Trunking

[cavedog]

Hello ppl,i dont mean to sound stupid but could somebody explain to me what trunking is.

[the_biker]

Usually trunking is running trailers between compnay depots - no loading / unloading and waiting around to be tipped at a delivery point.

There is no such thing as a dumb question - if you need to know ask.

[cavedog]

Cheers mate,sounds like a cushty number that.

[trevor_parry]

Can also involve trailer swaps somewhere between 2 depots
Best Regards
Trev

[simon]

Yup, trunking is usualy running from a local depot to a change-over point, like a depot or truckstop (any area with room to drop a trailer really). I used to do a lot of trunking from Glasgow to do a change-over at Carnforth. Sometimes with an artic, sometimes de-mount boxes. The change-over was with a driver coming up from the main depot, down south. You will mainly be running along main or trunk roads or motorways. The idea is that you get a load shifted a long distance from the depot, with two (or more) drivers getting back home after their shift, so it is mainly done at night when the roads are quiet. The load is then in position to be distributed around an area during the day.

All the parcel/pallet companies do this as well. The trunker runs to the hub overnight. The load gets stripped and sorted, then reloaded onto the trunk trailers and back to the yard. The load is stripped again and reloaded onto the distribution wagons. They do the deliveries and collections which are then loaded onto the trunk trailer ready to start all over again. Even drops from the depot 20 miles away, go into the hub and back out, so it does say 400+ miles to be delivered say 10 miles from where it was collected. Usualy everyone is paid on what goes through the hub, so it doesn’t pay the local depot to short-cut the system. In this case, most of the local depots are franchised from the head office at the hub.

[alan_1]

The only thing to watch with Trunk runs is, is it possible to do the single trip in under 4.5 at legal speeds, as this gives a safety margin when things do not go to plan, or in poor weather.
Some companys exspect you to run at 56mph for 4.5hrs.

[caveman]

i did a bit on the agy for hays dx.
first bit huntingdon to peterboghorror 6 pick ups with the artic, and a couple not far from the depot, back to the depot tip the collections and park up for a couple of hours and wait for the other trucks to come back.
all trucks unloaded and all loads sorted, back on to the bay re-load off to the hub j2 of m6 straight on to bay sit in cab in hub for about an hour and a half reloaded, back to huntingdon tip park the wagon go home.
an absolute doddle but am not saying it is all as easy
chris

[cavedog]

Thanks for the replies everybody,cheers.

[allikat]

I’m trunking for the Royal Mail at the moment. Nice easy job, odd shifts and wierd runs, but heck, it’s a cushy number and reasonably well paid.

They trunk in anything from a luton van upwards.

[rob_k]

Can see where the word “trunk” comes from then, ie. “trunk” roads. So where does the word “tramping” come from then, or am I asking for a really stupidly obvious answer here ?

On the theme of words, why are tilts called tilts ? I don’t see anything tilting on them. I see lots of [zb]ing about removing annoying in-the-way chunks of wood and an annoying wind that blows the curtain back on my head every time I chuck it on the roof.

Why is traction called traction too? I know what it is (courtesy of Ted’s site), but why?

The words groupage and trunking make sense, as do tautliners, boxes, demounts, beaver tails, swan-necks, step-frames etc.

[cbr_si]

and what about a (zb)-burger ?
edited a bit border-line there I think mrs mix

[driveroneuk]

Rob K:
On the theme of words, why are tilts called tilts ? I don’t see anything tilting on them. I see lots of [zb]ing about removing annoying in-the-way chunks of wood and an annoying wind that blows the curtain back on my head every time I chuck it on the roof.

quote]

chuck a strap (or 2) over from the other side, put the hook thru’ an eye & use it to hoist & then fasten the sheet up.
…& always open up the leeward side.

[deesider]

Tramping -
Don’t see many tramps or ‘gentlemen of the road’ about nowadays. They would wander about Britain with no prior set plan as to which direction or how far they would (usually) walk that day, or which hedgerow they would sleep in that night. They would knock on the door of a big house or farm offering to do odd jobs in exchange for a hot meal or some warm clothes. Usually Male and always travelled alone.
Sometimes also called ‘itinerants’, long before that term was switched to what we now think of as travellers or gypsys ( who tend to move around in family or extended family groups.)
An unkind word for a Tramp would be ‘dosser’ meaning someone who really doesn’t care where he sleeps,- inside or outside.

In some parts of Britain some lorrydrivers would use the word ‘Roaming’ instead of Tramping to describe their job, not knowing where their next load would take them, literally north, south, east or west.

[driveroneuk]

Are there still any Diesel Queens about? Probably not here, but in Europe?

[dapper_scavenger]

and also, where does ‘hand ball’ come from?

[rob_k]

Looks like no-one knows

[Lasurazes]

RobK:
On the theme of words, why are tilts called tilts ? .

tilt

\Tilt, n. [OE. telt (perhaps from the Danish), teld, AS. teld, geteld; akin to OD. telde, G. zelt, Icel. tjald, Sw. t["a]lt, tj["a]ll, Dan. telt, and ASThe beteldan to cover.] 1. A covering overhead; especially, a tent. --Denham.

2. The cloth covering of a cart or a wagon.

3. (Naut.) A cloth cover of a boat; a small canopy or awning extended over the sternsheets of a boat.

Tilt boat (Naut.), a boat covered with canvas or other cloth.

Tilt roof (Arch.), a round-headed roof, like the canopy of a wagon.

Vince

[Lasurazes]

tramping

Tramp \Tramp, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tramped; p. pr. & vb. n. Tramping.] [OE. trampen; akin to LG. trampen, G. trampeln, LG. & D. trappen, Dan. trampe, Sw. & Icel. trampa, Goth. anatrimpan to press upon; also to D. trap a step, G. treppe steps, stairs. Cf. Trap a kind of rock, Trape, Trip, v. i., Tread.] 1. To tread upon forcibly and repeatedly; to trample.

2. To travel or wander through; as, to tramp the country. [Colloq.]

Vince

[Lasurazes]

traction
n.

The act of drawing or pulling, especially the drawing of a vehicle or load over a surface by motor power.
The condition of being drawn or pulled.

The above definitions come from the excellent online dictionary www.dictionary.com which draws upon and combines half-a-dozen of the World`s best printed dictionaries.

No relevant definition for handball, I`m afraid, other than in its sporting sense. This definition describes “handling” either as a sporting offence or legitimately as in the game of handball, and this is obviously where it comes from. Presumably it is not in sufficiently wide usage to merit a definition of “the act of loading goods by hand without using mechanical handling equipment”

Vince