Back Down the Road a Bit

We featured driver and photographer Dave Connors nearly a year ago in the Back Down the Road a Bit gallery. Dave recently sent us some more shots he thought readers might be interested in, and when we saw them, our jaws dropped. It’s easy to forget how varied and cool trucking once was, whether it was the make of vehicle, the powertrain, the configuration, or the companies that owned the fleets.

Thanks, Dave, for another generous contribution.

PULLING THE WOOL

“Before curtain-siders, wool was a far more common sight on flat decks than it is today. Many wool stores around Dunedin were supplied by farms from north and south of the city, as well as the Central Otago high country. The wool stores were all within easy biking distance, and they were a good place to catch a few cool trucks from out of town.”

WE Perrin from Owaka’s White Road Xpeditor in true rural form. A load of stock to the works on the way to the Dalgety wool store on Sturdee Street, now the TIL Depot.

A Radford Transport International T2670 from Cromwell outside the Wrightson NMA store, Parry Street (now the Icon Logistics building). This Tulloch Transport 2628 Mercedes-Benz made the journey from Mataura to the Reid Farms store, on the corner of Jervois and Cumberland Streets, now a Spotlight and a car park. This truck is still going with Homer Contracting in Waitahuna.

A Mack Cruise-Liner from Clutha Valley Transport unloading in Sturdee Street. Its next stop was most likely Ravensdown, in Ravensbourne, for a load of fertiliser back to Clydevale.

Freightways OD Russell McCauley’s White Road Boss in the yard on Portsmouth Drive, loaded and ready to go on a Monday morning.