This was a long life hobby due to my Dad drove Truck form the 30th’s to the 50th’s. So in high school vac. i worked in Whrs. and

Truck docks to make extra money. Worked Local around Sacramento, Ca. until in the Mid. 60th’s I bid in for and got a line Job with DiSalvo Truck Co.

Here is and old photo of the new 1966 Jiflox Freightliner i started with.

“Richard Smith up in OREGON also drove for DiSalvo about the same time too.”

Here a model of the Ho Truck I drove.

http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/5966/sn852084-jpg

It was a Jiflox set up that the Con-gear that goes between A set of DbL Trailer can be sucked into the back of the tractor. By sliding the Tractor filth wheel up against the cab and sliding the tong of the Con-gear in to the tractor frame we then able to pull as a three axle tractor long trailers.

“Road like crap tho as a three axle tractor.”

So our other hobby was besides Ho trains was, Feather River Trucking Inc. with 103 pc of Ho Trucks and Trailers / equipment ranging from the 1949 to 1970th’s period.

Have to show link… We can’s get photo or videos in on here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGpxLXKRCVU

Those were the days, east coast was the Mack B-61 in the 60’s… (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

Bob. We drove two Macks over the years. One we owned and least to Trans Western part of Sys. 99.

Very plush with TV, Refig, Coffee maker. Air ride with 400 Max. twin turbos. My next model to build in Ho.

Also for two years drove Truck and Trailer for Western Hyway. What an easy job. Drop a 5 inch hose and turn the valve.

This is the model of it in Ho. Going later on, like to do one in 1/25ths scale to go with our Garden R.R. tank farm.

We also, had to one time drive a rig with lots of chrome and plush with all of the goody in it. For a few years for Lucky Produce Trucking here Sacto.Ca. thru out Ca, and AZ. But got tired of not being home much and ending up in LA , San Diago or out in Yuma or El Central.

This is a model of it with our name on it…

So you can see we love truck and really not to many over the road Macks were here in Calif. due to the high coat of parts, or taking so long to get parts from factory/dealers back east.

I blow a turbo up in Roseburg, Org. and took 5 days to get a turbo to the Mack dealers shop.

Ya …I guess there were the good old days… lol.

I drove an International conventional for a year. I have yet to find a model of that truck in any scale.

Kind of like this, but as a three axle tractor?

If so that a hard one to find with that grill.

https://goo.gl/images/rXIYfc

That’s her, without the bug deflector and as a tractor. I had her all polished up and looking like new when I drove her. Then, she passed the magical half a million mile mark and they made me giver her up. Supposedly they were going to trade her in on a new one. Instead they gave her to a newbie, who rolled her within 2 weeks. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif)

I was issued one that was the same. No, no it wasn’t. It was dirty, grimy, and it was a friggen air ride tractor. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)The spring ride version could climb out of soft soil, even when sunk in it up to her rims. The air ride version would just dig itself deeper, until it was sunk down to the differential. BTDT!

That tractor needs the Brandt Rail airbag system

That you in the picture Pap??

Yup that was me in getting read to leave with a set of Dbls. to LA…Ya, in my mid 30ths and didn’t know any better… lol Now over 80 and still don’t know much… Second child hood and back to… now little trucks.

Another time didn’t know any better coming in to Portland Org. You knew you drove a truck when you got out of her. No power steering in tho. days. Beside working ( Two sticks ) a 5 and 3 Trans. up and down hills with a big 265 hp. 1958 making extra week end runs. lol.

No power steering? Ouch. I blew out the power steering line coming from the pump at BOC West Mifflin. I had to pull the tractor up, and then back it up to jack the trailer around an obstacle. Cranking the wheel all the way over, without power steering, at a dead stop, was a real back breaker.

Noel ,you name a few names I am very familiar with, Lucky Produce, wish I could remember the guy I used to talk to all the time wild guy. Western Hiway, my brother drove for Mohawk gas in Fresno and a good friend drove for PDI. We spent some time in the fog together then on 99 and 5 I bet .I grew up in Fresno and have been a trucker my entire life, except a 2 year job as a quality control at a Hi Fructose corn syrup transfer plant.

Dave I started in 1974 and it was mid 80’s before I drove a truck with power steering, and whacked a small bridge in 1975 from a blown right front tire

This is my truck and trailer. 2014 Peterbilt http://www.largescalecentral.com/filesharing/file/view/502/20160725-131623-jpg

Very nice photo of your rig, Pete L… Are you still driving it?

Sorry, I had to resize the photo to show it.

Ya, we may have cross path on 99 and !-5 in the fog days.

Many stories of thro foggy days from off the Grape Vine to Sacramento and never hardly see the shoulder of the road. Only seeing the dots on the white line…

I only pulled a few flatbeds and never like to have to Tarp, strap, ropes and cables load but i did get paid good. To darn much work when i just closed the doors after Trailer is load. That if the trailer is load right and don’t have to move stuff on overloads.

We had a couple of wild Lucky Produce drivers. One… was Lucky Larry if he was the one. Usually had his wife with him as a sleep team and one time he tried to out run me on Golden State Freeway thru LA around 2 am. We both had around 80,000 and loaded to the roof. Well old story, he almost flip it going to fast on a curve and watch his 45 ft. trailer tandem wheel lift around a foot off the road for a min. Then his wife came out from the sleeper with a mouth full as he was hanging on with his mic, keyed. He didn’t say much on the rest of the way to Sacramento. LoL.

Ok … back to trains, I seen your Frt. shed and your first photo is a Red S.F. Caboose. Is that a LGB? I have a lot of S.F. Aristo, USA and two Bachmann., but no LGB. Nice look cab. Looks like I may need to find one.

