It's murder on this Orient Express !
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The vehicles running to the Middle East are at best modified versions of those used on domestic work and are almost entirely unsuitable for these distances
by lain Sherriff
TODAY possibly 4,000 vehicles are loading, discharging or travelling between the Middle East and all the European countries—both East and West. If my experience is any guide not one of these vehicles is ideally suited for the task. This opinion is supported by the fact that no manufacturer has built a vehicle specially for the 8,000-10,000 miles return run. The journeys can take anything from one month to 10 weeks to complete and will involve travelling in the best and worst road and weather conditions. Yet the vehicles in use are at best modified versions of those used at home—some not even modified.
I made a 3,500-mile run to Iran last month, much of it an Eastern BRS Scammell, I also rode in a Scania 110 and an MAN 16/232. En route I examined a Volvo, DAF, Mercedes, Mack, Fiat, Atkin son, Guy, Berliet a n d Henschel. The drivers were critical to some degree of their own vehicles but they had some very clear ideas about what was required—and who should know better than the man who 40 weeks in 52 is on the Middle East run ?
It is in my view an act of extreme folly to send a righthand-drive vehicle on a 7,000mile-plus trip when more than 6,000 miles are to be spent on left-hand-drive roads.
Overtaking problems
Power is of little consequence if the driver cannot see ahead to overtake with confidence. Much against my training, philosophy and better judgment I acted as the drivers' overtaking eyes on the Scammell, Scania arid MAN. Not always was my judgment correct and frequently the drivers had to make a hurried pull-in. I wonder how many of the wrecks I saw along the roadside were the result of similar —or solo—driving techniques ?
Drivers on domestic trunking seem to be possessed with a power mania. Cafe talk centres round their vehicles' ability to "take anything in sight" and " fly " up hills. The less fortunate show concern that their steeds "cannot pull the skin from a rice pudding."
The ability to pass everyone else is less important across the Channel. First of all, strictly enforced speed limits in Europe discourage the flyer and any 220hp engine pulling 32 tons can clock the legal 65km/h (40mph) with comfort. Then there are other constraints.
East of Istanbul the roads enforce their own limits— they are in most places either too narrow for overtaking or too poorly surfaced for speed.
Up in the mountains at Bolu, Imranli and Tahir in Southern Turkey, " Tellikellie " vehicles —fuel tankers and logging lorries grossly overloaded— become the pace setters and their pace is extremely slow. These vehicles are of immediate post-war vintage with petrol engines. They are in the main BMCs and (here let's wave the Union Jack) despite their use and abuse for a quarter of a century they still run.
As speed is a minor consideration, cab comfort is of major importance and no manufacturer can claim to meet the total requirement in this area. To claim to be better than a competitor might be self satisfying to the salesman in his sales pitch; in the freezing cold of Turkey or the burning heat of Iran it means little.
Lest it be thought that my opinion was adversely influenced by my experience in a non-sleeper Scammell cab it must be emphasised that the most comfortable ride I had was in the Crusader's nonsuspension seat.
Having travelled the first 1,000 miles on a properly adjusted suspension seat in the Scania the difference in favour of the fixed-seat Crusader was marked. This was later put down to the cab suspension by Mr W. Batstone, the NFC's chief engineer, who jointly designed the Crusader with Scammell.
More attention should be paid to seat covering. In the heat, when most drivers wore shorts but no shirts, skins were sticking to the plastics upholstery—except where the drivers had supplied their own removable simulated sheepskin covers.
I recall Alex Kitson of TGWU dismissing sleeper cabs with a rhetorical question to a conference. "You can't expect the lads to sleep in a tin box can you?" Well perhaps for one or two nights a week, but certainly not every night for a month or more; these men are drivers not nomads.
Exhaustion
Regrettably, transcontinental roadside accommodation is at best sparse, and at worst nonexistent, and cab sleeping is essential. But today's sleepercabs were never designed with these long hauls in mind. After two nights they become claustrophobic, ill ventilated and badly appointed mobile bedsits. After a time sleep comes from exhaustion; the man is refreshed only for a few hours.
