Today we’re going to read The Truck Book by Harry McNaught.
Trucks do important work.
But they are fun to look at, too.
Some of the early trucks were especially fun to see.
One milk truck looked like a giant milk bottle.
It’s shape told people what kind of work it did.
This is a fifth avenue bus that used to drive around New York City in 1907.
This is a Model T truck from 1921.
If trucks were designed to match what they sold, I bet he sold smoke pipes and tobacco.
This is a Model T Fire Engine from 1919.
This is a sewing machine truck that was steam powered from 1910.
This was a wienermobile from 1935 and I bet you can guess what he sold, right?
Hot dogs.
This was a milk truck and this was an early tank truck that used to bring gasoline or
diesel to gas stations.
Trucks go everywhere and do all kinds of work.
They help people clean the streets and put out fires.
Most trucks are built to carry heavy loads.
Some are so big that they can even carry other trucks.
This is a tractor-trailer hauling new pick-up trucks.
You’ve probably seen some of these on the road before transporting cars.
Some trucks can go where there are no paved roads.
An off-highway dump truck travels on dirt roads or rough fields.
This one can carry 85 tons of rock.
That is as much as 17 elephants weigh!
Wow!
Did you know they could carry so much.
I bet that makes the work day go faster.
Off road trucks have to be able to drive on unpaved surfaces.
They tend to have larger tires with deep treads.
Specially built trucks are needed to lift and move heavy things.
The back of a dump truck tilts to let its load slide out.
Cranes have a long arm called a boom that can lift heavy loads.
A fork-lift has weights at the back so it can pick up heavy things without tipping over.
Trucks move tons of earth to make a new road.
A backhoe digs, lifts, and dumps loads of dirt.
A tractor hauls the dirt away.
A grader makes the roadbed smooth by dragging a blade along the ground.
Other trucks help by filling holes and smoothing out bumps.
This is a backhoe, this is an elevating scraper, this is the grader and this is a payloader.
Maybe you’ve seen some of these trucks on a construction site.
It’s fun to watch them work.
Trucks come in all shapes and sizes.
Big sanitation trucks haul garbage away.
Huge moving vans can carry enough furniture to fill a house.
People selling hot dogs push small hand trucks along the street.
This is the sanitation truck or a garbage truck, I bet you’ve seen one of these.
This is a vendor’s truck and a hand truck.
Since they sell food, you can find them around a beach or in festivals and carnivals.
Before some ice cream trucks used to drive around small neighborhoods too.
This is a tank truck.
They are normally carrying gas or fuel.
This is a moving van to move all your furniture and belongings to a new house.
And this is a tractor with a tilt cab.
These types of tractor trailers make it easier to work on the engine.
In the forest, logging trucks can quickly do jobs that once took lumberjacks many days
of work.
A log feller grabs a tree with its long arm.
In just a few seconds, its powerful blades cut right through the tree trunk.
After the trees have been cut down, a grapple skidder gathers them up with its claw.
Then it drags them to the loading area.
This is the log feller and this is the grapple skidder.
Have you seen these trucks before?
They help to chop down trees and then they will be transported.
A log loader picks up logs and stacks them on a truck.
A big tractor-trailer carries the logs to the lumber mill, where they will be cut into
boards.
The logs may also be made into paper or other useful things made from wood.
But it’s important to replant trees after you cut them because they are important to
our environment.
They provide shelter for small animals, some of them carry fruit or nuts and they make
our air clean.
Special trucks do other special jobs.
Some trucks tow broken-down cars or heavy machines.
Refrigerated trucks take food to stores and restaurants.
A cherry picker lifts workers up high so they can work on wires and lights above the street.
This is also a tank truck, it looks a little different from the one before.
This truck is called a wrecker which can also be called a tow truck.
It carries away cars or trucks that have broken down.
This is a refrigerated truck, which can carry food that needs to be kept at a cool temperature.
This is a truck scooter and this is the cherry picker.
This long one is a goose-neck trailer which is carrying a bulldozer.
This kind of truck is more stable and can tow larger vehicles.
And this last one is an armored truck.
It’s a special security truck that brings money to and from banks or businesses.
They are normally bulletproof and can stand high temperatures.
There are normally two guards per truck.
There are trucks built for people to live in- at least when they go on vacation!
They drive from place to place and stop off at campgrounds.
