Saturday, March 23, 2013

Transport Nouvelle Génération - return engagement.


It was re-run time at the waterfront Marriott hotel today as Transport Nouvelle Génération showed up with its truck bus hybrid carrying a swim team.. It was in June 2010 when I last spotted this beast, in the parking lot of the same hotel, but my photo was in and out of shadow. See: http://truckfax.blogspot.ca/2010/01/transport-nouvelle-generation.html
The company website has apparently gone dead, but there is a photo on flickr of a black painted version, so perhaps TNG2 was in fact built:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gerarddonnelly/7222665138/lightbox/

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

New apparatus for HRM Fire and Emergency Services

On March 19, staff recommended to HRM Council the acquisition of several new pieces of apparatus over the next three years. Interestingly the reports also listed the apparatus to be replaced. Some of the latter are no longer in service, but some will be working up the new deliveries.

First on the agenda was up to11 new rescue pumpers, to be purchased from Carl Thibault over three years. There will be three in 2013, replacing 93-81E a Ford, 92-230E a Pierce Dash and 92-228E an International. The report gives no specs on the new units, but they are expected to be similar to the recently acquired (2011 order date) Carl Thibaults built on Spartan Metro Star chassis.

Next up is a a new 100 foot rear mount platform Pierce Arrow XT to be purchased through local representative MicMac Fire and Safety Source Inc.
It will replace the veteran 89-48P, a Simon LTI Phoenix, which has already been retired. This handsome and distinctive looking truck was unique to the old Halifax Fire Department and came into the HRM at amalgamation:


Last on the list will be two 75 foot Quints, also to be Pierce Arrow XTs from MicMac. They will be delivered over a two year period. The first one will go to Station 5 Bayers Road and will replace 90-58Q the last of the Emergency-One Quints. Once the pride of the fleet, these three massive trucks were the biggest ever owned by the old HRM FD.
In the HRM staff report the last remaining unit is referred to as a  "Federal". At that time Emergency-One was owned by the Federal Signal Corp. These were also the first E-Ones owned by the Halifax and were US built, whereas most of the HFD flleet were Canadian.
The second new quint will be stationed at King Street in Dartmouth but will replace 95-248Q a Pierce, based in Waverley, so presumably something from King Street will be redeployed in 2014.

To see Staff's recommendation including prices look for Agenda items 12-115, 12-117 and 12-118 at:
http://www.halifax.ca/council/agendasc/130319rc.html

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

For Quebec

Equipment leaving Fairview Cove today appeared to be mostly for Quebec, and was being hauled by the two most popular truck brands in Quebec, namely Kenworth and International.
1. Locations de camions Eureka (Eureka Truck Rentals) Kenworth had this Komatsu dozer on board- a model 85PX, apparently imported in used condition from Europe.

 2. A pair of Internationals from Quebec stop for a conversation. The green one had an empty flatdeck, so he may have unloaded something for export.

3. A Case IH Magnum 290 and a New Holland T7.210 imported for Quebec. Both Case and New Holland are owned by CNH a subsidiary of Fiat Industrial SpA (which was spun off as a separate company from Fiat SpA the car company). Despite the same owner, the two brands compete head to head.
4. New Holland was purchased by Fordson in 1986, then Fiat in 1991, then joined by Case IH in 1999. Case and International Harvester joined in 1985, and have no longer have any connection with Navistar International.

Case IH has an excellent web site at: www.case.com. Sorry that should be:www.caseih.com
New Holland has an even better web site at: www.newholland.com
You have to search through them very carefully to find any connection between the two, except for the odd reference to CNH. However both companies have interesting histories that are outlined on their sites.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Hysters for Vale


A big pair of Hysters arrived by ship the other day. The name Hyster has long been associated with forklifts, but these two certainly push the envelope.
Type 46-41s CH They are in fact container reach stackers (minus their loading booms) and are rated at 45,000 kg for five high stacking.
See more in Hyster's brochure: http://www.hyster.co.nz/Site/Files/8/1a1cbd455e6e13d7537b3aee6bfe019/d995967d18e86ef33ba209969c39b083/Reach-Stacker.pdf

Hyster is now part of Gough Materials Handling and has a large European presence including a factory in Nijmegen, the Netherlands where these may have been built.
The window stickers on the two cabs state that they are for Vale, the large mineral producer.