We‘ve all heard it, or had it said to us at some point… ‘there‘s no ‘I‘ in ‘team‘. But two nights and a day spent with the Prestige Building Removals crew hammered home exactly what the hell that actually means.

…and so it went on, hour after hour as the team from PBR (Prestige Building Removals), with its brand new combination of Peterbilt 389 and TRT ESS house trailer, eased, squeezed, and wriggled a 9.5m wide, 4.2m high family abode on a rig that measured 23m in length, from the firm‘s house storage facility in West Auckland through the City of Sails, and on south. If you asked the average punter which occupations are home to the longest stretches of intense concentration and teamwork, I doubt any would include house movers in their top five. Being honest, if you‘d asked me last month, I wouldn‘t have. But now, having lived in their world for a brief moment, they‘d be in my top three; and I‘d defend them being there to the hilt. What makes their achievements even more breathtaking is it‘s all done in the middle of the night, at a time when our bodies and brains don‘t want to be at their quickest and most agile.

Photo: Every day I‘m shuffling!‘ Doing the traffic light Watusi in Sandringham.

Now, where were we?
Let‘s duck back briefly to the start of the journey. It‘s 10.15pm in Swanson, ‘Westie country‘, and we‘re awaiting the permitted ‘go‘ time of 10.30pm. To be honest, it seemed a little surreal, houses on trucks always are, but it was made all the more perplexing by the lead truck in tonight‘s pair being a brand new Peterbilt. Then there was a masterpiece in Kiwi design and engineering that was connected to its hydraulic fifth wheel slider; a new TRT four-axle, twin-tyre, six-slot trombone house trailer with the new Electronic Steering System (ESS). The whole combination was sitting there in gleaming white, spookily lit from underneath. It looked completely stunning. Running with the Pete was an International S-Line, owned and driven on the night by 48-year house moving veteran Mick Daly. Mick owns Highway House Movers in Whangarei and he had one third of the house we were shifting on the Inter‘s back. Mick‘s daughter Abby is the partner of PBR boss Jason Barnes, so the two companies work closely together often. Shift boss was PBR‘s Dave Fulford. He and Mick were the exceptions to what seemed like an air of nervous excitement that enveloped the whole scene as the trucks were prepped, checked, and flashing lights attached all over the house parts.

Photos: It‘s a spectacular sight, eerily lit pre departure.

I couldn‘t quite put a finger on what was generating the buzz, and I remember thinking it had been a while since I witnessed this level of excitement at a 10.15pm truck pre-check. Yes, I was excited, but that was totally expected; new story, new adventure, new people, but for these guys wasn‘t this just another day at work? Or was there something else? By night‘s end, I would understand exactly what this phenomenon was, but at that moment 10.25pm passed, signalling T-minus five minutes as they say in Houston Control, and the atmosphere went up another notch. At that moment the immaculately presented Malcolm Whitehead-Clarke appeared from the dark. “Dave? Great to have you along mate, welcome to our world. Chuck your stuff in the cab.” Malcolm is the Peterbilt‘s driver, making him the latest member of an exclusive Kiwi drivers‘ club. A career driver, the 45-year-old is himself a recent convert to this amazing world of building removals, having started with PBR early this year. He too, was calm, and had just completed a walk-around of the unit. Dave Fulford then gave the signal to saddle-up, and everyone took their positions. The team was Charlie Gurnick in the lead pilot possie, another multi-decade veteran of the game. Then there was Dave in second pilot slot who had two tasks pretty much. First, impress on those of low comprehension, unable to grasp Charlie‘s earlier ‘message‘, that a house was moments away; and second, give Malcolm and his spotters a heads-up on potential physical hindrances, things like buildings, vehicles, lampposts, power poles, railings, rubbish bins, fences, and overhead wires; in fact anything. Then there was Malcolm in the Peterbilt, followed by his eyes and ears, spotters Vasya Ritchie and James Shadrock. Then there was Mick in the S-Line, and behind him was Jason Barnes.

Photo: A rare breather.

