Great vid mate. Brings back memories of all the times we've had travelling up the North West Coastal Hwy and around the Pilbarra. You certainly see some amazing sights, on and off the road. Overtaking a pair of road trains banging on at 100kms is not for the faint hearted. lol
Thanks for the heads up on this video, Chris. Leonora has certainly "updated" a little since my days there. The center dividers are a newer addition; it made it a lot easier moving the big stuff through before that nonsense was put in! I don't know when the road from Leonora north was finally paved, but up to 1979 or so the bitumen ended a mile out of town (north) and it was gravel all the way to Wiluna and beyond. We might be able to visit the area next May; first time back there since '79.
Really great to see your unit after you rebuilt it gm16v149 matey and of course all of the paraphenalia associated with another normal days work in WA. Thats really showing the rest of them how it's done with no fuss or dramas. Situation normal for WA. Great video my friend. Tells it how it really is. Cheers and Merry Christmas.
i dont think they have to much problem with frozen feets in australia:) we only use cabovers for they are the only ones on the marked and it gets -50 celsius in some parts here, trucks used in the nordic contries are better insulated and have bigger heaters and axiluary heaters when the truck is parked so it dont have to idle to keep warm. the australian rigs are impressive, i would love to get a go in one.
I said the road used to be de-restricted (in the Northern Territory) with no speed limits for cars but a couple of years ago they brought in a 130 km/hr speed limit. (81 mph). Since then the crash rate has gone up.
It's probably half cabovers and half conventionals over here . Cabovers are mainly for B-doubles which have length restrictions. Conventionals for roadtrains and single trailers. The new cabovers are a lot better than the early ones, more comfortable, better insulation, bigger sleepers etc. ( I'm talking the American iron we use here). If I bought a new truck it would be a conventional but the way the economy is, I'm sticking with what I've got, can't fault the way it does the job.
I know some roadsigns in australia with warning that there are 52 meter long trcuks (I think some of them are even longer), but in europe we got also some 52 meter trucks!
They made a brand new road about 1980 I think it was, the old gravel road is to the west. It's now sealed right through to Wiluna. I remember driving on the old gravel road.....rough as guts. Leonora's been cleaned up a bit since the old days.
Every now and then, I get that old feeling of wanting to be back behind the wheel and back up the track. But then I remember what the transport industry has become in these so called "modern" times and especially the type of people working in that industry now. Transport now is full of either cowboys or dogs or sometimes a combination of both. These days, if you pull up to kick a few tyres or have a leak and a work mate passes you, there's not much chance he will pull up to see if you're OK. However, there is a huge chance he will drive on without stopping, while he gets on his mobile phone to the boss to give you up for some imagined transgression. I'm now an old time truckie, the son of a truckie from another era, when driving passed anyone on the road with a problem was looked upon as something slightly less than treason; when it was expected and accepted that you could rely on one and other in the extreme situations that we used to find ourselves in. We were once the mechanised versions of the overland drovers and the camaleers and bullockies who moved stock and freight all over this wide, brown land. When almost every truck had a tucker box in the cab, a water bag swinging in the slip stream and a swag tied on the hungry board. Not anymore, those days are long gone and so are the men who were proud to be called a truckie. They have been replaced by a breed of Australians to whom words like camaradery and loyalty mean nothing. When just one industry can display such a disappointing microcosm of Australian society, it doesn't say much positive about society in general. Good roads, better trucks and especially, better tyres are an inevitable part of an improving civilisation. It's a pity that it comes together with a complete disregard for our history, our morality and our sense of community.
@johnparkimp3 Thanks mate and Merry Christmas to you also. I only wish I bought a Hi-Def camera first up because the early vids like this one would have looked a whole lot better.
It's got an "Icepak" diesel powered air-con for when you're stopped, you can see it behind the cab on my vid "Kenworth air start". You can sleep under a blanket mid-afternoon when it's 120F outside, it's that good.
hi larasa. all the trucks in europe is regulated to about 55 mph, it cuts the power when that speed is met. it can be dangerus when overtaking so we allways have to keep that in mind. we mostly got two lane roads that is vey narrow and mirrors getting crushed into uncomming trucks is not uncommon. the ceo of dosan moxy just got killed in a crash with a mailtruck here. 250 people are killed in traffic in norway every year.
A mate of mine did up his White Road Boss with an 8V-71(?) Detroit after a million kilometres and then got another 750thousand before it went ka-boom! Mind you it spent most of its life hauling logs on rough roads and steep hills.
I loaded 2 trailers at Fitzroy Crossing and drove across the top and down to Pt Augusta last week, no one seemed to take much notice of it. Didn't see any cops in 4,000 kms.
there is nothing like the sound of a real motor .. the 3408 cat and V8 mack..... either of them when working is poetry in motion ... pity none of them are made anymore
You really make some nice videos. At the 130 sign you made a comment, but I couldn't quite make it out. What were you referring too. Thanks again and take care.
@tom201090 a very good and informative video. My only criticism-the first section telling you what the video was was too long if you dont mind me seeing. However the rest of the video made up for that
I just saw the facts about the freight trains there; in Europe the biggest freight trains go up to 24,000 tonns pulled by three 14,000 HP Iore-locomotives
