Train Co Perrysburg Ohio

Good school and very simple but semi complex operation. Simple one room classroom, your break room is in the garage area (which is heated) the facility is modern. I say semi complex because they begin a new class every week or every other week, so at any point and time there are four classes all working on the same things at times. They keep the classes separated as our skill levels were more or less advanced dependent upon skill level and previous experience. The one and only issue I had was the person who ran the classroom setting was boring at best, more golf stories and he is a "baseball aholic" by admission. I would have preferred more of the classroom time to be, what if...here’s how you handle an accident, here’s what you do if DOT pulls you over, a QUALCOMM would have been useful we were not shown that at all. There is a workbook called "Bumper to bumper" and I think we only touched on possibly half of it...the rest was included for a purpose....let's cover that and not talk about your golf stories. This is only for the first two days though. One day in week three and one day in week four, the day of graduation.

The training pad was enormous and growing up on a farm I would estimate its size at around 10 acres, so plenty of space. The equipment is older for the yard trucks and varied models you learn your skills here. Some steer great, some steer hard enough it would qualify as a shoulder workout by the end of parallel parking yard work. They started all three of us students on straight line backing, two of us went onto reverse lane change, and the instructor helped the one who was struggling with straight line. Then parallel then alley dock and the shout out to the student who struggled at first when he got it, he got it 'good' he actually went onto to his skills portion of the cdl a test and did not get a single point. In my opinion this is a testament to the staff and their skill and passion to teach and teach correctly. Of the sixteen days, four weeks, four days a week ten hour days the majority is spent on the road and on the 'pad.' You begin your day rain, sleet, snow, shine with a pre trip all together under instructor direction. Then as you are on the pad practicing you are called upon to do a pre trip just you and the instructor. Typically two instructors work the pad one on pre trip the other on maneuver help and advice. Before going on the road you have two days of bobtail shifting, some need three days of this but all of us accomplished the 'trailer ready' designation by day 2 of bobtailing. To be specific not two whole days half of each day was spent on the pad the other half on the road or vice versa. The road part was awesome and the instructors know the area forward and backward, they start in the country with wide roads little traffic and easy turns and progress you to actually driving downtown Toledo Ohio with some traffic and also some challenging turns. The instructor is in the passenger seat the entire time and helps coach along as necessary. What was that sign, what is the clearance of the this bridge, what’s the speed limit (he called two of us, me included, grandpas because we drove slowly) he understood we were new to this type of vehicle and the remarks were in good fun and he cautioned us because if we went too slow during testing we would fail for obstructing traffic. At all times we were able to ask questions, and they welcomed those questions and answered very specifically. We had tanker drivers food grade, box truck, tanker hazmat-hazwaste drivers, flat bed drivers as instructors so we were able to get a varied idea of the different forms of trucking. These consist of regional , day cab , and over the road drivers. I feel fortunate that every single question we asked they always had the answer or they would confer with their counterparts to find the 'best' answer. I.e. hazmat question when I saw a "No placarded vehicles beyond this point sign" the instructor that day never ran hazmat and wanted to ensure I got the correct answer so he offered his opinion but ensured me we would ask 'Dave' who ran hazmat his whole career. The entire experience was exciting and rewarding I cannot speak for my classmates but I was nervous about this new career change. I had always been curious of the industry and my brother and a few uncles had great careers driving. But a freightliner with a trailer is allot different than my Toyota tundra so that was intimidating at first. The instructor knew this and were very patient and very good at helping us along with our experience. Again, the roads got busier and the turns got sharper as our experience progressed.

The training was a success all three of the students in my class all tested Friday and the three of us were awarded a CDL A license.