Trucking the Middle (gasp) East?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EURO DRIVING FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
61

milodon:
I couldn´t say anything about the days those two last photos were taken, but comparing to modern day trucks in turkey, the difference is minimal. our company regularly unloads at the Akzo Nobel factory in Gebze, next door is a big steel mill and you usually try to park your truck as far as possible from the main road due to all the flatbed turkish trucks loaded with unsecured coils and metal bars driving by

Tallinn Estonia? This forum is great!

I have never run anything but flatbed trucks/artics (my choice) but it was always a matter of professional pride to have my load chained or strapped down properly before hitting the road.(When I was a little kid my mother would make me pick up stuff I dropped. Maybe that’s it). :unamused:

62

I cut my teeth on flat work in the early '70’s.Ropes and sheets,NO chains,NO straps.Whatever it was,rolls of newsprint,wood pulp,timber,machinery,steel,palletts of soap powder 2 high,ropes and sheets were all you had!
I think flat work in the UK now is a specialised job isn’t it?How many drivers today know how to tie a dolly?
I remember loading oranges out of Cardiff docks on a flat trailer,roped and sheeted.Would you get away with that today?

63

bestbooties:
I think flat work in the UK now is a specialised job isn’t it?How many drivers today know how to tie a dolly?

I think flats are a specialised job these days too.

Yes, I can tie a dolly, I was taught it when I was 12, roping bails onto farm trailers.
I’ve done a few years of flat work, so I’ve got a rough idea of how to rope ‘n’ sheet a load. My roping is ok, but my sheeting skills leave much to be desired.
A nice square load looks fine, but I can never get it to look right if there’s a step.
The sheet stays on, the load stays on, the rain stays out, but it looks like a sack of spuds ■■■■■■■ ugly. :blush: :blush: :unamused:

64

bestbooties:
I cut my teeth on flat work in the early '70’s.Ropes and sheets,NO chains,NO straps.Whatever it was,rolls of newsprint,wood pulp,timber,machinery,steel,palletts of soap powder 2 high,ropes and sheets were all you had!
I think flat work in the UK now is a specialised job isn’t it?How many drivers today know how to tie a dolly?
I remember loading oranges out of Cardiff docks on a flat trailer,roped and sheeted.Would you get away with that today?

Further to this post.
When I filled in the application form for the agency I work for now,that was 4 years ago,questions asked were:
Can you use Chains/tensioners?. Yes.
Can you use straps /tensioners?. Yes.

I added:I can also use ropes and sheets!They thought I was taking the ■■■■!

Likewise,when asked about different trucks driven,
Can you drive a range change gearbox.? Yes
Can you drive a splitter gearbox? Yes.
Can you drive an auto box? Yes.

I added:I can also drive a DB 6 speed.They were convinced I was taking the ■■■■! (Well I was just a bit)

65

the firm i used to work for ran loadsa flats most of the loads were either steel or timber but we carried anything that would go on a flat .

timber from grimsby

tiles netted from lockerbie

tanks for a distillary in scotland
most loads were strapped on but i still had to learn to tie a dolly cuz we used ropes aswell

66

you finished on there then carl?

67

Carl:
tanks for a distillary in scotland
most loads were strapped on but i still had to learn to tie a dolly cuz we used ropes aswell

Nice, sweet-looking Volvo!

What is a dolly? I assume Brit for a tarps is sheets.

Note professional American footwear. :wink:

I liked flats and lowboys (pictured) because here at loading docks the van and reefer drivers are often expected to reverse into dismally tight spaces and then help unload what is inside with hand carts. Not for me. We also get paid extra for tarping (“sheeting” in the UK?)

68

yes john, sheets are tarps, dolly is the knot used to tighten the rope

69

biggusdickusgb:
yes john, sheets are tarps, dolly is the knot used to tighten the rope

Thanks.

PS: Your handle precedes you into the room! :stuck_out_tongue:

PPS: In the War of 1812, when you guys burned down our Whitehouse, couldn’t you have waited a few more years? We need you now!

70

Like bestbooties,I learnt to rope and sheet in the 70’s, when I was about 14yrs old. I worked weekends and holidays for a haulier in Peterborough, and was often required to help load 16t flats or 40ft trailers. The truck’s driver was usually present to ‘teach me the ropes’, but one Saturday I was left at a local paper mill to rope and sheet a 16tonner. If I say so myself, I did a decent job, but when it came to take the truck back to the yard, as i’d loaded tight to the headboard, it was virtually impossible to steer the non-power-steered truck. As punishment (and part of the learning-curve) I was made to drive it round the yard for 15mins. Lesson learnt! It ain’t just about keeping it on the back - it’s where you put it first.

71

PS: Your handle precedes you into the room!

PPS: In the War of 1812, when you guys burned down our Whitehouse, couldn’t you have waited a few more years? We need you now!

its not a bragging name neither :cry: its the name of a character in my fave film of all time

why would you need us?

72

John, a Dolly Knot is a winch knot.

It took a bit of searching, but I found a tutorial on how to tie it eventually.

Sheeter:
Zzarbean, remember him ? - provideds a good description of how to tie a Dolly on his website, these pictures are from there,

uk.geocities.com/zzar_bean/dk2.html

For the left handed version, mirror the pictures and swap left for right, in the text and visa versa.

Zzarbean, by the way, was the original moderator on these boards. He used his initials to edit a post, so the poster would know who had done it. That’s where the [zb] comes from, we still use it in recognition of his contribution to the boards.