A Pete, the Cadillac of trucks. I envied the drivers of those rigs.

I didn’t usually deal with fog, but I did drive to Oswego NY during the blizzard of 93. That was a heck of a night. After they closed the NY throughway, I drove back roads to the ALCan plant in Oswego. I didn’t really see the roads, I just kept to the center of the dips in the snow from the drainage ditches that ran alongside the roads. And the only tyre tracks I saw, were the ones I saw in the mirrors (mine). And the trailer was wagging most of the way. Even with a 49,000 pound coil of aluminum on the deck, when traveling on that much snow, the wind was moving my covered wagon around. I made my midnight delivery schedule, by 30 min. Then when I called my dispatcher, he told me I had to go to Buffalo to drop and hook, and take that trailer to Oswego. I told him I would call him back, tomorrow.

Boy these story can go on and on and I bet not to many people know our side of life.

Like you in away. I had to take a brand new Pete cab-over that was assigned to a sleep team,( but they took a vac. ) and my KW was in the shop for Svc. so our great Dispatcher had me take theirs for a three day turn. I came up to the Wheeler Ridge scales and big red light went on and I only had 29,000 on. I pulled into the inspection lane and they showed me the back axle, left brake pot bracket broke off and I was dragging it. lol.

This New Pete with Plush full sleeper only had little over 3,000 miles on her. Anyway after I got that fixed and dropped my load in San Diego, then had to go to Indio, Ca. to pick up a 1/2 load and double back to Yuma AZ. for the rest of the load.

Our dumb Dispatcher told me to save time… that there is a short cut to Yuma, Az. going down 111 hwy. just out of Niland/ Salton Sea. Well after about 20 mile out of town, I ran out of road that ended up in nothing more than Sand.

Turned around and woke up the Sacto dispatcher. Ask How did he get his job and where did he get his information from. He told me on his map, it was only a short distance and the road was around a inch and a half long line on his road map. " Would have been Over a 100 miles in the desert sand " Like you, Told him Night Tee night and will Call you back in the morning. lol

When I got back to Sacramento, found out he no longer work there.

Boy Dave, to bad like we on trucking, some guys might start tell Train story’s of what happen to them while working on R.R.'s, after or before retiring. Probably make our Garden R.R.'s run better… lol.

Years ago I worked with a guy who used to work on the railroad. His stories were entertaining, but, like our tales of dispatchers, his stories were exactly how not to run a railroad.

Noel and Dave, If we start telling trucking stories we will kill BD and all the thread drift guys. Lucky Larry!!! yep remember him and at one time I thought that his wife was in another truck… He had stories all the time!

The caboose picture is an LGB and its a biggie! sitting next to a USAT 50’ boxcar it makes the car look small, It is over 18’ tall, specs on a thread about it say it should be about 15, and is about 5 scale feet too long, I can deal with the long part, but the height of it makes it look off. Suggestions were made to put tank, gondola or flat cars in front of it to not make it so large, will see when I get RR layout built what to do with it.

On my Pete yes we bought it new,in Sept of 2013, a 2014 model year with (9) miles on it and it turned 297,000 on way home today. Ordered it how I wanted, my wife picked the color, and even paid the $200.00 extra for the dash plaque saying it was built for me. If I ever sell it , that plaque is coming with me

I was a company driver, so nothing was built for me. But eLFIN and I had a lot of quality time together…

p

We Pete, Guess i won’t get a LGB caboose then. Thanks for the information. I have a couple of Bachmann and there large to. So just use them with the big Hullers stuff.

Great on your rig Pete. Just getting broke in now… lol.

All of the Rigs that Lucky Produce had has his name on them " built for Joe Michael." He started out with 3 axles Freight Liner.

Joe M. picked up two 2 Axle KW cab-overs w/ sleepers with 6-27’ vans. I always liked Dbl"s than semi’s.

Forgot to insert this photo.

Love this KW w/350 Cummings.

This is what Lucky D and myself call our self the Dbl. div. lol

Course he only keep them for 3 years and we were back to 3 axles.

After that all new rigs were 3 axle cab-overs Petes. Have to say, Joe M. ( Owner ) Rigs were plush and Loved Chrome, so anything you wanted on your truck he got it for you. I had TV, Stereo, CB w/ 300 watt liner, hot plate and coffee makes ,etc. Even our sleeper curtains has our names on it. Only thing he wouldn’t go for was a water bed… lol. Lucky Larry and Little Richard tried.

Here is another old photo form early 60ths. Driving and pulling Dbls in norther Calif. for Howard Terminal.

That’s me and my son Ronnie.

David Maynard said:

I was a company driver, so nothing was built for me. But eLFIN and I had a lot of quality time together…

Dave. I think you were better off… Lot of headaches owning trucks and always maint., buying or fixing something. Only thing I missed was being a leaser was the money I made pulling triples in Org, Utah, NV, Idaho, and Az. Can’t pull them in Ca and Wash. I did it with that Mack For TW ( Sys.(99) Sure was a work horse up hill and down hill. That third trailer make everything run straight and never really knew it was back there at 70 mph on open road. I never really like Macks until I had that one for two years.

Jane use to take few trips with me and we got to see a lot of country together.

I have the double/triple endorsement, but I never hauled more then one trailer. But then with the small Cummings engine I doubt that that tractor would. IIRC it was a 315 HP Cummings. I stalled that engine when I had 69,990 pounds of steel on the deck. But once I got that load moving it wasn’t too bad, I just couldn’t keep up with the large cars.