The World’s Largest Trucks

My grandfather was in the steel industry. When I was a boy, he took me to see the iron mine at the Erzberg in Austria, a site where iron had been extracted since the times of the Roman empire. The huge trucks used to haul rock down the mountain made quite an impression on me. 20 years later, these memories inspired me to write a magazine article on these fascinating machines.

Today’s mining trucks are much bigger than what I saw as a boy. They are true monsters. Largest of them all: the Liebherr T282B, which is nearly 15 meters (48 feet) long and 7 1/2 meters (23 feet) high. Vehicle weight: 222 tons. Payload: 360 tons. Each tire weighs six tons. The diesel engine has 20 cylinders with twin turbochargers and generates 3700 horsepowers. That’s good for a top speed of 65 km/h or 40 mph. If you want to own the biggest and meanest truck in the world, it will set you back $3.5 million.

In the fall of 2004, I visited the Virginia factory where these machines are built. Then, I flew back to L.A. to finish the manuscript, which was quickly accepted by the publisher. It still took more than half a year for the story to go into print. (That’s why it’s always good to negotiate for ‘payment on acceptance’ versus the unfortunately very common ‘payment on publication’).

I’m glad the story is finally out. Somehow I never feel it’s all done until I hold the magazine in my hands.