Nor are the cabs well or even adequately appointed. Apart from a " wardrobe " capable of carrying one suit and a couple of shirts, and with under-bunk storage for tools, jacks, levers and tubes there is little offered in the way of secure storage space. This means that the remainder of the loose kit is stored on one or other of the bunks or strewn on the floor.
Each night a mini removal takes place so that the driver can cook, wash, strip off and sleep.
From painful experience I know that cases, boxes, pots and pans and sleeping bags cannot be stored securely on a bunk even with webbing. A tin of milk opened in the morning disperses itself around the rest of the food carton before lunch. Eggs smash, bread and brown sauce form an unappetising mixture and tins of fruit, meat and vegetables and soup on a Turkish dirt road become as lethal as Sir Barnes Wallis' bouncing bombs. Food lockers are essential.
Water carriers are also basic necessity. We had one sixgallon heavy-duty plastic container and an assortment of smaller vessels. They were packed in all the odd corners —such as the passenger door step, alongside the engine cowling and in the passenger's floor space. Twice the caps on two of them were dislodged by vibration and the precious liquid poured all over the cab.
Drivers use an assortment of burners to prepare their food —from two rings and a grill to a one-ring camping burner. During the run when not in use they and their gas bottles bounce around the cab and each night they have to be repaired before use.
In the heat it is essential to have air circulating in the cabin and without air-conditioning this means running with the window down. This results in extreme discomfort from two sources. The driver is attacked by sunburn and the cab is filled with acrid exhaust fumes and dirt every time a vehicle passes in the other direction. Manufacturers offer air-conditioning as an optional extra, but I did not see any British trucks fitted with it.
Inadequate
A batch of new Mercedes being delivered to Tehran were fitted with air-conditioning equipment, but according to the drivers it was inadequate. They had also found cab conditions cramped, and window winders and door handles had given them painful left legs. They thought the trucks were ideal for autobahn work but less suited for Middle East transport.
The MAN cab was roomy, and the facility of being able to move the driver's seat forward made sleeping conditions less claustrophobic than I had found, even on the top bunk, of the Scania 110.
The roof-light on the MAN helped ventilation but nevertheless the condensation, even with a side window slightly open all night, caused a minia Lure showerbath at breakfast. Of course, there were two people sleeping in the cab.
Normally only one bunk is required but most manufacturers are supplying two; the space the extra bunk takes up could be put to better use.
In Tehran I had the chance to look over a US Mack operated by the Dutch company Rynart and driven by Johnny Umsworth of Kent. It had air conditioning and one bunk. The driver's area was much too cramped for my liking but his bunk was much more spacious than any other I had seen. It got nearer the ideal than the others but was still a long way from perfect.
Lack of storage accommodation applies to all makes but the non-sleeper Guy Big J, ERF, Atkinson and Crusaders are totally inadequate in this respect. At best the Volvos, Berliets, Henschels and the rest can really accommodate only one man, and his kit, yet the Bulgarian and Rumanian vehicles I met were running double-manned. They chose or were forced to eat outside from the fold-down lid a a tool box mounted on the chassis frame of their semi-trailers—weather permitting!
Still, they had the good fortune to have toolboxes on the semi-trailer; we and most others had not. This is an essential. It helps to rid the cab of tools, chains and spares.
Spare-wheel carriers were another source of complaint. An open carrier under the body is both awkward and an invitation to thieves when the vehicle is unattended.
After wrestling a spare wheel in and out of these carriers, cut fingers and bruised feet are commonplace. When locking bolts are frozen solid, wheel-changing becomes even more hazardous. David Stroud and David Allan, the Eastern BRS drivers I travelled with got painful hands and feet as proof. What they did not have in the cab was a first-aid kit.
Grease and sand combine to make a grinding paste, not a lubricant, and there is plenty of sand on the way to Tehran. It is essential that the number of exposed grease-points is reduced to the minimum.
To transfer the headlamp dip from UK nearside to Continental nearside the Scania's lamps had been "adjusted" with masking tape. From about nine o'clock on the rim masking tape, in the shape of a wedge, was fixed to the lens. This I felt was an unprofessional way of achieving the objective and I wondered if it was permanent enough. It apparently was; the driver told me it had been in use on a Baghdad run a month earlier.
