going on the roof of our Villa to hang out the sheets after washing , the reflection of the sun on the sheets was blinding , finding Gypsy Dave up there praying to Allah ,with Amsa the cook and Mohamed ,I can see him standing there facing Mecca , only about 15mile away .Then copying every movement they made ," I thought come on behave " don’t take the Mick you never know what’s waiting for you up the track , but Gypsy Dave was serious ■■? I. think !!! Har Har ,But Hearing his near Death experiences in his MAC perhaps this was why he changed his Religion . It certainly is some Story , Ron " To be continued "