(click on photos to enlarge)
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Tom (whose handle is Moonshiner) has been driving for 27 years now and is looking forward to the next 1/4 century. He has had the bug for sometime to get an old truck and restore it to original. A man has to have a diversion of some sort to maintain his sanity in this business. In the meantime, Tom will show here an average week on the road for F.L. Moore & Sons, out of Concord, Virginia, USA. |
Monday morning finds Tom waiting at Kyanite Mining Corp. in Dillwyn, Virginia, to load for Avon, Ohio. Normally this material is in 100 lb. bags, but some customers prefer these large bulk bags.
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NOTE --- The Kyanite we haul is a ground ore. Kyanite Mining Corp. is the only place in the U.S. where it is mined, to my knowledge. It is a refractory product, and can withstand tremendous amounts of heat. It ranges from 35 mesh to 325 mesh, the finest material being about the consistency of bagged cement, or flour, and the coarsest looks about like sand. I mostly haul it in 100lb. bags, 35 to a pallet, 13 pallets to a load. It's used in the insulators on spark plugs, making firebrick, and the tiles on the space shuttle have kyanite in them.
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Tarped and ready to go. Passing an old Euclid on the way out. It is used as a water wagon now to keep the dust down on the mine's roads. Finally climbing out of the valley and on his way.
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Passing the Blue Ridge Parkway and heading down the 8% grade to the valley. You don't have to be in the Rocky Mountains to have steep grades and runaway roads. As dangerous as it could be, it is comforting to know that in an emergency runaway, you do have a survival chance.
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Tuesday morning, --- At the customers in Avon, Ohio. Load is un-tarped, un-strapped, tarps folded, and then wait, wait, and wait some more. It was about 2 hours later that the load was off. They don't strain themselves to get you going, unless they need the product right away, and then on the phone, "where is that blasted trucker?"
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After running empty to Hubbard, Ohio, loading steel skidded coils, it was time to fuel up at the Truck World Truck Stop, where this great KB International sits out front.
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Wednesday morning he backed in to get unloaded in Farmville, Virginia. Once emptied out headed back to Concord, Virginia where Jeff Moore transfer's a split 2 drop load of pipe onto Tom's trailer. He made the first drop in quick time, and then on to the delivery at Fairmont, West Virginia, completing both deliveries early the same day.
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Well the trucking game is not all sunshine and flowers. Yes it does rain crappy weather on you now and then. That doesn't stop you from going on to Leetsdale, Pennsylvania and pick up a load for Colfax, North Carolina. Sometimes a pick up or delivery can involve jockeying around to get backed in and positioned.
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Backed in and loaded 2 lifts of 6" angle iron that is 1" thick and 40' long. This is a gravy load; 41,888 lbs, low profile (no wind resistance), and no tarps. West Virginia being coal country, it's a common sight seeing coal trucks dumping their loads along side route 20, between Nettie and Charmco, West Virginia.
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The 8% down grade into Charmco, West Virginia, is not too long, about 2 - 2 1/2 miles, but......... there's a STOP sign at the bottom......... and if you can't stop, I guess you will have to drive through the post office.
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Unloading at Carolina Steel, Colfax, North Carolina Friday morning. The mobile gantry (smoking like hell) is powered by a screaming Jimmy, (2 cycle Detroit Diesel, probably a 4-71) but it got the job done in quick time.
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F.L. Moore & Son's shop at Concord, Virginia. It is a small yard for more than 80 trucks. It's a good thing that not many are there at one time. Tom fuels up and then makes a rare switch to a van. A straight load to Louisville, Kentucky, and then right back to Lynchburg, Virginia. When you get a rare trip such as this, you have to be prepared for a lot of razzing from the staff, and other drivers; "HOW DO YOU RATE SUCH A GRAVY LOAD?" Taken in stride, Tom parks for his Sunday night trip, and is off for the week-end.
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The diamond Reo on right photo is Marvin Poore's. He has 50 years driving under his belt. Now semi- retired he does some local pickup & delivery, just to keep active. Photo on left are drivers home for the weekend. |
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Tom has this 1965 "B" Model Mack as his hobby project, and at times will enter it in car or antique truck shows. Photo on right shows the "B" Model way in the background. |
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Tom took these 3 photos right after the Cumberland County Christmas Parade.
With the help of the ladies in his family, Tom did win first place in the parade, in antique working trucks.
Tom's opinion of his employer F.L. Moore & Sons is that he really likes it there. They are very flexible as to his request for trip destinations. They seem to bend over backwards to keep their drivers happy. Tom may load Thursday and ask when the load is for delivery, Friday or Monday. Dispatch will usually say "It's your choice, whenever you get there". Tom will always go for the Friday delivery, but it is nice to know that the option is there if time off on Friday is ever necessary. It is a rare thing today to find an outfit such as this, worth working for. If you can't get along with these people, you can't get along with anyone.
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