Non-stop Haulage, Day and Night
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ORRIES that keep on going day and night are now a common
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feature of transport in the
western, states of America. I have just returned after making a trip of 3,000 miles in eight days. The usual practice is for the lorry to carry two drivers, one of whom sleeps in the bunk while his colleague drives. The bunk is built in behind the driver's seat and extends for the full width of the vehicle.
Travel by lorry in mountain country does not provide conditions under which one would expect to sleep well. On my first turn-in I did not sleep soundly, but I dozed a lot and felt refreshed when I was turned out to relieve one of the drivers.
On the second occasion I slept reasonably well, although I was awakened occasionally by a particu
larly big bump or a sudden jolt. One soon becomes accustomed to the somewhat unusual conditions, and the drivers themselves sleep perfectly
soundly. The vehicles regularly cruise at 55 m p.h. My journey started from Denver (Colorado), which lies at the western side of the great American plains and is the gateway to the mountains. It is just a mile above sea level. The air is remarkably clear and rare, and the sun is dazzling. The distance across the mountainsto Los Angeles, on the Californian coast, is nearly 1,300 miles.
We stopped every four hours or so for a half-hour break to get a meal at one of the roadside cafes. The first driver did two fourhour stretches while the other slept, and then they changed over. In ordinary circumstances, the men sleep and drive alternately for eight-hour stretches, but my presence dislocated t h e routine and we were all rather short of sleep.
I travelled in an International 138 b.h.p. articu
lated outfit. It was pulling a load of mixed freight weighing 14 tons, and the total laden weight was about 23 tons. The normal time for the journey of 1,300 miles is 48 hours, but it took us a little longer on account of the drivers' lack of sleep.
On the same run there are now machines of 250 b.h.p. and 275 b.h.p. and they complete the journey in 34 hours. The normal cruising speed of 55 m.p.h. is maintained, and time is saved by quicker acceleration and better hill-climbing performance.
Two Miles Above Sea Level The route to Los Angeles passes through a great variety of country. At points the road climbs to nearly two miles above sea level, whilst near the Salton Sea it is several feet below sea level. On part of the journey there are high mountains on every side, but there are long stretches of Arizona which are just flat, and littlE better than desert.
At times, particularly at night, WE were glad of warm clothing if wt went outside, for the cab was kept warm with an electric radiator; but passing over the Painted Desert where the rocks outcrop in ever) conceivable colour, it was scorchingly hot.
It was perhaps as well that w( passed over the 120 miles of th( west Arizona desert at night-time because I am told that, even in thi winter-time, this arid inland arei remains uncomfortably hot. Thi desert is not just a sandy waste, bu is covered with a .curious collectiot
of cactus plants, some quite short, but several varieties growing tip to 10 ft. high I saw them only by the light of the powerful spotlight which each of the trucks carries, but they were, most impressive.
The next hop of my journey lay northward from Los Angeles to San Francisco. I changed on to another lorry which was carrying a load of weekly magazines for delivery in the two north-western states of America, Washington and Oregon. Such freight has to be delivered to the shops and stalls on time for sale on the appointed day.
Los Angeles Sprawls
Los Angeles and its surrounding towns constitute one of the largest population centres in the world, and it takes a long time to get clear of the town. After that there is a steady, climb for 40 miles to a height of over 4,000 ft_ The road is being converted into a modern highway, with two wide carriageways, but the remarkable thing is the evenness of the gradient. Nearly every yard has had either to be dug out or to be built up to give a 100-ft. road with a steady gradient in an irregular terrain.
It was dark when we reached the summit, known as the Grape Vine, because the old road down the escarpment on the other side used to wind like a grape vine. The present road, the result of much excavation and banking, falls in steady curves. From the foot of the hill it is dead straight, with only one slight bend, for nearly 40 miles.
35 Tons Gross Exceptionally large trucks are per mitted in these western states, In California a tractor and semi-trailer are allowed to weigh 68,000 lb. (30 tons), which affords a payload of about zoi tons. It is possible for the articulated outfit to pull another trailer, thus increasing the total weight limit to 78,000 lb. (35 tons).
