ronhawk:
Hands up all who remember this Truck ? The clue is on the cab door , I will hold my hand up with Vince ? And JD ? Thereby hangs a tail Ron
Bloody hell Ron where have you dug that pic from? My Dad and Uncle worked for Barlows,yard was other side of Sneyd pool from Craddocks yard in New Invention, I think John Allman owns yard now,Thank you very much Sir
Hi Pete, it’s uncanny how we are all conected with one chance of meeting at the dads army reunion, the photo of the truck ! The photo of the army lads who where all prisoners of war in Stalag 12 14 , the story of one man and his dog & Trans Arabia Jeddah I will stitch it all together on this thread , nice to be in touch Ron
Pete Smith , ? After the dads army reunion I got in touch with Derek Farington , driving over to see him ? I went wrong and nearly gave up on finding his house but I did eventually , it was worth it , chatting about KSA I took photos ,!!! then I spotted the Albion truck , I said I think I recognise that truck, he said that was Harold Barlows ? I said I new Harold he drove for S Jones , he told me that was his uncle and he drove with him learning the ropes , S Jones bought them out and he went with the truck to Jones’s Then he said Harold was prisoner of war in North Africa and taken to Stalag 12-14 for 3years !!! the sacrifices that all the lads made in those days are well worth remembering , , Ron
George Best scored 6 goles for M/U in 1970 ,Well here is another 6 of the best !! Trans Arabia ,this was the Chicken run in late 70s transporting a complete chicken farm to Riyhad, all lined up ready to go, Ron
Hi Ron,
Just spoke to my Uncle who remembers some of Barlows drivers, Sammy Cartwright, Eric Russell, Kelly …, a big lad who was nick named Garth and the mechanic Dennis Dawes who went on to start up Freelance garage in Wedges Mills Cannock, apologies to Transarabians for hi-jacking thread, Cheer’s Pete
No problem Pete ,the names you mentioned do ring a distant bell !!!,But we did have a big lad named Johnny Arnold ? At S Jones He went down under in Backsplice’s land of plenty , I remember him telling a tail of getting cut up by an impatient car driver in the smoke !! He cought him up at some traffic lights running round to the frightened driver ? he tied his chrome car aerial in a knot that was Johnny great lad , not many aerials in Jedda , Ron
pete smith:
Hi Ron,
Just spoke to my Uncle who remembers some of Barlows drivers, Sammy Cartwright, Eric Russell, Kelly …, a big lad who was nick named Garth and the mechanic Dennis Dawes who went on to start up Freelance garage in Wedges Mills Cannock, apologies to Transarabians for hi-jacking thread, Cheer’s Pete
Hi Pete just had a flash back to Bradley & Fosters Darlaston !!! I worked in the garage along side a fellow named Albert Dawes ? Not very tall but a nice guy , he loved Brass Bands , just thought it may be the same family !! Bradley & Fosters ran Leyland Comets , Beavers & Hippos , There furnace S/H Plant was belching smog over the surrounding area , the plant was modified with after burners and the chimney highered by another 100ft This ment the smoke just went further afield !! ! a journalist named (Allen Wicker ) off the TV called in and we fitted a top hose to his R/R. Ron, bloody hell that’s going back some 1960 ,
pete smith:
Hi Ron,
Just spoke to my Uncle who remembers some of Barlows drivers, Sammy Cartwright, Eric Russell, Kelly …, a big lad who was nick named Garth and the mechanic Dennis Dawes who went on to start up Freelance garage in Wedges Mills Cannock, apologies to Transarabians for hi-jacking thread, Cheer’s Pete
Hi Pete just had a flash back to Bradley & Fosters Darlaston !!! I worked in the garage along side a fellow named Albert Dawes ? Not very tall but a nice guy , he loved Brass Bands , just thought it may be the same family !! Bradley & Fosters ran Leyland Comets , Beavers & Hippos , There furnace S/H Plant was belching smog over the surrounding area , the plant was modified with after burners and the chimney highered by another 100ft This ment the smoke just went further afield !! ! a journalist named (Allen Wicker ) off the TV called in and we fitted a top hose to his R/R. Ron, bloody hell that’s going back some 1960 ,
Ron,
I think I may have a Bradley and Foster sales brochure somewhere, will have a look for it, way off Transarabia now and apologies again for doing so, have a look at the trade plate in the windscreen Ron, 425E would that be a Sammy Jones trade plate? Cheer’s Pete
Nice one Jona, Trans Arabia went down when Brits left , that’s for sure , who is driving the tipper ? Just to diverse for a moment in time . Bradley & Fosters Oxtopus was identical to this with the wings flashes on the cab I remember it well , as a short sided tipper green in colour take note of the large diameter steering wheel !! To turn this 4 in hand took strength and skill when loaded with pigs , Ron
ronhawk:
Nice one Jona, Trans Arabia went down when Brits left , that’s for sure , who is driving the tipper ? Just to diverse for a moment in time . Bradley & Fosters Oxtopus was identical to this with the wings flashes on the cab I remember it well , as a short sided tipper green in colour take note of the large diameter steering wheel !! To turn this 4 in hand took strength and skill when loaded with pigs , Ron
Hi Ron,
Google “Bradley and Foster” click on images and then click on the image from the catalogue and then follow it to Darlaston History web site and there are loads of pictures and names you may recognise, thought I had seen a catalogue somewhere! Cheer’s Pete
ronhawk:
Nice one Jona, Trans Arabia went down when Brits left , that’s for sure , who is driving the tipper ? Just to diverse for a moment in time . Bradley & Fosters Oxtopus was identical to this with the wings flashes on the cab I remember it well , as a short sided tipper green in colour take note of the large diameter steering wheel !! To turn this 4 in hand took strength and skill when loaded with pigs , Ron
Hi Ron,
Google “Bradley and Foster” click on images and then click on the image from the catalogue and then follow it to Darlaston History web site and there are loads of pictures and names you may recognise, thought I had seen a catalogue somewhere! Cheer’s Pete
Thanks Pete, fascinating looking back , the loco motive was a diesel in my days , it was a dangerous place to work ? They droped the bottom out of the cupalo onto water in very wet conditions ,this created an explosion and the bales of scrap iron and every thing that was in the furnace blew over the road into Richerdsons falling through there factory roof, Thankfully no one was killed , this was the notorious S/H plant . The story I copied thanks to you makes a good read , Ron.
