Re: Sumpter Valley Ry. Trucks

They were air brake equipped, but I don't see anything suggesting power steering. Here are a few of the AFE's concerning the trucks. There were eventually Six Sumpter Valley Peterbuilt trucks, so I was mistaken when I said five. I knew a guy who's dad worked for Sumpter Valley Ry. starting in 1947 as a truck driver. The guy said that when he was a kid, he would sometimes ride with his dad. He told me that back then the road was mostly one lane with just some spots where two trucks could meet barely. At night, his dad would occasionally flip off his head lights to see if he could see a glimmer from another truck he would be meeting, so he could choose a meeting spot. The railroad actually published a Tariff with the trucks. By the time the trucks were nine or ten years old they had over 500,000 miles on them, they were worn out and getting sent to Peterbuilt in Oakland to be rebuilt. I bet there were some out of work railroaders that had the last laugh seeing the difficulties that went on with the trucks.