Western Sydney Historical Truck Club

Haulin' The Hume - 2013

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I awoke to the sound of the alarm singing its ‘over the top’ cheerie song as it did every workday.  But today was different I had been gearing up for the past two years to take my place in “Haulin’ the Hume”.  Today was special for another reason too.  It was my 34th wedding anniversary and my wife had granted me special permission to go “Haulin’ the Hume”."

 
After a scoffing a very quick snack we headed for Casula to pick up my ride for the day, a 1927 International Speed truck owned and recently restored by Trevor Davis from Melton, Victoria.  
Registrations had been filled by November 2012, 3 months ahead of the shut off date, with in
excess of 260 trucks.  The energy at the start was electric. Finding space to park your truck while you went to the marshal’s table to collect your registered number sticker, maps and then take off down the Hume was at a premium. The  first truck left Casula at 6.30am bound for Yass via the old Hume Highway.  The journey along the Camden Valley way was quite picturesque.

Haulin” the Hume in the past was never without its dramas.  For our team  “1927 International” in  2013 it was certainly full of them.  We had successfully travelled up to the Razorback but travelling down into Picton disaster struck. The oil pressure gauge line ‘failed’ pumping oil over the generator,  carby and exhaust and causing a fire in the engine bay. Quick thinking stopped the truck without collecting oncoming traffic, turned off the fuel and extinguished the fire with only minimal damage done to the engine area.  It was just as well we weren’t in a race...we lost about an hour fixing it.
We continued on beyond Bargo when going up a hill the truck stopped in the middle of the road with a fuel blockage.   Once the carby jet was cleared we set off again only to stop again further on when a bump in the road caused the ol’ girl to back fire and stop the engine.  We had no power to start up again.  Process of elimination revealed one of the battery leads had vibrated itself loose and had completely come off the battery.   Well they say things come in three.  I guess we had had our three dramas but they continued in the form of constant interruption to fuel supply.   We’d be travelling along quietly when a bump in the road would cause the engine to cough and splutter.
We arrived at Gunning at about 2pm ready for lunch but everything was sold out and there was nothing to be had.  Just as well I had a left-over sandwich from breakfast!
After walking around the showground taking as many photos as I could fit into the hour I had left before  continuing to Yass I couldn’t get pics of everything.
Come 3pm we continued coughing and spluttering our way to Yass. Considering that our cruising speed  was about 35 kph we did actually get up to the heady speed of 40kph downhill for about half a km until the cough came back.  We made it to Yass under out own power with one hour to spare before “proceedings” were due to start. It was a long day but it was a lot of fun.

At the Yass Soldiers Club, when everyone got together to catch up over a beer with ol’ mates or to make new friends, the feeling of the day was one of achievement.  The effort put in by the organising committee was well appreciated. It was truly a great day well spent and thoroughly enjoyed by all.

This was my first “Haulin’ the Hume” experience and hopefully not the last.  With all the dramas and lessons learned this time around, I’m expecting that I’ll be driving my own truck in 2015, fingers crossed.

The Cameraderie in this event was a fantastic thing.  When the news went over the airways that the '27 Inter was the victim of an onboard fire and was down but not out, there were a few trucks that stopped by just to lend a hand to get us back on the road.  When I say "lend a hand" I mean "roll up the sleeves and get stuck up to the elbows in grease". That just does not exist on the everyday highway.  As the day progressed and we were faced with further dramas, the trucks that passed us slowed down to check we were OK.
I found it curious that the trucks that passed us had all pulled up a few miles further on for a cupper so that when we passed and continued onward they had our back, just in case.
At the end of the day every one was a mate regardless of whether an 'old' or a 'new' mate. Everyone was there with a common interest for a common cause and that was what bound us altogether as one huge family.