Tony Stratton has been plying his trade on the nation’s highways as an owner-driver behind the wheel of a Kenworth and, as Peter and Di Schlenk found out, he intends on it keeping that way.
When you first cast eyes on Tony Stratton’s rig, you can tell the owner-driver has a passion for trucks.
His 2005 Kenworth Aerodyne, which pulls a quad-axle Tuff Trailers float, is decked out in signwriting with a nice dose of chrome and stainless steel.
“I brought it white and have only added a small amount of colour and kept it very subtle,” Tony, from Wagga Wagga, says.
“I like, back in the day, when they were all coloured and you could tell which fleet they belonged to by their livery. The next one will be coloured.”
Tony’s quite happy with his C15-powered Kenworth and says he plans on sticking with the brand when he buys his next truck. He just hasn’t worked out yet which model it will be.
He initially thought a big cab would be the go but he is starting to lean towards a bonnet.
“I have to be careful with length, but I could make it work. We run two trailers, a quad float and a tri-axle drop deck,” Tony says.
“I do a lot of wide loads — mid to heavy gear and a little bit of general. I don’t mind tarping. Nothing looks better than a neatly tarped trailer.”
Before getting into truck driving, Tony took on an apprenticeship painting trailers and trucks as he wasn’t allowed to leave school until he had secured a job.
“I am glad I did it now. Back then I may not have thought so, but now I have a trade which got me into trucks,” he says.
Tony has been behind the wheel, as an owner-driver, running interstate trips for almost five years.
“We do some local [work] but most of the time it is interstate. At the moment, we have the benefit of good steady work so I do subby a bit here and there. I do like to deal with the customers myself but you can’t always do everything, so I have some guys who give me a hand,” he says.
To date, Tony has been running quite a bit into Queensland, Adelaide and the regular Melbourne to Sydney trip. While he would enjoy some trips to western and central Australia, it would take him away from everyday work for too long.
“I have a pretty good job carting machinery around. It involves some off-road work. We have been carting a lot of machinery up to the coal seam and gas pipelines. I do like to get out and have a look around but these trips can be rough in the cab over,” he says.
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In Brief
Name: Tony Stratton
Company: TW & SJ Stratton & Sons
Freight Carried: Wide loads , heavy machinery
Regular Runs: Queensland, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney