Yellowknife ice trucking

[troidus]

Originally Posted by squonker

Is there any kind of roadway marker to keep you on course on the lakes other than the scrape marks from the plows?

[karhaulr]

"Dave was on the move when Dave himself came on the radio - he'd accidentally hit his brakes and now he was stuck! I'd pretty much had it by then but we had no choice but to wait until his trailer brakes decided to free themselves up again, then finally we were off."



Could Dave have connected the service line (blue hose) to the back of the tractor, in the plastic holders. Thereby bypassing a signal air supply to the trailers brakes, causing the brake lock up? He would have zero brake action on the trailer, but still have 3 axles up front working.
The supply (red) would still be on the trailer.

I'm expecting a qualified instructors answer here....lol, no pressure.
Best of luck with your new career!!!!

[squonker]

Originally Posted by troidus

Is there any kind of roadway marker to keep you on course on the lakes other than the scrape marks from the plows?

There isn't, but on the lakes you don't really need them as it is pretty obvious where the edge of the road is....until you get into whiteout conditions and then it's a whole different ball game! There are a few portages at the north end of the road, numbers 52, 53 and 54 I think, that do have delineators to mark one edge. Visibility is often bad in that area and believe me, there are times when if it weren't for those markers you'd be going at a snail's pace and just hoping for the best.

Originally Posted by karhaulr

Could Dave have connected the service line (blue hose) to the back of the tractor, in the plastic holders. Thereby bypassing a signal air supply to the trailers brakes, causing the brake lock up? He would have zero brake action on the trailer, but still have 3 axles up front working.
The supply (red) would still be on the trailer.

I'm expecting a qualified instructors answer here....lol, no pressure.

Ha! I know that one! (Phew!! !!) If Dave had disconnected the service line then yes, in theory he'd have had no trailer brakes and therefore no problem with them sticking on. But it would have created another problem, in that every time he used his foot valve (which sends air to both the tractor and trailer brakes) he'd have lost air out of the now disconnected line, and when his air pressure dropped to between 20 and 45 psi his trailer valve would have popped out, thus dynamiting his trailer brakes.

So ultimately he'd have been fucked anyway...and he was, 'cos he had to ride out the storm while stuck at Diavik. Poor bastard - I wouldn't wish that on anyone!

[squonker]

Storm at Lockhart 5 from Squonker on Vimeo.

[squonker]

Feb 27 2011

woke up in the morning to zero wind and bright sunshine. Hurrah! Dispatch told me that I'd be out of there that day, and by noon a Nuna loader had dug me out of my wind-blown hole! In preparation I dipped my tanks - plenty of go-go juice. Good to go.

Dispatch told me that because there were no hammer lanes open (they hadn't plowed them yet), they'd let all the empty southbounds go ahead of me, and that way they wouldn't all have to be passing me on the road. They finally cut me loose at 13:13 (by which time I had been there for 47 hours), and I'm the only one on the road. I didn't realize then just how bad the storm had been. No trucks had been sent north from town or Lockhart, and neither had any been allowed to leave the mines southbound.

I pretty much had a Security escort all the way back, only on Gordon Lake he told me that he'd see me "further on down the road 'cos I can't drive that slow"!

I stopped in at the Meadows for a cup of coffee and a BS session with the three Security guys who were there, and left a message fro my friend Gary whom I hadn't run into yet that year (he is security too). Apparently the storm had been so bad up north that the road across Mackay lake had to effectively be re-plowed from scratch - it had blown in completely. They told me that it would be at least another 24 hrs before any trucks were going to be allowed to leave Lockhart heading north, and as it turns out it was actually nearer 48. Wow.

Hit the Ingraham Trail and I was home by 22:30, done for another season and in plenty of time to catch my flight the following afternoon.

Time to hang up my hat once again.

[ragtoplvr]

Originally Posted by squonker

Feb 27 2011

woke up in the morning to zero wind and bright sunshine. Hurrah! Dispatch told me that I'd be out of there that day, and by noon a Nuna loader had
Hit the Ingraham Trail and I was home by 22:30, done for another season and in plenty of time to catch my flight the following afternoon.

Time to hang up my hat once again.

Sad words there

Thank you for sharing your stories. Excellent as always

Rod

[squonker]

Thanks Rod, the pleasure's all mine and I very much appreciate your contributions to this thread, too.

I'm off to catch a plane - holiday time for me!!

[Boondoggle]

Originally Posted by ragtoplvr

Sad words there

Thank you for sharing your stories. Excellent as always

Rod

+1

You obviously put a lot of time and effort into telling the tale, it's great fun to ride along with you. thanks

[Klay]

Originally Posted by squonker

Thanks Rod, the pleasure's all mine and I very much appreciate your contributions to this thread, too.

I'm off to catch a plane - holiday time for me!!

It has been a great story.

[gsd4me]

Thanks Ben, good luck with your new job. How long do you reckon it`ll be before you`re on a bottle of Scotch a night after trying to teach people the fine art of matching engine revs with road speed to acheive the smooth engagement of Eaton gears, and turning the steering wheel the `wrong` way to reverse a trailer?........

Will you still be able to get time off to do the ice trucking thing should a suitable truck be available?

[B50Paul]

Hi Ben
If you get tired of teaching the unteachable,come back up Btrains to load Seaspan truck ferries. Everything goes on backwards.
Paul

[tommo2]

[Two Speed]

Best of luck on your new job.
Will we have a 'Drivers Ed-Heavy Edition;Tales From the Suicide Seat' thread to entertain us? =-)

Alex.

[karhaulr]

Another great season done, thanks Squonker

kinda funny I have to come to a M/C adventure web site to get my fix for cool stories of trucking,
cuz trucking sites are full of B/S and Boo Hoo-ery


enjoy the holiday, and we are waiting patiently for stories from the new job....

[squonker]

Thanks for the comments everyone. Still on holiday but I hope there might be a story or two to tell from the new job once I've been there a while. (If not, I'll just make some up - it's worked for the duration of this thread so far )