73

Then there’s the Australian dolly, used there because they didn’t have hooks
but continuous bars so not possible to flip the bottom loop over. Rather than
long ropes going over and back halfway down the trailer, they used short ones
to go over once at a time. You pass the loose end round the bar and then tie it
in more or less the same way, but usually with a bigger top loop (or 2)
because with this method it is more likely to slip out.
This way is fine as long as most of your loads are of a similar height, therefore
not as adaptable. Also Aussies often used aluminium gates down the sides
held tight to the load by the ropes.

I have written this in the past tense as it was all a long time ago and things
may have changed. :confused: :cry:

Sorry no pictures though. :unamused:

I have used this method in England occasionally when using ropes to secure
cargo in a van or a tilt fitted with ring bolts in the floor.

74

Remember in the days of roping and sheeting how the ropes would tighten up in the rain,(hemp ropes only).But then if the weather brightened up,you had to be sure to check and possibly rerope your load as the ropes would go so slack.
If you had a load that needed that extra bit of tightening,put your first dolly a good way up,then put a second one on your tension rope!Now that WAS tight,has been known to snap a rope!
Nylon ropes?Crap!

75

bestbooties:
Remember in the days of roping and sheeting how the ropes would tighten up in the rain,(hemp ropes only).But then if the weather brightened up,you had to be sure to check and possibly rerope your load as the ropes would go so slack.
If you had a load that needed that extra bit of tightening,put your first dolly a good way up,then put a second one on your tension rope!Now that WAS tight,has been known to snap a rope!
Nylon ropes?Crap!

Whaaa? Nylon rules! It may just be me, though. I like other modern stuff like AC.

Thanks to Simon for explaining the [zb] thing. That is so cool! :wink:

76

biggusdickusgb:

PS: Your handle precedes you into the room!

PPS: In the War of 1812, when you guys burned down our Whitehouse, couldn’t you have waited a few more years? We need you now!

its not a bragging name neither :cry: its the name of a character in my fave film of all time

why would you need us?

Because we’re dumb. I know, I am a Yank myself. I had to skip breakfast to have time to figure out the dolly images Simon sent.

Also all please note: I put the wink smiley in the wrong place in my previous msg. I do truly think Simon’s explanation of the “zb” is cool. :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: Thank you!

77

biggusdickusgb:

PS: Your handle precedes you into the room!

I had to look it up. Too funny!

78

Nothing on today,well once i started reading these old posts nowt got done some of these posts are like a good book excelent reading

Sorry i missed this post from John Alberg in December i like the comments against the photos

klunk/■■■■■■■ wrote:
Welcome to trucknet John clic on my photo bucket theres a few middle east pictures on it
s144.photobucket.com/albums/r182/klunk-■■■■■■■■
Clic on the above link then clic on Daysons that where the mid east pictures are John
Klunk

Amazing, and thank you! Have you thought about writing a book about your run to the Middle East? The two tomes which were mentioned here in the forum are out of print and the used copies are pulling in high prices. Methinks the public, aka the wal-polloi, is ■■■■■■■ for more. (Their boring lives pushing shopping carts, spending government money, and breeding ugly children needing something in their lives with more sass).

Regarding your photos:
#15 “Wash middle east style” Does the water-jug tipper turn away to look at parked camels when you do the wedding vegetables?
#16 “Swim Qatar ahh” You look awful happy there, for a dip without birds in attendance. Jap bathers get two babes per man!
#18 “Haliburton base camp Turkey one pregnant rabbit was taken from GBin the hand lugage for a reliable meat supply” Too funny! Can I assume it’s OK in the Middle East that the female rabbits are ■■■■?
#20 “Sheraton Qatar” Truck parking? (Looks like you guys are on the wrong side of the pond)!
#31 and #41-43 Passports to die for. You can’t buy anything like that at Wal-Mart!
#37 Cooking by the roadside? Looks like you pack a lot of gear (kit?) in that cabover. I am impressed.
#47 Driver from Miami Florida, looks like. Eeeeeeeee!
#50 I am getting the impression you are having way too much fun for such bizarre conditions. Are they paying you in Krugerrands!
#57 Could you eat the food? Were the restrooms clean? Plenty of fresh towels?
#58 Alcohol in the Middle East? Was that beer expensive?
#59 The sand philosopher?
#64 Back in the snow? Hardly seems fair, but you are still alive (I assume).

I write about trucking for magazines now that I am old, beat-up, and busted, but I do take an interstate (artic) flatbed (USA) run when they beg me. Nothing like the hairy stuff you Brits get into. ATB to you, Klunk!

PS: What is “klunk frae ■■■■■■■ wen ars yam”?

You asked about the ps above which jj72 has translated for you cheers jj72 .

But yan bits wrang ahs frae owerd dyke, or tuther side erd yat, ah cu frae Westmurlend thu nose.

Und ahs yam or day till neet whan ahs garn ter Portsmouth te dae sum salein ter Caen.

Sorry Wheelnut about the above but i could not help it :smiley:

79

klunk/■■■■■■■■
But yan bits wrang ahs frae owerd dyke, or tuther side erd yat, ah cu frae Westmurlend thu nose.

Und ahs yam or day till neet whan ahs garn ter Portsmouth te dae sum salein ter Caen.

My cup runneth over. :smiling_imp:

PS: I am going to assume that when you were running the Middle East you attempted to learn wraphead. :unamused: I still need to learn Spanish, but since we took 1/3 of USA land away from Mexico by killing a lot of them in an unfair war, we Yanks don’t have to! Not for a few more years, anyway.

ATB, shiny side up, and happy to see you are still among the living,

80

PS: I am going to assume that when you were running the Middle East you attempted to learn wraphead. :unamused: I still need to learn Spanish, but since we took 1/3 of USA land away from Mexico by killing a lot of them in an unfair war, we Yanks don’t have to! Not for a few more years, anyway.

eeerrrrrr…may be not that long John :open_mouth: