Cats & Dogs
– A Titan of WA
When Howard Shanks was asked if he’d like to pilot this old Mack for a fortnight around the Pilbara, he couldn’t pack his bags quick enough.
In 2005, this Mack Titan was one of the giant brutes in the road train market. Spec’d with a Caterpillar C16, triple countershaft Mack 18-speed and big RT52-185G Meritor axles, it was destined for hard work.
Since leaving Mack’s Brisbane HQ a decade and a half ago, the Mack has called the Pilbara region of Western Australia home. Its life on the hot arid WA desert tracks has certainly not been a leisurely cruise; rarely did it spend time on paved bitumen roads.
It was a little after midday when we touched down in Port Hedland; I took my phone off flight mode as the plane taxied towards the terminal and it pinged as I’d expected, signalling a waiting message.
“Meet you in the car park,” it read.
Half an hour later, I was in a dust-covered 4x4, driven by my mate Richo, heading towards the port. “I’ll drop you off at the port office so you can get your port pass, then if we’re lucky, you’ll make the afternoon mine-induction session,” Richo said.
“I’ve got you a room on-site in one of the dongas,” he added.
Thankfully, I’d made the afternoon induction, which meant the sun was slowly slipping down over the Indian Ocean by the time we arrived at the yard in Wedgefield.
“I’ll show you to your room,” Richo said as he grabbed my suitcase from the back of the ute. “Get yourself settled then we’ll go and find some trailers for you.”
The old Titan was parked down the back of the yard, covered in a thick layer of red Pilbara dust. “No one’s been in it for over a month,” Richo said as we emptied the contents of both toolboxes. “Probably pay to make yourself your own breakdown box. See Rob in the workshop – he’ll help you with whatever you need.”
An hour later, I’d managed to put together a comprehensive breakdown box, which consisted of a few spare air fittings, cable ties, hose clamps and other knickknacks that might be handy out in the bush. Rob wandered up with a wide-load sign and new set of triangles. I’d even managed to score a working jack to replace the ageing one that had discharged that much oil in the toolbox it resembled the slick left by the Exxon Valdez. The restocking of the locker box was coming together nicely when Richo arrived back. “That will do for tonight,” he said. “We’ll get an early start in the morning.”
Early the next day, after a thorough pre-start, I greased the turntable and headed to the trailer park to find a set of side tippers. Up here in the Pilbara, spare trucks like the old Mack Titan see little TLC; the entire combination needed a decent scrub.
It was one of those thoughts that seemed like a good idea at the time, but three hours into the wash, the novelty of a clean truck was wearing thin. Nevertheless, by late afternoon the old Titan and its trailers looked a hell of a lot cleaner.
I pulled the Titan around to the fuel bowser and started filling the two front tanks. The run to the mine site at Iron Valley takes roughly 12 hours, and the truck will consume approximately 650 litres of diesel, needless to say, 1000 litres in the two front tanks would be ample for this shift. With the truck all set to go to work again, it was time to get out of the wet clothes and have an early night.
Over the past few months, the price of iron ore has steadily risen to a nine-year high — US$137 (NZ$190) per tonne (at the time of writing) — which means miners are keen to shift more tonnes of ore per month. Consequently, transport companies are dragging older units such as this Mack Titan out of retirement to help fill the quota and it is driving the price higher.
At 2am, the alarm on my phone broke the silence. Half an hour later, I turned the key, and the big yellow Caterpillar
under the hood leapt into life. While the air pressure built up, I wandered around the road train, tapping the tyres and checking the lights. Back in the cabin, with the paperwork completed, it was finally time to get rolling.
When it comes to performance, big-bore C16 engines are in a class of their own. They deliver raw power that a driver can feel through the seat of his pants. However, they do enjoy more than their fair share of diesel, especially if you’re heavy on the throttle.
It certainly felt good, squeezing down on the throttle and listening to the 16-litre bark as it hauled the empty triple southbound towards the mine site. The mine site has imposed a 90kph speed limit. So, once out of the city limits, I set the cruise control to 90kph and slipped the first CD of an eight-CD audiobook into the player.
The Mack T2000 transmission is a constant mesh triple-countershaft box. The shift pattern is similar to an 18-speed Roadranger. However, it requires a slightly slower shift movement between gears if you want to make slick, clean changes.
Inside the cabin, the ride is considerably smooth for a truck of this age, although considering that it has travelled more than 1.5 million kilometres, it was relatively quiet, with the odd rattle and squeak every now and then.
The sun was scarcely peering over the horizon as I pulled up at the mine site. Thankfully there were only two trucks ahead of me, so I wouldn’t be waiting too long.
The night before, Richo handed me a piece of paper with the weights to call the loader operator and measurements of where to stop on the weighbridge for each axle group. I’d borrowed a whiteboard marker from the office and wrote them on the windscreen. That would make the job a little simpler at the mine site.
The Hardlite trailers and dollies are from local West Australian bodybuilder Roadwest Transport. A light tare weight, the ability to tip cleanly and spare parts’ availability are a few of the major reasons why these trailers are popular in the Pilbara region for bulkcommodities applications such as iron-ore haulage.
Back in the heyday of trucking, when Caterpillar engines were kings of the highway, there was nothing better than commanding a C16 hauling a big load.
You could let them lug right down low in the revs then shift back a full gear, rather than short shift with split gear shifts. When these bigbore Caterpillar engines were working hard, you could all but hear their heartbeat as if they were alive.
As I was leaving the mine site haul road at the dustdown area, the C16 bit down hard on the long grade up
to the first railway crossing. I kept a watchful eye on the pyrometer because, on a long gradual pull, this tenacious Caterpillar engine’s appetite for hard work can drive the pyro temperature up into the red zone in a flash.
Surprising, there is no vibration from the driveline; it all runs very smoothly for a truck of this age, which is testament to the maintenance schedule adopted by Rob and his team in the workshop.
Although the driving style is more relaxed when handling a truck like this, it is still vital to remain very alert at all times. There is no getting away from the fact that with three trailers and a gross combination mass of 137 tonnes, travelling at highway speed is a constant risk – driver vigilance is paramount.
It was about midday when I guided the Titan around Finucane Island to tip my 92 tonnes of iron ore into the hopper. Half an hour later, I pulled it up next to the fuel bowser. Surprisingly, I’d only used 596 litres of diesel on my first run.
Richo wandered over and enquired how I’d gone. “You remembered the way then,” he smiled. “Next week you can do a few runs in that 6900 with a quad if you want to test another truck.”