At night they sleep inside their camper trucks.
Some small trailers have tents attached to them.
Other campers are vans.
Their roofs lift up so that people can walk around inside.
Most big motor homes have their own bathroom and kitchen.
This is a Volkswagen camper.
You can see here how the top pops up.
This is a trailer home.
It has to be pulled with a truck or van.
This one is a tent trailer, they are smaller and easier to tow.
This one is a van camper, it’s similar to the Volkswagen camper.
This is a pickup camper.
They are smaller than a regular home and have to be pulled with a pickup because of its
shape.
And last but not least this a motor home.
After you park it you can go right to the back of the trailer and go to sleep or make
food.
It’s a lot bigger inside than the others.
When the fire station is quiet, fire fighters clean the trucks and check on ladders and
hoses.
Then, when there is a fire, the trucks are ready to go.
Sirens scream, bells ring, and lights flash, telling people on the street to move out of
the way.
The hook-and-ladder truck helps fire fighters reach the top floors of tall buildings.
The pumper sends water through the hoses to put out the fire.
These fire trucks are red, but some can also be yellow or green.
There are also different types of fire trucks.
This one in the back is the hook-and-ladder truck and this one is the pumper truck.
It carries the hoses and tools to the fire and it’s the truck they use to hook up to
fire hydrants.
A new building is going up!
Cranes lift beams and pipes, batches of concrete, and sections of walls to the top floors of
the new building.
This truck mixes water, clay, limestone, and gravel to make concrete.
The concrete comes out of a chute at the back of the truck.
Concrete is used to make sidewalks, floors, and foundations for buildings.
Cranes come in all different sizes and can be used to load and unload large ships.
Buses carry people to stores, schools, offices, and factories.
Some cities, like London and New York, have double-decker buses.
It’s fun to ride upstairs!
Yellow school buses have special signal lights that go on whenever the bus stops.
These lights tell other drivers to stop until the children have crossed the street safely.
Even though school buses have signs to tell cars when to stop, always be careful when
you need to cross the road.
And remember that regular street buses don’t have those signs.
But city buses often have signs letting people know where they are going to stop and there’s
often a schedule so you know what time it’s going to come and go.
Trucks carry books.
Trucks carry bottles.
Trucks cut holes in city streets so workers can fix things underground.
Some trucks dig holes in the ground and put telephone poles in place.
Other trucks help repair holes in the road.
Tractors pull plows in farm fields.
Special trucks drive on railroad tracks.
This is a bottle truck.
It’s designed to carry bottles in cases without them falling over and breaking.
This is a cable carrier.
They carry these huge round drums that have cable wrapped around them.
This is a bookmobile, I haven’t seen one of these for a while.
It’s like a library on wheels.
This truck is a pavement cutter.
This round part used to cut circles around sewer holes and then they could pave the edges
around it smooth again.
This is a farm tractor.
Sometimes they pull trailers to transport hay or special farm machinery.
This dump truck has a snow plow on the front.
If you live where it snows, you’ve definitely seen one of these.
This long one is a bottom dump truck and spreader.
The middle part dumps the material from the bottom and the back part spreads it out smoothly
and levels it out.
This is a tractor trailer with a cab underneath.
That means that you sit and drive from this spot here.
I’ve never seen one of those before.
This is a glazier’s truck.
They transport fragile cargo, like glass or lighting systems.
This is a telephone pole planter.
This front part unfolds to reveal a long corkscrew drill to drill the hole for the pole.
Then it lifts the pole like a crane until its stand upright in the hole.
This is a railroad truck.
They have extra wheels like a train attached to them so they can travel along the tracks.
And this is a high-lift truck.
They can lift heavy loads or containers high in the air.
They use them a lot to load and unload airplanes.
Everywhere you go, trucks are hard at work.
And they are fun to look at.
The last truck we have here is a straddle carrier.
It can carry heavy loads by straddling it.
They are able to load and unload things without cranes or forklifts.
You see them mainly at shipyards.
The end.
Wow!
There are so many different kinds of trucks.
It’s cool to learn about them and what they do.
Did you recognize any trucks?
Did you learn anything new?
I hope you had as much fun as I did learning new things.
To read other books, subscribe to this channel by clicking on the red subscribe button.
This way you can always find this channel and listen to more stories.
Keep reading and until next time, on Miss Sofie’s Storytime.