Mills Western Star - all feet on the floor

Mills Heavy Hauling pulled this large Cat out of Fairview today. It is not often that I get to see the drop axle actually dropped, and the fourth axle on the trailer also in use.

1. Though my front windshield distorts the colour, the photo does show the "business side" of the Cat. It looks like pipeline laying gear.

2. Once out of the terminal the Star awaits an escort car. The Cat's model number wasn't visible, but it was carrying an owner's inventory number of 96V00698.

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Actros - an other update

I got another close look at one of the Canadian army Mercedes Actros as it rolled out of the terminal on Thursday. This one was in the tractor configuraiton for hauling the big Leopard tank trailers shown yesterday.
Mills Heavy Hauling day cab Western Star got the nod for this haul.

Actros update

More Canadian army Actros trucks arrived in Halifax by ship this week. So far I have not seen any of them leave the pier, but today I did spot two of the new Doll tank trailers that the tractor units are built to pull.

Mills Heavy Hauling used two of their veteran tractors to do the job, a Mack and a Western Star. If there was any doubt about the independent suspension of the axles, I offer the last photo in the series.

Gee, I wonder what's under that tarp?

I don't pretend to know much about tanks, but as the old saying goes, I know one when I see one.
I also know that Canada has purchased 100 Leopard tanks from Europe, mainly from the Dutch. Therefore when I saw this tank with "NL" on its side, I assumed that this is one of them.
More info here:
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/tanks-for-the-lesson-leopards-too-for-canada-03208/

It arrived by ship without the tarp, but that was added before it was loaded aboard this Paron trailer hauled by one of Mills's big Western Stars.

1. Paron trailer is well loaded with this tank.

 2,3,4,5 The tarp doesn't do much to disguise the tank or its origins. I can imagine a lot of air got under it once the truck was under way- I wonder how long it lasted?

Mighty Military Merc

The flagship of the Canadian military vehicle fleet must be the Mercedes-Benz Actros AHSVS (Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System) This huge 8X8 truck was ordered in 2007 for delivery to Afghanistan in 2008. A total of 82 were delivered at a cost of $87mn (my math says this is more than $1mn per truck!) with an option for 26 more. 
The standard  truck has a palletized loading system (PLS) allowing it to mount dump, box and other packages. There were also other variants including wrecker/recovery, tanker, and tractor for towing tanks and howitzers.
Main featutre is the armoured cab produced in South Africa by LMT. It has proven to be resistant to mines and improvised explosive devices. The engine is a Mercedes twin-turbo producinig 503 bhp and it has an automatic transmission. It is definitely an off road vehicle built to ford rivers, but can achieve 88 kph on roads.
Following Canada's mission in Afghanistan the remaining units were to be returned to Canada for storage.
The three trucks recently delivered in the port of Halifax appear to be brand new, so these are likely part of the option order.

1. Front of cab has Mercedes symbol in grille.

2. Mills Heavy Hauling uses a mighty Mack to haul the mighty Merc.

3. A gantry crane and hydraulic tongue are used to load and work the various packages the truck can carry.  

4. One big truck

To see these might Mercs in action see the beautifully produced video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzRWIhiD00
For more specs and photos see:

http://www.casr.ca/bg-ahsvs-project-actros.htm

Swap Meet

Two big KWs hand over to to two Big W'Stars.
The two big Kenworths from Transport Watson Montreal brought a pair of crates to the Fairview Cove container pier parking lot. There they dropped the trailers for Mills Heavy Hauling's two Western Stars.
Mills then took the crates to the Halterm container pier at the south end of town (and though city traffic.)
Waiting for the Watson trucks were two travelling girder cranes, already on trailers, just in from Europe and ready to go.
A neatly done swap.
1. Watson KW #895 has stacks ahead of the sleeper (which also has a side window).

2. Watson KW #898 has stacks behind sleeper, and larger fuel tanks. The third axles appear to be removable tag axles.

3. Watson's return loads are these generously sized crane beams. They are to be accompanied by an escort vehicle on their return trip.

4. Mills W'Star has made it through Halifax traffic to the other end of town. His extra axle is ahead of the drivers and is an air lift.

5. The other Mills 'Star is also lined and ready to get clearance into the terminal. The trailers had Ontario plates.
Transport Watson's website is worth a peak:

http://www.transportwatson.com/

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Driving a tank through downtown

It has been said that Halifax is so quiet at night that you could drive a tank through downtown. Well that is sort of what happened early last evening.

This Mills Heavy Hauling Western Star had an escort truck as it drove through narrow downtown streets with an over wide tank, to the Halterm Container terminal. By this morning it was waiting to get into the terminal with the usual score of container haulers.

The tank is probably destined for Newfoundland.

The Western Star appears to have remnants of an Owen Davis paint scheme on its side.

