A 33-foot trailer's 5-foot-longer wheelbase would make it more stable when part of a doubles combination.
April 23, 2014
Double-trailer rigs with a pair of 33-foot trailers would be “inherently more stable” and therefore safer than the twin 28s now running throughout the United States, according to John Woodrooffe, director of commercial vehicle research at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.
Tags: Vehicle Safety, Safety, Doubles, Trailers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Wednesday, April 23, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
An 18-wheeler and an old RV carry medicine and hope to Appalachia.
April 7, 2014
Senior Editor Tom Berg was moved by Sunday's "60 Minutes" story on Health Wagon, carrying medicine and hope to Appalachia -- and intrigued by the X-ray trailer and the medical director who went to tractor-trailer school to learn to drive the rig. He has more in his Trailer Talk blog.
Tags: Charity, Medical Fleets, Truck Driving Schools, Trailers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, April 7, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(1)
Stretching a 28-foot pup trailer to 33 feet would not be difficult, and Wabash National already has a procedure ready to go.
March 31, 2014
Congress is supposedly inclined to approve a proposal to allow twin 33-foot doubles. If so, trailers like this would probably become common. Tom Berg has the story from last month's TMC meeting in his Trailer Talk blog.
Tags: Productivity, Wabash National, Doubles, Twin Trailers, Pups
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, March 31, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(4)
A light flashing yellow means "turn" and one flashing red means "stop." The result is less confusion for drivers behind.
March 13, 2014
Lights on the rear of most vehicles have all red lights because that's all the regulation requires. Maybe that should change.
Tags: Safety, Trailers, Lighting, Truck-Lite, Wabash National
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, March 13, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(1)
Plate-thin, these new lights are the latest thing in light-emitting diodes.
March 10, 2014
Ever hear of Innotec? Neither did senior editor Tom Berg. Now he sees what it does, and so will you.
Tags: TMC, Phillips Industries, Electrical System, LEDs, Innotec, LED Lights
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, March 10, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
You can't compare pickups with big rigs, but one writer did.
February 24, 2014
Except for highway wrecks, it isn’t often that the general news media get interested in big rigs. But one online outlet, www.fool.com, now has a story about the SuperTruck project, specifically the Peterbilt-Cummins vehicle recently displayed in Washington, D.C., for President Obama’s announcement about fuel economy standards for commercial trucks.
Tags: SuperTruck, DOE, Cummins, Peterbilt
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, February 24, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(1)
If you had to use US 62 from Exit 40 to Exit 27 between Eddyville and Calvert City, here's the reason why.
February 19, 2014
A huge and heavy boiler aboard a wide platform trailer couldn't squeeze by maintenance equipment on the eastbound Tennessee River bridge, so it moved to the westbound span.
Tags: Kentucky, I-24, Oversize Loads
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Wednesday, February 19, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
Cameras are almost everywhere, so watch what you drive under.
February 18, 2014
You'll cringe while watching trucks and tractor-trailers too tall to pass beneath various bridges but whose drivers try to do so anyway.
Tags: Low Overpasses; Low Bridges; Low Clearances;
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, February 18, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
Why are all those old trailers parked there? Been over the "Y-Bridge"? Stay off Linden Avenue or....
February 10, 2014
Tom Berg see items of trucker interest in old Zanesville, Ohio, along the historic National Road.
Tags: Trailers, Van Trailers, Bridges, Retired Trailers, Low Overpasses, U.S. 40, National Road
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, February 10, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(4)
But on ice, controlling anything becomes really difficult.
January 31, 2014
Recent news photos remind senior editor Tom Berg of some anti-jackknifing training he had a while ago.
Tags: Winter Driving, Driving Safety, Jackkniffing, Trailers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, January 31, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(2)
It was really cold when Senior Editor Tom Berg toured the Transportation Museum of Virginia in Roanoke, and found a brighter-than-life Overnite rig.
January 24, 2014
Piggyback and container trains were running on an O-gauge model railroad, and little big rigs were backed into loading docks, just like in the real world.
Tags: Railroads, Mack, Museums, Overnite, Fruehauf, Trailers, History
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, January 24, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(2)
Editor-members of the Truck Writers of North America have nominated, debated and voted for the next recipient of their award for technical innovation. One candidate is a l-o-n-g tractor-trailer.