From San Francisco I struck off inland to Salt Lake City, a journey of 770 miles, for which the scheduled time by lorry is 24 hours. Whilst there are some " sleeper " cabs in vehicles on this route, the trucks are mostly operated by relays of drivers, the first driver taking a lorry to Reno (Nevada), the second to Elko (Nevada), and the third to Salt Lake City (Utah). On arrival at his destination the driver rests for about eight hours, and the schedules are arranged so that there is then a truck for him to take back to his starting point.
San Francisco's claim to be one of th.f. most beautifully situated cities in the world cannot be denied. The large, almost land-locked, bay, which causes San Francisco to sit at the end of a long peniwlar, gives a glorious setting to the city on the hill, to which the slender-looking Golden Gate . Bridge gives access.
The first part of the ride from San Francisco fringes the bay and there is a curious mixture of ugly iridustrialization and the scenic beauty of islands, straits-and bays.
After the mountains of the Coastal Range have been crossed (they do not require much climbing at this point), the great fertile Californian basin, nearly 100 miles wide, has to be crossed. Then steady climbing follows to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains by a road that, despite much improvement, twists and winds and is dangerous enough even without snow and ice, which always beset it during at least four months of the year.
The pass through the mountains is over 7,000 ft. high. The road slowly drops to 4,500 ft. at Reno, a city noted for the liberalness of its divorce laws and its gaming saloons.
• This was the only place in America where I encountered the silver dollar (elsewhere the dollar bill is invariably used): here dollars were piled high on the gaming tables, and I even won a bonus of five myself!
At Reno we met a snowstorm, but this cleared an hour or so after leaving the town, and it once more became hot and almost oppressive. The truck that I was due to catch at Reno was late in coming through from San Francisco. A car had attempted to overtake on the mountain road, had got into difficulties and had come to rest by blocking the road.
The -journey through the state of Nevada is over high tableland, but
that does not mean that it is flat, as the elevation varies between 4,000 ft. and 6,000 ft, with some sharp gradients. The roads are, however, fine for fast driving, having gentle curves, smooth gradients, long visibility, excellent surface, wide sloping shoulders and few houses or crossroads. I myself drove the truck for a tine and we speeded along at over 50 m.p.h.
Grass in a Desert , The change-over of drivers took place at Elko, Entering the state of Utah, there is a 40-mile stretch of straight road across the Great Salt Lake Desert. It was on these fiats that John Cobb set up the world's land speed record of 368.8 m.p.h. in 1939.
Around midnight we reached Salt Lake City, which, with its trees and green swards, is so delightfully in contrast with the desert and barren lands that we had been crossing all day. Salt Lake City remains a green city only by irrigation, for it has a rainfall of only 8 ins_ Next day I started the last stage of the trip—a 238-mile journey from Salt Lake City back to Denver. This route contains some of the most spectacular scenery and many stiff gradients. With a heavily loaded trailer, the journey took 23 &qtrs.
Out of Salt Lake City, which has an altitude of about 4,500 ft., there is a climb to 8,000 ft. Then there is a stretch of many miles at altitudes varying from 4,000 ft. to 6,000 ft., with a fair amount of uphill and downhill work. In the evening we had to cross two separate passes, rising to more than 11,000 ft.
It Looks Easy The journey ended with a long drop down into Denver, which has caused trouble on many occasions on account of the overheating of brakes. It appears to be such an easy road that many drivers have been tempted to take it at a fair speed, and brakes have burnt out.
On this trip I met nine drivers of different ages and temperaments. I was impressed by the care and skill of their driving, by their constant watchfulness for the welfare of others, by their courtesy in making room for other traffic despite the inevitable cumbrousness of their equipment.
With services of this kind, road transport has established new facilities for trade and industry by linking cities in the western states and, more important, by giving those cities a much quicker connection for freight traffic with the rest of the United States.'