An interesting article on early trucking from Hemmings.
B.P. (Before Peterbilt) Trucking | Hemmings Motor News

 

i read stuff like that morris.

 

Very interesting reading Jack, makes us appreciate today`s trucks alot more.

 

Awesome read Moe. Made me almost feel like I just got home from work.

"They'd have a four-speed main with a three-speed Brownie, as we referred to them. We called them Mixmasters. With those 12 gears, you could do all kinds of things. My dad, who drove a Fageol for Lee and Estes, was a master with them, putting his left arm through the steering wheel to grab one stick while using his right hand to shift the other one."

This quote from the read reminded me of years of herding 70 and 80"s off highway Kenworths from the landing with a load of logs that dwarfed the Tractor. Of course it was a 5 and a 4 but the shifting with your arm through the wheel was the same. And several of these with manual steering.

Another quote that made me remember was this one.

"You needed lots of patience, because they weren't fast. If you got up to 40 MPH even on level ground, you were moving good,"

Top speed on my trucks was 45 MPH. That with a 350 or 400 Cummings or an 8V92 Silver. This was pretty much up hill, Down hill and loaded or empty. The 318 was a little slower but what a kick to drive with a Jake brake to snap the RPM's down fast for a speed shift in the brownie. I never seen any asphalt in the big off road trucks till sometime in the 90's. Than DOT made us make the switch to Highway trucks. And instead of a 5 to 20 mile haul to the log dump we was hauling the length of the Island one way 60 to 80 miles. The new wore of that real fast. I felt like I was cheating the company cuz I hardly had any logs on. With the off highway truck I would waddle and tip into the sort yard like I was about to tip over under the load. Felt like I hauled a pay load for sure. But the highway truck felt like a half cord of fire wood on the F350.

Damn I miss that.

 

Cool article. Some of those old old heavy trucks are pretty damn neat. Ive never heard of a Fageol before this article either.

 

I don`t think very many folks did either, likely that name Fageol died off many years ago.

 

That was a neat read, thanks for posting that Morris.

 

Colin you guys have a fair bit of cool equipment at your place of work as well!

 

Thanks Colin, glad you enjoyed it.
Since Sheldon mentioned it how about some equipment pics from work?

 

Yeah Colin, lets see some pics! I thought you guys had a whole lot of neat ol iron kicking around there!

 

it is a interesting read.

 

Speaking of peterbilt, Im sorta looking at one. Someone wants to buy my dump truck and Ive been pondering selling it and buying a semi with a few different trailers.

 

thats always a good thig prep.

 

Yeah I guess so Jack!

 

Buying a pay loader too Sheldon?