Aust-Ray-Chapter-9

The life and times of Australia's "Nullarbor Kid". True stories from his past.

It wasn't long after Jim Dinsdale's sleeper cabin episode that it was decided with the pushing of the frontiers from joining the eastern capital cities by road transport, which was all new, to linking up across the whole continent over the dreaded desert the Nullarbor Plain to far away Perth in Western Australia, the most isolated capital city in the world.

North south up and down the East coast there were pubs ,maybe a night in a bed for a change before the return journey or if broken down ,always pubs in a country town and a return trip was only about a week or two anyway.

Now the East to the West coast 6,000 miles return, that was a different story. A good trip maybe around three weeks to a month if it didn't rain, which it did occasionally, or like me once broken down out on the Plain ,the return trip took 3 months.

Somebody had seen a picture of a truck in the U.S.A. with this extended cabin that looked like it could have a type of bed in there. What a great idea for the Perth Run.

The British diesel trucks which was the backbone of long distance transport in those days consisted mostly of forward control cabins, in other words the motor was not out the front of the cabin under a bonnet, but the cabin was built around the motor. Between the driver's seat and the small passenger seat, the cabin was divided completely in half by the metal engine cover.

The noise was indescribably loud, (that's why I now have a hearing problem) if there was a passenger then the driver had to shout to be heard above the roar of the motor. We placed blankets and all sorts of covers we could find over the metal engine casing, the best was a refrigerator cover like a doona covered in canvas something like a sleeping bag. Even that only deadened the noise a few degrees. The only good thing about it was on a straight stretch of road with no one around I could put a small canvas bag full of spanners on the accelerator pedal and stretch my legs up on the engine cover as if I was at home in my lounge room. If you think about it this was my lounge room and my bedroom and my work place all in one. When it was time for a sleep, the driver had a choice, out on the ground or build up the drivers seat level with the top of the engine cover with a suitcase or box then build up the passenger seat with a bag or a box and lay across this up and down contraption with a couple of blankets. One never slept for long unless the driver had been driving for about 20 hours and then it was paradise.

The Albion with a forward control cabin prime mover that had been over to Perth a number of times was closely inspected and it could be seen that there was plenty of room between the front of the trailer and the rear of the cabin. We didn't have quick release turntables yet so if necessary the U bolts could be undone and the whole turntable moved slightly to allow the corner of the trailer to miss the back of the extended cabin even with the most extreme turn.

These cabs were not tilt cabs they were bolted to the chassis, so we had to be able to get to the motor from the rear if needed.

It was decided to extend the top half of the cabin only, leaving space to put extra tanks underneath the bunk on top of the chassis.

The complete back of the cabin was cut out down to the top of the engine bay leaving the top half of the rear of the cabin open then the sides of the original cabin was extended back both sides slightly less than the width of a door in a house . A floor was cut to fit and then underneath the floor on the outer edge either side were tapered in towards the base of the original cabin. To strengthen this "tin" box on the rear of the original cabin the roof of the bunk from one side to the other had a channel inserted in it so that it was proud above roof level. Small glass windows with rubber edging were cut into both ends of the bunk and also a large window in the centre of the rear panel that had been originally cut out of the rear of the cabin to complete the sleeping bunk. The oil bath air filter was attached up on top of the cabin above the bunk area. Up till now it had always been attached to the rocker cover on the motor. Maybe the first ??? Some foam rubber was cut to fit for a mattress and presto a sleeping area which could accommodate a person over 6 ft. tall.

The Albion was fitted with two large fuel tanks originally on the chassis and a third was fitted across the chassis under the bunk on the left hand side then a water barrel was fitted on the right hand side to even things up. By having the outside of these tanks level with the outside of the cabin it was still enough room to get to the rear of the engine in the centre of the chassis.

It carried enough fuel and more to cross the "never never" land about 600 litres and with 200 litres of water aboard it didn't matter if the few water tanks across the Nullarbor Plain were dry which they often were.

With the trusty Primus kerosene stove and tins of Irish Stew and Baked Beans and the occasional sliced peaches and best of all a soft bed... well who cares if it rains and we're stuck?

I called her "The Perth Express"

On a sealed road she had a top speed of 38 miles an hour.

Across the "paddock" as they call the Nullarbor Plain to day with its sealed surface, back then it was a goat track and a driver was pleased with himself if he could average 15 to 20 miles an hour for the day. That is if he didn't have to repair cracked copper fuel lines or repair maybe up to 3 punctured tyres or get scalded from boiling radiator water that gushed in through the front push out windscreen every now and then.

A driver never was bored, apart from the above happening all the time, the motor roaring in your ears, the cabin rattling and shaking, he had to watch out for huge wombat holes in the track ahead, some being missed and then the steering wheel wanting to break your wrist.

We always strained our eyes looking into the sunset hoping to see someone, any one coming the other way just to be able to talk to some one other than our self.

I didn't happen very often... there were only a few mad bastards like me out there back then.

But we did it. We opened up the West coast overland from the East coast and that is something I smile with satisfaction about to this day.