Castlemaine Truck Show 2010

John had to go to Ballarat to pick up some parts for our 1418 Benz which we are restoring and then decided that, as he was so close, he would come home via Castlemaine and check out the truck show. John was there on the Saturday and apparently Sunday was the bigger day, but there were still quite a few things to see.

Stewart Truck

There was a modest collection of historic vehicles and the usual popular makes but one of the most interesting trucks was a late 1930s Stewart, shown above, the first one John had seen. According to The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles the Stewart Motor Corporation of Buffalo in New York produced vehicles between 1912 and 1941. Stewart built their own bodies as well having custom bodies and in 1929 introduced the aluminium body, the first ever made by a chassis maker. From 1930 the Stewart range consisted of six models from 1½ to 6-7 tons, powered by Lycoming or Waukesha engines. In 1937 the body was restyled and pontoon fenders resembling those of the Diamond T and tear drop head lamps were introduced. Stewarts best year for sales was 1930 with 2,300 units delivered but numbers declined and in 1938 only 390 units were sold and in 1939 only 90.

Diamond T from the 1940s.

The Diamond T Company was formed by C.A Tilt in 1905. C.A Tilt initially built cars until 1911 when he produced his first truck. The Diamond T logo originated a trademark which had been used by Mr Tilt’s father, who was a shoe manufacturer. The diamond signified Quality and T stood for Tilt. In 1966 Diamond T joined with Reo, to become Diamond Reo. Reo took its name from the founder Ranson E. Olds and the Company made its first truck in 1908. Mr Olds also gave his name to the Oldsmobile Company.

Ford F-600 tipper, above, and F900 below.

Two International Transtars.

A 1970 W921 Kenworth.

Mack LTL.

According to the History section on the Mack website, www.macktrucks.com.au, the L series heavy-duty trucks of the 1940-1956 era exhibited clean, timeless styling and proved extremely popular. Certain models in this series combined many aluminum components with the more powerful engines to satisfy the long distance hauling needs of West Coast operators. Some 35,000 Mack L models graced the highways in their day.

B-Model Macks.

Once again, according to the Mack website the B series, introduced in 1949, was surely one of Mack's most successful and popular products. Its pleasing, rounded appearance set a new styling standard for trucks, as did the wide range of model variations offered. There are B models still in active service today, part of the 127,786 built through 1965. The year 1953 also marked the introduction of the famous Thermodyne open chamber, direct-injection diesel engine, which established Mack's tradition of leadership in diesel performance and fuel efficiency.

Mack Super-Liners, above and below.

The Mack website, says that the Super-Liner, a boldly styled conventional designed for heavy hauling with the ultimate in driver luxury and convenience, was introduced in 1977. Its 15-year production run ended in 1993.

A Peterbilt.

Finally - the very newest Mercedes Benz, with the European lights. This is the historic truck of the future - if you had some spare cash, you could buy it, keep it in the shed and in 25 years times put it on Club Plates.

Trucks at Koo-Wee-Rup

Here are some truck photos from the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp Historical Society collection. If you know what sort of trucks they are or about what year, then I would love to know. Click on photographs to enlarge them.

Loading potatoes at the Koo-Wee-Rup Railway Station. These (above and below) are the same scene, different view. They are back to the good old days of manual labour when men and boys could lift a bag of potatoes onto the back of a truck without a second thought. My father and uncle grew potatoes at Cora Lynn and allegedly my uncle could lift two bags of potatoes at a time - one in each hand. It may be a family story, but like many boys they were working, for money, on neighbouring farms from when they were about 13 and then milking the cows at home after that, so they were pretty strong.

The Koo-Wee-Rup Railway Station was opened in August 1889 and became a Railway Junction with the construction of the McDonalds Track Railway line that went from Koo-Wee-Rup to Strezlecki. This line opened in June 1922 and was completely closed by February 1959.

This is the line-up of trucks, in Station Street in Koo-Wee-Rup, waiting to go into the loading yard. The double story building on the left is the Royal Hotel, built in 1915. Potatoes have been grown on the Koo-Wee-Rup Swamp since 1893, when the land was settled after the drainage of the Swamp by the digging of the Main Drain. This 16 mile long canal went from the mouth of the Bunyip River to Western Port Bay.

The name on the door is A.J Gilchrist, Koo-Wee-Rup. The caption on this photo is Eric Ferguson about to leave with Cameron Bros. equipment for a mining camp near Jamieson. Cameron Brothers had a sand pumping lease on the Main Drain, later taken over by Plowright Albion Limited.

Australian Volvo Truck Heritage Group

Good news - there is now an Australian Volvo Truck Heritage Group - for all lovers of old Volvo trucks (and isn't that everyone?). It's part of the Hunter Valley Classic Commercial Vehicle Club website www.hunteroldtrucks.com. Below are some Volvo ads from the early 1970s.

This is an advertisment for the F86 & the G88 which appeared in the July 1971 Truck & Bus Transportation magazine.

Above and below, this is from the May 1972 Truck & Bus Transportation magazine. I wonder what happened to Geoff Nubley and whether he still has the truck?


This page is from the October 1972 Truck & Bus Transportation magazine. The Volvo factory in Wacol opened in June 1972.

Dubbo Truck Show 2010

John went to the Dubbo Truck Show, which was on August 7 & 8. I had to work, so he just got himself into interstate truck mode and set off, saw it, stayed a day, then came home in one hit. He hadn't been before, so there were heaps of trucks on display that were new to him. Below is an alphabetically organised look at some of the trucks.

AEC Monarch.

Three Albions, above and the two photographs below.

An Atkinson.

Two Austins, above and below.

A neat Chev, above , below a Commer.

A Dennis fire engine, owned by Steve King, who also had his F86 Volvo on displayed.

Diamond T.

Dodges, above and the two photographs below.

There was a flotilla of Fords on show.

This is owned by Garry and Marilyn Evans of Oberon, we met them at the Alexandra Truck Show in 2008, just after Little Henry, the 1966 Ford was finished.

We are finished with Fords, the photograph above shows a GMC.

This is a Graham Brothers truck.

We believe this is a Hupmobile.

As at most truck shows, Internationals are popular and prolific, and Dubbo was no exception.

A collection of Kenworths, above, and two below.

A 1951 Leyland Comet.

A mob of Macks.

My regular correspondent, Joe, tell me that T-Rex is a Mack with a GM 6-71 engine.

A 1418 Mercedes Benz, one of the few European trucks on show.

A posse of Peterbilts, above and the two photographs below.


This is owned by Rob French.

A Scammell, and because I like it, here it is again below.


Thames Trader.

Above is Steve King's F86 Volvo and another F86 Volvo is below.


Lastly, three Whites. Above is a Road Commander, below is a White Mustang and the bottom photograph shows a Road Boss.

If you want to see our photos from the 2012 Dubbo Truck Show, then click here.