Thread: Worlds toughest bridge

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Ian, Didn't you ever try on the rail bridge at Muswellbrook for size? Or the rail bridges at Ipswich Road and O'Keefe St. Wooloongabba and Logan Rd. Buranda.

Ah yes Brian, and Toorak Road, Sydney Road Liverpool with an overheight glass box on, Wynumn and Bundamba. How many times was Annerley Road resurfaced before the clearance mark was adjusted? I believe it was only changed after a bloke successfully challenged a charge in court.
I once had to 'wrong side' Oxley Road Sherwood to gain 2" for an eight wheel Scamell with a container, but the closest I came to contact was with an overheight shopping centre sign on a dropdeck. After loading late on a Saturday I had to travel in darkness to meet a crane in Grafton at 600 hours Sunday. My Father, who had no background in transport, decided to come for some insight. I managed to take out 40-50 phone wires in his street, dodge the direction boards at Bilinga before crossing the Tweed on the old Chinderah bridge. This is where the old man earned his keep, standing on the headboard shining a torch on the bridge, in order that I could manoeuvre between the boltheads of the structure. The rest of the journey was uneventful, however, daylight revealed a streetlight on the trailer. If I'd known from where it came, I would have put it back, honest.

Originally Posted by Drover

You would think so.....

Familiarity and complacency makes it much easier to do than it seems to non truck drivers Look how many caravan pullers come to greif with the 'van. Truck heights can vary with the load and loading, even ISO boxes range from 8' to 9' 6". Signage is often inacurate, particularly after resurfacing of the roadway.

I worked at a place that had a couple of car licence trucks. I remember they were only insured for up to the top of the cab. One of the guys did end up driving one under a low railway bridge.

I used to drive to work via a railway underpass in Moorooka and there was occaisionally a diversion due to a stuck truck.

It's funny because its never happened to me.

Originally Posted by Utemad

I worked at a place that had a couple of car licence trucks. I remember they were only insured for up to the top of the cab. One of the guys did end up driving one under a low railway bridge.

I used to drive to work via a railway underpass in Moorooka and there was occaisionally a diversion due to a stuck truck.

It's funny because its never happened to me.

Yes, the old 'death trap', another hidden obsticle for the inexperienced.

Clarrie Skenner's coaches used to scrape the old Vulture Street bus tunnel roof with the top mounted air conditioners. The coaches were in service before the tunnel was built, but mandated to use it after construction.

One of Bill George's drivers way back, the infamous "Bogie Bill", once scraped off the top layer of a full height load of TV sets under the Muswellbrook rail bridge. DMR issued fines and sought damages until George's insurers got out the tape measure and found the signage had not been altered after the road was resurfaced. All in court now change positions. DMR is now the defendant.

Originally Posted by V8Ian

I managed to take out 40-50 phone wires in his street,

At the other end of my street the telephone wires are overhead due to the ground being solid rock. One night when the Cannon Hill abbatoir was still operating, one of Robbie Strasbourg's cattle haulers got lost and ended up in our narrow twisty street with no option but to keep going ahead. Guess what happened to the telephone system.

Many years ago in Sale, a drilling rig belonging to the company I worked for set off for work from the hotel. Because of a problem with the operating lever, the PTO was in gear. As he drove out some tools fell against the lever operating the hydraulics to raise the mast. He drove off down the street as the mast came up to vertical, unaware of the drama developing. This came to a head as the mast reached overhead wiring height, and tore both power and telephone wires from - the police station!

I was not there, but onlookers tell me that police erupted from the station like ants when you poke their nest with a stick.

In 1965 I moved a geophysical crew from Brisbane to central Australia. While we had no problem with overheight vehicles, we soon found that we had to make very clear that we had nothing to do with the Richter Bawden drilling rig that had left Roma the day we left Brisbane - and had cut almost every overhead wire from Roma to Alice.

John

gott alove the ones that keep going and the 2 hay trucks