Harry's Tales: Rolling On And On And On...
Harry Wroth tells of a nightmare bus journey.
I had been driving passenger cars for forty years. During my army years drove heavy vehicles, even Sherman tanks. I then became a driver/guide for a tour operator who prevailed upon me to secure a Code 10 driving licence to drive his only recently bought 16 ton, thirty-two seater luxury bus.
I drove dozens of tours beween Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, on each occasion traversing Chapmans Peak and Cableway Kloofnek road. Once I experienced brake fade. I had been told to expect this after sustained use of the brakes.
In this bus I took a group of elderly folk on a trip to the Eastern Transvaal and Kruger National Park. We toured one day to Pilgrims Rest, turning back after viewing Blydepoort Rondawels. I then experienced the first signs of brake problems, only just managing to avoid ramming the barrier gate at the entrance to the Potholes view point, by centimetres. The emergency spring brake would not hold the bus on the slight slope of the Pothole parking area. We had to put large rocks behind its back wheels while I kept the engine running with my foot on the brake pedal. After viewing the Potholes and reboarding the bus, we slowly crept into Graskop.
I enquired at a garage if they could adjust the brakes. Brakes adjusted at a cost of R32, we were on our way to Hazyview for the night. Halfway down the Kowyn's Pass on the Drakensburg Escarpment the engine cut out and I lost virtually all brakes. The bus had an automatic gearbox so there was no compression to help me in my predicament.
Even when standing on the brake pedal, with the springbrake on, I could not get the speed below 40 kph. If anything got in the way or the curves were to sharp we were doomed.
Only the front four passengers were aware of the problem.
I managed to reach the bottom of the pass but could not make the right-angled turn to Hazyview. I stopped about 500 metres beyond the turnoff. I was as white as a sheet and my left knee shook for about five minutes. The brake drums were white hot and smoking.
A prayer was said. We had be very lucky indeed.
After a break we crept on to Hazyview.
The next day, a mechanic from the Nelspruit depot of the manufacturers set the brakes in five minutes. He said they were not self adjusting and needed to be adjusted every week. He added that the garage did not know what they were doing and must have had the springbrake in the on position while making adjustments.
We returned home without further incident.