Because of the total absence of locker space on the Crusader we were obliged to pack kit "not wanted on voyage" into a box which was then secured to the chassis frame. It was not well enough secured because during the night at Bagazen on the Turkish Iranian border we had some silent visitors who removed the excess baggage, leaving only cut ropes and webbing as proof of their call.
Assailants
On Tahir mountain we were more fortunate—here we saw our assailants. At this point I was travelling in the MAN; as we climbed round the torturous snake bends to the 2,740m summit, one by one we lost our electrics. Until at last we had no headlights and had to stop. Tahir is a dangerous road with hairpin bends, soft edges, 600ft drops—and the residents of Tahir village!
Before he left the cab to rectify the faults the driver armed me with a steak knife and a bread knife with instructions to stand back to back with him. Armed with a torch he opened up the front of the MAN and undid the fuse cover. Several of the fuses had fallen out or broken. Before he could repair the damage we were surrounded by the villagers. They demanded whisky and cigarettes and when they were refused they poked sticks at the driver. He dropped his fuses in the dark into water filled potholes. Then suddenly we were deserted: our visitors had disappeared into the night. Only one fuse was undamaged and we used it for lights.
Before leaving Tahir village an examination of the vehicle told us where the visitors had gone—tail lamps and flasher lenses, together with number plates and the long-vehicle plate, had been removed or damaged. We had no tail lights, no flashers, no hazard lights. And worse was to come: when we had stopped we were in the "high" range of the gearbox and without use of the splitter switch there we had to stay : we cleared Tahir in high 1st and 2nd.
Smashed windscreens are commonplace on this lonely, wild stretch and some operators now take the precaution of fitting metal windscreen protectors. This has led the inhabitants into a new method of attack—they drop rocks on the cab roof. When we were attacked in this way the MAN cab took the shock and we did not stop. I learned that some of the more knowledgeable raiders have mastered the art of applying the semi-trailer handbrake, before slashing the tilt to have a look at the load. These are all factors that manufacturers must consider at the design stage—at least until the authorities "tame" the road.
What may be considered a bolt-on " goodie" for the home market is essential for the Middle East run. Sun visors, deflectors, sturdy mirror brackets, radio and tape player, first-aid box and a man-size fire extinguisher. We carried the dual-purpose Tyre and Fire equipment—happily it was not required.
A wash-hand basin, cooker and cold food cupboard are basic requirements, as are a toolbox and properly stocked spares kit. Vehicles should carry spare fuses, bulbs, lenses, fan belts, wire, fuel filter, nuts, bolts, washers, clips, olives, emergency windscreen, tubes, gaiters and puncture repair outfit.
Driver's basic requirements are a sleeping bag, two blankets, pillow, toilet gear, including tissues, 10 pairs socks and 10 sets of underwear, warm jumpers, six shirts, three or four pairs of jeans, one change of casual clothing, one pair of boots, two pairs of shoes, coat or anorak, gloves and overalls. The three BRS men had suits supplied by Jeltek and they were lined against the cold but proved ideal in all climatic conditions. Almost as important, they folded away into a small space when not in use.
Add to these items sufficient basic foodstuffs for 28 days at least, and it gives some idea how much storage is needed.
The NFC 38-ton Middle East cab design (see page 17) is a great leap forward. The specification appears to cater for all the driver's needs, yet it should add only marginally to the operating cost. Assuming that the difference between the basic price of the cab and the Middle East is £1,000 and that the vehicle will cover 63,000 miles a year for five years then the additional cost per mile will be one third of a penny.
It appears to have the quality of being an all-yearround vehicle. Europe's Middle East drivers may yet have cause to be grateful to the BRS drivers (whom they looked on pityingly as they bedded down on the engine cowling each night). Certainly the new cabs, once in service, will not go unnoticed. Without TV, radio, newspapers or other distractions, drivers wander up and down the lines of parked vehicles and draw comparisons.
The Scammells, Guys and Atkinsons were the centre of attraction for more than one reason. A German driver remarked: "Now I know how you won the war; you have to be tough to sleep in these." It was, however, great consolation to have them admire the Rolls-Royce engine in the Scammells. The name seems to have lost none of the old magic.