When somebody sets up a trucking company from scratch you’ll generally find they’ve had an early association with the industry that leads to a career in it, and eventually to the point of striking out for themselves.

Which made Ray Brown a bit of an exception when he bought his first truck in 1963, at the age of 26. He’d had no family connections in the game (his father worked with the Railways, and had plans for him to train as an engine driver) – nor, by all accounts, was he truck-mad as a youngster growing up in Garston, in northern Otago.

What he did have in common with many future transport entrepreneurs was a less than enthusiastic attitude to school, and a desire to get out and earning as soon as he could.

Initially, this took the form of fencing work on one of the local stations, progressing soon after (once he got a dog) to mustering. For a time he worked at the famous Walter Peak Station on Lake Wakatipu before shifting to Makarora Station at the head of Lake Wanaka.

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