Tag Archives: transportation

A normal winter day on the Dalton

Not a calm winter day, but a normal winter day.  These were from last year, and actually the first three are from early April and the rest are from one day in mid-April 2016.  Click on the first one and scroll to the right for best viewing.

Snow Drifts on the Dalton

There’s been plenty of wind and snow on the Dalton lately.  Here are snow drifts at Ice Cut that have been plowed away by a loader, creating one lane which is better than nothing!  Video by fellow trucker, John Slater.  Hope everyone is having a great 2017 so far.

Overturned truck

Another set of photos from years past… this guy was coming over a small rise and when he got to the top he saw some hunters in a pick up truck turning around in the road, so he was forced to go off the side and into the snow instead of hit them.  Unfortunate.

Lost load, an explosion box

Years ago Jack came across this load that fell off a truck north of Coldfoot.  Click on the first one and scroll to the right.  More info on the captions.

 

Jack is pretty sure this is an “explosion box”, a portable unit that’s probably used as a break room next to a rig most of the time, but it’s most crucial use is as an explosion shelter. If there’s a an explosion individuals can stay in it for protection. It’s actually upside down here and the damaged attached boxes are probably heaters or ventilation units.
The driver was looking to the left, drove off the road on the right, then turned the steering wheel abruptly to get back on the road, breaking the chains that held the box down and tossing it off the trailer.
Marks where the box first hit the ground.
This is most likely how the fallen load was tied down. This truck is carrying a similar unit.
There are four chains here. The fallen load was probably tied down correctly but the force was enough to break pieces of the trailer, probably not the chains themselves.

New culvert on the Alaska Highway

In June, Jack and I went south on the Alaska Highway to camp and came across this construction site with a new culvert going in.  More info on the photos.  Click on the first one and scroll to the right.

This is the culvert that’s going in, about 6 feet in diameter and maybe 80 (?) feet long.
Jack says this is the stream water being diverted while the construction is going on.
Water is being sprayed to keep the dust down.
The fabric is Typar that was laid down under the road years ago and there’s also some rigid foam insulation showing on the right. All of this is an attempt to keep the dirt under the road frozen in order to prevent frost heaves.
The next two photos are pretty self explanatory. Collapsed culverts are very common in interior Alaska.

Jack’s first heavy haul load

This was Jack’s first heavy haul load.  He wasn’t actually part of the a heavy haul division yet but obviously it was a landmark load for him.

You can see the partially melted snow and the dry road.  We are almost to that point in the year right now, and you can probably believe that it is an exciting time for us Alaskans who have snow 8 or 9 months of the year!

Happy Spring and Happy Easter!

Jack's first heavy haul load

Load of pipe goes off the road

The drive line of this truck broke coming down 5 mile last summer.  Just like putting it in neutral, the motor didn’t help slow him down.  While trying to stop the truck going downhill the driver smoked his brakes, then coasted up 6 mile hill.  His brakes wouldn’t hold him when he coasted to a stop, they were too hot.  So then he rolled backwards into the ditch.  There’s more than accidents that go on up on the road but most of it isn’t exciting enough to post. 🙂

Click to enlarge.