Wednesday 20 - 10/13/2021

Good Wednesday evening (evening here, at least) folks, as has become a normal occurrence, here's a Wednesday 20 pack.

First up today, a Freightliner Cascadia for Variant, who are headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Another Cascadia, this one for Galaxy Freight Line, whose HQ are in Mississauga, Ontario.

And yet another Cascadia, this one pulling for Tri-State Expedited, who're headquartered in Millbury, Ohio.

A Volvo VNL for Trail-Trac Transport, whose headquarters are in Scarborough, Ontario.

And another Freightliner Cascadia, this was an unusual specialty hauler.

I'd assume it typically hauls boats or RVs.

A very unique White/GMC WIA64.

A sharp Peterbilt 385. Super nice trailer, too.

A nice Kenworth T680 for Joe Beard & Sons Corp. from Newburgh, Indiana.

Another T680. The KW is pretty plain, but the lifted F-250 back there is really cool.

A nice and bright Mack Pinnacle.

An interesting Freightliner M2-106 for the "VA" or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who are headquartered in, obviously, Washington, D.C.

Note the traction chains system (not sure of proper term) on the rear axle - I've only seen that on ambulances and fire trucks before this. I'm not really sure what this rig is for.

A very sharp Kenworth W900L.

Note the Kaufman trailer - they are from NC and build all their trailers here, and we've owned various types of their (smaller) trailers and have been very happy with them. I'd definitely recommend them.

A Freightliner 114SD for Carvana, who're headquartered in Tempe, Arizona.

A somewhat rare International Paystar. Nice looking rig.

A sharp Ford F-350.

A nice Freightliner Coronado.

A cool Peterbilt 379.

The last 3 shots are of a Duke Travel Plaza/Duchess Shoppe that is closed.

We came though this area (northern WV or southern Ohio) only a few years ago, and this joint was open - I recall it being moderately busy, at least busy enough I wouldn't have expected it to close. I assume it was another Covid casualty. Really sad.

As many of my current shots were taken in the mountains of WV, which has many runaway ramps, I'll give a little history lesson.

The history of the runaway ramp begins on the Southern Railway's famous Saluda Grade, the steepest mainline grade in the USA, located in the mountains of NC. Back in the steam locomotive days, Southern was having trouble with runaway trains on the line, and put out a request for ideas from throughout the company. One idea was at (or below, really) certain points on the grade to make short upwards slanted sidings where a runaway could be diverted and gravity could slow it down. This ended up a huge success, and the runaway ramp for railroads, and later, highways, was born. Saluda grade is not currently in service, but one of the ramps does still exist.

Thanks for looking!