Backing Practice™ 19 - Claremont Paper Mill

This Backing Practice™ was sent to me by Stewart A, who is not a member, but admits to lurking. In an email he said

First off, I'm sorry for not being a truck driver and contacting you with this but it is a place I have gone by a number of times and felt bad for the drivers that had to back into this dock. Especially in the winter backing up a pretty steep slope into a very narrow and blind side back.

This one is in Claremont NH on Allen ST. for the Claremont paper mill. The whole street is only about the length of 5 tractor trailers so it can't be missed.

The three views you have here are of a truck in place with the overhead view. One is directly in front of the empty dock from the street and a mark showing about where your front bumper ends up when parked and the other is from about where you would start your backing from. One of the glitches to this is the pitch change right at the turn from uphill to level so you can't see any of the surface you are backing onto until after you would have your tandems on the wood surface and your tractor was high enough to see it.

First off, I'm sorry for not being a truck driver and contacting you with this but it is a place I have gone by a number of times and felt bad for the drivers that had to back into this dock. Especially in the winter backing up a pretty steep slope into a very narrow and blind side back.

This one is in Claremont NH on Allen ST. for the Claremont paper mill. The whole street is only about the length of 5 tractor trailers so it can't be missed.

The four views you have here are a Google Maps picture, and a truck in place with the overhead view. One is directly in front of the empty dock from the street and a mark showing about where your front bumper ends up when parked and the other is from about where you would start your backing from. One of the glitches to this is the pitch change right at the turn from uphill to level so you can't see any of the surface you are backing onto until after you would have your tandems on the wood surface and your tractor was high enough to see it.

Google Maps:

Overhead:

Street Views:

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If you have an interesting trailer backing situation, send it to me. I need at least an address, better is your screen shot, done up with your drawing & notes is best. Make a description I can copy into the post. If you search for Backing Practice™, you'll see how popular these are.

Send information to me at TT.errolv@spamgourmet.com

Maybe it's my lack of a CDL (let alone experience with backing into docks) talking, but man, that looks like such a mess...

Lurking furiously to see what solutions folks have.

Stewart does point out you are backing up a hill. Look to the left of the road in the street views. You can see the drop from the road to the building. And the wooden planks are actually the roadway over a bridge you need to back over!

Yeah, I noticed all that! Looks pre-tty terrifying to me.

Yeah, I noticed all that! Looks pre-tty terrifying to me.

You will learn these things, Grasshopper. And excel without fear!

I actually take it as a good sign that I'm equal parts terrified... and equal parts dying to know the trick to it.

I guess terrified's the wrong word. "I have a healthy respect for the problem at hand" just isn't as succinct!

While this is definitely a dangerous back, it's not technically challenging. The critical part here is how do you reduce your risks!

The first thing I would do as a solo driver is ask the mill if they will put someone on the road over the hill to stop traffic for me while I am backing.

A team could have the other teammate get out and stop traffic.

If there is no traffic help, I would set out my red triangles, AND the three little orange cones I bought at Staples. Orange and red all over the crest of the road.

After that, it's 'just' a blind side backing maneuver into a herringbone parking space.

Granted, it IS narrow. The driver WILL need to Get Out And Look at least a couple times.

Again, the challenging part is how to reduce your risks. If the mill wouldn't help, and I put out triangles and cones, but cars were driving around them, I would call local police and ask them to stop traffic for me.

There's a chance that I would call local police regardless, to ask for a brief traffic stop, if the scene seemed worse in person than it appears in these pictures.