Posted: 3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Cameras inside facing road and cameras on mirrors facing back side of truck.
When I was with CFI, they installed cameras but did not activate the driver facing ones and we were allowed to cover them.
With the company I'm with now we have cameras facing front, sides and rear, not inward. Since our tractor was in the shop the forward and rear ones aren't working. When they work it looks like this.
Yes we have a display in the cab, so we can see what they see.
Posted: 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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They are a good company to start with as are many others. Most companies will house you during training. I started with CFI which is now owned by Heartland Express. They also own Millis and Smith. That gives you several training options under one umbrella.
There is also Prime, Swift, Schneider, TMC and many more.
Best of luck to you.
Posted: 3 months, 3 weeks ago
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Driving a manual transmission truck local. Fun and frustrating.
Most of my driving is on local roads. A drive from the refinery back to HQ is a great example. From the refinery there is a steep incline from their driveway to the road and a hard right. I get up to speed, 30 MPH, then come to the stop sign. Go through the the stop sign, get up to speed and come to the RR crossing, another steep incline, get across the tracks to a stop sign. Right turn get up to speed and, traffic light, usually red. Get up to speed and RR crossing, Get up to speed and it the light for my left turn. That just gets me to the main road. This is constant shifting from second to eighth and back down. I start in second 99% of the time. I rarely spend more than 30 minutes to an hour on the interstate. I love my job and driving. This is just an example of some regular driving that I didn't see OTR. If you're new to trucking or thinking of a local gig, this is a small example. There are many types of local jobs with different amounts of driving. I do mostly short drives and working at night, traffic is rarely an issue.
Stay safe. Scott
Posted: 4 months, 1 week ago
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Do you get to go up where the engineer sits in the locomotive? Maybe you can post a photo of yourself in the driver’s seat. That would be cool.
When we are cleaning, we are in the cab where they sit.
Posted: 4 months, 1 week ago
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Things have been going great About two weeks ago all three trucks broke down about the same time. They rented a 2024 Freightliner for the trailer. It's an automatic. We got our manual tractor back the other day, yet my supervisor doesn't want to swap them out yet. Oh well. The straight fuel truck and service truck are still in the shop. The fuel truck might be back Tuesday. No update on the service truck.
We have a very tight yard that we fuel trains at. Thankfully I can turn more than 90 degrees.
I have been using the Hammer app for navigation. I like it and would suggest it for anyone who needs a truck GPS and can"t afford a Garmin yet.
With only one truck, we have only been able to fuel and only one person does anything. I have been on the fuel truck for the past two days, so my next two will be sitting in the office and or my car.
One of the guys had a fuel spill last week. He had to take a drug test. However, it was a freak accident. One of the other guys twisted his ankle.
I also learned how to add oil and water to the trains.
That's about it.
Stay safe out there.
Posted: 5 months ago
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Two days of fun and adventure, plus a general update
How much driving do you get to do generally? Are the yards pretty close together?
We usually drive an hour or less each way. But we can be sent to Agusta, GA., Raliegh, NC or other places. Today it was Charlotte to Greensboro and back. We have two other yards in Charlotte we service.
Posted: 5 months ago
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Two days of fun and adventure, plus a general update
BTW, didn’t you go vegan some time ago? How is that going? Just remember that if everybody did that I would be out of my job hauling dead cow. Lol
I'm still vegan and very happy. I currently have two vegan cook books and I have been trying different things. last week I made cinnamon buns from scratch.
Posted: 5 months ago
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Two days of fun and adventure, plus a general update
Big Scott,
It is a pleasure to read your new journey. I of course had the pleasure of meeting you in person at the Loves in Wytheville, VA. with my wife while we were rving a couple of years ago.
Your positive attitude is why you will be successful in this new adventure. It really seems like this is a good fit for you. Have fun and be safe around those locomotives.
Thank you. It was great having that chance to meet up. If you're ever in Charlotte, hit me up. Never know if I'm available for a long or quick meet up.
Posted: 5 months ago
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Two days of fun and adventure, plus a general update
I finally got to drive the manual tractor trailer. Considering I haven't touched a manual transmission, truck, since CDL school, it was trial by fire. The first day with it I had to go to a yard and fuel six locomotives. I should have used the straight truck as that yard is small. I had to turn around and thought I had the room, but there was a pile of railroad ties in my way. I had to move the out of the way. Railroad ties are quite heavy. That was hot, sweaty and dirty work. I got the job done. Then went to the refinery and refiled the tank, the trailer holds 7000 gallons. The straight truck only holds about 4300 gallons. I had emptied it fueling those trains.
there are only two people on for each shift except for Sunday when it's all three per shift. Last night they had too many locomotives to fuel for one person. The other guy had the straight truck and I had the semi. I had to got to a huge yard. While there I snagged a trailer wheel on a piece of concrete. I was coming around a tight turn and was blinded by a locomotive with its brights on. i could not see and thought I was clear. Well road service got there just as I finished fueling the last train and emptying my tank. When he finished, I went to the refinery, reloaded the tank and headed back to the office. There I did my paperwork and relaxed for the last couple of hours.
I am really enjoying this job and company. We work 60 hous per week. I am on night shift, my hours are 18:00 to 06:00, with Wednesday and Thursday off. I like the night shift, I am getting more rest. I have about a 10 to 20 minute commute, depending on traffic lights and traffic. it's 6 miles from my driveway to work. There is a cell phone for the fuel truck and one for the service (LST) truck. You hang onto whichever phone for the truck your assigned to that day. We are on either fuel or LST two days, then we switch. I have been on fuel the last two days, tomorrow, I'll be on LST. The fuel trucks have computers that go to the railroad. These computers keep track of the fuel in and out. They help us too. We have sheets that we fill out each day for what we did. That all goes to the railroad and our company.
Logs are much different for me we do not have a tablet in the truck. There are three tablets, you gab one when your ready to roll. We log into that tablet and then a truck. We can do that while sitting in the office. Once i go on duty, it has you log a pretrip, then I don"t touch it until I'm ready to log off. It automatically goes into drive and after we are stopped, it will go to on duty. I don't worry about running out of hours. There are days where we just sit in the office for a whole shift. Many days I'm done by 22:00. Then it's just wait to see if we are called. W have set things to do each day, but sometimes those things don't happen. We are on call for the rail road. The office is in a rail yard and we hear these trains all day long. the are constantly hooking and unhooking rail cars.
I enjoy being home every day, sleeping in my own bed, having my own bathroom. I miss the sights of this great country but not the life on the road. right now I have a little less than an hour and a half until it's time to go home.
Stay safe out there.
Scott
Posted: 3 months, 2 weeks ago
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Driving a manual transmission truck local. Fun and frustrating.
Exactly.