Philadelphia PA Student driver

Hello Everybody:


I just thought that I would introduce myself to the Forum. It seems to be a very informative place on the Internet where people can be usefull and also have a lot of fun! I Hope that It will be just as nice in the Industry.

I am a Student in one of the Suburban Philadelphia Truck Schools and I must say that I will highly reccomend It. If You are in the Norristown area You will definitely find It. This one particular School, out of their chain will give You a lot of instruction in the Yard and on the road, at a reasonable (comparitive) rate of tuition. The classes here are usually limited to 5 to 6 Students and they have usually 2 Trucks going in the Yard all of the time; blindside parallel parking and straightline backing on the weekends. They also have 37ft. air brake equipped School busses.

There seems to be no limit on how long that they will let You stay in their School as long as You are making some progress. It usually takes most people between one to three Months in order to graduate, but some people like myself have taken 5 1/2 Months to be really smooth with the gears.

I screwed up twice with them, letting it coast on my first Road test and then forgetting about the rangefinder on the starting gear the second time, so now I am getting ready to go back to the Exam point and to finally pass the CDL A+P.

I am only worried about one thing and that would be that would be that the Examination point is up in the Pocono Moutains, (right next to the airport) and there are practically no plateaus around It for the road test, and I don't want to be caught downshifting on any downgrades. Also, Moutain settings have narrow twisting hairpin turn roads, and this can be a problem for the offtrack. Then, the village of Mt. Pocono has a lot of small intersections, like It was'nt built for Big Trucks to turn off of the main highway...So, I'll have to see how It will go. In the Meantime, I am very excited and pleased to be in the Trucking Business at this point in my life and It looks like a really nice line of work, kind of like camping. Thanks for all of Your Threads!

 

Thanks Redd, I think that most of the Speed limits up there on PA-611 in the Poconos are probably pretty Low, around 40 to 50 MPH in the towns and on the hills.

 

Wow! That Really helps me out a lot! I just figured that going into Mt. Pocono from the School next to the Airport would probably half to be done at about 40 to 50 MPH or probably about 7th or 8th gear. I am going to probably go back up there on my Scooter this week and check that out. 73's