Midwestern Distribution , Ft Scott Kansas

Midwestern Distribution Inc. PO box 189, 400 National Ave. Ft Scott, KS 66701. On the trailer doors was "Experienced drivers, own a new truck like this one" call 1-800-835-0581. if you called you talked to Ben Mitchell or Ralph Jones. The beer bar to the west up the side road was called "Maxines" The shop for Midwestern Dist. was run/called BnD Motors.

 

MWD trucks ran 10sp in the '76 White Freightliners and 9sp in the '77 Freightliners both had the "Shiney tiney 290"

 

It was my first trucking job back in 81’ worked there for about 6 months and got hired on with an outfit in Sonoma Ca. Haul Beer from Bay Area to L.A.

 

The Azure? That's the one I stayed at whenever I took my truck in for service.

 

I was happy to see this discussion of the old Midwestern Distribution. I took my training at Truckmaster School of Trucking in one of the west Los Angeles suburbs. The TV ads for this place had a fellow named Wally Thor who said something like "Hi fellows, have you got a no good dead end job with a grouchy boss? I guess a lot of us did as the course was always full back in 1973. The instructors were pretty good with not only instruction on operating the equipment but advice on living on the world of an over the road driver.

The problem was that jobs were hard to find in those days. No experience & no union card made things tough. The school sent me to MD where I was hired on at basically starvation wages. Tractor 1116-1 rings a bell. Was it silver with green trim? I might have driven it. I was there as a co-driver for a long time. They brought me in for a talk sometime in 1975 and said I was the longest teme co-driver they had and they wanted me to step up to being an O/O. I did get one of the trucks. There were a number of trucks to choose from but they were locked up allowing no inspection much less a drive. One was a Jimmy V-8 but I choose a 290 Cummins.

I was there when they removed the trolly valve as a "safety measure."

When I hired on it was six months before I got home. "Charlie," the dispatcher later sneered at me that I needed to cross his palms with something if I wanted to get home. I didn't and he ran me south all summer & north all winter.

I stayed at the Todd Motel several times but did not know about the towel & blanket service. It would have made my young life more comfortable but I'm sure that service would have cost more wampum than I could afford. We rarely ate a restaurants or stayed in motels. Working for MD was pretty lean.

In 1975 I hired on with C&H (Cold & Hungry) out of Dallas. That was a flatbed outfit & we hauled all sorts of interesting loads.

Paul