Forming a scrum
The rugby scrum, another epic example of concentrated teamwork. Its ultimate success comes only when three things are aligned. One, there‘s a plan; two, everyone knows their role in that plan; and three, there‘s harmony of effort. House moving is exactly the same. When Dave gave the word, the excitement dissipated, everyone seemed to take a huge breath, and … showtime! It starts before the trucks even leave the yard. The spotters start calling distances, measurements, obstructions, and strategies just to get Malcolm out the gate onto the street. Charlie was already at the first intersection at the end of the road alerting traffic, and Dave was encouraging the first of the night‘s loonies to seek a safe parking position … pointing out that directly in Malcolm‘s path isn‘t it. It‘s worth noting Dave‘s an incredibly calm man, just what you need in that role. Speaking metaphorically, an angry man would likely result in blood in the streets, such is the abject stupidity of many of our Kiwi brethren.

“It‘s often the trickiest part a lot of the time,” said Malcolm. “Getting from the street where the house is to a main artery with few obstructions.” ‘Getting to a main artery‘ is all pretty relative really. The overdimension route through Auckland won‘t let you near the motorway until Ramarama in the far south. If you‘ve not had the pleasure of New Zealand‘s biggest smoke, imagine driving a truck with a house on its back right through a city that has a population the thick end of half a million more than the entire South Island. For the PBR team that meant roughly 65km winding through Swanson, Henderson, Glendene, New Lynn, Blockhouse Bay, Mt Roskill, Three Kings, Greenlane, Ellerslie, Penrose, Otahuhu, Papatoetoe, Manukau, Manurewa, Takanini, Papakura, Drury, Ramarama … motorway … south! Whew! There were, of course, two huge omissions to the final team position list above. ‘Pete‘, as in the truck, and the new TRT ESS house trailer. Let‘s introduce the latter first, because the city is where it‘s going to ‘do its thing‘ way more than just thundering down the motorway, that‘s more the Pete‘s forté, so we‘ll leave Pete until later.

Photo: The most famous bonnet of all.

The first time the trailer pulled a rabbit from the hat was the intersection of Sandringham and Mt Albert Roads where we wanted to turn onto the latter and continue south. The intersection has a 130- odd degree cut-back, traffic islands and lights strategically placed on the critical apex, made all the worse by limited room to swing either truck bonnet or trailer tail. It would be an arse in a normal 23m unit, much more so with the good family abode in tow. It had the whole operation stopped momentarily, and everyone out of their vehicles for an up-close-and-personal visual assessment. If you want to know just how good TRT‘s latest and greatest in house carrying tech is, ask Mick. He‘s moved more houses than we‘ve all had hot dinners, and he‘s seen it all … twice. Yet when we were talking just prior to setting off he pointed to the trailer and quietly said, “It‘s the Rolls-Royce of house trailers that thing. It really is the Rolls-Royce.” Malcolm handed the remote for the trailer to Vasya, and jumped back in the truck.

Vasya then lifted, tilted, and steered the trailer around the intersection remotely. Eight sets of hydraulically steered wheels in a split-axle setup are arranged in four twin-tyred axle sets. They can steer up to 35 degrees either side of centre thanks to the ROR centre-pivot axles and TRT‘s latest software. Each row works in unison, or independently, with the hydraulics for the whole trailer powered via a Yanmar 60hp diesel power pack on the trailer‘s gooseneck. It allowed James to crab steer the trailer initially, and then orientate the wheels so they all appeared to follow the circumference of a huge circle on the ground. The trailer ‘wrapped‘ itself around the traffic light poles like an exotic dancer and before you knew it, we were away. Although there are plenty of other tricks in its basket (see sidebar ‘It‘s in our DNA‘), this machine‘s real showstoppers are ESS and Quick Connect modular system for additional trailer axles to be added (this trailer has a single-axle module not in use on this move). The customer specs a base trombone house trailer and an axle count with their payloads in mind and flexibility they need. From there, additional axle modules can be added with one, two, three or four axles, allowing the trailer to be configured to any axle count they want.

