News from Uganda! Just had this sent in today from Jerry Burley, Biglorryblog's intrepid "Good man in Africa" and of BMS Minerals fame. Jerry writes: "It puts new meaning into the term 'pole dancer'. Truck narrowly avoids NOT hitting the Nissan Patrol and breaks its rear light cluster, before going on to hit the power pole. Pole dates from the middle ages and totally rotten so breaks in half. Top half of pole with circuit breaker still connected to the live conductors carrying 33,000 volts falls to the ground, wrapping truck, pole et al in aluminium wires. No problem sir, pass along please! Note the power company L200 that had just arrived to switch the power off. That's my boys!! No injury or real damage - only in Africa. I'm off for a beer - all this top drawer prose has given me quite a thirst."
Cheers Jerry...but don't exit just yet as he's also sent me some great shots of a Scammell. But you've got to click through here to see them...(oooh yer such a tease BLB!)
How's this for a hidden gem...? That hot African sun doesn't seem to have aged it at all--at least not on the outside! Anyroadup Jerry says: "Another stocking filler for when you get tired of new Actros's, a faintly weary Scammell S26 and King 30 tonne tri-axle beavertail semi-lowbed trailer converted to electricity pole carrier. I found these whilst clearing out files on my old hard drive, some pictures from a previous life outside my office at the national power stores in Kampala when I worked for the former national power provider here and subsequently its privatised successor company."
Jerry goes on to say: "This faithful old 1984 truck and trailer was bought new by the government-owned Uganda Electricity Board, was transferred to the distribution company following unbundling of the power industry here, survived one civil war, repeated AK47 attacks by Joseph Kony rebels in the north of Uganda and a period in this country's dark history when you couldn't buy a welding rod or a bottle of beer. It is due up for sale about now but being government property is likely to be 'problematic' to bid on..... "
"These photos were taken about four years ago when I had an element of control over it, seen here about to deliver 90 or so freshly-impregnated creosote treated electricity poles to some far-flung outpost in the colonies...... I re-engined it with a Cummins N14 out of a scrap UK ERF supplied by Dave Rogers in 2000 that cost me 1,500 quid and it never missed a beat thereafter. Happy days!"
And here it is loaded up with poles...quite a neat way of converting a low-loader to a pole carrier--although I'd hate to think what its CoG might be like?
Definitely not recommended for pole dancing either....you'd be bound to get splinters and a nasty rash from the creosote too...Thanks Jerry.
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