First let me say i loved working for the railroad.When people would ask what do you do for a living ? I would say i work on the railroad and i would say it with pride! But what i am saying now is that railroads are a fixed plant so cant compete with trucks that come to your door. And they should npt try to compete. Trucks do pay high taxes but they have open access to the roads.Railroads are at a disadvantage in that area.Railroads can clean truckers clocks on coal, grain. steel, intermodel because a 2 man crew can haul 200 loads of coal 300 miles in 8 hours. But i do stick with my point that many truckers are high on something and many railroad unions try to screw each other.UTU and BLE case in point.One last thought if truck companies and railroads didnt give their employees immpossible schedules to keep we would not have a lot of this trouble. Thanx for the chance to share my opinion.
You are saying that truckers are nothing but a bunch of drug addicts. I was a OTR driver til a medical condition retired me. I was home for the weekend all of a sudden I get a call from work you have 30 mins to get to the hospital in this town to have a drug test taken and also an alchohal test. In the time I drove I was tested over 50 times. Yes we are giving hard schedules to keep it is not the companies that force those schedules on the drivers it is called the shippers making you wait 10 hours to load and then the recivers not pushing back the time of delivery. I hauled alot of produce and what you did there was sleep until you were loaded then fly like the wind. More thatn once yes I pushed myself to the limit however I never took anything to stay awake.
You are a good driver then. And more power to you. i hope your medical condition is not too disabling. thank u!