Sharp trucks

1. Mills Heavy Hauling had this sharp Western Star on the waterfront this morning to pick up a float trailer. This truck has appeared on Truckfax before, but from the passenger side.

2. G.K.Morse & Sons Trucking Ltd of Centreville, NS, has always operated good looking trucks. This Freightliner is no exception, especially when it has the very sharp aluminum B-train trailer.

These large steel rings, used in windmill manufacturing, are a regular cargo arriving through the port of Halifax, and are usually carried on single trailers.

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1. The assembled Lima crane (added 2011-03-06)

2.Mills Western Star with 6 axle Lima crane chassis.

3. Mills Western Star day cab, with set-back axle hauls the crane body.

4. Smaller cranes ready to lift the chassis. A Sterling boom truck stands by.

Mills Heavy Hauling and A.W.Leil cranes teamed up today to unload a big Lima crane at the Fairview Cove parking lot.

A pair of Mills Western Stars hauled the crane in on Loadstar-Paron trailers, and another pair of Leil cranes unloaded the chassis and crane. A third Leil boom truck was also on hand.

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Big things on trucks

1. Singh crusher on Mills four axle trailer. Due to its height and width it has escorts front and rear. Also a nice new Mack Titan doing the hard work.

2. Davis Western Star on Young Avenue - not where you`d expect to see a truck.

3. Another Davis Western Star, this one with a Verboom grinder heading into Point Pleasant Park. It also had escort vehicles.

There seems to be a rash of big crushing things moving around Halifax on trucks in the last few days. First off was the Singh Crusher - a very large piece of rock crushing plant that arrived by ship and was moving down Lower Water Street, brushing the trees on the way. Mills Heavy Hauling had the job, and I just missed getting their new Mack Titan three axle on the lead of this load. (November 3)

Next was the Verboom grinder and Cat backhoe that Owen Davis Sons&Daughters were moving down Young Avenue, into Point Pleasant Park, where trucks are prohibited according to the sign. The grinder is used to grind up trees, and produce usable bio-mass, so presumably it will be used to dispose of the many fallen trees still left from Hurricane Juan, as part of the Park`s restoration project. Verboom is based in Truro, NS and has a web site: http://www.verboomgrinders.com/ This particular grinder unit appears to be a Peterson.

(November 4)

Interesting story here, that the original Owen Davis heavy hauling operation was purchased by Mills a few years ago. Then the Davis children who were in the landscaping and site work business, rejuvenated the heavy hauling operation, keeping the traditional Owen Davis colour scheme and loyalty to Western Star trucks.

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Mills, Western Star and Komatsu- again.

Mills Heavy Hauling Western Star, another Komatsu, and a different trailer.

In contrast to my early morning shot of April 22, this was taken at sunset this evening at the other end of the port at Fairview. Just in off the highway with the escort truck in attendance, the big rig is getting ready to drop the trailer.

More Western Stars

There are lots of Western Stars on the road these days, some older, some newer:
1. This GTL Transportation Inc rig was parked at Lockhart's for overnight service.

2. Big new black set-back axle model with fifth wheel on, ready to go.

3. Short hood set-back, with interesting panels on the hood. Likely destined for transit-mix service.

4. Mills Heavy Hauling had this long hood set-back axle day cab working with some oversize loads at Fairview.

Random Shots # 28

This same truck featured in a Random Shot#18 on April 22, but there is no harm in showing it again.
5 pm rush hour traffic on Lower Water Street was a little slower than usual today as Mills Heavy Hauling's Western Star # T37 made its way northbound with this excavator.
Can you count the number of container trucks stacked up behind? (I get seven.)
The Pace Car was needed due to the extra width of the excavator, but there was little southbound traffic, so the Star could take the centre of the road to get around a few parked cars.
The excavator is owned by Murray Demolition of Toronto and was working on the Power Corporation's office building at the top of the hill in the backgund.

Random Shots#18

Despite the early morning light and deep shadows, this Mills Heavy Hauling rig still stands out. The Western Star with an extra axle is pulling a Loadstar-Paron trailer, with several extra axles, into the Port of Halifax this morning.

The Komatsu crawler is arriving in two pieces-the backhoe boom was on a second trailer nearby, pulled by a Mills Mack.

Back when the world was black and white

Time travel back to 1971. G.W. Mills Ltd. had a job to do and they brought in their big Autocar. The Tilden Rent a Car office had to be moved and it would be done on the back of Mills' float trailer, with the assistance of a J.D.Irving crane.
Mills Heavy Hauling is still on the scene in Halifax, but alas no more Autocars-now it's some rugged Macks. See http://www.millsheavyhauling.com/

Take a squint at some of the surrounding car scape, in what is now the Atlantic Super Store parking lot.