The axle modules take around 20 to 25 minutes to change out. On-road steering happens via slew ring and sensors in the trailer integrated with the truck, and proprietary software in the onboard management system. All potential configurations are preset into the system, and as modules are plugged in or unplugged, the operator just selects the configuration they‘re now towing. This is not a castor steer trailer, this piece of kit is steering precisely in accordance with the towing vehicle, and it will follow perfectly … if you want it to, or it will go whichever way you tell it in order to negotiate crappy bits, as we‘d just witnessed. You can do all that from in the cab, or alternatively as we saw earlier, steering can be done manually by a third party with a remote control box. “Vasya can either hang on to the remote and take control in the sticky bits, or I can do it from in here based on what they‘re saying,” said Malcolm. “They‘re my eyes and ears and sometimes it‘s better if they do it, like back there; they can see better than I can.” It‘s the first of two trailers PBR has ordered from TRT. There‘s a 3-axle due with an additional two-axle Quick Connect module. For the first time TRT has engineered trailers that can connect to either or both modules. So, with the one-axle module they have, this will give huge interchangeability. “House moving gear just hadn‘t moved with the times,” said Jason Barnes. “These trailers are state of the art. They‘re so easy on the houses, there‘s no dragging them around corners; the house is fully supported. They‘re amazing pieces of kit. The guys love them. “TRT set up the truck too, obviously. I gotta say, they were so good to work with the whole way through.”

Seeing with your ears
Let‘s talk about Malcolm‘s world for a bit. Truck drivers love finishing the loading process, putting on their favourite playlist or podcast, and heading off. The chance for Malcolm would be a fine thing. Imagine hooking first gear, and from that moment there‘s no let-up in voices from three different places coming into the cab. He‘s listening intently to what they‘re saying, and when needed, ‘tweaking‘ the trailer, all while driving the truck, which after his years behind the wheel, he could do in his sleep … just as well. This is one busy office! Again, the teamwork and solidarity is breathtaking. All the instructions and directions are positive, and there‘s plenty of reinforcement. There has to be. If your driver loses his nerve or confidence midjob, it‘s going to be a long night. Malcolm can see the two pilots out front, and all obstructions until he‘s roughly alongside them.

After that, looking in the mirrors only reveals a living room on one side, and a wash house on the other. His other eyes and ears are his ‘rear gunners‘, Vasya, and James. The communication is fluid and relentless. “With good spotters you could almost put a blindfold on and drive it,” laughs Malcolm. As we motor down a rare stretch of expansive inner-city road he hums along with a barely audible song in the background, making the most of the momentary break. If you‘re carting a house through Auckland what‘s one of the worst things you could have happen? The answer, two pilots with purple lights coming the other way, and that‘s exactly what greeted us in downtown Otahuhu. It turned out to be a huge skybridge heading for the new convention centre, and following a quick inter-pilot korero it was determined there was ‘heaps of room‘, and so in the wee-small hours, the two behemoths inched passed each other with a whole 80 to 100mm to spare. Move on, nothing to see here people.

Photo: The Kinloch squad. (From left) James Shadrock, Takare Prime, Vasya Ritchie, Malcolm Whitehead-Clarke, Morgan Tuau.

Open road
We should say at this point the house‘s destination was actually Kinloch on the northeastern flanks of Lake Taupo. It was going to be a two-night affair with the ‘overday‘ (it‘s not over-night is it?) layover planned for PBR‘s Horotiu yards on the northern outskirts of Hamilton. Following one last tight bit negotiating the new Takanini interchange construction, it was as straightforward as house moving gets, on down to Ramarama with a collective sigh of relief as the Pete‘s bonnet swung onto the motorway. Within seconds the odometer read ludicrous numbers like 80 and 90kph, which after the preceding six or so hours seemed like we were in the Millennium Falcon hurtling through space … which I guess made me Chewbacca … let‘s go Starship Enterprise instead. Rare, and always exciting to be looking down the famous split-rivet bonnet of a Peterbilt at the most famous grab-handle ever to grace a radiator surround. At last the Pete seemed to be doing what they love best, running down an expressway. Malcolm estimated the weight at about 50 tonne all up, and the 448kW (600hp) Cummins X-15 under the hood gave a bit of a snarl as it poked into St Stephens hill. Width and traffic meant we ended up at 40kph with the 18-speed manual Roadranger in 6th high at 1400rpm.

