Another Artic run

NEW AND WANNABE DRIVERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

So get a call fri can u go in for a class 1 trunk up to hub in birmingham ,

Ok so 2130 start and im away now this is reading so think m4 a434 m40 etc no probs except to get out there is a low bridge by the fire stn and im riding at 15` 8 too high for bridge so the guys have given me a map that takes me up the a4074 through wallingford etc , so off i go following the other agency driver that is going up too , quite a twisty road to start with so taking it very carefull and too be honest was not a bad road just gotta keep a look out for all the cameras for the 30 mph limits etc but im a good girl and stick to limits lol ,

Doing 40 along some of the straight bits was a challenge but finally found the cc and settled in , even pulled over to let the q of drivers behind me to pass as was quite a lot of headlights behind me and did not want them shooting past to scare the living daylights out of me , so wasnt being nice just preserving my nerves lol :wink: , :wink:

So arr at hub and everyone really nice as my first time they were very good in telling me exactly where to go and what to do , so through scanning shed and then q up to be unloaded , managed to get a 15 brk in whilst q ing then pull into the unloading area keys taken and unloaded then told to go and park up and the fork lift driver would find me when he ready to load me , pull into one of the parking places and hadnt taken a wide enough arc to pull in straight so back end across another parking bay :blush:

Try and straighten up by reversing a little and pull up straight well that took me a few atempts i wish i could get this reverse to go into my head but still having to think about it a lot , after about 1/2 hr shunter tells me it my turn bay 4 reverse in , bit of a struggle but the lorry is straight (ish) so not too bad then forky says could u just put it a little to the other side plse , this is where i struggled could not get the reverse right then managed to eventually get it over but my god what an angle was really embaressed as all drivers waiting opp could see the struggle i had (im sure they had a great laugh back at theyre depots talking about the dodgy reverse of the girl in the artic :unamused: ) but got loaded and scanned out then drive back to reading ,

Got back to depot and lorries all in yard and guy comes out ur gonna have to reverse in , well u had better help then as not good at this , so start the manover and a the shunter comes out and hops up on side steps and guides me in took about 25 mins of going back pulling forward , all with him giving me instruction 1/2 turn here, full lock , now push it back then pull forward back we go again and at alast snaked the trailer onto bay phew , by the time id finished no saliver in my mouth and my back was dripping wet with sweat , shunter says leave trailer and bring unit back to other yard round corner and ill meet u there to tell u were i want the unit parked ,
so pull round and there he is parallel park the unit between a unit and car parked outside yard and shout out window see i can reverse a ridgid no probs lol lol ,

He then looks up and says we`ve spoken before :question: , have we i say then it dawns , trknet so who are u ■■ was our very own dilligaf from on here so have a nice chat and gives me a few tips to help my reversing etc , nice to put a face to the name, so a big thanks to dilligaf as would never have got that reverse without his help but at least i did it myself and he did not have to take over lol ,

So that was my fri night sorry for the essay , and im just hoping this reversing starts to get in my head soon but with the sporradic opertunities for getting into an artic just feels like the first time every time I go out got another artic job booked for next thurs so if I have time will have a bit of a play away from prying eyes as is a lot of room up at fradley park and see if can get my reversing in me head , just want it to come naturally (i wish lol)

