Nairn Transport Company
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The Nairn Transport Company was a pioneering motor transport company that operated a trans-desert route from
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and
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to
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, and back again, from 1923. Their route became known as "The Nairn Way". The firm continued, in various guises, until 1959.


Origins

The company was formed by Norman Nairn (1894–1968) and his brother Gerald (1897–1980) of
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who had served under
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in the
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in the Middle East during
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. In 1905, their doctor father had been one of the first in New Zealand to own a motor car, a Reo, and the brothers had a successful motorcycle dealership there prior to World War I.The Nairn Way
by John M. Munro and Martin Love in ''Saudi Aramco World'', July/August 1981, Vol. 32, No. 4. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
Among other brands, they were the sole agents for
Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression along with i ...
."The Cadillac Versus the Camel"
by Maurice D. Hendry in ''Veteran and Vintage Magazine'', February 1968, pp. 182-188 & p. 196
Archived here.
/ref> After the war, the brothers first traded in ex-army vehicles, then established a motor dealership in 1919 but it was not very successful and they decided to operate a taxi service between Beirut and Haifa with the cars they couldn't sell. There followed a process of experimentation with different vehicles and the brothers often came into conflict with the owners of horse-drawn vehicles to whose business they were a threat. In 1920 they began a mail and passenger service between Beirut and Haifa. In 1923, the British consul in Damascus, C.E.S. Palmer, asked them to examine the possibility of crossing the
Syrian Desert The Syrian Desert ( ''Bādiyat Ash-Shām''), also known as the North Arabian Desert, the Jordanian steppe, or the Badiya, is a region of desert, semi-desert, and steppe, covering about of West Asia, including parts of northern Saudi Arabia, ea ...
by car. Iraq was under a British
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mandate at the time and a quicker route home would have been a great advantage to the British staff there. Plans for a rail link to the Mediterranean coast had faltered and the air route to
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was infrequent and expensive. The Nairns also received encouragement from local traders who were using camels which were slow and liable to attack by tribesmen. One was local sheik and gold smuggler Mohammad Ibn Bassam who had made trial runs of different routes using his own cars.


Trial runs and first official trip

In April 1923, the Nairns made the first of six trial runs from Damascus to Baghdad. The first trip took them three days for a journey of 880 kilometers (550 miles) using a
Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
, an
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and a
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. Having demonstrated the feasibility of the plan, Norman Nairn proposed to British officials in Baghdad that the brothers start a postal service between Damascus and Baghdad. The British agreed, as did the French in Damascus, and the French even provided gold to pay-off desert tribes to ensure safe transit. The brothers signed a five-year contract with the Iraqi government to transport mail from Baghdad to Damascus and Haifa, and back again. With the help of the Nasser trading family, the Nairn Transport Company was established and the first official trip made on 18 October 1923. The Nairn's purchased seven type 63 Cadillacs, finding these cars the most reliable, rugged and well equipped for the arduous desert treks. In addition to carrying two or three passengers plus luggage and mail, the Cadillacs were modified to carry extra
gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...
, an
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, a tank of drinking water plus enough food and provisions for one week. The cars also carried tools and many spare parts should repairs be required along the way. The new arrangements cut the transit time for mail from Baghdad to Europe to around 10 days from the 30 days previously required. Mail had previously travelled by ship from
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, via the
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, around the
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to the port of
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and then by rail to Baghdad."The Baghdad to Haifa Overland Mail: The Publicity Envelopes of the Nairn Transport Company" by Rainer Fuchs in ''
The London Philatelist ''The London Philatelist'' was first published in January 1892
by Rutbah Ar-Rutbah ( ''ar-Ruṭba'', also Romanized ''Rutba'', ''Rutbah'') is an Iraqi town in western Al Anbar province, predominantly inhabited by Sunni Arabs. The population is approximately 28,400. It occupies a strategic location on the Amman–Baghd ...
to an Iran Petroleum Company post more quickly than an
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aircraft that left at the same time. The Nairn cars were also cheaper, costing £30 ($40) per passenger from Beirut to Baghdad, compared to £150 ($199) by air from Cairo to Baghdad.


