Paul Archer - Back to the Future

In-depth

8 Sept

To begin this story we need to go back to the year 2000. It was then that Don Condon bought a Volvo NH565 to use as a Road Train, hauling cattle around the Outback. The following is an extract from what was then the doyen of the transport industry – Truck & Bus Magazine (Author unknown)…

With more than 20 years’ experience in stock hauling in North Queensland, Don Condon knows more than a little about how to move beasts around this sometimes hostile region.

Don Condon’s bush truck specification started with a long wheelbase NH565, with heavy duty road train chassis. He selected the three-spring taper-leaf front suspension and the optional wide steer axle disc wheels. The drive axles are Volvo’s biggest hub reduction tandem, with standard across-axle diff locks and powered divider lock. Rear suspension is Volvo’s strongest six rod with parabolic, trunnion mounted leaves.

The truck came with twin stacks and what Don considers to be inadequate muffler guards. We agree with him that the standard guards are too short, have sharp edges, don’t wrap around enough and lack grab handles.

Don Condon diverted from the Volvo option list when it came to the bull bar and fuel tanks. The bar is his own substantial steel creation, mounted and braced to the chassis, and the four 500 litre Highgate tanks are also steel.

Aluminium tanks have a nasty habit of working and breaking baffles, as the fuel sloshes against them on rough roads,” Don told us.

“The wearing sends a fine black powder through the fuel system – the filters won’t trap it – and it causes havoc in the engines. Steel tanks don’t have the same problem.”

Don Condon likes to be comfortable when he’s away from his Charters Towers home, so another addition is a Crisp Air, air conditioning plant behind the cab rear wall, supplementing the standard cab air conditioning system.

The 5th wheel is a K-Hitch - ‘I like the fabricated design rather than a casting” – and the low-profile ball race stabiliser comes from D’Angelo in Melbourne.

Tyre selection is a mixed bag, but they’re all clean skins. Don Condon is still looking for the ideal wide steer tyre that will wear well, have stone and chip resistance and good steering response. He was trying out a pair of Dunlop SP241 385/65s, in conjunction with Michelin XDY-1 drive tyres when we went for a run.

The road to the agistment property where our triple load of cattle would spend the next two years was one of those typical lumpy bitumen beef strips that Queensland is infamous for. The pavement was narrow, with broken edges, undulations and jump-ups. When the bitumen ‘deteriorated’ to gravel it was almost a blessing.

An hour later, we wheeled of the ‘main road’ onto a station track – narrow, black soil tyre tracks with unpredictable basalt outcrops that threatened the tyres. Another hour of that and it was time to unload the freight.

The return journey was done at the rig’s 60 tonnes tare weight and the ride was noticeably livelier than at 140 tonnes, but still very comfortable.

The combination of ample grunt, a light gear change and brilliant engine braking made smooth driving easy. On the approach to tight bends, jump-ups and rock outcrops it was easy to grab a quick downshift, use the powerful engine brake to wash off unwanted speed, then straighten the combination out with smooth power application.

Noise level inside the cab was higher than in the FH, but low by North American truck standards. The main noise intrusion was some gear stick sizzle and an annoying rattle on the driver’s side of the dashboard.

We were pleased to discover that the power-operated rear vision mirrors didn’t shake, even on the rough roads we encountered. The housings are still too large and cause unnecessary blind spots in what is otherwise excellent vision, but they’re the first FM, FH or NH mirrors not to shake around on one of our road tests.

It’s early days yet for the Don Condon NH565, but he’s pleased with the new truck to date. Fuel consumption has yet to settle down and it’s currently running around the same as the FH16’s litre per kilometre.”

..…….

And so we move to 2020 and to Paul and Mozzie Archer.

**Paul’s first truck - a Kenworth K123CR Seattle**

Originally an owner/driver, Paul’s first truck was a 1966 Kenworth K123CR Seattle cab over back in the late 1980’s. This was replaced by a 1978 White Road Commander. A divorce saw this truck handed back to the finance company and Paul drove for JJ Leech & Sons of Castlemaine for a few years.

**The Road Commander - a victim of divorce**

The lure of self-employment beckoned and Mt. Isa was where Paul saw opportunity. Around this time he came across a console operator at the Shell Roadhouse at Brocklehurst, near Dubbo NSW. He and Tonia became a couple in September 1999.

