Training for my Canadian Class 1

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
1

Hi guys, its time for me to move back into the Newbies area for a while.

I moved to Canada 5 weeks ago, as a canadian citizen. I now have the funds to put myself through my Class 1 Training.
I must note i already have a UK Class 1 licence, but you have to exchange it here for a bog standard Class 5 (Car & Light Truck without Airbrakes). So I had my medical Today. cost me $60 , the local doctors wanted $160. So as has been said before, shop around for any medical you have to take. Next up im going to take my Air Brake endorsement. cost is $110 for an 8 hour course. Over here you have to know how to make running adjustments to your airbrakes, to maintain effective braking. This applies for any vehicle class you want to drive here that has air brakes.

Knowledge test is as far a i can gather a 25 question multiple choice test. NO waste of time Hazard Perception test (Phew, had to take the uk one 3 times.)

Driver Training is all 1 on 1 (have you seen how small the driving part of the cab is over here ?) and booked in 2 hour increments. each 2 hour session costing $220 more or less. I have been told that it should take about 6 to 10 hours retraining. One thing to bear in mind is that back in England were all used to driving synchromeshed gearboxes. meaning we dont have to double de-clutch. You have to Double clutch here as the transmissions are all constant mesh. This is what takes the most time to get used to.

So here I am , a Class 1 trainee again lol.

This has been posted so it might help any future class 1 trainee in canada. (Mods feel free to move to Expat section if you feel this is inappropriate for the Newbie section)

2

Good luck with the training! Is there a driver shortage over there? How are british drivers treated in Canada?

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As with anywhere, the recession has hit, although its starting to pick up again here (it never got really bad with loads of people out of work). One thing we dont have here so much is the dreaded agencies and their ‘ghost jobs’ .
As for how drivers are treated, i cant really comment on until ive been out and experienced myself.
I gather we are treated a lot better over here. And have proper Truck stops, not crappy MSA’s . Some runs are 16 to 20 days out on the road. Its not uncommon to cover 800 miles in a day here.

4

As Warren said, good luck with the training…

I’m fairly sure your training blog will be read with great interest by us on this side of the pond. :grimacing:

Go for it mate. :smiley:

5

BigJon:
As with anywhere, the recession has hit, although its starting to pick up again here (it never got really bad with loads of people out of work). One thing we dont have here so much is the dreaded agencies and their ‘ghost jobs’ .
As for how drivers are treated, i cant really comment on until ive been out and experienced myself.
I gather we are treated a lot better over here. And have proper Truck stops, not crappy MSA’s . Some runs are 16 to 20 days out on the road. Its not uncommon to cover 800 miles in a day here.

:exclamation: Most truck stops here are ■■■■ ! Driving from one side of the continent to the other a few times I have found about 4 decent ones :smiley:

700 miles a day is about the most you could do

6

Depends what you are after in a truckstop, Pat. The J showers are pretty good for freebies, and you can always get something to eat.

In Canada we can drive 13 hours so can get quite a bit done…

7

Did my knowledge test today, and all i can say is … why cant the uk theory test be like this one?

30 random questions about every aspect of driving, even basic car driving. They also throw in some questions about buses, because over here a class 1 driver can do anything except motorbikes. (And LCV until youve got 2 years tractor trailor experience, then its another training course and test). As you answer each one, it gives you a running tally at the bottom of the screen of how many you answered correctly, and how many you got wrong. 6 wrong answers and its game over until the following day, when you can pop back in again with no appointment needed, pay your $18 again and do the test over.

As soon as you answer enough questions to not be able to get 6 wrong, Thats it end of test. So you answer all of the first 25 questions right, you dont need to do the last 5. it just says passed :slight_smile:

My OTR training starts on Wednesday, i have 4 hours total, and I should have a good idea how good / bad i am at the end of it :stuck_out_tongue: (4 hours so they can judge if i need further instruction, or BAM straight to road test :smiley:)

8

bobthedog:
Depends what you are after in a truckstop

Exotic dancers and a free bar :laughing: :laughing:

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The exotic dancers are usually found in the parking lot, Dave. Some of them hanging onto the poles, some standing under them. :smiling_imp:

And if you go into the “casino” in the J in Billings, you can get several free beers if you play the nickel poker machines. :sunglasses:

And that is the card game, not the ladies outside… Poker, geddit? :laughing:

I am inclined to agree with you, BigJon, about the theory test. Surely the whole point of a theory test is to make sure you have some awareness, not an exam like an A level. You show you have awareness, then learn as you go along. I never had to sit a theory test in the UK- I’m too old-, but I did one online and it was nonsense.

