Through The Fence

We headed up to Parkes on Friday and while Jodi was seeing the physio I decided to go hunting. Well, I wouldn't really call it hunting since I already knew what I was looking for. Having found the trucks several months previously, I had the chance to stick the camera through the fence ... since I had remembered to bring the camera! The Inter K5 and the solid-tyred gear below (Albions, Karrier etc) were in the same yard in the LIA. It turns out the owner is an Albion nut and I'm hoping to see his collection when I tag along with a club run towards the end of February. The Karrier was a particular surprise as we had not seen it when we first stumbled upon the ancient Albions.

Below: the Karrier.

The owner of the crane below said she is "a bit of a mongrel". I was unable to identify the chassis because, as you can see, the truck is surrounded by sheet metal and other scrap. Since I was wearing shoes that were as suited for scrambling over scrap as newspaper is for water-proofing - I had planned to go truck hunting yet didn't wear my boots - I erred on the side of caution despite my tetanus shots being up to date. I was also making a bit more noise than usual for the purposes of making any of the locals living under the scrap aware of my presence! So, that's my excuse for not getting better photos.

I first spotted the crane on the way out to the airport. During the war Parkes airfield was used by the RAAF as a navigation school. I was looking for a memorial plaque but was disappointed to find a specific memorial lacking. It was interesting to see the foundations of the classrooms, admin buildings and dormitories though. Anyway, on the way back I stopped at the water tank fabricator's yard that housed the crane. The owner was a friendly bloke and I would have liked to have had a good chat with him but didn't want to interrupt his work. It occurred to me the Ford part of the truck - the cab and front-end - was about the right age for a wartime vehicle so, at a bit of a stretch, it's possible it might have served locally with the RAAF. Like I said, a bit of a stretch!

On the way home we stopped at Forbes for a late lunch (check out The Mezzanine if you're passing through - great food). On the edge of town is a couple of paddocks with a mix of machinery including a Bedford D-type and this van. My first thought was she is an old outside broadcast van. I asked Bruce Gunter whose Dad drove a Bedford OB van for Channel 10. He recognised this as a Grace Brothers removalist van. Either a Bedford or a Leyland, there were quite a few of these on the road in the '60s/70s.

On the subject of the Bedford OB van, I'll be posting a story by Bruce about his Dad's experiences over on Bedford Trucks Worldwide - http://bedfordtrucksworldwide.blogspot.com/ - shortly.