Bucket List- European Trucks-

I have always noticed different transportation systems and the European trucks have been one that I put at the top of the list. In more than thirty days and in six different countries I made a lot of observations. One that stands out is they don't do many things like they do here. Not saying that one is better than the other, just saying that we all get the job done but most of the time a little differently. Semi tractors are nearly always COE (cab over engine) style and very seldom conventional cabs like we have here. Very seldom will you ever see a tandem axle semi tractor and when you do the lead will be an air lift and not a drive axle. You will not see any makes that you will see here with the exception of Volvo. You will see Scana, Mercedes, Daff, Mann, and a few others but no Peterbuilt, Mack, Freightliners or Internationals. Most all trailers will be tri axles with single tires. The rear door lock latches are normally recessed and the King Pin will be located as to have the trailer as tight to the tractor cab as can be. What they will use for pneumatic trailers will also have a dump hydraulic cylinder as to only use one point of discharge. I also saw a couple of rigs that reminded me of Michigan Specials and each had a track loaded on it. Now I have no idea of what that pair of tracks fit but I will say what ever it was it was a healthy machine. Another thing a person will notice is there literally no pick-up trucks. I think we saw five in thirty days. Don't know why and couldn't get an answer as a lot of people didn't know what I was talking about.

My daughter and I just came back from a vacation in Belgium and Luxemburg. It was a wonderful trip. I tried to get some tractor pictures but didn't see very many. Trucks were very neat just like you described. Very short single screw tractors with tri axel super single trailers. Trailer so close to the tractor you couldn't get between. I would like to have one of those trucks for my job. I get in a lot of very tight spots. Their roads in some cities are very narrow and they have to get in very tight places. I saw one pickup in the entire trip. That was in Luxemburg.

Those trailers look longer than our 53 footers, so they probably could not legally pull them with our conventional tractors. I expect that those tracks will go to a quarry under a shovel, and that the shovel will stay there for the next thirty years.

I noticed on the Scania, the upper half of the cab was separate from the bottom, and appeared to have its own suspension.Sure looked weird when torque was applied in reverse....thought the cab was going to tip over! Some of the trailers have rear wheel steer...and if you see some of the streets they go down,you will understand why! Couldn't get a clear answer from my cousins in
Holland why there were no pick ups either...most materials seemed to be delivered to their farms.Ben

I was in Ireland and Scotland last June and made the same observation regarding the lack of pickup trucks. Now that you mention it I don't even remember seeing one. What I did see was allot of tractors on the country roads pulling trailers. Trailers that one would be pulling with there pickup in the U.S.
I remember reading a article in one of their local farm papers regarding the local police picking on the farmers and their tractors ticketing them for moving violations on the roadways.

I spent a lot of time around those European semis when I was over seas. The one thing that really stood out to me was how quit they idle and also how low they idle. And to this day scania makes the most powerful semi in the world. ( I read somewhere)

I've seen American pickup trucks in Sweden, but not elsewhere in Europe.

Ya, and if you ever rode in one of those cabovers you would know why they all have back problems in about 5 years of driving. There used to be trucks with the sleeper berth above the cab like those here, in the early years of trucking.
You can have those cabovers. I'll keep my long nosed Pete.

A friend of mine imported a Dodge pickup to Holland. With fuel being around $10.00 a gallon, he didn't keep it very long.

What I remember in Germany was trucks with 2 steering axles in front, some were large truck cranes, but I think some were freight trucks too. Most construction jobs had tower cranes, no room to park a big truck crane.

The pickup was in Spa Belgium as you can see on the door. Truck stop was from the train window. We were probably going at least 100 mph.

How were the railroads compared to the US?

Single axles and coe's are due to length and weight restrictions (lower than us.) They have made dramatic improvements in ride over the years. Also distances in eu are much shorter than in us, so no need for a big sleeper box. Also, based on driving in Europe road surfaces and conditions are generally quite a bit better than here.

While in Germany, thirty-five years ago, I noticed the Germans used steel for ties.

How long were the trailers? Close to our 45', 48' or 53' common sizes?

i saw the same things in Ireland back in June.

yes, very few pickups. if there was a pickup it was likely a Ford ranger (bigger than the US rangers but smaller than an F150) with a couple NIssan and Toyotas of similar sizes.

ALso noticed probably 85-95% of the cars and light vans/pickups were diesel and stick shift. even the police cars were diesels (Hyundi eltantra wagons in the republic, armored land rovers in Northern Ireland)

Had a Renault rental car. LIttle 3 cyl diesel in it. Got about 50-51ish MPG and it was an automatic. was ok with just 2 of us but with 5 in it i would guess it would have been a dog. if you added all the US emissions it would have probably been more like 40mpg

another observation, at least in Ireland. tractors fly down the road. they all have high road gears. MF was the dominant brand especially the older tractors. dont' think i saw 1 4 wheel (self steering) wagons. all trailers only, even the forage and hay wagons were trailers.

in 15 days of driving around the island only saw 1 field of corn pretty much right in the middle.

We think 100 years is a long time.

In Europe they think 100 miles is a long distance.

I guess it would feel that way when you are governed to 56 mph.

God forbid traffic all move close to the same speed.

Mr. T,

It is obvious that you have not been where I was at. In Germany all the Motorways designated A-Roads or Autobahn there is no speed limit except for construction zones and you are free to drive as fast as you would like and a lot of people just cruise at better than a hundred miles per hour. The Swiss and Austrians have one hundred twenty Killometers per hour speed limit which is close to seventy five. The trains routinely travel at one hundred twenty five miles per hour. I don't know where you come up with the 56 mile per hour limit. The Irish drive faster than that on two-tracks.