Ice road truckers

jackyalex · 27-02-2008, 23:37

The past few weeks i have been watching ice road truckers, its absolutely fantastic. For those who have never seen the tv proggramme its well worth watching, Its about the people who work for and supply goods and transport for diamond mining in the north of canada, the truckers work for two months of the year and can earn a years wage in this time, they have to transport goods accross huge frozen lakes and icy roads in very very cold weather and its sooo dangerous, its worth watching if you have not seen it. Has anyone else seen it and what do you think of it?

flashy · 27-02-2008, 23:38

lol me and Richard watched it tonight....risky business hey

cashman · 27-02-2008, 23:42

well at least tell us what its on jacky.

Neil · 27-02-2008, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by flashytart

lol me and Richard watched it tonight....risky business hey

I'd say, Richard must be a brave man watching TV with you

jackyalex · 27-02-2008, 23:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

well at least tell us what its on jacky.

sorry cashy i forgot in all the excitment

its on chanel 5

panther · 28-02-2008, 09:54

when my fella put it on I thought 'oh no more rubbish'....but i must admit when i started watching

....i got really interested

.....lol

jambutty · 28-02-2008, 10:02

Fascinating programme although I haven’t watched it every week.

Last week the back axel of a tanker train broke through the ice and it was only the weight of the front end that stopped the lot from sliding to oblivion.

After many hours at night with the trucks behind piling up, the recovery team managed to pull it clear. The other highlight was a young guy transporting a huge drum that was so tall and so wide that the whole rig was continually on the verge of tipping over. Then when he got it to the destination the coupling of the suspension bogies was frozen solid and wouldn’t uncouple.

Oh yes! There was the guy whose cab didn’t have any heating (it was only 40 below) and he started to get frostbite in his feet.

One of the reasons why we electrified our railways instead of using diesel electric locomotives was, that in cold weather the diesel fuel went all gooey. I wonder how those trucks went on in temperatures well below what we ever get?

panther · 28-02-2008, 10:04

does anyone know how much they are on?....i think they only work so many weeks in a year dont they??

jackyalex · 28-02-2008, 11:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by panther

does anyone know how much they are on?....i think they only work so many weeks in a year dont they??

It depends on how many trips they do, usually for 1 trip its $1000 depending how dangerous the load is that they take and how far they have to travel, some of the mines are quite a distance from each other

Eric · 28-02-2008, 16:12

Been there, done it, got the hat .... about 20 yrs ago when I was living in Saskatchewan a friend of mine drove a rig for SINCO .... not what you think, but Saskatchewan Indian Nations Corporation ... and I went with him on one trip across Lake Athabasca delivering fuel for the generators in Uranium City (they quit mining there and the community no longer exists). Ice driving is common ... or was before the winters got warmer ... in quite a few parts of Canada. Even Kingston used to have an ice road over to Wolfe Island as recently as the late 1980s.

jackyalex · 29-02-2008, 09:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric

Been there, done it, got the hat .... about 20 yrs ago when I was living in Saskatchewan a friend of mine drove a rig for SINCO .... not what you think, but Saskatchewan Indian Nations Corporation ... and I went with him on one trip across Lake Athabasca delivering fuel for the generators in Uranium City (they quit mining there and the community no longer exists). Ice driving is common ... or was before the winters got warmer ... in quite a few parts of Canada. Even Kingston used to have an ice road over to Wolfe Island as recently as the late 1980s.

Did you have any near misses with the ice ? is the sound of the ice cracking as loud as they say when you drive on it

Eric · 29-02-2008, 20:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackyalex

Did you have any near misses with the ice ? is the sound of the ice cracking as loud as they say when you drive on it

Wasn't all that bad when I crossed ... no wind to blow the snow around ... but there were weird optical illusions when everything just blends ... Roland, my friend doing the driving said that one got used to it ... he said that it is better not to look, and use the force (unlike the hollywood stereotypes, Indians do have a sense of humor). And the ice is noisy ... when the ice breaks up or moves around on any lake there is always a lot of noise, from the constant creaking to loud booming. I also made the trip in Summer, on a barge ... much more relaxing.

Alvin the chipmunk · 03-03-2008, 14:51

Fantastic programme this, watched it yesterday