Very familiar with the C120. Doubtful that you have a sleeper, 200 gallons of fuel, you and your gear, scaling at 16K. The daycab version of the C120, stripped down with 80 gallons of fuel scales at “just” under 16k. With a 70" condo, 200 ga of fuel, etc., you’re closer to 18,500.
Nope had the Kitty Cat scale ticket to prove that weight. There are Regular Weight Componets and then their are the LIGHT WEIGHT ones youcan put into a truck that will bring the weight down. Yes using the REgular crap will be 18’5. However throw Comsposite Springs 10 Alum Wheels Lightwieght 5th wheel Alloy Hubs and axles in there and you have already lost 1600 LBS. Then Carbon Fiber Drive Shafts and we did run them saves you another 200 lbs. Dump the side fairings gets rid of another 400. There were a few other things boss had on there I can not remember however we were the lightest 70 inch Condo out there. We had some 58 inch Midroofs that were another 1500 lighter than that.
I read the link in the first post, and I must say, the first writer in that link has sure put some creative juice into crafting his message to hit all the buttons. But his vengeance is understandable considering that he is pushing back against this emerging societal message that rail is the Primadonna of “green” transportation, and that trucking should take a back seat and just move freight from the shipper to the nearest railhead, and vice versa.
From sources including NS, UP, and CSX ads, the FRA, the Trains article WIRED UP, and think tanks cited within that article, I keep hearing the message that “we” need to get trucks off the highways and shift their freight to rail so “we” can save fuel. The objective of getting as much as 80% of trucks off the roads has been often cited. Nobody seems to be asking why shippers are using trucks instead of rail. And nobody seems to be concerned about how the truckers are going to survive if 80% of their trucks are removed from the roads. It’s all about what’s best for “we.”
The heaviest component that a trucking company has to deal with are the drivers egos.
The younger the driver, the more he has to have. At least they think they must have. I heard an old driver make the statement that " Chrome don’t pay the bills."
You can see the signs all over the place, a plain company truck, decked out with truck stop chrome toy add ons, . I can tell you stories of guys who would get a couple of advances after their training/orientation period, and their first purchase was a pair of $400.00 cowboy boots, or a CB with all the toys installed. While the family at home is told," their check was shorted." Admittedly, extreme situations, but common in the business, drivers who have advanced themselves beyone their ability to bring in income for a pay period.
Drivers “who can’t do the job” unless they have the “mostest, biggest, fastest, highest horespower, left lane running truck” So they can key up on their “roger-beeper CB equipped with a reverb and enough power to shut down a passing cars computer”. Exaggeration you say? Possibly, but fairly accurate.
Truckers as a class are somewhat loners, they are somewhat sociologically disaffected, pasts with broken homes, no family life, in an industry that escews time at home as weakness. They are never at fault for anything, missed delivery appointments, or pick ups, they are wholely the acted upon; equipped with a million excuses for why what was expected to occur did not happen. Traffic, break downs, road construction, ad nauseum. All potentially real world problems, but when you deal with drivers as a group, you find ones who never seem to have any problems, and whinners who ALWAYS are victims.
The other side of this is the company management who has to
With a team of 2 drivers and preloaded trailers with a truck set for the West Coast speed limit of 75 a good TEAM can make it from the West Coast to the midwest in less than 40 hours. That is Faster than the RR can make it Faster than Amtrak runs almost and they offer Door to Door service. Now if you need it out to NYC add 15 hours so LA to NYC in less than 60 hours. What is the Fastest Intermodal time between those 2 cities. 4 days OTR is faster and does not require the massive capital spending on Locomotives crews Trackage or Terminals and you do it right you can sell speed service and make a killing.
Sam you nailed it I was one of the drivers ALWAYS asked to go to a new customer. Why because I would be the Driver that showed up clean truck shaved in a set of Kahkis and in a company logo shirt. I was also one that took pride in his job and also did what it took to make sure the load got there INTACT and Damage free. In all my time I drove one load was damaged because the loader refused to load it the way it needed. However the loader marked refused to load it like driver and CUSTOMER wanted then He signed it and his Foreman signed it. Needless to say both of them were out of jobs by the time the owner of the Shipper was done.
Make that speed with the quantity that one train can…and I’ll be impressed with any trucking operation vs rail.
That is an interesting proposition. My problem is what locations would ‘benefit’ from this as a whole? When I look at both our countries I do see where some of this might work but there are those other areas—[:-^]
An example of the issue then up here is this little region north of here that has very little rail traffic left. Unless there is a whale of a lot of reinvestment in RR service up there—like that is going to happen[:-^]–there is an area that will continue to be truck oriented.
The thing here is that any move like the above may appeal to the urban population—which may be at the expense of those who live/work in the more ‘rural’ environments.
Trans-national maybe but more regional or local? Not so much—[:-^]
To everyone participating in this thread, silently or otherwise, this has been interesting and educational, and I am happy those with stakes in trucking have had a chance to explain their work and its challenges. I will lock this thread now with the expectation that we have become more familiar with our trucking friends, and we can return to more topical matters related to trains.
-Crandell
[locked]