2

Jennie:
So get a call fri can u go in for a class 1 trunk up to hub in birmingham , ok so 2130 start and im away now this is reading so think m4 a434 m40 etc no probs except to get out there is a low bridge by the fire stn and im riding at 15 8 too high for bridge so the guys have given me a map that takes me up the a4074 through wallingford etc , so off i go following the other agency driver that is going up too , quite a twisty road to start with so taking it very carefull and too be honest was not a bad road just gotta keep a look out for all the cameras for the 30 mph limits etc but im a good girl and stick to limits lol , doing 40 along some of the straight bits was a challenge but finally found the cc and settled in , even pulled over to let the q of drivers behind me to pass as was quite a lot of headlights behind me and did not want them shooting past to scare the living daylights out of me , so wasnt being nice just preserving my nerves lol :wink: , :wink: so arr at hub and everyone really nice as my first time they were very good in telling me exactly where to go and what to do , so through scanning shed and then q up to be unloaded , managed to get a 15 brk in whilst q ing then pull into the unloading area keys taken and unloaded then told to go and park up and the fork lift driver would find me when he ready to load me , pull into one of the parking places and hadnt taken a wide enough arc to pull in straight so back end across another parking bay :blush: so try and straighten up by reversing a little and pull up straight well that took me a few atempts i wish i could get this reverse to go into my head but still having to think about it a lot , after about 1/2 hr shunter tells me it my turn bay 4 reverse in , bit of a struggle but the lorry is straight (ish) so not too bad then forky says could u just put it a little to the other side plse , this is where i struggled could not get the reverse right then managed to eventually get it over but my god what an angle was really embaressed as all drivers waiting opp could see the struggle i had (im sure they had a great laugh back at theyre depots talking about the dodgy reverse of the girl in the artic :unamused: ) but got loaded and scanned out then drive back to reading , got back to depot and lorries all in yard and guy comes out ur gonna have to reverse in , well u had better help then as not good at this , so start the manover and a the shunter comes out and hops up on side steps and guides me in took about 25 mins of going back pulling forward , all with him giving me instruction 1/2 turn here, full lock , now push it back then pull forward back we go again and at alast snaked the trailer onto bay phew , by the time id finished no saliver in my mouth and my back was dripping wet with sweat , shunter says leave trailer and bring unit back to other yard round corner and ill meet u there to tell u were i want the unit parked , so pull round and there he is parallel park the unit between a unit and car parked outside yard and shout out window see i can reverse a ridgid no probs lol lol , he then looks up and says weve spoken before :question: , have we i say then it dawns , trknet so who are u ■■ was our very own dilligaf from on here so have a nice chat and gives me a few tips to help my reversing etc , nice to put a face to the name, so a big thanks to dilligaf as would never have got that reverse without his help but at least i did it myself and he did not hve to take over lol , so that was my fri night sorry for the essay , and im just hoping this reversing starts to get in my head soon but with the sporradic opertunities for getting into an artic just feels like the first time every time I go out got another artic job booked for next thurs so if I have time will have a bit of a play away from prying eyes as is a lot of room up at fradley park and see if can get my reversing in me head , just want it to come naturally (i wish lol)

I think the problem you have Jennie is that because you’re not getting regular shifts and you know in your own mind you have a little problem with reversing, you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself to get it right. But I think if the artic runs come often and frequent enough that you will soon pick it up in no time.

3

Looks like you’ve done good again Jen. Don’t beat yourself up. If they weren’t happy they wouldn’t ask for you back.

You have been an inspiration to many on here for getting out there and giving it a go. Well done.

Keep at it and hope for plenty more shifts to improve on an already good record.

4

well done girl,look you didnt do any damage nobody died so the jobs a good one (I also hate strange places esp. in the dark)
sit and watch some of the “old hands” and they will make cockups i know i do, infact I did this week all the room in the world @ DSV Avonmouth and i still needed half a dozen shunts to get it on a bay! happens to everybody now and again.

5

Can we please introduce some form of punishment for people who cannot use the humble paragraph?

Makes for a hideous reading experience.

6

DonutUK:
Can we please introduce some form of punishment for people who cannot use the humble paragraph?

Makes for a hideous reading experience.

Behave, she wrote a great post and you have to be picky … I read it fine!!

7

discoman:

DonutUK:
Can we please introduce some form of punishment for people who cannot use the humble paragraph?

Makes for a hideous reading experience.

Behave, she wrote a great post and you have to be picky … I read it fine!!

At least it was spelt correctly. :smiley:

(It was a joke)

8

discoman:

DonutUK:
Can we please introduce some form of punishment for people who cannot use the humble paragraph?

Makes for a hideous reading experience.

Behave, she wrote a great post and you have to be picky … I read it fine!!

Oh right, asking for a basic command of the written language is being “picky” is it?

I haven’t read it, so i have no idea as to the quality of the post, just put off by the fact it appears to be one long sentence!

9

Good to read about someone else’s experiences.

For what it’s worth I’m sure your issue with reversing is like mine and just lack of practice - if you do it many many times you’re going to get better. I take every chance to do it, even when I don’t have to, just to get the practice. Setting yourself up well is the main thing - the easiest for me is if I can get the unit fairly straight and back it in straight so I can see both sides (then I just ■■■■ it up by overdoing the steering and not doing small enough corrections). Otherwise avoid blind side reverses like the plague - I can reverse round a corner fine so long as I can lean out of the window and look at the trailer and not rely on the mirrors.

Keep up the good work, good luck on the next run.

10

Well done you Jen, getting another artic run. I think the more runs you get the more confident at reversing you’ll get. Don’t beat yourself up too much about it. You done great. :slight_smile:

11

good on u jen i think u did superb
i fairly new to not a lot of experience revering artics so struggle at times
but i find which may help is if you have the space in the yard try to swing around that you can get the tractor and trailor straight as you can lined up with bay then slowly very slowly creep back that way u hardly need to turn the steering wheel hard to describe but u more or less keep it straight going back
a lot of my probs was trying to come in at an angle when there was no need to i could just line it up at a distance away and crawl it back the probs would come for me from turning the steering too much then its all over the place
hope that makes some sense jen but dont worry it will come to u
i remember one night taking a wrong turn into a road that came to a dead end took me 2 hours get out of it and as u say no saliva left in the mouth and of course no water or ■■■■■ in the cab !!! i almost left it that night and walked

12

Try get some piccies next time Jen :slight_smile:!

