UNLOADING AT NIGHT

[OldGoat]

Got bored and decided to take a picture. This is Weyerhauser in Longview Washington.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/Oldgoat_photos/UNLOADINGATNIGHT003Small.jpg[/img]

[hellcat_99]

That's pretty cool the way the light hit's the chrome. I love chrome.

Holly :cheers:

[OldGoat]

Here's another. Neat the way the reflective tape caught the flash.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s156/Oldgoat_photos/UNLOADINGATNIGHT004.jpg

[hellcat_99]

That is cool.

Holly

[woodie]

Smart pictures.

What do you haul in the tank?
What is your truck/trailer length?
What is the gross/net weights?

(curious UK trucker, tell me to get lost if you want. :D )

[Accremonious]

Old Goat you are also an old fox! Your shots are careful to not reveal the chemical (placards!) and the corporate logos! Since it is a quad-axle with several domes, is it fully baffled or just compartmentalized? And the pusher half axles on the tractor are for weight distribution in the tank nose I take it?
I hope that you are exempt from criticism by the companies since I know that often we were asked to surrender our cameras while on site! Good going and keep the pixels coming as can,Thanx.

[OldGoat]

Woody, the tank is 53'. Probably 70' with the tractor. The trains are about 86'. GVW in the states is 101,000 lbs and the b trains are 63,500 kg or 139,700 lbs. The tare is about 40,000 lbs and the load is about 59-60,000 lbs.

Accremonious, no need for placards with this load. It was Magnesium Sulphate (Epson Salts). It's not regulated or dangerous. Tank is not baffled and it's a real pain, what with the slosh and all. You have to make 4 real short shifts to start out. Then you will get a surge that hits the front of the trailer then continue as normal. The surges get smaller as you go along.

Sometimes it feels like someone literally ran into the back of you, It's that hard. You will also get a surge when your traveling down the road and slack off the gas, even going up hill! You also feel the truck speed up and slow down as the surge go's to and fro.

[woodie]

In UK, the maximum length of trailers is 13.6m (45ft). The overall maximum length allowed is 18.5m (60ft). The maximum gross weight is 44,000 kgs(96,800 lbs) on six axles.

There is rising pressure from the freight industry for the government to allow the road testing of road-trains on designated trunk routes.

[Accremonious]

For your benefit Woodie, the New York Thruway (Toll road) allows trains that are twin 48' and maybe 53' too, but they have to be broken up or assembled in trailer yards (often called tandem yards)provided just outside the entry/exit toll booths. The toll structure is different for each set or combination. A single 53' gets a higher rate than a 48' wagon. That is one of the reasons it is nicknamed the "Throwaway"! This also extends into Massachusetts all the way to Boston on the Mass Pike, too. A single 53' from Boston to Buffalo before they raised the rates was $120.00 USD one way. If I was North of Boston just inside New Hampshire, I could run up into Quebec and across into Ontario to Toronto without any tolls or bridge crossing tolls and be with in ten miles of the other route, but the hills were a bit higher. some companies would allow me to do that and others wanted me to run the toll road so that they could bill the customer. I always wondered what that was all about! You would think that $130.00 less would get you the business, but other companies refused to license their rigs for Quebec, so then you either had to have a trip permit or stay out! Very curious industry in some ways!

[OldGoat]

Turnpike doubles video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrtiWiuCGj0

[Accremonious]

That was cool, Old Goat! Did you watch this one near by of the "wrong siders"? Must have been down under in NZ or Aus!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHdQB144Wnc&NR=1
I wonder how long it would take to get "switched over" in your mind to be fully competent (safe) on the "wrong side"!

[OldGoat]

That guy has another video where he shows his trucking expertise. He wants to immigrate to North America. I know what you mean about having to learn something that go's against everything you've been taught to do. I'm having a h@ll of a time backing up trains.

[Accremonious]

I can just imagine. I never graduated to the second hinge. Stayed with the tridems and quads, too. There are lots of 5 and 6 axles jobs around but I was happier with light expedite runs on tandems. Best cargo was styrofoam. Even if it moved around in the box it did not matter! (Scrap for recycle as filler in wall plaster) or huge blocks of the virgin material.
At one of our local outfits we were pulling loads out of the aluminum mills in Que to trans dock into max. 80K gross or 105K. The special Super B train boxes unlatch and slide together into the dock so that the fork lifts can run the full length. Those drivers are good especially since the dock doors were built too close together and when several rigs were in position there was only 2 to 4 inches between each. Needless to say the mechanics had some barn door repairs more often than they would like especially when there were rush loads and tired drivers arrived. It makes you try to do a good job when you know and see the co-owner come out and get into one of these rigs and put it into the dock perfectly when he has not been on the road in years! Of all the different places I have worked and it was many, I always found that the owner(s) who was or is still licensed were the best to work for. Much less BS than the pencil push uppity corpulent manglement suit who has never sat in the seat and let a clutch out in anger or been cut off in Trawnna, eh! Enjoy the break and take care.

[OldGoat]

It makes you try to do a good job when you know and see the co-owner come out and get into one of these rigs and put it into the dock perfectly when he has not been on the road in years! Of all the different places I have worked and it was many, I always found that the owner(s) who was or is still licensed were the best to work for. Much less BS than the pencil push uppity corpulent manglement suit who has never sat in the seat and let a clutch out in anger or been cut off in Trawnna, eh! Enjoy the break and take care.

That's like where I am now. The owner had to put in several weeks last summer filling in on the Jet A run as they were short of drivers. Here's another vid of the Auzzy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NRIRIBlr8