Central Refrigerated Trucking school

There is a user that I have found useful named CntrySngr, and she recently went through training in Fontana. Give her blog a quick read through, and you should have a better idea of what to expect. I am going through training with an outside company, TDA, and our training schedule and personnel changes slightly from what you will be seeing, so I recommend reading her blog. Once you get through the classroom though, there will be three main areas to focus on, the skills, the driving, and the PTI/Walk Around. Hope I helped ya at all, and good luck!

 

CntrySngr is a He

 

I ran for Central for several years. I thought they were a very good company and did more than go out of their way for me in certain situations. I drove team with my wife and we made excellent money. There was never a time when we didn't get plenty of miles. I didn't know that they did schooling in Ga. I thought it was just Salt Lake, and Fontana. They have a pretty nice terminal there in Conley. Nudie bar next door! Don't get caught there though. Only the office people can go there! Wait till you see the Salt lake terminal. You will be quite impressed! The Fontona, Ca terminal is not that great. Be glad you are not going to that school. It's just a dirt parking lot and its dusty! There is a terminal in Colorado outside of Denver. Kind of like the Ca, terminal. They did have a terminal in Tx. I don't know if its still there or not. Was in the shadows of the dallas stadium. Any way good luck, I think you will be very happy with your decision.

 

I am considering going with Central (or Prime). How did you make out with training?

 

You may want to check the Central Refrigerated Truck Stop thread in favorite company's section.
Also check the Central threads in the Company information threads.
Hundreds of thousands of posts. Many from trainees. We have at least 1 or 2 students on the truck stop thread every week. That are currently in the schools.

 

Not to mention on the road I trainers trucks

 

I went through Central's school in Salt Lake City in July, and I've been out solo since September. We've got terminals in Salt Lake, Fontana California, Henderson Colorado, Conley Georgia and a bunch of new sattelite schools in other states too.

The training is pretty time intensive. You only get basic accomodations at the terminal, but you spend most of your time studying/in class/ training. I think we were busy 7a-5p everyday but Sunday for about 2 weeks. You don't really have time to be bored!

I would caution you to pay very close attention during any discussion of backing. That was the hardest part of the test for me. Plus, if you fail backing, you don't earn your CDL, you leave school, and you're still responsible for the $3,000 cost of training! Of my group of 15, 2 left this way. The backing test is probably the single most critical moment of the program IMO.

Being out with a trainer for a month can kinda suck too, depending on who you get. The best advice I can give is just bear it and live out the days. You're bound to annoy each other being together so much for so long, but you'll have your own rig soon enough.

If you learn how to plan properly, communicate well with your dispatchers, and RESIST the temptation towards buying overprices truck stop food, it can be very safe and financially rewarding.

Hope this helps!

 

Klingon and I will be able to tell you more about the Fontana Terminal - that's where we are headed

 

Thanks for the info. I will check the other threads also.