Gasoline Tanker

Yeah , those were crazy times with plenty of crazy stories . It was insane in the NE . They wouldn't sell gas in containers . If you wanted gas for your lawnmower you had to bring the lawnmower . The best story I heard was of a woman cutting in line to get gas . The guy behind her got out , removed the locking gas can from his car and put it on hers .
The shortages were regional though . I was in Arkansas and the only sign of a shortage was lower priced stations running out of gas for a few days . There were no limits on purchases . I knew 2 brothers that would each burn up 50 gallons on a weekend in their boats .

 

Around here it varied from brand to brand. Exxon had all their stations and bulk plants on allocation. They were allowed 80% of what they bought the year before in the corresponding month, but they had barges backed up in Nashville with no place to put the stuff because all the storage tanks were full. In Memphis at a certain loading facility{ no name mentioned}, all you had to do was show up with a truck and check.

 

Gas Hauler stories? Ok I got one for ya. When I was a greenhorn only been hauling gas a couple of months I pulled into a c-store it was the middle of summer air temp about 98F humidity was about 100 % I opened up all my fills started dropping product (No Vapor Recovery) A guy in a pick up truck pulled right to where I was dropping opened his hood hooked up a trouble light to his battery and it sparked and there was a quick bright flash all across the ground. Man that scared the living daylights out of me after I got my ### unpuckered I started going off on the guy.It's kinda funny now but back then it's wasn't a bit funny.

 

Hello is there any drivers who have heard about a company called O" Rourke Petroleum they have terminals in Dallas and Houston . And if so know if it is a good place to work. Thanks

 

When I first started hauling gasoline everything was still top load, no scully, no vapor recovery, just a ground strap. The first thing we learned was that gasoline vapors are heavier than air and hug the ground until they dissipate

 

Our bulk plant were our tank wagons load is still top load and I used to go down to a Co-Op in Indiana and top load K-1 I always hated that the fumes were really nasty(as if I hadn't already killed enough brain cells in my younger days)

 

Had and old timer tell me this story while in line to load at a local refinery:

Seems the refinery used to have a fleet of their own delivery trucks for product... Up north here on really cold wet days, your hose caps freeze up and are almost impossible to get off, when you uncam them. We all deal with it up here... However, this refinery driver had a 'great idea' about this problem... He started using one of those hand held blow torches to melt off the ice on the hose cap end.

Well he was making a delivery to a local college (gasoline). Sure enough, hose caps were frozen on tight. Got out his torch, melted the ice off the hose ends... all is going well at this point. Then, he sets the still lit torch down and opens the cap to the bulk tank(located underground about 1/4 mile away down a large hill). Well, there was suction in the line and it ignited fumes and blew the underground tank sky high... Thankfully nobody was hurt, but the were cleaning debris off of windows ect... in about a 2 block radius of the underground tank.

The refinery no longer has a fleet of trucks after this event.

 

I have caps freeze up on me all the time in the winter never once have I ever thought about putting a torch to em.

 

Yeah, me either. Certainly not very bright to do so, I must agree.

 

X2! That takes stupid to a new level!