My life story, Henry J Macey [books for 20 year olds .TXT] 📗

way up they were transferred onto it. We took over the Dampier run and it turned out to be a good job. We would drop one trailer at our depot on the way into Dampier and unload part of our lead trailer. Then drive into the town to deliver to the store, and then drive around the town stopping at certain corners. The wives would come out and pick up the packages they had ordered from Perth. When we had finished in Dampier, we would go to Paraburdoo and Tom Price. Returning to Dampier to pick up the second trailer that had been unloaded and then reloaded at the depot. Then head for home.

 

PONY EXPRESS

Bell Brothers had an express service to Port Headland; the main contract was the Royal Mail. The trip was roughly one thousand and fifty miles, overnight. They called it the ‘rocket service.’ We called it the ‘pony express.’ The vans were International Harvester’s, with V8 motors and were very fast. They had to be, there were four of them. Three coming down, one going up. A driver from Perth would drive a van loaded with the mail and anything else that had to go the three hundred miles to Geraldton. There he would meet the driver from Carnarvon and change vehicles and drive back to Perth. The Carnarvon driver would return the three hundred miles to his home base, meeting a driver there from Port Headland who had driven four hundred and fifty miles. This driver would drop off the mail for Dampier and then go to Port Headland with the rest of the mail arriving in the early hours of the morning. That night they would start off again.

 

Why am I telling you all this, well there's a short story to tell, one concerning the pony express. Don and I were on the Dampier fridge run. We stopped at the Nanutarra roadhouse on the banks of the Ashburton River. It was about one or two o’clock in the morning. The rocket pulled in to drop something off I must say this was not a scheduled stop, but then we all did favours for each other, as it’s a long way to go for a small car part or the like.

 

We had a cup of tea and a chat with the driver, then he was off we followed at a more sedate pace. Just before daybreak, [the sun rises about four o’clock,] we saw a faint glow in the distance. When we got to the glow it turned out to be the ‘rocket’ with one of its tyres on fire.

 

We pulled past it, stopped and ran back to the driver who was standing some distance away from the van. He told us that there were gas cylinders in the van and he didn't know what to do. We said “let it burn,” but he was worried about the mail. Then he told us what else he was carrying. I was in the van in a flash getting out the contents.

 

When we got to Dampier we went to our depot to drop the mailbags and reported what had happened to the ‘rocket’ and then went off to unload our fridge. As we were unloading the goods at one of the corners, our manager the Postmaster and a reporter from the local paper arrived. The Postmaster thanked us on behalf of the Post Office for saving the mail and the reporter interviewed us so he could write a piece on the bravery of two Bell’s drivers.

 

A very nice piece it was as well. Pity, it was not entirely true. I didn't have the guts to tell them I had to throw the mailbags out because they were in the way, of me getting to the box of ten thousand cigarettes. Don and I decided to burn the cigarettes. Very, very; slowly.

A very bad day.

 

Bell’s liked to give everyone a change of scenery once in a while, our change was to go back onto the Mt Newman run minus Wittenoom and Ethel Creek. Mt Newman was only a twenty-four hour run from Perth. With the other drops, we were given thirty-six hours to get to Newman plus three hours to unload and reload, so the whole run was just over three days. That meant we could do a short trip to fill out the week. Mostly we had to take trailers to Geraldton or Meeka. From there they would be picked up to make up road trains.

 

We would bring back trailers that had been dropped by returning road trains. At certain times of the year, there would be trailers loaded with watermelons or bananas from Carnarvon which is where the big plantations are, because of the climate. Bell’s would load hundreds of tons of fruit onto road trains to be taken to the fruit market in Perth.

 

One of the worst days I have ever experienced occurred about a year after we changed to this run. My world and my partnership with Don fell apart one night as we drove onto the tarmac strip leading into Newman. I was driving as we mounted the black strip. As I did so, I saw a shower of sparks in the mirror. The sparks were coming from one of the trailer wheels. It could only mean one thing; we had a flat tyre that had shed its rubber cap.

As I stopped, Don sat up and asked why I was stopping. I told him, “I think we have a flat.” He said he would go and check as he wanted a pee. He climbed from the bunk, opened the door and stepped out. I sat waiting for some time, and then called out to him.

 

I got no reply, so I got out of the truck. Walking around the front of the truck, I pushed the passenger door closed to walk past it. As I did I tripped over something, falling forward I stuck my hand out to stop myself from hitting the ground. My hand landed on something soft, it turned out to be Don. He was unconscious lying on his back I tried to revive him but to no avail. I had to get help, but I could not leave him there.

 

There was only one thing to do, I had to get him into the truck, and take him into Newman. If you aren’t familiar with the forward control Mack, the base of the cab is four and a half feet off the ground. It has a three-step ladder behind the front wheel that takes you up to the cab at the rear of the door. From here you swing yourself forward into the cab.

 

I opened the door, put Don over my shoulders, and climbed the steps. Putting my left foot on top of the wheel then held onto the door with my left hand. I tried to turn and put Don on the seat, but could not. I had to try something else.

 

After getting my breath back, I got Don onto his feet and leaned him against the wheel. Bending I put my head on Don's stomach. Then slowly I lifted him until his bottom was on the cab floor, then holding him with one hand I climbed into the cab. Getting Don into the seat, I then tied him there. As soon as I got into the camp I went straight to the manager. He called out the medical team. Don was taken to the medical centre. The next day he was flown to Perth. He was unconscious for a week, and out of work for much longer.

 

I had several drivers to partner me but found it difficult if not impossible to sleep when they were driving. I found that after driving with Don for so long, it was hard to trust anyone else. The last driver I was partnered with prompted me to ask to go back to solo driving duties. He had just started on Bell’s and we knew nothing of him.

 

We had left Perth with me at the controls. After a six-hour drive, I handed over to him. I lay awake for a long time trying to relax, but I just lay there unable to sleep. All the time I lay there I kept hearing little hissing sounds. I couldn’t work out what it was. As the trip progressed I noticed that he always hung behind when we delivered to the roadhouses and he always had a small suitcase with him.

 

On the return journey, I had a hell of a time trying to get him out of one of the roadhouses. We had stopped for a meal. I wanted to get going after the meal, but he didn’t. He sat in the bar drinking. I went outside to the truck to get half an hour nap. Climbing onto the bunk I lay down but couldn’t get comfortable. The mattress seemed to be higher than usual. Lifting it I found a layer of empty beer cans. Going back into the roadhouse I told him I was going with or without him.

 

 

When we arrived at Perth I went straight to Owen and told him that I would not drive with an alcoholic. I took Owen out to the truck and showed him the cans in the bunk. We never saw the bloke again.

 

 

The fastest truck in the west.

 

I was given a six-wheel, cabover Kenworth truck, with a fixed box to drive. It had torsion bar suspension that was hard to get used to. When you went around a bend, the truck would lean over, and when you straightened up the truck would stay lent over. You had to tweak the steering the other way to return it upright. The windshield was large and made in