By the 1930s, the diesel engine was becoming widely accepted due to its inherent low running costs and reliability, as there were no carburettor or ignition systems to be maintained. With the diesel, it was the provision of clean fuel which was the important consideration.
Road transport to, and within the Northern Territory was then still largely dependent on camel trains and their Afghan cameleers. Full credit must be paid to those hardy ships of the desert which could survive for several days without food or water, which made them a prime choice for transport tasks in such inhospitable country. However, as the volume of freight and the size of individual items came to be beyond the ability of camel transport, an answer had to be found.
A centre of administration existed at Stuart (later Alice Springs) from 1927 to 1931, which served the area then known as Central Australia. The name Alice Springs derives from the name of Postmaster Todd’s wife, and was adopted in 1933. Due to the failure of various governments over a long period, the long- promised rail link between Darwin and Port Augusta had still not eventuated.
Accordingly, the Government decided to take action and ordered a vehicle which would be capable of coping with the extreme demands placed on it. To specifications laid down by the British Overseas Mechanical Transport Committee in 1929, the A.E.C. company had developed a 15 ton Overseas Transport Unit with an 8 wheel configuration; a design originally brought forward by the fi rm, Hardy Motors, in 1931, which had by then been absorbed by A.E.C. The Associated Engineering Company began as the producers of buses for the consortium of London bus operators in 1912, based at Walthamstow.
Hardy Motors at Slough was the successor to the British F.W.D. Company which had originally dealt with large numbers of American F.W.D. vehicles which had came into that country during World War One. By this time, however, Hardy had been taken over by A.E.C., as it had come to using many A. E. C. components and mechanicals after the stocks of F.W.D. components had been exhausted.
Known as the 1934 Government Road Train, the outfit consisted of the 8x8 prime mover, powered by an 8.85 litre, 6 cylinder, 130hp (98 kw), diesel engine with a 4 speed gearbox and a 3 speed transfer case. Its wheelbase was 4.2 metres, with an overall length of 22 metres and it was geared to travel at 28mph (45 kph) at 2,000rpm with two 8-wheeled self-tracking Dyson trailers, capable of carrying a 15 ton total load over indifferent tracks; 3 on the vehicle and 6 on each trailer.
Suspension was arranged by having inverted semi-elliptical springs seated on each axle of a bogie; the springs having a central trunnion to allow for oscillation. The steering was via the outboard pairs of wheels with Westinghouse air brakes also operating on them. All wheels were shod with Dunlop 10.50 x 20 tyres which, by operating at relatively low loadings, were able to be run at relatively moderate pressures; an an advantage in sandy conditions.
The two 8-wheeled trailers were made by R.A. Dyson & Co. of Liverpool, and their self-steering ability was provided by each 4-wheeled bogie being mounted on a turntable with contra-connections so that they each turned in opposite directions. The self-tracking capability was essential in the country where there were no made roads and it was necessary to weave a path between such obstacles as stumps, fallen timber, rocks and ant- hills. It ensured that, if the prime mover could find a clear path, then the trailers would faithfully follow in the same tracks.
In April 1934, a trial run was undertaken across the Coonalpyn Downs sand-hills of South Australia’s then unmade Duke’s Highway route from Adelaide to Bordertown, carrying a 10 ton load of fertiliser, travelling at the rate of 20 mph (32 kph). Mr. G.A. Helling of Tintinara Station was of the opinion that it was, by far, the superior unit for transport in such conditions.
Road authorities expressed doubts regarding its suitability for use in populated areas due to its great overall width and its track which, at 6ft 4in (1.94m), would not allow it to follow wheel-tracks formed at the standard width of 4ft 8in (1.42m). Its back-load comprised a 14½ ton load of wheat for Naracoorte, from whence it returned to Adelaide via the Prince’s Highway. All concerned expressed great satisfaction with its ability and the The suspension allowed for a great degree of oscillation In service, it was often expected to haul two additional, ordinary, trailers On the job, with Ewen Clough at the controls. Note the water bags and the two belts between the crank-handles and engine, as it took two good men to swing it over prospects it held out for the future of road transport. Under the direction of Brigadier Dollery of the Army Transport Division, the 1760km delivery journey to Alice Springs took 19 days.
Its operation in the Northern Territory was made difficult by its wide track as only one side could follow an established track, while the other side had to bump over whatever was in its path, to the detriment of the vehicle, tyres, the driver and its load. It necessitated the removal of large numbers of ant-hills which the narrower units had been just managing to get between. Sand- hills and the muddy conditions near salt flats also presented difficulties.
Furthermore, for the approaches to and departures from many watercourses, steep banks had to be cut down by hand to enable a crossing to be made. Captain E. C. Roscoe, the technician who accompanied the train on its journey expressed his opinion that the unit, despite the difficulties, would usher in a new era of Central Australian transport.
Following it being handed over to the Department of the Interior it came under the direction of David D. Smith, the Department’s resident engineer at Alice Springs, and Ewen Clough became its regular driver. In service, it was known to also tow two additional, ordinary trailers. The largest load transported is reputed to have been 45 tons of railway carriages. During the War, it carried out much appreciated transport duties by being able to move families, with all their furniture and effects, from Darwin during the War-time evacuation when it came under bombing attack.
Such evacuations otherwise would have necessarily been merely of the people and whatever they could carry. The extent of the duties it performed, in the long term, around the Top End were book-length but, after travelling some two million kilometres, it was sold to a timber yard at Pine Creek in 1946.
In later years it was discovered mouldering away in a Darwin scrap yard by Noel Fullarton, whose lobbying of the powers-that-be resulted in it now being a prized exhibit at the Transport Hall of Fame in Alice Springs. Apparently, very few of these highly specialised road trains found buyers, sales being restricted to one petrol unit to Ghana in Africa, and a diesel each to Australia and Russia.
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On the morning of June 27, 1935, an expedition set out from Melbourne for Darwin in a Bedford 2½ ton truck fitted with a Dorman-Ricardo 4DS engine of 22/50hp. Upon encountering a heavy frost at Clare in South Australia, the garage operator there was quite impressed when its diesel engine started within 3 seconds. Loaded with 3 tons of cargo, it covered the 2,781 miles (4048kms) to Darwin, recording a fuel consumption of 22 miles per gallon (12.8 l/100km). Five drums of fuel were loaded at the beginning, and two were untouched by the arrival, despite having to travel for a stretch of 90 miles (144 km) in 3rd gear.
By way of comparison, a similar truck with a petrol engine, carrying the same payload, accompanied it on the trip and the comparison of fuel use and cost was illuminating. The petrol truck consumed 226 gallons (1,068.3 litres), at 17 pence per gallon, whereas the diesel used 96 gallons (435.7 litres), priced at 8 pence per gallon. Local truck operators were greatly impressed as they were only getting around 10 mpg (28l/100 kpl) from their petrol trucks and were, additionally, suffering high evaporation losses in the hot climate.
This effort constituted the first overland journey to Darwin by a vehicle with a diesel engine. Upon its arrival in Darwin, a buyer quickly came forward and it was sold there. Clearly, diesel fuel then refl ected the true cost of refi ning, as the present road tax component had not then been imposed. The conversion was carried out by Thomas Smith and his team, then of Vulcan Motors in Melbourne. A promotional booklet, describing this story of the first journey to Darwin by a diesel-powered vehicle, was issued by the Victorian agents for Dorman engines; Geo. Kelly & Lewis of Spencer Street, Melbourne.