13

Sam Millar:
Try get some piccies next time Jen :slight_smile:!

Once you’ve seen one, you’ve seen 'em all :smiley:

14

Just keep it slow and remember what you put on you have to take off and as for paragraphs is this a truck forum or an english forum ffs get a life I read it fine no problem you will get there just think before you start your reverse iv’e still a long way to go but I am improving I actually managed to park between two trailers the other day without hitting anything but i did get out and look but it felt good afterwards.

15

Well guys just a little update >>>
went out on another artic run thurs and was to fradley park where they have masses of room so when arrived had a bit of driving time left and know that I wont be loaded for hours so had a bit of a play around .

As you pull in there is a massive area to park up in and luckily hardly any vehs as they were all in ques to be unloaded so saw what looked like a parking space, with lines , across to left,
so employing a few tips from dilgaf who helped me back into yard the other morning managed to get it in with 1 shunt and the veh was as straight as they go :smiley: :smiley: ,

so after a bit more playing went round to where you wait to be loaded to have brk and parked up reversing alongside another artic again straight as a die wow I felt good ,

the tip he gave me was just little turns of wheel when you first start off , if the trailer going the wrong way easily corrected and it worked , felt like i understood what i was doing and was putting the trailer where I wanted it , by the end of the reverse wasnt having to think too much just came a bit more natural going backwards !

So feeling better now , I will crack this just gotta take my time and not rush which is what I was doing and ■■■■■■■ it up !!!, so slow n sure for me now an if dont work first time pull out n try again :smiley:

jx :smiley:

16

Jennie:
Well guys just a little update >>>
went out on another artic run thurs and was to fradley park where they have masses of room so when arrived had a bit of driving time left and know that I wont be loaded for hours so had a bit of a play around .

As you pull in there is a massive area to park up in and luckily hardly any vehs as they were all in ques to be unloaded so saw what looked like a parking space, with lines , across to left,
so employing a few tips from dilgaf who helped me back into yard the other morning managed to get it in with 1 shunt and the veh was as straight as they go :smiley: :smiley: ,

so after a bit more playing went round to where you wait to be loaded to have brk and parked up reversing alongside another artic again straight as a die wow I felt good ,

the tip he gave me was just little turns of wheel when you first start off , if the trailer going the wrong way easily corrected and it worked , felt like i understood what i was doing and was putting the trailer where I wanted it , by the end of the reverse wasnt having to think too much just came a bit more natural going backwards !

So feeling better now , I will crack this just gotta take my time and not rush which is what I was doing and [zb] it up !!!, so slow n sure for me now an if dont work first time pull out n try again :smiley:

jx :smiley:

I’ve never had to pull… Sorry got side tracked there :smiley:

Great that it’s all coming together for you.

And great you are getting lots of runs so you can perfect your skills.

TBH that is where I am most apprehensive. I can do the S bend in an Artic or WnD in the test layout. But that is not how yards are set out lol. I just hope that I get the hang of it and don’t make a complete ■■■ of myself. :slight_smile:

17

dar1976:
I’ve never had to pull… Sorry got side tracked there :smiley:
you are encouragable :unamused: :laughing:
Great that it’s all coming together for you.

And great you are getting lots of runs so you can perfect your skills.

TBH that is where I am most apprehensive. I can do the S bend in an Artic or WnD in the test layout. But that is not how yards are set out lol. I just hope that I get the hang of it and don’t make a complete ■■■ of myself. :slight_smile:

Dont get panicked thats my best advice just take your time thats where i was messing up !!! and the tip from diligaf was that as you start just put a little tiny turn on wheel to check that trailer is going the right way , if not, well easy to steer the other way and you havent gone hay wire before you correct also i was watching my back wheels for reverse and is much easier to concentrate on rear of trailer , i was putting too much steering on at first and you dont need it , honest !! getting that in my head has been a big help , little is more :wink: im sure you`ll have a comment for that !!!

cant wait to hear how you get on good luck for tomorrow

jenx

18

It’s Monday week not tomorrow.

And I never take your comments out of context. Size only matters when you are squeezing into tight spaces :wink:

I am sure I’ll be fine once I’m out there. Just apprehensive of the unknown.

Thanks for best wishes.