Drivers and dangers

At first, only two cars made the trip weekly, but by 1925, eight or nine, or even twelve, cars were travelling at the same time. The original
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...
guides were dropped in favour of extra drivers and the cars changed from daytime travel to driving in the cooler temperatures at night. The cars travelled in convoy, following well established routes that avoided wells or wadis where raiders might be hiding, and regularly checking on each other. The drivers became acclimatised to the conditions and were experts in the gilhooley maneuver where a car would spin several times, without turning over, on the polished mud flats that were part of the journey, before the driver regained control. Temperatures were very high in the desert and sometimes the tyres caught fire. The drivers were a colourful group of mostly English, Australians, New Zealanders, Canadians, or Americans, known for their drinking and whoring. In order to keep them out of brothels and know where to find them, the Nairns gave each one a house and a girl for company. One-eyed John Reid used a Cadillac to chase down and shoot a cheetah. Ryan, an Australian, was often drunk and filled his water bottles with arak, a local spirit. Although the convoys were always armed and were often attacked, the Nairns preferred to give the raiders what they wanted rather than risk the death of a passenger and no passenger ever died on a trip, though one was wounded and a driver was shot and later died from his wounds. The drivers were wary of carrying weapons in case they were used against them and in one case a revolver owned by a driver was held to his chest by an Arab and only failed to discharge because the man did not know how to release the safety catch. On another occasion, two Buicks were stolen by raiders and later used to launch attacks against convoys.


French and British attitudes

The Nairns received strong co-operation from the French who recognised early on the advantages of the service and gave the Nairns the French overland mail contract, allowed them to import equipment without
customs duties A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...
and gave a small subsidy. They sometimes provided an escort and after one skirmish, allowed the Nairns to chase down the raiders in two Cadillacs. The cars soon outran the camels and after the raiders' ammunition ran out they surrendered their knives to the Nairn men expecting their throats to be cut. In fact, the Nairns handed them over to the French who hanged them. The British, the other major European power in the region, also recognised the advantages of the service but provided no subsidy. One problem may have been that the Nairns never used British vehicles. They didn't use French ones either but the French didn't care. British cars, even the desert-proven
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, tended to be built for comfort over smooth European roads rather than endurance and lacked the power, high ride and cooling necessary for the long desert runs. They were also too expensive.
Lord Nuffield William Richard Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield (10 October 1877 – 22 August 1963), was an English motor manufacturer and philanthropist. He was the founder of Morris Motors Limited and is remembered for establishing the Nuffield Foundation, th ...
sent a
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six-wheel vehicle out but it was a complete failure in desert conditions.


Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited

In 1926, the brothers took over the Eastern Transport Company and merged it with Nairn. They sold the new company to English and French investors and Norman Nairn became managing director of the new entity which from 20 September 1926 became incorporated with
limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial Legal liability, liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company, or joint venture. If a company that provides limi ...
as the Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited.


Routes

The main route was Damascus to Baghdad but local troubles and commercial opportunities often involved variations. After the Druze Revolt of 1925, a new route was required around the troubled area, Beirut-Haifa-Jerusalem-Dead Sea-Amman and Rutbah. This involved five-mile-long stretches of
lava bed A lava field, sometimes called a lava bed, is a large, mostly flat area of lava flows. Such features are generally composed of highly fluid basalt lava, and can extend for tens or hundreds of kilometers across the underlying terrain. Morph ...
which was very destructive to the cars. A better route of 650 miles was found, Beirut-Homs-Palmyra-Rutbah-Baghdad. Eventually, the original route was reinstated. By 1927, the brothers had made nearly 4,000 crossings and carried 20,000 passengers and 4,500 sacks of mail.