Malcolm‘s old-school and reassuring to ride with, meaning ‘Jakes‘ first and brakes second down the Bombays, in a gear that keeps both speed and adrenaline where they should be. Further south on the new Huntly bypass deviation with wide open expanses and a run-on, the Pete held 45kph in 7th high and 1100rpm. Trundling along, conversation turned to the truck‘s name on the bugdeflector, The White Knight. “Yeah, a bit of thought went into that, eh? My wife Helena had a lot of input too,” said Malcolm. “The white is obviously the company livery, but White Knights were always the good knights, you know? What we do is really important to people, we don‘t just cart ‘stuff‘ we cart people‘s lives and memories, where they might have raised their kids, or it‘s someone‘s new home where all those things will happen. It‘s a huge responsibility, one that we take really seriously believe me. So, we‘re the White Knights … the good guys, responsible, and of course the knight thing ties into ‘night‘ when you say it too, you know?” It was 6am when we pulled into the Horotiu yard, half an hour until curfew. Malcolm backed the trailer in, and Vasya steered it into place out of harm‘s way for the day. Roll on…

Photos: It‘s a Peterbilt dash at its most ‘Peterbilt‘.

Photo: Overhead and indoor view give a good indication of the cosy dimensions.

… night two – Kinloch bound
Hamilton may be our biggest inland city, but it certainly is no Auckland, and one of the best exemplars of that is how long it takes a house to be transported through. Auckland took five and half hours, Hamilton just under one from extreme north to its southern boundary! Released onto the Waikato Expressway we were off like knights into battle, except on this leg Mick and the International had been replaced by a PBR Freightliner Columbia. So how did Prestige Building Removals find themselves owners of a new Peterbilt? “It came in through Truckworks Australia,” said Jason Barnes. “It was for sale in Whangarei, it was heavy spec, perfect for what we want and something a bit different, something that stands out. We would have liked another one but was told that wasn‘t possible, and so settled on a Kenworth that‘s in the pipeline currently.” The 389 was the successor to the legendary 379 in 2007. The PBR truck is a short hood variant and in construction spec rated for 150 tonne GCM. Behind the venerable Cummins and Roadranger duo are Meritor 46-160GP axles with inter-axle diff locks and cross locks running a 4.3:1 final. Suspension is Peterbilt Air Trac 4-bag setup. Up front a Meritor MFS14 front axle sits on parabolic leaf and shock absorbers. Inside it‘s as Peterbilt as, no surprises there. It‘s a tiny space, with a beautiful wrapped dash that is home to the full array of gauges and switches glistening in their silver bezels like a knight‘s armour. There‘s woodgrain and buttoned vinyl, big aftermarket brake valves, it‘s all there. Being a day cab you‘d think next was a comment about the lack of storage, but the cab has great depth and headroom, and there‘s a full-length tub running along the back of the cab. Everything that won‘t go in there must go under seats or overhead.

Photo: PTO, brakes, light console. A touch of upholstery wouldn‘t go amiss.

Photo: Note the ESS management module on the overhead.

The control panel for the trailer smarts faces the driver overhead and centre, and the command centre for the turntable slider, brake balance, PTO, and lighting is between the seats in a console … which does need to be upholstered really. Currently it looks a bit agricultural in bare aluminium. The Pete was comfortable, and about the same noise level inside as a T909 Kenworth. One thing we love on Petes is the mirror bracketry. There‘s a really meaty dominant ‘C‘ arm, and you get no movement at all. Access-wise the steps are great, the door opening horrible … yet it‘s all so cool. You can‘t buy one, so there‘s not a great deal of use delving too much deeper. No one buys a 389 just because it‘s their truck, they buy them because trucks are their life. In 2016 I sat for three hours with Bob Orton, founder, owner, and boss at Bob Orton Trucking, in his small office at the company‘s home in Panguitch, Utah. Bob was 83 then. Pete‘s have always been, and still were, the backbone of his business. When I asked him the same question I‘ve asked many others stateside, “What‘s the Peterbilt thing Bob? What is it about Peterbilts?” He gave me my all-time favourite answer. He simply looked up, paused, and said in a long Utah drawl, “Well, Dave. It‘s like this. There‘s Peterbilt, and then there‘s every other $%&@ing thing.” As the White Knight thundered south, I thought back to Bob, and smiled. Peterbilt. The greatest truck we never had. The run south gave little trouble compared with the night before. Places like the narrow bridge on the northern entrance to Putaruru were of no consequence and the team had knocked off and were heading for bed before the first rays of light appeared.

Photo: Living the American dream.

Photo: After Auckland, Putaruru was no problem.

