Louisville Switching Blog

Winter is swiftly approaching and with the recent blizzards in West Virginia, you should take inventory to see if your operation is ready for the cold winter months and possible blizzards. Yard trucks are the best tool for moving trailers at your facility, but how well do they operate in the snow?

In the video below, Louisville Switching's Chris Troutt sits down to talk about some of his experiences with Ottawa Yard Truck drivers.

Hurricane Sandy left behind catastrophic damage in the Northeast, and as predicted by meteorologists the weather systems, that combined with cold temperatures and moisture-filled air dumped many feet of snow on West Virginia and bordering states. Our prayers go out to everyone affected by Hurricane Sandy that left millions without power and destroyed homes and businesses. At last count, the storm also took the lives of more than 70 people in the United States and many more in the Caribbean. We are praying for the grief of mourning families and communities as they clean up and dig out of the debris and snow.

Have you seen the show "Undercover Boss?" Basically, the CEO or President of a large organization goes undercover and is disguised so employees don't recognize him or her. The undercover boss then gets to work side-by-side with the employees and is able to obtain great, honest feedback from the workers.

Recently Chris Troutt was in Georgia and was speaking to a driver who didn't know who Chris was. Chris wasn't wearing a company shirt, logos, or anything else that would identify him as being an employee at Louisville Switching.

Chris noticed the client had a newly-leased competitor brand yard truck. When Chris asked the driver what he thought about the competitor yard truck, he said, "I'd take an old Ottawa any day over this." It doesn't get any more honest than that.

No one knows the vehicles better than the drivers. They are the ones with thousands of hours of trailer spotting under their belts. When the drivers say they would rather have an old Ottawa yard truck over a brand new competitor yard truck, that confirms what we've always known. Ottawa yard trucks are the best yard truck in the business and they will always outperform, outlast, and be the standard for the industry. Ask the drivers, they know!

What do Sprinter Vans and yard trucks have in common? Louisville Switching is what they have in common. Recently, one of our clients approached us and asked if we would consider finding them a Sprinter Van. We were honored that they thought so highly of us and trusted us to locate and ready a Sprinter for them.

That's right, we may be the best at supplying the best yard truck in the business, the Ottawa, but we do so much more. One of the most common trailer repairs needed is the "gash." It happens all the time. A trailer backs into another trailer and tears a hole in the side wall. We repair that! 

We cut the damaged section out and patch it. It is perfectly riveted and sealed to keep mother nature out. Of course the interior is returned to a flat flush surface to insure maximum load widths. If you have any trailer repairs, we are your trailer repair experts. 

We can also modify your trailers for your specific needs. One of our clients recently asked us if we could weld the entire floor of a trailer for them. We said, "Of course we can!" We put in a steel floor so they could repeatedly load and off load steel racks that hold product for assembly lines. The steel racks had been damaging their trailers and with a new steel floor they could move the steel racks on and off without worrying about tearing a hole in the floor. 

Why waste the time and the cost of towing your yard truck into a shop? Our mobile repair vehicles are as good as the "shop" coming to you. The only thing our mobile repair vehicles do not bring is a closed shelter for our mechanics to stay out of the elements. But as we shared in recent blogs, we will work in the most extreme conditions to get our clients' yard trucks up and running. It is our commitment to reduce your down-time and save you money in the process.

One of the dreaded repairs is broken welds. This is always a possibility because of the rigorous work yard switchers perform day in and day out. We have mobile welding units and our mechanics are skilled welders. If your spotter truck needs a weld repair, we should be on your speed dial. Before small problems become major problems, let us inspect your yard switcher for any possible stressed weld joints. Repairing them now will save you the headache of larger, more costly repairs. 

We also have cranes on our mobile repair vehicles. We can lift engines and other heavy objects. We have gone the extra mile to have all the benefits of a repair shop fully mobilized. You will not get all these benefits from any of our competitors. We have the best repair service, bar-none. So if you have any weld concerns or need general maintenance on your yard trucks, call us today and schedule our mobile repair techs to come to you. We are on-call 24 hours a day and you will always get a person on the other end of the phone. Call today! (502) 935-5838.

For many years the United States Postal Service has worked under the unofficial motto, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night." The meaning, of course, is they will get you your mail come "hail" or high-water. We added "mud" to that saying. At Louisville Switching, we have seen it all. We took a picture of one of our mechanics working in the mud on one of our client's yard trucks. We do what it takes—no matter the weather or conditions—to get our clients up and operational.

It can't be said enough that time saved is money saved. Our objective is to save you time. That is why we have created state-of-the-art mobile repair vehicles that have full inventory of repair parts, oil recovery systems, specialty tools, and laptop computers with diagnostic software. So even if your switcher truck needs work and it is in the mud, we will take the challenge.

Our mechanics deserve the "ABCD" award because they always go Above and Beyond the Call of Duty. It is the work ethic of all of Louisville Switching's team. If we have to get a little dirty getting you up and running, then that is what we'll do. To all our clients, thank you for the privilege of serving you!