ronhawk:
Nice one Jona, Trans Arabia went down when Brits left , that’s for sure , who is driving the tipper ? Just to diverse for a moment in time . Bradley & Fosters Oxtopus was identical to this with the wings flashes on the cab I remember it well , as a short sided tipper green in colour take note of the large diameter steering wheel !! To turn this 4 in hand took strength and skill when loaded with pigs , Ron
Hi Ron,
Google “Bradley and Foster” click on images and then click on the image from the catalogue and then follow it to Darlaston History web site and there are loads of pictures and names you may recognise, thought I had seen a catalogue somewhere! Cheer’s Pete
Thanks Pete, fascinating looking back , the loco motive was a diesel in my days , it was a dangerous place to work ? They droped the bottom out of the cupalo onto water in very wet conditions ,this created an explosion and the bales of scrap iron and every thing that was in the furnace blew over the road into Richerdsons falling through there factory roof, Thankfully no one was killed , this was the notorious S/H plant . The story I copied thanks to you makes a good read , Ron.
Hi Ron,
That bridge over the canal, which carried the railway line in to the works, has been replaced and as you know is now EMR scrap yard, one of the fitters at EMR previously worked for Fosters, his name is Dave Richards, a bit more of my memory returns!!, Cheer’s Pete
Two containers full to the brim of soft drinks trying to get into the cellar to keep cool, !! Derek said it took two days to get it up , that’s the trailer of course, JD & me had the same problem with another of the same finding it hard to find safe ground to jack up on, the legs just disappeared, finishing up about 2ft high, it was dificult to couple up heavy loads that had been dropped 8 inches too low ,when uncoupling the trailer would dip down at the neck , with the wieght , the Mac would nearly brake your neck shooting back looking in the mirror , making absolutely certain that the King pin is locked . You always apply park brake before connecting trailer air pipes this is A killer to the unanishiated, ( on all artics ,) I know you know ,but you never know , who reads this thread , Ron
Well looking at Derek , helping himself to a fly swat !! reminds me of when Bill Smith had us all doing a night run in Jeddah , we started from just off the coast road by a load of fig trees , the night was humid and the moisture in the air was that much that we had to use the windscreen wipers , the trailers where poorly lit, if you had one with rear lights lights it was a bonus . Following these dark shapes in the night with the wipers trying to remove the sand dust that smeared the screen , we traveled on into the night, in convoy the containers where heavy and turning left off-the-Madina road , Alan Shipton turned to tight slightly down hill and braking ? ,and the weight rocked over on the 5th wheel and he rolled over ? It was now day light , we could do no more but to carry on and it was later on recovered with a crane , Ron
Your mention of poor rear illumination has reminded me of a trailer I picked up from Dammam dock. Took it through to Riyadh, but as it got dark on the way back, I realised the back lights had gone out. I can’t remember what was wrong, but even though I was the ‘electrician’ for our group (I had - and still have - a well made meter, the shape of a pencil, with a spike at one end and a metre long lead with another spike on the other end. This has a series of lights, from 6v to 240v. Most useful) I couldn’t get the lights working.
I taped a couple of torches, with red cellophane over the ends, to the back. I was stopped by the police just before Hofuf corner. Grumpy he was! Ripped my torches off and threw them into the desert. Told me in no uncertain terms that I must wait until morning.
His mistake was to turn round and head back for Riyadh. I spent 10 minutes finding the torches in the dark, taped them back on and carried on back to Dammam.
Nice one John , I bet Backsplice had better lights than Blackpool illuminations , Derek told me that SARAMAT where always round Trans Arabia trying to re recruit our drivers , I did not know this , Ron