White Knights
Moving houses is as much about the beginning and end as it is about the bit in the middle, and if teamwork at a level few people witness is required to move it along the road, then incomprehensible cooperation is needed to pick it up, or place it down. Kinloch was one of those jobs where you could say it all started once they arrived. The next two days were about getting the house up the drive, through two lumpy paddocks, over a hideous bund, and onto its narrow plot. It‘s where you understand the reasoning behind buying a heavy haul truck for gross weights that will rarely pass 60 tonne, and why you fit it with a trailer Harry Houdini would have been proud to own. House removal trucks often have to be pushed, pulled, and wrenched into place. Fortunately, the big Pete found its own way across the paddock to the bund, assisted ably by the trailer keeping all in trim and level behind. Both the city experience and now this place showed us that the 18-speed Roadie will spend many hours in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd with all manner of traction aids rallied. When things get really torrid, there are other tricks too. The truck‘s turntable is mounted on a slider attached to a huge hydraulic ram fixed to the chassis behind the cab, also fitted by TRT. With the trailer locked up, the ram can push the truck forward and then pull the trailer in. Likewise, there‘s a front sideshift leg on the trailer, handy for that last half metre or so needed to place the house right on its spot. The PBR guys work in a dangerous environment, especially at this phase in the process, but real safety is yet again communication, knowing your role, never being afraid to draw on prior experience, saying what you think without fear, and most of all, preparation before progress.

Gavin and I witnessed it all time and time again in the days we were around. But safety and productivity is also not resting on what has traditionally been good enough to get the job done, and hats off to PBR for sourcing the best, most advanced equipment money can buy. So, back to the beginning when I said there was an air of tense excitement. Three days later the reason was plain. What these guys do is perform; it‘s pure theatre. When a house is on the road, they‘re ‘on stage‘ for the world to see, and like any showman, you‘re only as good as your last performance, and heaven help if you forget your part. They knew prior to leaving what was expected, how much time they had to achieve it, and what was on the line. And that‘s how it is with every single shift. It must be easy to get addicted. The sense of achievement on completion even for Gavin and I was immense, and all we did was ask questions and take pictures and video. What it must feel like for the actual guys is hard to imagine. The truck and trailer? Yes, they‘re impressive, and TRT can be rightly proud of its baby. But the truth is, it‘s all nothing without the cohesion of those who make it work, and that‘s what makes what these guys do so impressive.

IT‘S IN OUR DNA
A modular, innovative, and e-smart solution that breaks new ground in the transport of heavy and over-dimensional loads by using proven solutions, adapted and applied to new circumstances? That, folks, was present in the chromosomes that formed TRT. On the one hand you have Jack Tidd himself in Te Kuiti in the 30s, cannibalising and strengthening car parts to make petrol tanker axles. In those days the ‘e‘ didn‘t mean electronic, it probably meant Ernie, as in Ernie Binns, the father of the Tidd trailing axle. Then there‘s Dave Carden at Southside Motors and Engineering in Putaruru in the 60s, putting cranes on refurbished truck chassis, and making all the other bits – jibs, booms, hooks, etc – himself. When Carden‘s business was bought by the newly formed Jack Tidd Ross Todd enterprise, Binns had already gone sometime prior, but the savvy, clever, innovative, Carden remained on. The rest as they say, is … flourishing in New Zealand and Australia actually. “What I want people to know, is there‘s nothing to be scared of in this innovation,” said Bruce Carden, director of sales and innovation at TRT. “This tech has been around in big mobile cranes for a long time, we‘ve just taken something that works in one sphere and tweaked and applied it in another sphere. This is proven technology, adapted and redeployed.” What he‘s talking about in particular is the proprietary ESS (Electronic Steering System) present in the company‘s latest range of heavy haul platforms and house trailers. ESS 101, in lay terms. A geared slew ring on the skid plate connects to encoders that transfer information to the electronic steering controller. This in turn determines the trailer steering angles based on the degrees of turn inputs.

Photo: The centre-pivot design of the ROR steering axles.

Photo: The accumulator is one of two failsafe systems protecting the trailer‘s functionality

Photo: The benefits of the split axle design are clearly evident.

