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At Beaver Express Service in Woodward, Okla., near the state’s panhandle, company president Mike Stone spent most of last week trying to figure out which of his terminals, scattered across six states, could reopen after a record-breaking blizzard buried them.

The massive storm, which started in New Mexico and Texas on Jan. 31, paralyzed Oklahoma and shut down Interstate 70 in Missouri on Feb. 1 before crossing the Great Lakes states into the Northeast.

By midweek Feb. 2, the sun was out over Stone’s Beaver Express office and the 50-mph winds had died down, but temperatures were still south of zero and the snow that idled his 300 trucks made many roads impassable.

“Yesterday, shutting down the entire company, that’s the first time that’s happened that I can remember in . . . forever,” Stone said last Wednesday.

He is the third generation of his family to run the LTL carrier. “It was so bad everywhere that we just couldn’t operate.”

Interstate 70, the major freight artery between Kansas City and St. Louis, did not reopen until 6:30 a.m. Feb. 2.

Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn dispatched the National Guard to transport state troopers in Humvees to reach motorists and truckers on the Illinois Tollway.

In northern Ohio, where 14 inches of snow and ice covered the roads Feb. 1 and 2, officials restricted highways to emergency use and large employers closed.

Transport Topics

The Obama administration last week took the first step toward reinstituting commercial truck traffic between the United States and Mexico, although it said details would not be released for several months.

The Department of Transportation sent Congress a two-page outline that it called “an initial concept document for a long-haul cross-border trucking program that prioritizes safety, while satisfying the United States’ international treaty obligations.”

The administration has been searching for a solution to the border question since March 2009, when Congress halted a pilot program put in place by President George W. Bush after a little over a year, provoking nearly $2 billion in punitive tariffs on U.S. goods by Mexico.

DOT said in its statement that the document “is a starting point for renewed negotiations with Mexico” and “addresses concerns” raised by U.S. industry, lawmakers and advocacy groups.

Since the United States shut down the pilot program, Mexico has imposed tariffs on U.S. exports ranging from frozen processed potatoes, yarn and peanuts to pork products, ketchup and cheeses (8-23, p. 1).

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington made no mention of the tariffs, saying only that his government “will carefully evaluate the U.S. proposal to try to constructively move forward with the administration and the U.S. Congress towards a resolution that allows for a cross-border trucking system that, while operating under clear rules, provides certainty to transport companies, exporters, importers and consumers in North America, as established under NAFTA.”

http://www.ttnews.com

Triple R Diesel is offering custom t-shirts for Christmas. The shirts allow kids to color the semi truck and make it permanent by just using an iron. Check out what Custom Rigs Magazine wrote about this new item:

Seems like everyone is gearing up for Christmas–and Thanksgiving turkeys haven’t even seen the inside of the ovens yet! For instance the Triple R Diesel guys down there in San Antonio, Texas, just let us know about some cool custom big-rig tee’s they have for kids. What’s interesting about these T-shirts is the kids have a hand  in decorating them.

Triple R Diesel just added Big Rig Tees, which comes in a kit with a special set of fabric dye sticks that allow the kids to color the shirts with their own artistic impression.

To set the color permanently all that is needed is a household iron set on the cotton setting.Once they have finished coloring their shirt kids can’t wait to wear their new creation.

Now how cool is that for a kid’s Christmas gift!

Raul Mendez, one of the owners of Triple R, says, “The custom T’s are available through our Texas Chrome Shop for $14.95 in kid’s sizes. And we’ll be selling them at our booth in some of the larger trucks shows next year.”

http://www.customrigsmag.com/keep-on-truckin-at-christmas/ see the whole article here.

Contact Triple R Diesel to get your custom T. www.Triplerdiesel.com

Triple R Diesel, Inc.

http://www.TripleRDiesel.com/

16233 IH 35 South, Atascosa, Texas 78002

Toll Free: 1(800) 794-9817

Local: (210) 622-5757

Texas Chrome Shop’s Project One made the winter cover of Custom Rigs magazine.

If you are a subscriber to Custom Rigs, then you’ve probably already read their Winter issue from cover to cover. Those of you who aren’t subscribers better hoof it down to your local Petros or one of their Preferred Partner chrome shops who carry Custom Rigs because they only print a limited number of issues and those go really fast.

Visit: http://www.customrigsmag.com/winter-issue-out/ To view the whole article!

Lincoln Industries a manufacturer of premium, high quality chrome exhaust stacks, announced their newest distribution partner, Texas Chrome Shop.

Texas Chrome Shop is a semi truck service shop and chrome accessory shop located in central Texas who specialize in building custom trucks.  “We could not be more excited to be working with Raul and Roland Mendez and the team at Texas Chrome Shop.  Their passion for trucking and dedication to their customers match perfectly with Lincoln Industries,” said Darren Parker, Director of Lincoln Industries Aftermarket Truck business.

Texas Chrome Shop now offers the complete line of Lincoln Industries chrome exhaust stacks. Lincoln Industries offers stacks for Peterbilt, Kenwoth, and most major truck brands in the market.