Road Trip Report - Part 3

For those of you who are not interested in European trucks-you will only have this one more to endure (before I get to the European buses that is)
Here are some more smaller trucks spotted in Barcleona-again, quite a variety of makers:
Ford:

Tight turning circles a specialty of this Ford Transit. (Don't call 911 in Spain, the emergency number is 112)

Anyone here call for an ambulance and a tow truck? Ford Transit hitches a ride on a Nissan tilt deck - lots of Nissans on the road in Spain.

IVECO Eurocargo:

Many small trucks around, like this tiny compacter.

MAN/VW

A few oldies too.

Mercedes

Peugeot

Answer to my motorhome quiz: Peugeot makes these cab/chassis. Stable mate Citroen sells a similar one with different grille. Is that a sleeper above the cab?

Looking for a North American truck in Spain - this is the best I could do:

Road Trip Report - Part 2

My  latest road trip wasn't all by road - some of it had to be by plane.
I didn't get a lot of truck watching done in Spain, but I did see an incredible variety of manufacturers. Many more brands of trucks and buses on the road in Spain than in North America and of course most trucks are COE/ CF models. In fact I didn't see a "bonneted" truck the whole time.
Here's a sampling of big size trucks:

DAF:

Iveco:

MAN:

Mercedes:

Renault:

Scania:

Volvo:

Another thing to note was the super single tires on trailers, and smaller sized tires on many rigs.

Carthago - to go

This week's shipment of campers and mortorhomes from Europe included at least half a dozen vehices, but the only one I saw outside the fence was this luxe version that would definitel;y be in the mini-motor home categoary.
A slightly used BLB pie will be awarded to the person who can tell me what commercial truck chassis is used by Carthago to build their vehicles.
No fair peaking at http://www.carthago.com/ for the answer (although I doubt you will find it there - I didn't)

Photo taken June 13, 2012,

Road Trip Report

A trip to Quebec in May included a brief look-in at Simard Suspensions in Baie-St-Paul. The place was booming, with scores of trucks of nearly every make crowding the yard. As OEM licensed installers, they fit trucks with twin steer axles, and gear required for mixers, dump, dumpster, refuse and other bodies, including non-steer drop axles. I will dispense with captions since the photos are self explanatory, and the makes readily identifiable.

The major makes were there including by far the most common Mack, there were only a couple of Internationals, several Freightliners and some Kenworths and Peterbilts. There were also a few Cats, but none were fitted with twin steer that I could see.
Western Star was not represented because they do their own twin-steer installations. Also there were no Volvos, presumably for the same reason.

More visitors from Europe

The European camper vans keep rolling in. Every week the Atlantic Container Line delivers more of these vehicles, and unfortunately I only catch a few of them, because the variety is amazing - from big to small. Today's crop:

 1. This rugged MAN looks like it could go just about anywhere.

2. From the map, it seems that it has - except North America. Iceland. India, China - you name it!

3. This petite Ford might not be as rugged, but it appears to have sufficient accommodation space for comfortable travelling.

Hi-Railers at work

I spotted this pair of hi-railers at work on the CN line at Birch Cove this week. A long section of track was being replaced, and these tow rigs were to be found in the midst of a lot of the work.
The International 7600 crew cab is owned by CN and features the usual orange well ventilated, body work.

The Volvo, owned by Holland of Crete Il, carries a flash butt welding device slung from a hydraulic crane mounted inside the body. There is also a large generator in the body to power the welder. The truck can be driven from the ground by controls on the welder unit. Holland specializes in rail track work, see: http://www.holland.co.com/
There are still lots of these first generaiton Volvos with GM cabs on the road (or on the rails in this case).

Freightliner classics

I have found a couple of classic Freightliners working on the Halifax waterfront.
First off is a COE twin steer concrete pumper. It has been set up at pier 9B to support a continuous pour that will be going on for several days. The truck was brought in from Saint John, NB for the job, probably because a local truck could not be found to dedicate for so long a period of time. McNally Construction is the general contractor and Bedford/Quality are supplying the concrete. They have a mixed fleet of Macks (some twin steer) and Volvos on the job.
Most concrete pumpers are now mounted on Mack chassis since there are so few heavy duty cab forwards being built.

1. Freightliner COE twin steer from FCS (the Rocca Group) of Saint John, NB at Pier 9B.

At the other end of the port, Phil Leil has a classic split windshield, Freightliner set-back conventional at work to move a construction shed. The shed, the size of a house, also belongs to McNally Construction, and was used for the pier C extension. The hydraulically operated trailer was set up by only three men using a P and H truck crane (another classic) and a front end loader to slide the beams under the house. Pros make the job look easy! Leil's equipment  is spotlessly clean and freshly painted.
[Footnote: the motto FROG appears on the equipment. It stands for Fully Rely Upon God]

 2. Split windshield and set back axle - classic combination.

 3. Assistance came from another classic-the P&H truck crane.

 4. The empty trailer required some short extensions to accommodate the house.

5. Loaded and ready, with extensions fitted (they are only prime painted.)