(^90) July 2019 Truck & Driver
Chris reports that the
Renault Range T High
hits 10mpg...
and, once I got to Wubin, 200km
north of Broome, to hook up to a
third trailer which had a 20ft
container with a Manitou on the
remainder of the flatbed.
Certain trips carve an
everlasting memory in your brain,
and for time eternal I’ll never
forget the buzz of arriving in the
roadtrain assembly area at
Wubin behind the wheel of a
brand-new C509 pulling two
trailers, ready to hook onto a
third trailer. Pulling out of Wubin
in the dead of night as a
three-trailer combination, I eased
the big C509 up through the
gears with the desolate Outback
road fully illuminated by the Hella
auxiliary sport lamps.
Around 1am I called it a day
at a remote parking bay near the
small town of Meekatharra.
Day two, tackled in daylight,
was an eye-opener as to the
scale of Outback Australia,
passing through the mining
region of Newman.
But in the evening, once past
Port Hedland, the roadscape
changed – the multitude of
side-tippers hauling from the
many mines in the Pilbara region
were a distant memory, the road
was almost deserted, and cattle
grazed precariously close to the
side of the road. ‘Broome 600km’
read the sign as I left the lights of
Port Hedland behind, with
nothing in between both towns
but two roadhouses.
After unloading the two
trailers of feed to Broome, I
dropped both lead trailers at the
depot, hooked on the third minus
the dolly and left as the sun set,
destination Wyndham. The
Kimberley is one of the last
untouched areas of magnificent
beauty in Australia; wild mountain
ranges leading down to normally-
dry creek crossings, dissected by
unfenced roads in the path of
mobs of cattle and wild horses,
known as Brumbies, make it a
spectacular place to drive.
In the wilderness
After a good night’s sleep
somewhere in the wilderness
near Halls Creek, a settlement of
just 1600 mostly indigenous
locals, I arrive at Wyndham in the
evening. With a population of half
that of Halls Creek, Wyndham is
unlike anywhere else I have ever
been. In 2012, with a strong price
for iron ore owing to demand
from China, a fleet of 13 blue and
yellow Hampton trucks were
double-shifted around the clock
hauling iron ore to the tiny port.
The trucks were mostly
Kenworth C509 and T909s,
although two Mack Titans with
day cabs were also on duty. But,
because of my familiarity with
European trucks, it was the
brace of Volvo FH16 700s that
impressed me the most.
Having got a brief taste of the
north of Australia where the
really big trucks operate, I flew
back to Perth in Western
Australia, seriously impressed
and gunning to get back up north
as soon as possible.
A
lthough I’m fully Foden,
the spectre of Euro 6 is
growing ever larger on
what seems to be a
weekly basis. My resistance to
buying a replacement for my
long-serving Alpha, ‘Gerty’,
remains strong, as until now I’ve
seen nothing that comes close in
terms of ticking all the boxes,
from simple aesthetics to
performance and economy.
When T&D’s editor asked if I
could put some trucks to work, I
thought it would be the perfect
opportunity to get my head in the
right place and make a few
objective decisions regarding any
future purchases. The Range T
has never really excited me. One
Saturday, our local dealership in
Sheffield delivered its demo to us
CHRIS MADDISON
Highs and lows
TEAM T&D
Stopped for a break at Sandfire Roadhouse,
between Port Hedland and Broome
Outstanding performance from the 520hp 13-litre
nandana
(Nandana)
#1