Macks for Irving

Last year Irving Oil added a number of Kenworths to their fleet, and this year it seems to be Macks. Freightliners, their once preferred brand, seem to be relegated to the home delivery fleet now, with highway rigs almost exclusively KWs and Macks.

1. New Mack with B-train combo at the Dartmouth terminal this afternoon.

2. Odd man on the lot was this W model tombstone rad Kenny - not new - and not similar to the T800 models added last year.

For the Kenworths added last year see:

http://truckfax.blogspot.ca/2012/04/kenworths-for-freightliners-for-irving.html

 

Fall is here - winter to follow

Just a cheery note that winter inevitably follows fall. Simard Suspensions in Baie-St-Paul, QC were busy this summer fitting out winter road maintenance vehicles, including this Freightliner plow/spreader.

A model 114SD, it seems to have most of the required bells and whistles, including a sizeable grit/sand/salt spreader body, also built by Simard and a heavy plow frame forward. Note the hatch in the hood, allowing for limited service without having to de-mount the plow to tilt the hood.
The under body scraper is not one I've seen before. Simard is licensed to install Everest snow plows. Everest (of Ayer's Cliff, QC) is now part of Wasau-Everest (of Wisconsin), which includes Frink and several other companies including Sno-Go so the under body unit may be a Wasau.

Western Stars - still big in Quebec

Western Stars seem to be everywhere in Quebec. Long popular in forest related work, they are now popular in the "vocational" realm, particularly for dump trucks where four axles are wanted:.

1. Ronald Savard runs this sharp twin steer WStar for Construction Eclair of La Malbaie. It runs a Gamache dump body.

2. Joceyln Harvey of La Malbaie has a large fleet, including this WStar with a lift axle and Legacé dump box.

Western Star's new 4700 model is also showing up in some numbers:

 

3. Simard Suspensions of Baie St-Paul had this new W4700 vocational in their yard, ready for installation of a body. Note the front bumper extension to accommodate a power take-off.

Meanwhile Truckfax has achieved some modest fame by appearing in the new Western Star vocational brochure:
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/72b5e32c#/72b5e32c/6

To see the truck in more detail, it appears in my April 2010 Western Star coverage:
http://truckfax.blogspot.ca/2010_04_01_archive.html

Droms - from the shoe box - plus

Digging into the old shoebox for some more drom boxes, I found a few I might not have shown before, and one oddity:

1. D. Armstrong of Mississauga, ON ran this tidy Kenworth Aerodyne with drom box for United Van Lines back in 1989.

2. Parked next to it was this low rise, double sleeper KW COE. The drom box has an aerodynamic leading edge, and gigantic fuel tanks. Borisko Bros of Richmond Hill, ON ran this rig.

3. This White Freightliner had a very unusual hi-rise sleeper back in 1989, which was not a factory model. Fliner did not offer an Aerodyne equivalent. It appears to be a short cab FL COE roof transplanted to raise the sleeper, maybe as a custom or a demo. He also has extra horns and clearance lights that may have come with the roof! The rig was plated for every province from Newfoundland to Alberta.

4. This plain vanilla International had its own type of drom. 

5. It carries its own bobcat loader, complete with ramps and protective cage. Photo at St-Siméon, QC in May 1989. Hard to imagine what he was hauling in that van that you would load or unload with a skid steer.

Autocars, still alive in Quebec

Always on the look out for A'cars, I managed to spot a pair in Quebec this summer. Even though they were the later GM/Volvo version, they were still A'cars!

 1. There are a few miles on this skip hauler, but it was still earning its daily bread (Monday to Friday.)

2. Fresh from the paint shop, this twin steer was looking good. Too bad they couldn't find enough masking tape to keep the rad in chrome finish.

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A pair from Lenron

Specialty carrier Lenron, from Saint John, NB, has been running into Halifax recently with materials for the Halifax Shipyard, which is owned by Irving Shipbuilding Inc of Saint John. Cranes, equipment and steel are among the commodities they have brought in.
They have used a variety of trucks such as these two:

  1. Extra clean Freightliner COE is a classic.

2. Another classic is this big rad Kenworth.

For more on Lenron see: http://www.lenron.ca/

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Big KW does another job

As reported in sister publication Shipfax the Halifax Shipyard launched another ship today, using the big J.D.Irving Kenworth that I have shown before, as a counter wight to control the launching cradle as it was eased down the launch way.
A cable, a bit longer than the launch way, is connected to the front to pin on the KW and runs through a big sheave at the top end of the launch way, then to the cradle.The sheave is needed because the launch way is at about a 45 degree angle to road way that the truck can run on. With a big ballast box on the truck it counters the weight of the ship and cradle, and some gravity, due to the slope the launch way. 
After the launch, workers removed the ballast box and the truck was hastily loaded aboard a J.D.Irving trailer, and whisked off to its next job.

 1. Barreling out of the shipyard at top speed of about 30 mph the KW makes an impressive sight (and sound).

2. Truck and trailer waiting for the haul away.

3. Well equipped Western Star stands ready.

4. In a very pretty piece of driving, the KW backed onto the trailer in one move, with front tires exactly lined up with the center lines on the edge of the boarding ramps. (The trailer's outriggers are fully extended with heavy timber decking.) Timber crane pads are used to elevate the front tires to clear the gooseneck.

5. One more shot of the KW, dwarfing the WStar that will haul it away.