A terminal tractor, known in the United States as a shag truck, shunt truck, spotter truck, spotting tractor, yard truck, yard shifter, yard dog, yard goat, yard horse, yard mule, yard jockey, yard spotter, hostler, or mule, is a kind of semi-tractor intended to move semi-trailers within a cargo yard, warehouse facility, or intermodal facility, much like a switcher locomotive is used to position railcars. In the United Kingdom they are known as terminal lorries or terminal trucks.
Distinctions between a terminal tractor and a regular tractor unit include:
Since off-road versions do not have to drive on roads at highway speeds, a typical top speed is 25 miles per hour (40 km/h).
The global EV push has given rise to a large number of all-electric terminal truck manufacturers around the world. These trucks – used in both on-road and off-road fleet – claim to be zero-emission trucks. [2] Some of the notable manufacturers include Renault, Volvo, MAN, Orange EV, Motiv, Autocar, Kalmar, and Tevva. Orange EV is one of the largest suppliers of zero-emission terminal trucks in the United States. [3]
A semi-trailer truck, is the combination of a tractor unit and one or more semi-trailers to carry freight. A semi-trailer attaches to the tractor with a type of hitch called a fifth wheel.
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction, with a cabin that is independent of the payload portion of the vehicle. Smaller varieties may be mechanically similar to some automobiles. Commercial trucks can be very large and powerful and may be configured to be mounted with specialized equipment, such as in the case of refuse trucks, fire trucks, concrete mixers, and suction excavators. In American English, a commercial vehicle without a trailer or other articulation is formally a "straight truck" while one designed specifically to pull a trailer is not a truck but a "tractor".
A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or construction. Most commonly, the term is used to describe a farm vehicle that provides the power and traction to mechanize agricultural tasks, especially tillage, and now many more. Agricultural implements may be towed behind or mounted on the tractor, and the tractor may also provide a source of power if the implement is mechanised.
A trailer is an unpowered vehicle towed by a powered vehicle. It is commonly used for the transport of goods and materials.
A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump trailer, dumper trailer, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped with an open-box bed, which is hinged at the rear and equipped with hydraulic rams to lift the front, allowing the material in the bed to be deposited ("dumped") on the ground behind the truck at the site of delivery. In the UK, Australia, South Africa and India the term applies to off-road construction plants only and the road vehicle is known as a tip lorry, tipper lorry, tipper truck, tip truck, tip trailer or tipper trailer or simply a tipper.
The Autocar Company is an American specialist manufacturer of severe-duty, Class 7 and Class 8 vocational trucks, with its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama. Started in 1897 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a manufacturer of Brass Era automobiles, and trucks from 1899, Autocar is the oldest surviving motor vehicle brand in the Western Hemisphere.
An electric truck is an electric vehicle powered by batteries designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work.
A tractor unit, also known as a truck unit, lorry unit, power unit, prime mover, ten-wheeler, semi-tractor, semi-truck, semi-lorry, tractor cab, truck cab, lorry cab, big rig tractor, big rig truck or big rig lorry or simply a tractor, truck, lorry, semi, big rig or rig, is a characteristically heavy-duty towing engine that provides motive power for hauling a towed or trailered load. These fall into two categories: heavy- and medium-duty military and commercial rear-wheel-drive semi-tractors used for hauling semi-trailers, and very heavy-duty typically off-road-capable, often 6×6, military and commercial tractor units, including ballast tractors.
Cab-over, also known as cab over engine (COE), cab forward or flat face (U.S.), flat nose (Canada), or forward control (UK), is a body style of truck, bus, or van that has a vertical front, "flat face" or a semi-hood, with the cab of the truck sitting above the front axle. This contrasts with a conventional truck where the engine is mounted in front of the driver.
An articulated hauler, articulated dump truck (ADT), or sometimes a dump hauler, is a very large heavy-duty type of dump truck used to transport loads over rough terrain, and occasionally on public roads. The vehicle usually has all-wheel drive and consists of two basic units: the front section, generally called the tractor, and the rear section that contains the dump body, called the hauler or trailer section. Steering is made by pivoting the front in relation to the back by hydraulic rams. This way, all wheels follow the same path, making it an excellent off-road vehicle.
The ZIL-130 is a Soviet/Russian truck produced by ZIL in Moscow, Russia. The first prototype was built in 1956. Production began in 1962, while mass production started in 1964. It was one of the most numerous cargo trucks in the USSR and Russia, in total ZIL built 3,380,000 trucks up to 1994. In 1995, production was moved to the now-defunct Ural Motor Plant.
The Hino Profia is a heavy duty cab-over truck produced by Hino Motors, a 50.1% subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation. It was introduced in 1981. In most export markets, it is also known as the Hino 700. The name Profia is officially used in Japan, and was previously known as the Super Dolphin Profia. The Hino F-Series truck's model codes are FN, FP, FR, FS, and FW. The tractor head model codes are SH and SS, in Japan the truck’s traditional competitors are Isuzu Giga, Mitsubishi Fuso Super Great and UD Quon.
A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasible, lowboy-style semi-trailers are used to minimize the height of a load's center of mass. Typical drivetrains are 6×4 and 6×6, but 8×6 and 8×8 are also available. Typical ballast tractor loads include oil rig modules, bridge sections, buildings, ship sections, and industrial machinery such as generators and turbines.
In the United States, with regard to automobiles, a glider is a vehicle without a powertrain. Gliders are generally sold as unused car bodies, but a second-hand car may also be stripped of its powertrain and sold as a glider. The purpose of such a vehicle is to be used as a base for a non-standard powertrain, to create a novel variation of a conventional vehicle, custom car, exotic vehicle, or homemade electric vehicle conversion. The term is analogous to an aircraft with no engine being a glider.
A specialized set of jargon describe the tools, equipment, and employment sectors used in the trucking industry in the United States. Some terms may be used within other English-speaking countries, or within the freight industry in general. For example, shore power is a term borrowed from shipping terminology, in which electrical power is transferred from shore to ship, instead of the ship relying upon idling its engines. Drawing power from land lines is more efficient than engine idling and eliminates localized air pollution. Another borrowed term is "landing gear", which refers to the legs which support the front end of a semi-trailer when it is not connected to a semi-truck. Some nicknames are obvious wordplay, such as "portable parking lot", in reference to a truck that carries automobiles.
The M915 is a tractor unit used for line haul missions by the United States Army. Designed for use on improved roads it does not have a driven front axle.
Ottawa Trucks, now formally referred to as Kalmar Ottawa, is a United States-based company which is the largest manufacturer of terminal tractors in North America, with over 55,000 produced. In 1990 the Ottawa Truck Corporation acquired Beck Fire Apparatus of Cloverdale, CA, which continued to operate as an independent division until going out of business in 1992. Ottawa Trucks was purchased by their main competitor, Finnish Sisu Terminal Systems, in 1993. In 1997 Sisu and Swedish terminal truck manufacturer Kalmar Industries were both incorporated into the Partek Corporation, and soon thereafter the "Sisu" badge was discontinued on terminal tractors.
The M809 Series 5-ton 6x6 truck (G908) was a family of heavy tactical trucks built for the United States Armed Forces. The basic cargo version was designed to transport a 5-ton (4,500 kg), 14 ft (4.3 m) long load over all terrain in all weather. In on-road service the load weight was doubled. Built by AM General, they evolved into the M939 Series.
The Mack Anthem is a series of heavy duty trucks built by Mack Trucks. It has a long low-drag hood and fenders. Introduced in 2018, it is designed primarily for highway use.
Media related to Terminal tractors at Wikimedia Commons
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