Moose Bars- needed in Quebec

 Quebec is not the only part of the country where moose are a road hazard. However it must be especially bad on Route 138 on the North Shore of the St.Lawrence judging by the number of trucks fitted with impressive moose bars.

 Most of the moose bars I saw this summer were pretty basic frames, 

 

but some were contoured to fit specific trucks.

The wide load banner on this one appears to interfere with the headlights.

 

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  and this one appears  to be integrated with the bumper, and does not extend below it.

Highway 138 running the length of the St.Lawrence River is usually only two lane and passes through may miles of woodland. Compared to the cost of repiirs after a moose (or bear, or deer) collision, a substantial moose bar may be a small investment.

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More Big Stuff

Several big loads came through the port this week. Only one of the three I saw was readily identifiable. It was an aircraft tail wing component - I didn't catch the name of the trucking company. The other two were transfer loads by Total Transport and Rigging.

TTR seems to have a new Western Star.

Well maybe not big - but funny:

VW pop top, with a droopy tail.

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The Heavies Keep Rolling

 Within less than an hour I clocked about a dozen trucks, most of them heavy, either coming out of PSA's Fairview Cove terminal or from the port's other Roll On Roll Off pier in the Richmond Terminal - and that was just the loads, there were numerous barebacks arrriving for loads too. Here's a sampling:

Yes Atlantic Tiltload does have a tri-axle Freightliner. Fleet number 49 picked up this Rottne F15E (15 tonne capacity) timber forwarder.

The company also has a similar tandem axle F'liner (sorry I missed the number) that picked up a flatrack container with some extra wide crates.
 

TDR Transportation (trucking division of Municipal Contracting) was moving some crane components for J.D.Irving Ltd. They had a Navistar International with mid-rise sleeper on the job:

J.D.Irving Ltd, for their part, had an interesting Western Star equipped with a beefy Manitex TM 200 20 ton crane to lift off the counterweights and other gear.

Back to the heavies:

Killingeck Transport of Selby, ON (northeast of Kingston) had this Kenworth T680 to haul a piece of Sandvik drilling equipment:

Also carrying Sandvik machinery, Earl Paddock from Stoney Creek, ON had their Kenworth number 546 with a LH410 model underground loader:

 We used to see Earl Paddock trucks frequently carrying military vehicles for export from General Dynamics in London, ON. But the Saudi Arabian shipping company moved its operations to Saint John so that I could not photograph them.

D.Dumais et Fils trucks (from way up in Dolbeau-Mistassini, QC) are regulars in Halifax hauling away forestry equipment. Their Kenwoth number 53 had a Komatsu 901 harvester this time:

Closer to home Valley Flatbed of Aylesford, NS had two rigs for similar loads. First was a flashy red Peterbilt with flat top sleeper.:

and second was a plain vanilla Peterbilt with a low rise sleeper:

Each had the Mercedes Arocs tractor portions of a pair of Øveraasen airport runway snow sweepers that arrived last week from Norway (via Sweden) on the ship Don Carlos.

Unlike some similar (but red painted) units that arrived a few weeks ago (see August 7, 2023 post) these yellow rigs were not marked with an airport code. Perhaps they are headed for the Canadian military base in Greenwood, NS - close to Valley Flatbed's home.

There is no end to the odd looking loads coming out of the port. Brookville Carriers Flatbed from Truro, NS had these rubber ship fenders. Although not especially heavy, they do require some good lashing (not sure why they need blue protective pads) . Commonly called Yokohama fenders, after the Yokohma Rubber Co which first built these low pressure "cushions", that is a trade name however and several other companies manufacture similar products under their own names. The Port of Halifax has many of these in service to protect ships from scraping and damage when tied up alongside. Cruise ships are particular about the condition of their hull paint, and they require several of these fenders for protection. 

The Navistar International LT features red fuel tanks.

 JDI Logistics had an unusual looking 20 foot Ritzy International Transportation tanktainer on a long chassis (for protection?)  marked for tetrafluroethane (HazMat code 3159) - a non flammable (but hazardous) refrigerant gas.

The blue whale on the tank appears to be trying to escape from something...

And finally CFL Heavy Haul of Milton, ON was not hauling anything heavy when it passed my position and its step deck trailer appeared better suited to extra high container hauling, but I liked the look of the Kenworth T680 with high rise sleeper even if it was a stark refrigerator white. (The driver was headed for the container terminal but had apparently taken a wrong turn somehwere.)