January 10, 2014
Walmart Canada is testing its high-capacity 'Super Cube' rig in Ontario. Is it neat enough to win a big award? Senior Editor Tom Berg discusses it.
Tags: Walmart, Super Cube, long combination vehicles, TWNA
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Friday, January 10, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
The Great Plains and Midwest are one big ice box right now, but the economy's so heated up in North Dakota that unemployment's nil.
January 7, 2014
Senior Editor Tom Berg looks at a photo of a frigid scene in North Dakota and spots a lone semitrailer, parked perhaps with a load of processed feed, waiting to be offloaded. He wondered, will that trailer even roll? The photo sparked a conversation with a North Dakota trailer dealer for his Trailer Talk blog.
Tags: Trailers, Maintenance, North Dakota
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, January 7, 2014 12:00 AM | » Comments(1)
December 30, 2013
A frustrating part of being a bulk commodities driver is having a jam occur somewhere in the trailer during offloading, interrupting the material flow and setting him to work trying to break it free. That usually means hammering on a trailer’s side walls, but a Midwestern carrier has found a new product that’s effective, portable, lightweight and easy to use.
Tags: Trailers, Dry Bulk
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, December 30, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
December 16, 2013
Half a million is a lot, especially when it describes how many big 53- by 102 trailers have been made by one manufacturer. Wabash National Corp. last week said it had produced its 500,000th DuraPlate model since introducing it 17 years ago. Senior Editor Tom Berg has the story in this Trailer Talk blog.
Tags: Trailers, Wabash National, Crete Carrier Corp.
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, December 16, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
November 26, 2013
Snow is spreading across much of the country, and maybe everyone’s biggest worry is just getting there. But if you’re motoring down the highway and a trailer ahead of you starts shedding sheets of snow and ice, that’ll make your trip even more interesting.
Tags: Trailers, Winter, Safety and Compliance
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, November 26, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(3)
November 4, 2013
Since its initial haul of a transformer to a new electrical substation in Ohio (“Count the Wheels Under This Heavy-Haul Trailer,”), Edwards Moving & Rigging has delivered three more of the huge and heavy pieces of equipment. There’s one more to go.
Tags: Trailers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Monday, November 4, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
Who won the 2013 Commercial Truck of the Year award? Sorry, I can’t tell you, even if I knew.
November 3, 2013
Senior Editor Tom Berg writes about his experience judging the ATD Commercial Truck of the Year contest.
Tags: Hino, Kenworth, International, Peterbilt, ATD Commercial Truck of the Year,
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Sunday, November 3, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
October 24, 2013
Tom Berg has rediscovered on YouTube some of the wonder of watching "Industry on Parade" as a kid, with a video about the technology behind one company's wall liners, which he shares in his latest Trailer Talk blog.
Tags: Trailers, US Liner
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, October 24, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
October 15, 2013
This Strick trailer is part of intermodal history going back more than 50 years. It was one of a large group bought by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway for coast-to-coast Flexi-Van service it ran with the New York Central System. This particular trailer was spotted in 2004 in Omaha, Neb., after it was retired from piggyback service.
Tags: Trailers,, Strick, Flexi-Van, CSX, BNSF
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, October 15, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)
October 6, 2013
Sometimes really interesting things happen right near home. A few weeks ago I was on a Sunday jaunt with my wife and a granddaughter, driving through Sunbury in central Ohio, about nine miles from where we live. We spotted something big and heavy being moved through the village on a trailer that seemed to have a hundred wheels.
Tags: Trailers
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Sunday, October 6, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(2)
September 24, 2013
Updated recommendations from TMC for trailer electrical systems say sealed wiring, water- and corrosion-resistant connectors and low-amperage lamp designs are the things to get for long life – not new advice, but information newly included in the group’s Recommended Practice 704.
Tags: TMC, Trailer, Trailer Lighting Systems, Trailers, Battery-Electric Vehicles, Maintenance
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Tuesday, September 24, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(1)
What’s the oldest working trailer you know of?
August 29, 2013
What’s the oldest working trailer you know of?
Tags: Trailer, , Easton
Author: Tom Berg | Posted @ Thursday, August 29, 2013 12:00 AM | » Comments(0)