CG #37 - 1937 Marmon-Herrington THD-315-6 bus run by Nairn Transport Co.

[Craig Gillingham]

For 1 point, tell me what make of truck this is, the year, and model.

For an extra point, tell me who operated this bus service, and what was its run?

[Manuel]

Nairn Bros 4WD bus. The Australian bros set up a bus service thru the Persian? desert after WW1...........if I remember correctly.
Quite a story.

Manuel in Oz

[Craig Gillingham]

Manuel, very close. It's a Nairn brothers bus. Except I thought they were from New Zealand.

LOCKED for you to add a few more details. You've got the hard bit, the rest is easier.

[Manuel]

Yes they may have been Kiwis. I read a book about them many many years ago.
They used FWD trucks [that is actually a brand] and Marmon-Herringtons?

[Craig Gillingham]

Marmon-Herringtons?

Yes, this one is a Marmon-Herrington, that was made specially for them. It has a specific model name and build date (pre war). Still LOCKED for you.

[Manuel]

I don't think those big truck makers had a regular model line up. Most of their vehicles were made to customer order [as they are today]. They were mainly after govt contracts.
That one could be a THD315 model.
The desert run went from Damascus to Baghdad.  I think they took various routes. It probably changed over time and depending on the weather.
I would like to read that book about the bros again.
That should be worth a couple of points.

Manuel in Oz

[Craig Gillingham]

Manuel, that's the same info that I had. 2 points for you. This photo would have been taken early in it's life, as it was originally built as a 6x6, later changed to a 4x4, as shown when it was used by the RAF in WWII.

[Manuel]

Great pics. I was wondering how it all finished up.

Manuel in Oz

[RayTheRat]

Can you imagine making that trip again and again across the desert with only a compass and a few vestigal maps?  I checked Google Earth and it tells me that it's 855 km and should take about 10 hours.  Sure.  With directions like this: "Head west on شارع الصاغة" ‎ ...if you have Arabic font installed and can actually read Arabic it otta be a piece 'o cake.  I did some similar "off-course" driving south of Marrakesh, Morocco back in the "hippie van" days and when I got into an area where there were only Berbers who spoke nothing other than that language...well, it was interesting.  I sometimes bought gasoline poured from Coke bottles.

The other thing that struck me was the RAF support car with the target on its top.  I know it was the official symbol, but I can tell ya what it feels like to have an enemy aircraft pointing its radar at ya...it must have been similar if that ended up being in a combat zone.

Great photos and great mental imagery. 

RtR

[Manuel]

I am glad they added air vents to that trailor. Bouncing around in that thing for days on end in the desert heat would not have been fun.
The little car is a Hillman I think.

Manuel in Oz

[Craig Gillingham]

I imagined the interior to be quite luxurious, something like a Pullman coach. The attached photo is from 1937, showing the interior of one of their White buses that had a Budd coach. The second photo says that the Marmon-Herrington had a conductor, steward and three drivers!