Tires and Train Wheels

Burkhart's Blog ^ | 10.01.10 | Alan Burkhart

[neverhome]

...So there I was, tooling along I-20 through Tuscaloosa, AL. The MS state line was only 71 miles away. It was early afternoon and I was already thinking about what I was going to fix myself for dinner when I got home. Then all hell broke loose...

[neverhome]

Just another day at the office.

[null and void]

We were just discussing the virtues of a road/rail truck as a zombie survival vehicle...

[smokingfrog]

Yikes!

Glad you’re okay.

[Rodamala]

We used to go out with an work train... locomotive, ballast car, crane & idler, flatcar and an old caboose as a tool car... then the boss bought this old bitch girl, and the railroad went to shit:

When the worn out 3208 blew chow, I was the one laying on my back that had to reseparate the BRAND NEW motor from the tranny and cold chisel the sheared off flywheel bolts that the day laborer/"pro mechanic" did not torque the bolts when he bolted the clutch to the flywheel. I was pretty steamed.

Yeah, that thing was a beast... nobody else on the gang would drive it. It had airbrakes, and even though it's gross vehicle weight was under the limit, they all thought you needed a CDL to drive it... so I drove it everywhere. I was always vigilant to not hook my thumbs on the steering wheel just for the reason you wrote of.

Instructions mounted on dash of the truck were simple:

Avoid low bridges. Outriggers UP? Boom SECURE?