The result is an enormous trailer that follows its tractor to a T. Because machines are at the end of the day machines, there are two failsafe systems built in. In the event there‘s failure in the power pack that runs the trailer hydraulics, a gas over hydraulic accumulator will instantly charge the hydraulic steering system and allow the trailer to operate safely in the straight ahead position. Alternatively the truck‘s PTO can run the whole system. Because ESS allows any number of trailer combinations to be facilitated with just the flick of a button on the in-cab controller, TRT then went about improving the speed a combination could be put together. That led to Quick Connect, a modular system now finding its way to more conventional multi-row transporter trailers. “Modular trailers are not a new concept but they were slow to connect and not very safe for the guys changing them. We had to make this faster and safer. Quick Connect has been tested as low as 20 minutes, ‘whoa to go‘,” said TRT trailer sales engineer Glen Harnett. Again, a 101 lesson in Quick Connect modules. The rear of the lead trailer has two (or four for a spreading trailer) vertical locator pins that pick up eyes in the module being added. This allows lugs on the additional module to nest between two locators on the lead trailer. Hydraulic pins then travel through all three, pinning them together. From there it‘s a matter of connecting the hydraulics and electrics, telling the controller your new configuration, and off you go. “It‘s so easy to use,” says Glen. “We provide full operational training and there‘s a thorough handover with our specialist Garth Uren. He goes over the operation as well as service and maintenance.” In terms of other significant engineering, the house trailers use a torsional box trombone system, rather than the traditional ‘I‘-beam system.

Photo: One half of the Quick Connect story. The front mount on a module. Locators on the rear of the lead section pick up the horizontal eyes at the top, allowing the lower lugs to locate into housings and everything to be pinned together.

Photo: Two encoders tracking the slew ring in the head of the trailer are key to ESS.

The enclosed housing design with inner webs significantly improves strength by up to 40% over an ‘I‘-beam, according to Glen. The trailers have a lowered bed height of 0.88m and raise to 2.75m. The split independent axle design means they can also tilt side to side, fore and aft. “Although we have a standard, each trailer is specced for each customer. It‘s all about requirement, preference, and futureproofing,” says Glen. “You can have different trombone lengths, axles and spacings on the base unit, then add modules, or features like side shift front and rear, as well as king pin side shift; it really is how long is a piece of string.” Development of the concept is far from over, there‘s constant improvement and new ideas all the time, as well as a vision for where it could potentially lead. “We have a saying here,” said Bruce. “Never build the same thing more than twice, because by the third unit we will find a way to innovate again. That‘s how we help industry but keep TRT products at the forefront of technology.” Hmmm, somehow I can imaging hearing that in a Putaruru engineering workshop sometime in the 60s!

THE IN-CAB CROONER
Forty-five-year-old Malcolm Whitehead- Clarke and his wife Helena run the karaoke at Hamilton‘s The Quadrant bar every second Friday, and the odd Saturday. What that means on the job is, amidst the intermittent stress and frenzy of a house relocation, Malcolm always has a song in his heart, singing away as part of his coping mechanism no doubt. If you‘re in the passenger‘s perch, it all adds to the entertainment. Malcolm‘s one of those people who is affable, a great conversationalist, and he can sing. Vocationally, he‘s been around trucks right from the get-go. His grandfather, Ray Marsh, owned and ran Brosnan Motors buses in Raglan, and his dad, Wally, drove for General Foods and NZ Roadservices before a long career at Tony Galbraith Ltd (1989-2005). That was great for a young Malcolm, who grew up helping any way he could, washing trucks, having fun, and just getting involved, as so many of us of at that time did. His first real job was with Countrywide Movers. That job got him valuable experience, took him all over the South Island, and it‘s also where he first worked with Jason Barnes. Malcolm moved back to Hamilton around the turn of the century, working various casual driving jobs, including regular slots back where it all began at Tony Galbraith Ltd. Following a couple of years with TCD contractors Alan and Adrienne Green, he took on an owner-driver position at Mainfreight, floating at first and then on a set run between Tauranga and Wellington. The ebbs and flows of life saw Malcolm off to Australia in 2008, where he spent four years on interstate trucking and then in the mining industry on side tippers out of Port Hedland. He returned home in 2011 and started with Alexander Grain carting wine for Vintage harvest season 2012. Following wedding bells in 2013, Malcolm took on a