Best of luck in you training, fellah. Enjoy, and we shall see you on the road.

10

bobthedog:
The exotic dancers are usually found in the parking lot, Dave. Some of them hanging onto the poles, some standing under them. :smiling_imp:

why would exotic dancers stand under poles? they never shower and wear flipflops with socks stink or what :open_mouth:

11

Pat Hasler:

BigJon:
As with anywhere, the recession has hit, although its starting to pick up again here (it never got really bad with loads of people out of work). One thing we dont have here so much is the dreaded agencies and their ‘ghost jobs’ .
As for how drivers are treated, i cant really comment on until ive been out and experienced myself.
I gather we are treated a lot better over here. And have proper Truck stops, not crappy MSA’s . Some runs are 16 to 20 days out on the road. Its not uncommon to cover 800 miles in a day here.

:exclamation: Most truck stops here are [zb] ! Driving from one side of the continent to the other a few times I have found about 4 decent ones :smiley:

700 miles a day is about the most you could do

Have to agree with you about the Truckstops Pat, 700 miles is about it too, unless you’re north of the border & away from Ontario & Quebec with their speed limiter nonsense, I can easily average 69mph across the prairies for 13hrs so can almost do 900 in a single legal day, to put in into perspective, I have done 50000 miles since March 15th, that’s 3 months running mostly in the US with it’s 11hr days & I haven’t been creative with my logs to do that, haven’t been home much either but it can be done.

Anyway BigJon, good luck with it, the driving test is a piece of yellow body fluid :wink:

12

Finally got to drive a Proper Truck today :slight_smile:

I was booked in for 4 hours of 1 to 1 training today with Capliano Truck Driver Training. 10 - 12 and 1 - 3.
My instructor was Ralf, Yes you can probably guess from the name hes a fellow European too. German to be exact.
He showed me round the truck i am training in. Its a Kenworth, With a HIAB . He went through the pre-trip inspection with me, after first showing me how to un-couple the trailer (first 2 hours was bobtail). After that I jump in the passenger seat, and Ralf drives me to some distant and quiet (under constrution) industrial estate about 5 minutes up the road from the school. On the way there he is explaining about how to shift gears, getting the timing’s right for gear changes, changing up and down etc.
Change up gear = 1700 - 1800 rpm , clutch - into neutral, release clutch, depress clutch , into next gear. This is all done in 2 seconds, so you count 1 for clutch in first time, 2 for clutch in 2nd time.
Change down a gear = get rpm to 1000 , clutch in and into neutral, build revs to 1500 , clutch in and into gear.
He kept telling me im cutting the corners too early (im bobtail remember, and i think he expects me to drive as if i have a trailer on the back of me). I just told him, ‘heh were bobtail, no need to use the whole road if we dont need to’ :slight_smile: seemed to shut him up a bit.
We finally get to the stage where he is happy enough with my driving on the quiet roads, to let me drive in City traffic. This is where it felt really nice to be driving, actually with some traffic, and not going slow round the industrial park. We get back to the school, and go through the airbrake tests, then have a break for dinner.

1-3 pm. Watch out Edmonton - BigJon is in a big rig :slight_smile: its trailer time.