‘If you can’t beat them, join them’ must have been Tonia’s – better known as Mozzie – motto, because she got behind the wheel. In fact she started to learn to drive in a B-double (as you do). She then got a rigid truck licence and worked her way through the ranks to Multi-Combination and beyond. She’s been driving anything from rigids through to quad road trains ever since.

**Tonia - known to all and sundry as Mozzie**

Today, Paul has been in the cockpit for 35 years and Mozzie for 18. Along the way they have produced 4 children, three of whom are in some way involved in the trucking business.

“We are a small, family owned operation based in Townsville,” said Paul. “We have 2 full-time employees, Patrick & Jacquie, as well as Mozzie and I. Our daughter, Tara is currently learning to drive trucks, helps with our administration as well as forklift & weighbridge operation at NSS when required. Our 2 youngest sons, Brian & Coby are employed to wash NSS's 7 prime movers every second weekend as well as helping with servicing on ours. Our other son, Allen – some may say he’s the sensible one - works for a local butcher full-time.”

Paul and Mozzie’s business, Archer’s Trading provide drivers to Northern Stevedoring Services (NSS) under a labour hire licence agreement when that company requires their services, as well as having four trucks of their own.

“Our trucks subbie to NSS, Price Haulage & Toll's mostly as well as anything else we can find. We currently have Mozzie & Jacquie driving NSS road trains and Patrick & myself in our 2 Volvo's. Both our Kenworth's are currently parked up while things are quiet, with one undergoing a major rebuild while we have the opportunity.”

Now, here’s where things get interesting. Those two Kenworths date back to 1977. Both K124CR’s they have been great and ultra-reliable workhorses.

The old girl above is 71 ton rated with Cummins VT903 power, but is only registered for singles. It used to be Baldock’s from Maryborough.

Old Yellow runs GM power and is 90 ton rated. It used to be on road train duty but the Archer’s have knocked her back to a single trailer. “The old GM is a bit heavy on fuel.”

Beside the two Kenny’s in the stable are two Volvo’s. The all-white Volvo, called ‘Casper’ is a 2000 NH12-420, B-double rated at 65t. Casper was the second Volvo to enter the fleet.

Before Casper, and around two years ago, came the ‘Swedish Backpacker’. This Volvo NH565 is the same truck, specked to road-train work, owned (and tweaked) by Don Condon. Factory fitted with a Cummins Signature engine (as Volvo didn’t have one powerful enough at the time), it was one of Volvo's first custom built livestock trucks and rated at 140 ton.

”We were a little dubious when we bought the first as we prefer Kenworth,” said Paul. “But the NH565 was the right specification and price at the time. So we took a punt on it and we haven’t looked back since. It has been a brilliant truck so we didn't have any problems when it came to buying another. Don Condon actually tracked us down to give us the copy of Truck & Bus and also Transport Today, in which she appeared. She was a pretty famous truck in her day.

“We use her for everything from singles to quads and she’s up for all of it. Yes, the Kenworths are long in the tooth and the Volvo’s are no babies either but they’re still out there working and earning their keep.”

“You don’t need to the latest and greatest to do the work. We own them - not the bank. And that’s a way we like to keep it. This way, when things are quiet – as they are a bit at the moment - there is no real pressure on them or us.”

Paul’s research on the NH565 leads him to believe that Volvo produced around ten of them. “Doolans in Western Australia still have one which is doing heavy haulage and road-train work over there. The sister to our truck also occasionally has a road train on it. But they are the only three that I know of that are still doing road train work. It would appear it was an area that Volvo thought they would get into, but could never battle the might of Kenworth.”

“The fact that some of them are still doing the work attests to the longevity of the trucks that they built for that purpose at the time. They are definitely a heavy, build truck. There’s nothing light about the things at all they are a really solid truck. Our old girl is 20 years old and it still has very little in the way of rattles on it. And it spent most of its time working up on in The Gulf.”

Paul adds, “Volvo here in Townsville have been extremely helpful. Every time we’ve needed to fix anything on it they’ve been able to find the original parts to keep it going.

“We would expect this truck to be around for quite a while yet. Mozzie loves it. We’ve tried getting her out of the trucks into other stuff a couple of times now, but that’s just not happening! Maybe she sees that as a way to have a long and happy relationship with me.”