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Hi-Rails

 The Canadian National Railway, known as CN, is carrying out road bed repairs in the Halifax area, that includes tie replacement and re-ballasting. They use a whole flotilla of specialized vehicles that travel only on rails, and some custom outfitted trucks that can travel on roads or on rails.

 

The road capable trucks, known as Hi-Rail or Hy-Rail (for HIghwaY - Rail) come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Some are owned by CN and some by hired contractors. 

CN owns this Navistar International WorkStar dump truck. The truck is used to spread ballast (see pile at right). Of note are the access ports in the side of the tilt hood. Due to the bumper and hi-rail configuration the hood probably does not tilt easily, so the ports are there to allow for oil check and minor adjustments. The other features of note are the low mount step on the fuel tank and the stowed ladder extension under the dump box. That dump box may rotate - I did not see the truck in action.

Rail Contractors Ltd operates an umatched pair of Western Star hi-rails with Rotobec cranes and stake side flat beds. They are used to handle creosote treated wood ties.

The first one I saw (above) had company markings on the door and a fleet number, and two equal sized tool boxes.
 

The second has no company name, unequal sized tool boxes and a cab guard. The cranes appear to be the same, but with some different paint colours. Rotobec is a Quebec based manufacturer of rotating cranes and grapples for logs, scrap and rail ties.

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Round up and Oddities

I have not posted for some time, so here is a round up of recent sitings.

 A few oddities have popped up:

This Renault appears to have made a wrong turn somewhere. The strange container like van body, from another vehicle has what appears to be a huge antenna strapped down on the roof. It also has a Euro made tilt deck. Good luck finding parts.

Hippy school bus conversions are still on the raods, but this one is unique (the bright green colour above the roof is part of a building in the  background - see also below.):

 Canadian National Railway has a fleet of custom spec vehicles, including a hy-rail bus. Used to transport work crews from accommodations to work sites, it is built on a Navistar International cowl chassis.

 CN also operates this beefy Brandt hy-rail conversion Freightliner. It has the power to haul hopper cars full of roadbed ballast:

 (That green structure shows up again in the background - see hippy bus above).

Is this one Cat powered?

Atlantic Pet Distributing uses this Ryder lease Freightliner straight truck to deliver product to pet stores and grooming salons.

I have seen some regular trucks recently too. This good looking streamlined Navistar runs for Camionnage Silver Star Trucking from Laval Quebec:

Equipment Express from Ayr, ON had some big boxes to deliver from the port:

That is it for now except to wish readers a Happy New Year 2023. 

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Hauls, Backhauls and New Hauls

 A tremendous amount of machinery has been moving through the Port of Halifax recently. It would be impossible to track all of it, but this is what I have been able to catch by chance.

This morning Atlantic Tiltload had a pair of John Deere timber forwarders, model 1910G and called out their  Freightliner number 18 and International HX number 19 for the work.

 Both tractors are equipped with an extra axle and at least one of the trailers is a Talbert.

The Earl Paddock company from Stoney Creek, ON specialize in transporting military vehicles and are seen here often with both wheeled and tracked vehicles from General Dynamics for export. They are usually in and out so quickly that I don't get to see their well kept fleet of Kenworths.

 

Many of these military vehicles have passed outbound though Halifax recently.

Today I did spot Paddock Kenworth number 512, backhauling a Liebherr L 580 wheel loader.

 Speaking of loaders I saw this big Komatsu WA600 ready for the road, but no sign of the hauler.

Another operator of well kept Kenworths is the oversize load specialists Transport Watson from Quebec. In 2020 the QSL (founded as Quebec Stevedores Ltd) acquired Watson + Sycamore from Groupe Robert, but have retained the Watson identity so far. Their trucks are well known in Halifax for hauling aircraft components imported by Bombardier. I recently spotted what appeared to be a pair of new Kenworths:

Unit number W3913 is ready for a wide load with flags in place. It is a T880 model with mid-rise sleeper.

Unit W3912 appears to be built to a similar spec (but with a bull bar), and a large headache rack equipped with storage compartments.

What I think is a new name to the Halifax area is Sunbelt Rentals (a huge North America wide operation with 1,1000 locations.) I recently spotted their Peterbilt tilt deck, bearing Alberta plates.

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