So we start off by doing a pretrip on the trailer. making sure the wheels are chocked correctly. Ralf gets me to jump in the truck, and back the truck up so were just short of plate touching the trailer. I jump out and check the jaws on the 5th wheel are open, and we are lined up on the kingpin. Back in I get, Back the ttruck under so the 5th wheel is about a foot away from engaging with the kingpin. Now its time to hookup the airlines and electrical lead. I climbed up on the catwalk, and got to the lines , and coupled them up to the gladhands on the trailer, the electrical line is dead simple to connect (1 cable, no abs). Now i come to get down from the catwalk, and i dint quite make the little shimmy across needed to get round the hydraulic jacks for the Hiab. And end up falling off the truck, while still hanging onto the handrail, and my right foot still up on the catwalk lol (some of you may remember i fell off the back of my truck in Liverpool about a year ago and broke a few ribs. I thought this was gonna be the same all over again lol). Luckily im not injured at all, just look a bit of a prat infront of the other students.
I get back in the truck, and back the unit up until the 5th wheel engages with the pin and locks itself in place, This is all while holding down the Trailer brake valve in the cab. next is 1 tug test , to make sure im coupled. Then back out and double check that the 5th wheel is locked , and the jaws have closed. Next Ralf drives to the same quiet ind. park, explaining about the trailer cutting in, and making turns in the truck (Trailers here run at 55 ft, ontop of the tractor unit length.) . This is where it starts feeling like im a proper trucker again. Pulling a part loaded Flatdeck, with a huge concrete block, and a huge bag of gravel fastened to it. More driving around, getting used to the way the truck and trailer handle. then back onto the busy roads :smiley:. We drive around for a good while, he took me along some of the test route, explaining about things that can catch you out while on test. Then we head back to the school, and its time to do my backing excercise (reverse into parking bay). I was surprised it was just a straight forward 90 degree reverse, no blindside , no s turn round a cone then into your parking bay like they test you in england. I messed my first attempt up, as i was expecting the trailer to spin round quicker than it did. did 2nd attempt looking out the window, so i could see where the trailer was going.

All in all a good day, Ralf said I have improved a lot since the first 2 hours this morning. But will need at least another 2 hours , to crack the gear changes, as im still occasionally crunching the gear change, and occassionally i miss a gear change, then it all goes pear shaped.

Im looking forward to tommorow, So heres advance warning, anyone near the Capliano area of Edmonton tommorow between 3 - 5, beware im on the road again :smiley: (some of the other instructors say ive done well to get where i have in 4 hours re-training. must be doing good then :slight_smile: )

edit: ill try to get some pictures tommorow of the setup im training in. ill also take some pics of the glad hands, (equivalent of suzies)

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Posted Test results in Newbies forum. link below :slight_smile:

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Pictures of The Truck & Trailer combination


53 ft trailer loaded with a huge concrete block and a huge bag of sand. Total weight 40 tons.


3 Tractor units parked up, Mines the White one. A Freightliner with a 4 over 4 range changer with splitter. Notice the huge Moose bars :slight_smile: thats so you dont dent your truck when you hit a Moose out on the Highway.


This may look like a daycab, But it does have a bed in there.


View of one of the Trailers Gladhands (Suzies) google gladhands for more information


My Airlines and electrical hooked up. note only 1 electrical lead (the green one)

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Test #2 today. Just hope i remember about red lights this time :smiley: test is a 1:30 PM Mountain Time (8:30 PM UK time)

16

Failed test #2. The drive is good, pretrip & reverse are perfect. Just not got used to the canadian way of driving yet (understandable as ive only had 3 hours in a car with an instructor and then 6 hours in a truck with instructor).

Today was a bad call by the examiner in my opinion. She did me for entering an intersection with the light on amber (means get ready to stop here). Im 100% certain at the time i crossed the stop line, the lights were on green. Also she told me off for doing 40 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. My reply was ‘there is a puch bike ahead, and not enough room to pass safely without slowing down, So i am slowing down in advance, so that if a gap arises i can safely pull out and overtake, without getting too close to the bike, and risk the biker falling under the wheels with the draft.’ that seemed shut her up lol.

Retesting tommorow at 10:30. fingers crossed its third time lucky.

17

Sorry to hear that. Bad luck. Will be thinking of you in the morning. Edmonton is not a great city to drive in…

Good luck in the morning.

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Thanks Bob, Get well soon . I AM going to be driving trucks here before long :smiley:

19

You will be driving them before I am, that’s for sure. Doubt I will be on the road for a month yet…

You know it was just bad luck today. You will be fine…

20

Well ive only gone and …

PASSED !!!

Hope you heal up pretty soon Bob, Theres a Cold Beer (or Coffee if your driving :stuck_out_tongue:) waiting for you (and any other expat drivers over here) if & when we bump into each other at a truck stop for an overnighter.

Had the same examiner as yesterday, so we skipped a few bits on the pre-trip , and did a mini air-brake test. Went out on the road for about 30 mins, then back to yard to do a reverse. Got out the cab and she said that was a very good drive. To top it all off i only got 30 points on my driving. :smiley: