Container Hauling

I cover over 20,000 miles of rail with CSX as an outside contractor. I deal with Corporate personally almost on a daily basis so I know a few people. My heart was in trucking years ago, but a marraige gone south put me on another road. although I still pull a RGN for this company, along with multiple hi-rail trucks I don't spend the time I use to watching bugs commit suicide on the windshield. I hope to go back out on the road for myself again just before I hang it all up, the wife I have now is God sent for me, so maybe it will be better this time. Thats why I'm thinking the containers from CSX and the local steel plant myself.

 

Yeah, thats what I was, was with an outside contractor, doing rail grinding. I was lucky enough to get on a machine that strictly did maintenance for Metro rail in DC, it was a decent gig. But man, every time I hear a train go by, I wonder if I would have stayed with the company and got experience, if I could have been the engineer on that train. Eh, stuff happens. Still thought about putting in an app for a Conductor Trainee, but if im not mistaken, seems like you have to know someone to get in any of these majors.

 

Be careful what you wish for

 

in many states you can get a blanket permit for 100,000 pounds for containers. most of the guys running like out of savannah,ga ports have 100,000 pound blanket permits.

 

I know some around here have them but there hauling only grain/yeast/wheat/corn from rail cars to the rail yards. So I believe that's different. They don't haul anything else.

 

The permit is for containerized freight. It's good for a year cost about 150 per permit. It goes up to 100k. Yeah we run out of Savannah to Atlanta. Basically keeps us from getting a ticket for being overweight and DOT another reason to give us a Level 1.

 

Does this allow you to be over axel weight?

 

GA never gave me a ticket for it.

 

wow sounds like a bad choice to me running an old truck can get very $$$$ real fast in my (and most others) opinion if you can't buy a nice truck then dont all trucks break down but a newer truck will likely run longer before having problems. any o/o with half a dime in his head will tell you to have 8-10K in the bank ready for break downs no matter how nice your truck is.

 

I,ve been hauling containers out of Chicago, since 09. There is no slow time,jan. is the same as june,.There,s always work, but it,s harder work than flatbed,tanker etc. It,s great to always have work,I,ve quit and went back otr with tankers,reefer,vans and starved. Your basically a trailer mechanic that drives 140-250 miles.I started driving in 1989 and now in 2014 you go where the work is. About the 95 freightshaker, I see alot of older trucks in the Chicago railyards mostly 90,s Mack,s a few 70-80,s Rmodel Macks nothing can wear those trucks out. A 95 frtliner is a better truck than a 06 century-they,ll break odd stuff like idler pulleys right off the block,and just about anything you can think of. I personnly would not run your truck on 250 mile loads, railyard to railyard maybe. Everybody is broke now,Including myself I had a worker,s comp claim rejected and lost everything plus 39k of debt. It,s true containers will beat your truck up real bad,but more important it,ll beat you up physically and mentally put alot of pressure on you,worrying about breakdowns. Money is not everything,when I was 29 I had over 100k in savings, I,m a much better person now versus then.