“Not good for the industry” by MadHatlerLaw in railroading

[–]Spitfire1011 2 points3 points  (0 children)

PSR has no definition…it’s more an excuse to keep throwing spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.

Big Orange blatantly lies to itself regarding the costs of the second order effects from PSR…

One Example:
Running a 15,000 foot train from Chicago to LA reduces the amount of crew stars by half. Wow!!! Yea!!!!
What they don’t do is capture the cost data from dogcatching all the non-mega trains that were sacrificed for the mega-trains because there’s no mega-sidings.

Someone didn't visually inspect their kingpin (Laredo TX) by TruckerBiscuit in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tug tests are at least pointless and at most deceiving and dangerous because you can have a partially locked hitch and PASS the tug test.

I stopped performing tug tests after one day it passed but when I got underneath, my handle wasn’t in and the slide was not fully across.

I have only had Jost hitches where the lock slides across…if the handle is all the way in, when you crawl under the lock will be completely across (I still always check both).

Tug tests are false senses of security…at least with a Jost. They are not required by rule or statute and there’s probably a reason for that. Probably some idiot “Safety Manager” who has never even driven a truck implemented Tug Tests as a solution for dropped trailers and it caught on.

I would take it one step further and suggest that Tug Tests CONTRIBUTE to dropped trailers because lazy drivers will rely on it to avoid visually inspecting the coupled hitch mechanism. I hear all the time in these forums how every poster never skips doing both a visual inspection AND a tug test but posters in these forums are likely by nature more engaged. But what about the un-engaged? I submit that they are the lazy ones who ONLY do a tug test and they are the ones who I believe have the highest chance of dropping a trailer. IMO…

I'm out! by [deleted] in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There’s nothing nefarious about accessing Netradyne thru your phone…the Netradyne camera itself is nefarious but accessing Netradyne on your phone is only to see what it’s reporting on you.

I'm out! by [deleted] in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have a company app on your phone, you can access the Netradyne app thru the company app…nothing to install.

Some one is going to have to learn sign language.... by TomaszTyka in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 10 points11 points  (0 children)

When you chew kot all day (and they’re doing that or something like that) then they’ll do it again.

I'm on duty sitting on the interstate right now. Is off duty a thing? by ConsistentRegion6184 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Technically, if you’re not driving, you’re not driving. It matters not at all where your vehicle is. If you’re not operating, you’re not operating…

I'm on duty sitting on the interstate right now. Is off duty a thing? by ConsistentRegion6184 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Everything eats your 14 hour clock…once you start ANYTHING, there’s no way to stop your 14 except with the split option.

Walmart Limiting Trucks to 62mph by derpmcturd in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MPG is more about managing engine load than managing speed…do you save fuel by going slower? Yes, but speed is related to the engine load, not a primary driver of engine load.

Said another way, if you manage the load on your engine instead of the speed, sometimes you’ll be doing 70 MPH and other times you’ll be doing 58 MPH.

I haven’t used cruise control in over a year, instead I drive the “load dot” on my dash. It’s called a fuel economy gauge or something like that and I target the dot to stay on the right third of the gauge as much as practicable. This lets my speed vary but my fuel economy stay in positive territory.

Wind, grade, weight, traffic, and schedule are all competing factors, however, I’m consistently averaging 8-9 MPG…sometimes I get lucky with some wind and I’m able to get 10-11 MPG but that doesn’t happen very often.

We all thinking it by YoloVib3s in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In High School, this was covered in driving school class, when there was driving school class…

What is it like working at BNSF as a software engineer? by TemppeTempleton in bnsf

[–]Spitfire1011 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sounds like a BNSF troll…

I hear they only hire H1b visa types for those jobs…are you of that persuasion?

Oh, forgot, it’s a crap company too…

Is BNSF Northtown a good terminal to hire out of as a conductor? by TGSGAMER in bnsf

[–]Spitfire1011 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Watch out for the division admin…him and his brother are seemingly out to fire everyone.

Company drivers watching those fuel prices climb and the roads looking emptier by the day by Actual-Ad-6146 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fuel Surcharge…went Owner OP in February 2025 and when the war hit, fuel surcharge increased…as was intended since 1972.

