Old B-Model Road Train

[mowerman]

excellent thanks bob

[mrsmackpaul]

On 10/4/2016 at 1:32 PM, dave41855 said:

Not sure where or how I ended up with this photo but I thought I'd share it with everyone. It's an old (date unknown) photo of a B-Model from "down under" pulling a road train. I have not a clue as to what would have been hauled in those trailers, however, willing to bet that once loaded, the gross weight of this train would have been quite heavy indeed!! Anyone have an idea as to what those trailers would be hauling??

Dave in VT

Well I have asked some questions around the joint and I eventually got the answer for you as to who whats when and where , 

Maybe if you click on the picture it will take you to the Face Book page 

seeya

 

Paul

 

 

Edited October 17, 2016 by mrsmackpaul

[Maryannb61]

On 04/10/2016 at 9:46 PM, harrybarbon said:

This may be an Eric Ballard, Longreach Queensland Australia B model Mack from 1950's.

I have a copy of a Truckin Life article with pictures about Eric, I will scan the story and pictures and post soon.

Picture here is 1 of Eric's b model it was named Maryanne who was Eric's wife. Unfortunately it was attacked with a bucket of paint by a real bastard with no respect for history and trucks (but alas KARMA - he has since gone broke and lost all and more - Maryanne got her revenge) , and now Maryanne is about to have a resto. The sun visor is the original visor. Maryanne features in the Truckin Life article. It was painted red at factory but when sold to Eric the  Australian Mack agent, Anderson's painted it Eric fleet color yellow - that is original yellow that was painted about 1956. Eric transported sheep and cattle. Eric sold Maryanne to his nephews Harris family who had a Cat dozer which they worked to dig "tanks" the Queensland word for very big dams in the outback of Queensland on stations (100,000's of acres). Harris's cooked the mack diesel and they put in a Cat motor which remained in the truck until it too was cooked. During the resto a Mack 673 is going into Maryanne. It has the original 38 gears - 3 sticks the joey is at the back of cab, see it in the picture.

I have a copy of Maryanne's history and will post with the Truckin Life article.

 

 

Where did you get all this info as a lot is incorrect my family (Harris) Western Tractor Co owned it and I purchased this truck back last year un touched from photos you have posted.

[Maryannb61]

On 05/10/2016 at 9:02 AM, terry said:

How did they ever get a cat motor in a B61 ?    terry

Front engine mount mod and re shape fire wall the engine was a 1673b first cat truck engine sold in Queensland and 2nd in Australia I know cuz my father and grandfather owned it and fitted motor and I currently have purchased it back.

Jarred Harris

[mrsmackpaul]

First off welcome to the forum and hope you enjoy the dog house 

Well you just opened a big can of worms so I guess if its not rude what is the correct information as you have left it all open to speculation 

If that is been rude just PM me and tell me to bugger off and I will delete the question 

 

Paul

[harrybarbon]

We bought the truck around 1997 from Jeff MeHarg, Big Orange at Gatton, the Cat motor was in pieces. We were told the truck had been sold some years earlier to a cattle station in outback Queensland, to work on the station pulling trailers around the station. During the drought there were problems with the CAT engine, the truck was taken to a mechanic's workshop some distance from the station, the motor was partly dismantled and work stopped because the farmer could not pay for the repairs. Then Jeff bought the Mack and it was in his Gatton yard. He advertised the Mack in a truck sales magazine which is where we found it. My partner went to see the truck and we decided to buy it. In between us buying and time it arrived in Melbourne the emblems were gone. We put the Mack into storage until we were ready to restore the truck. About 2002 vandals broke into our storage shed and poured the paint over the cab. We decided to not restore the truck and it passed to the guy you bought the Mack. The information we got came from a Ballard family member around 2003, we had no way to dispute the family member. We also got the truck build information from the Mack museum, built red colour and was ordered to be an oil rig in Northern Australia hence the joey gearbox - third gearstick, the sale did not proceed, Eric Ballard bought the Mack and Mack Australia dealer painted it yellow to match Eric's colours, the Trucking Life magazine lead article 1995 about Bush Ballards (Livestock Transport of Longreach), we cannot recall how we got this but have the copy and the number plate in the picture was same as the bent plate on the truck that we had when we bought it, hence it's name Maryanne. Also the sun visor on the Mack is the same as in the Trucking Life picture. You can see the original red paint on the back of the cab where the yellow paint has peeled off. 

We could only rely on the information given to us. We had the truck for approx 15 years.

We are pleased the Mack is back with 1 of it's former owner operators and that it will be restored. 

 

 

[mrsmackpaul]

cool stuff harry or at least I think it all is 

thanks for the update and I wonder will any further information arise about the truck ????

 

Paul

[harrybarbon]

Here are some pages from the 1995 Truckin Life article. A couple of points of interest are

1 - all of Eric Ballard's trucks had names because the drivers were illiterate

2 - the ledge over the top of the truck cab was the drivers sleeping bunk where they put their swag at night and they were off the ground and safe

We bought MaryAnn and it's number plate was NES-260 same as in the pictures, this bent number plate was on the truck up to very recent, and the same plastic sun visor which is on the truck today. There are 2 pictures of MaryAnn on page 4. The bull bar was likely modified after Eric sold MaryAnn. MaryAnn was name of Eric's wife.   

 

[BillyT]

What a fascinating post Dave! Did that B have a brownie behind the compound? You'd almost need more gears to get the Damn thing moving! As far as putting a cat in a B, in 74 there was a B hauling steel out of Pittsburgh said to have a 318 Detroit in it! Never saw under the hood, so can't swear to it! In those days the 318 was still considered a pretty powerful engine. There was a very brief period in the 60s or 70s when Allis Chalmers was building an engine for big truck use, anybody know the history of that? 41?

[Brocky]

If you are an ATHS Member you can get into the WOT archives and there was a whole issue which featured the Purple Power Allis's about 2-3 years ago.

[harrybarbon]

Yes it has 3 gear sticks, total of 38 forward gears, I was told when in first the driver could walk beside the truck and maybe even faster, and it pulled like a train engine.

Here is picture of rear of cab, see the extra gear box mounted high in the frame about 3 feet from rear of cab. If you look closely, you can see the gear selector arm going to under the cab.  all original

[mrsmackpaul]

20 hours ago, BillyT said:

What a fascinating post Dave! Did that B have a brownie behind the compound? You'd almost need more gears to get the Damn thing moving! As far as putting a cat in a B, in 74 there was a B hauling steel out of Pittsburgh said to have a 318 Detroit in it! Never saw under the hood, so can't swear to it! In those days the 318 was still considered a pretty powerful engine. There was a very brief period in the 60s or 70s when Allis Chalmers was building an engine for big truck use, anybody know the history of that? 41?

I have spent some time in a B model with a 8 71 in it from new and later on it was re engined with a 6 71 so I guess anything is possible

[85snowdog]

On 12 January, 2017 at 11:34 AM, BillyT said:

What a fascinating post Dave! Did that B have a brownie behind the compound? You'd almost need more gears to get the Damn thing moving! As far as putting a cat in a B, in 74 there was a B hauling steel out of Pittsburgh said to have a 318 Detroit in it! Never saw under the hood, so can't swear to it! In those days the 318 was still considered a pretty powerful engine. There was a very brief period in the 60s or 70s when Allis Chalmers was building an engine for big truck use, anybody know the history of that? 41?

I don't want to get this off track , but here is a thread about the Allis Chalmers engine . Known as the Big Al  

http://www.bigmacktrucks.com/topic/39749-big-al/#comment-287321