Vehicles

The very long journeys made by the company required a variety of vehicles. The first used were
Buick Buick () is a division (business), division of the Automotive industry in the United States, American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM). Started by automotive pioneer David Dunbar Buick in 1899, it was among the first American automobil ...
and Cadillac Type V-63 motor cars, and Buick in the United States issued an advertisement in the ''
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'' in 1927 with the legend "Buick carries the Desert Mail". Cadillacs proved very reliable, even in the extreme heat, due to their large radiators and excellent cooling systems. Gerald Nairn said "The Cadillac's ability to take punishment was just amazing" and by the time the firm dispensed with them they had done 200,000 miles each, at least 150-160,000 of which had been on the Damascus to Baghdad run. They were able to run comfortably at 70 mph, a great speed for a motor car in 1923. Cadillac advertising boasted "The Cadillac replaces the Camel". New, larger vehicles were tried, first Safeway six-wheelers from the United States in 1925, then A.C.F.s (
American Car and Foundry ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company (abbreviated as ACF), is an American manufacturer of railroad rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of motor coaches and trolley coaches und ...
). In 1934, the Nairns introduced two
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buses specially adapted for them which had 18 tyres and two passenger levels in a dustfree trailer built to Nairn specs in USA by the Bender company,. The Nairn's archetypal vehicle was however the "Pullman" bus, introduced in 1937, and built using different companies' components to their design on a stainless steel trailer built by the Edward G.
Budd Company The Budd Company was a 20th-century metal fabricator, a major supplier of body components to the automobile industry, and a manufacturer of stainless steel passenger rail cars, airframes, missile and space vehicles, and various defense produ ...
of Philadelphia The Pullmans were single-level but air-conditioned with refreshment facilities. They were articulated, ran on 10 instead of 18 tyres and cost £12,000 each. The time taken for each run was reduced from 24 to 18 hours. Tractors towing the Pulllman trailers were two-axle
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trucks. In 1952, Nairn took delivery of a number of two-axle Studebaker 2R truck tractor units. During WW2, New Zealand troops occupying Syria were free to use Nairn’s bus service between Damascus and Bagdad. It ran twice a week at the cost of £18 sterling for the return trip.Awdry E.C. Lieut. Officer Commanding, 2NZ Divisional Provost Company, 21 March 1942, Routine Orders #59A, Baalbek. Available at Wellington Archives, NZ. Each bus could carry 18 passengers and by 1958 had travelled 2 million miles. The Nairns had a well-equipped workshop at their headquarters in Damascus where they employed 85 people near the end.


Nairn Transport Company Limited

In 1936, the Nairn Eastern Transport Company Limited was renamed the Nairn Transport Company Limited after a takeover by founder Norman Nairn, backed by British investors. In 1952, Norman, by now retired and facing a more difficult local political situation, sold the company to his employees. In 1959, the firm was liquidated after border disputes, competition from air transport and political problems made the service unviable.


References


Further reading

*Collins, Norman J., Zvi Alexander and Norman Gladstone. (1990) ''The overland mail via the Syro-Iraqi Great Desert.'' The British Association of Palestine-Israel Philatelists (BAPIP). *Harris, Christina P. (1937)
The Syrian Desert: caravans, travel and exploration
'. London, A. & C. Black. (Reprinted by Routledge 2007, ) *Munro, John M. (1980) ''The Nairn Way: desert bus to Baghdad''. Delmar, New York: Caravan Books. {{ISBN, 088206035X *Tullett, James Stuart. (1968) ''Nairn bus to Baghdad: the story of Gerald Nairn''. Wellington, Auckland: Reed. OCLC 40293 *"The Nairn Brothers and Overland Mail", ''
OPAL Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...
'', October 2016 (Whole No. 215), pp. 8–14, 24-25.


External links


A 1947 journey from Beirut to Baghdad
* ttp://fuchs-online.com/overlandmail/introduction.htm Rainer's Overland Mail Baghdad Haifa Pagesbr>Listen to a 1942 radio programme recorded in Damascus with Norman Nairn
Transport companies established in 1920 Transport companies of Asia Transport in the Middle East Transport companies disestablished in 1959 Transport in Syria Transport in Iraq International bus transport in Asia Transport companies of Syria Road transport in the Middle East Transport in Mandatory Palestine 1920 establishments in Lebanon 1959 disestablishments in Syria