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DayliteDean

DayliteDean

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In the ten years I've been with Old Dominion many changes have taken place, one of the most noticeable has been the quality of the facilities that we use; In the past some of the terminals and particularly the yards were in horrible condition. A lot of those places have been upgraded or moved(sometimes more than once for some terminals) but I'm guessing some dumps still exist out there. Time to nominate the worst of them. Just about all of the terminals I go to here in the middle of the country have been recently built or upgraded;The only exception is the drop yard at GOK Goodland KS,its usable but very cramped right now while underground fuel tanks are being removed but its supposed to be getting upgraded(we'll see!) Anyway What's your worst?
 
SYR. The yard has a lot of potholes, it can be a mess when it rains, and it's just a cramped place. SPL is in the middle of being remodeled and improved, so you have to accept that the muddy swamp is temporary. I've heard BKN is extremely cramped, but that kind of goes with the territory.

I've been to most of the terminals in the NE. I've seen a few that are in the process of being improved, are relatively new builds, or have been recently remodeled. In general, you can see that the company is thriving by how they upgrade their terminals. So I don't want to come across as complaining about SYR, but that lot really does need a face lift, and more room. I wouldn't call any of them dumps though. Some are gorgeous (ALB), and others might not look so pretty but get the job done. I've heard drivers complaining about places like JCY, but I wouldn't complain about a terminal like that.

I don't judge a terminal by whether or not the place has a spa or tennis court. If the yard has good pavement, the layout and traffic flow is reasonable, and there's enough room to hook and drop, then what's to really complain about?
 
I got on here to nominate Syracuse as well. The last time I was up there I snapped some pics of the entrance to a cavern on the back side of the lot where trailers are dropped. It looks like an old concrete lined container has collapsed over the decades but I'm sure it's something else. Either way I spotted a few full sized road cones and piles of trash in the hole. It looks like they've tried to alert drivers of the entrance to the cavern but it keeps swallowing the cones up. It seems like a nasty spot to mess yourself up if you were unlucky enough to be on the yard at night.

That place reminds me of a 1970's era school maintenance facility.

POR was a pain but it looks like the renovations are coming along nicely. Newburgh sucked the one time I was there because the trailers were touching each other unnecessarily and I had to drag them out, and the yard had all kinds of large potholes. I guess that place can slide since it's apparently a temporary spot.

As the guy above said, SPL sucks right now but at least it's for a good cause. I like to keep a spotless truck and it bugs the heck out of me when I roll in there with nothing but thick, mucky clay mud as far as I can see. It takes longer to clean my shoes and the cab after a visit there than it takes to drop and hook my way out of the place.

Hopefully I can gather opinions on terminals out west before too long :D. At least I have the NE pretty much covered with only 2 terminals that I know of that I haven't visited.
 
I was at POR in the early fall and it was even worse than SPL - trailers were actually sinking in the yard and leaning. It was raining sideways when I was there last, and the lot had yet to be paved. I hear it's really nice now.

Great description of SYR. I never noticed that cavern though! It does have a '70s school vibe inside - just like NEW.

I almost listed NEW myself, just because it is a stone / dirt yard. I've never been there when it's wet, but I imagine it could be a bugger. Great place to layover though, they put you in a Holiday Inn Express. :1sm364jumpbed:

LOL w/ SPL. A yard jockey told me not long ago that he knows some drivers bring knee high rubber boots when they know they're coming to SPL.
 
WPB is super cramped and way too small for what we do out of there. Hardly enough room to turn around with a single pup. ORL takes forever to get to on city streets if coming in from I4.

LFT is a hole, dirt lot and it rains a lot there, and no access to bathrooms at night.

ABQ used to suck royally, but haven't been there since they moved.

Getting to DAL will rattle the filings out of your head!

CHI, not enough words to express my detestation

LOU and CRW are in really bad neighborhoods with tight turns.

MRT is great, super organized and well laid out. KCY, STL, SPM, DSM and IND are some of my favorites to go to.
 
I called my grandpa. Lol. He's over there all the time. He told me he saw an OD yard there once. He told me where the dog food plant was. [emoji1] [emoji41]
 
definitely CHI is the worst i've been to, the pot holes caused a broken cracked windshield and blown air bag last spring, the holes in the alley to get in there makes me feel like i'm gonna flip my empties on the way out of there. RKI was pretty bad until recently, and the old FTW was just plain dangerous
 
This thread actually made me think of something. I believe that OD terminals should at least have a portable toilet available if the terminal is dark or there's no access to a bathroom. Granted, the thought might be that a driver should take care of business on the road, but it would be a courtesy. There are dark terminals where you can't get into the building (e.g., BVT in Vermont). If it's gonna be dark and in the middle of nowhere, a porta pot would be nice.
 
Its been almost 9 years years since I ran wild or left the borders of KS on a regular basis, ODO might be the only barn that hasn't moved to a new location. After a rain that was was one ugly mess of a yard..But to OD's credit if this question was asked 10 or even 5 years ago there would be a long list of bad yards,I realize CHI hasn't moved but I knew that they were gonna **** me off in so many other ways the conditions of the lot or trailer parking (or lack thereof) was the least of my concerns!
 
DayliteDean said:
Its been almost 9 years years since I ran wild or left the borders of KS on a regular basis, ODO might be the only barn that hasn't moved to a new location. After a rain that was was one ugly mess of a yard..But to OD's credit if this question was asked 10 or even 5 years ago there would be a long list of bad yards,I realize CHI hasn't moved but I knew that they were gonna **** me off in so many other ways the conditions of the lot or trailer parking (or lack thereof) was the least of my concerns!
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haha, yah theres not a whole lot of good that comes from a trip to chi
 
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