Sunday, July 12, 2015

Road Trip Wrapup - Vocational Petes

The term "vocational" is used to describe truck chassis built to take on specialized roles, rather than general over the road use. Peterbilt, despite its reputation for high end highway tractors preferred by owner/operators, also has a large niche in the vocational field because their trucks are made to order. Some recently spotted Petes both on the road trips and at home are examples of specially equipped Petes.

Simard Suspension in Baie-St-Paul, QC built this big Pete for Lafarge. One interesting feature is that the power take off for the mixer is not mounted in an extended front bumper. I am sure the driver will appreciate it, since visibility will be enough of issue with that big square hood.

In for service at the dealer in Moncton, this line painting truck carries number 21465 for the New Brunswick Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. As Canada's only bilingual province it carries "Wet Paint" and "Peinture Fraiche" warnings on its front. They are so tiny I'm not sure why they bothered.
I do miss the old green colour of NB DoH trucks, but it seems universal now that highway department trucks are yellow.

Another seasonal use truck is CN's Air Forced One. As with most of CN's big trucks it carries Manitoba license plates.

Used to blow ice and snow out of switches and crossings, with jets of heated air, it nevertheless is not fitted as a hi-railer. The rear mudflap comes from RPM Tech / Tor Truck Equipment, which builds a variety of specialized trucks using Mack, Pete or other cabs.

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1 comment:

  1. Hey Mac, The CN jet truck is equipped with hi-rail gear, just it's mounted behind the front and rear axles. My understanding is though that the guys operating it spend more time trying to put it back on the rails every time they used it in the winter, since it was prone to derailing.

    Jordan

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