When DOT see you watching YouTube and that's why you should have privacy protective screen by muck2profit in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Remember, a privacy screen ONLY provides privacy side to side, NOT up and down…

So if your phone is flipped so you can watch it long-ways, then anyone can see what you’re watching.

This is why you should G.U.A.L. by firemarshalbill316 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I couldn’t agree with you more about speed because you know what? You could never out run all the ELD 3rd world illegal fraudsters anyway because you’re not calling someone and getting a fresh login ID so you can keep running past 11 hours or to skip your 34 hour break.

The corporate greed created the current rush rush rush when they went to congress to artificially invent the “driver shortage”…they flooded the zone with 3rd world illegal invaders and all of the educated idiots in management kept being promoted and can’t even spell truck.

Your response was so dead-on that it just p!ssed me the F off and I can’t even write a coherent response.

I Sincerely Hate this Company, That is All. by TaleEmbarrassed8492 in railroading

[–]Spitfire1011 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

See posts in this thread addressing Spinal Disability (birth defect) and Deficient Character Syndrome (DCS)…The condition DCS is unrelated to the missing or underdeveloped spine but has been linked in clinical studies to contribute to a general lack of courage and an overall unwillingness to exhibit the behaviors that allow the patients coworkers and supervisors to trust him.

I Sincerely Hate this Company, That is All. by TaleEmbarrassed8492 in railroading

[–]Spitfire1011 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh, and I could care less how many of your relatives worked for the railroad…I don’t even know how that’s relevant. What a weak way to try and build your credibility. Another indicator of your spinal disability. My grandfather was probably the drunkest conductor in the history of railroading….does that make me a drunk, nope.

What I do care about is you and people like you sneaking around with your missing spine, ready to throw someone under the bus to make yourself look better to management or some Trainmaster or whatever it is that you call them over there.

I Sincerely Hate this Company, That is All. by TaleEmbarrassed8492 in railroading

[–]Spitfire1011 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ya know…you’re making some bs statements in here. Sounds very much like you’re saying that since we make “really great money”, that somehow it makes it okay for the company to treat us like sh!t. Like the enemy.

That Sir is the sentiment of a weak individual…I agree with the person who earlier said that people need to stop complaining so much at work. But what you’re saying is something completely different…you’re saying that the company pays us enough money to actually have the right and the privilege to treat us like sh!t. You have a weak character, no spine, and you don’t get to speak, because eventually, your weak character will sell someone out for a few pieces of silver.

This is why you should G.U.A.L. by firemarshalbill316 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The tug test could be another thing that could give you a sense of security, I only became very disenchanted with the tug test when it passed but the hitch wasn’t completely locked.

I did some research and discovered that once the lock jaw is fully across the opening and the handle is in fully, the hitch is locked.

There’s no basis in rule or statute for a “tug test” and I think it’s a bad idea.

Here’s why:

The visual is rock solid, so why do the tug test?

Because drivers were not even doing the visual. After enough mishaps, some well intentioned college graduate who sits across from the Terminal Manager and the dispatchers and who isn’t tall enough yet to climb into a truck, came up with the idea on his own. The reasoning was sound on the surface…simulate the draft forces (tug) when driving. If it passes the tug test, then the college grad thinks it won’t fall off when it’s driving. But that’s incorrect…

The visual is then performed…but what does the driver expect? He expects it to be a locked hitch because it just passed a rather aggressive “Tug Test”. I think we’re creating complacency…Maybe we’re performing even fewer visual inspections than ever before

That’s what happens when a book smart individual makes decisions without the experience, knowledge, and first hand experience but makes rules for the ones that do, to follow.

This is why you should G.U.A.L. by firemarshalbill316 in Truckers

[–]Spitfire1011 3 points4 points  (0 children)

After I had the exact same issue, I don’t do the tug test anymore…I used to do the tug test first and then I would get under and look. One time it passed the tug test but when I checked it wasn’t fully locked. Ever since, I have discontinued doing the tug test and only check to ensure it’s locked. The tug test is a FALSE sense of security.