Macks on the job

A major construction project in downtown Halifax is Mack country. Quality Concrete, the ready-mix concrete supplier appears to be a mostly Mack operation, whether it is for their transit mixers or pump trucks. (The odd Volvo or even International has been known to sneek in.)

Schwing pumper on Mack chassis

Putzmeister, on Mack chassis

Lots of twin-steer Mack transit mixers. It takes two to keep the Putzmeister pumping.

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GO Transit - now (not) extended to Halifax

The ever expanding Government of Ontario Transit system (GO Transit) has been adding buses at a fast rate to serve more distant suburban areas - but not quite as far as Halifax.  The latest model, introduced last year, with an order of 25 (numbers 8101-8125), are built by Alexander Dennis in the UK and imported through Halifax by ships of the Atlantic Container Line. The buses are then driven on to Toronto.

It appears that an additional 25 buses have now been ordered (based on numbers) with at least three arriving Christmas week in Halifax.

Go Transit bus numbers 8140 and 8146 wait to be driven away from the Fairview Cove container terminal. A third bus can be seen in the terminal, but in an unphotographable location and its number isn't visible.

The double deckers of this new Enviro 500 series are longer and lower than the pre-2013 models, allowing them to serve more suburban areas in the GTA, along the Highway 407 corridor. With a capacity of 81, they are really coaches, as opposed to transit buses. This new order is also painted in GO's revised darker forest green colour scheme introduced in 2013.

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Snow

A major blizzard hit Halifax January 3, so traveling around the streets was out of the question (for me). Even the city buses were parked. However plows were running and so were emergency vehicles.
By today the roads were miraculously clear, which made it much easier for ambulances and fire trucks.  Among them Engine 2, one of Halifax Regional Fire + Emergency Services' Spartan Metro Star/ Carl Thibault units delivered in 2011.

Earlier today I thought I heard a fire engine with tire chains, but by late morning when I saw this one it was making out just fine with conventional tires.

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Merry Christmas

After a prolonged break Truckfax will be back after Christmas. In the meantime enjoy a peaceful and joyous Christmas.

Where's the Fire?

In 1971 the old Halifax Infirmary hospital was plagued with false alarms and engines from the University Avenue station seemed to be plowing a path to the hospital daily or more often. One pleasant evening in the summer, the driver of this gleaming King Seagrave was calling in to the dispatcher while his pump man waited at the cab door for instructions.

The hospital stores, boiler room and laundry had a rear service alley off Morris Street where this photo was taken.

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American LaFrance from the shoebox

By way of contrast to modern looking fire apparatus here's a dip into the oldies shoebox from the northern Maine community of Caribou.

The classic American LaFrance 'bathtub" is probably the image many of us have in mind as the definitive firetruck. If you will pardon my saying - all fire trucks look alike these days, but certainly a LaFrance was identifiable from miles away!
One nice little department of the 1980s was Caribou, Maine, with an "all LaFrance" lineup. I happened to stumble across it on a day when they were swamping out the floors of the truck bays, and so had four rigs out on the apron. I am showing the Kodachrome slides, full frame:

1. The newest was this pumper with an extended roof canopy, but otherwise open to the weather. Those Maine firemen must have been tough.

2. Number 2 was an older model which seemed to have a back wall on the cab.

3. This monster conventional wore number 3. It probably had a Packard V-12 gasoline engine.

4. Number 4 was the oldest of the bathtub types in the hall.

5. Rounding out the roster on that day, was Number 8, a LaFrance tanker/pumper on a Chev 80 commercial chassis.

6. Old number 3 had the usual pump panel ahead of the firewall.

7. What can I add?

I now regret that I didn't copy any information on the trucks, so I would welcome any more details.

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Toronto Trip - Part 2

Very close to the location of my meetings in Toronto was station 332. Part of the Toronto Fire Service's South Command and very close to the financial district,  it is an extraordinarily busy station.

1. Even with six drive through bays, it is not unheard of to have all apparatus out on calls, with backups on the way. To add to the interest, it faces Adelaide Street, which is one way east.

 

On my way to work one morning, a small fire had broken out in a sidewalk grating in front of a high rise on Richmond Street, at the corner of University. The response was impressive, with apparatus arriving from three directions. Richmond is one way westbound at that point, so apparatus from station 332 had to go east then north then west to reach the scene.

2. A district chief arrived in a standard TFS Ford van.

 

3. First on scene was Rescue 325, followed by Pumper 332, a 2002 Spartan Advantage-Smeal.

 

4. R325 got to work right away. It is a 2013 Spartan-Crimson Fire, just delivered in October.

 

4. High Rise 332 was not far behind. it is a 2005 Spartan Metro Star-Dependable, and is the only high rise unit in the department.

 

5. Squad 331 arrived via a side street, and an aerial rig hovered nearby which I did not see. S331 is a 2012 Spartan Gladiator-Dependable.

 

Checking out Station 332 at lunch time I was treated to these:

6. Command 30 (one of three in the department) uses a 2012 Freightliner MT55 -EVI Dependable.

 

 

7. Tower 331 is a 2005 E-One Cyclone with a 114 ft Bronto Skylift aerial.

 

8. Mechanical Response Unit MRU 20 runs this GMC 850  built by Seagrave.

 

 

The next day at lunch time I checked in again and found:

9. Another aerial, this one A312, a 2004 Spartan Gladiator - Smeal with 105 ft aerial.

 





10. And more district chief vans.

 

 

The Toronto Fire Service is Canada's largest, and fifth largest in North America. There are numerous references on the web, including an impressive unofficial photo gallery:
http://www.tfspics.com/

 

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Toronto trip - Part 1

A very quick business trip to the big smoke allowed for a few minutes of truck watching while going to and fro between meetings, meals and hotel. Most of what I saw was construction related (except for Part 2 which will follow in due course) and therefore pretty ordinary. Not so ordinary was this impressive Mack Titan running for Roni Excavating.

 

 

 

Chromed everything, including a back of cab roll bar/light frame, the truck was pulling a J.C.Trailers float, which loaded a digger arm while I was at lunch and the driver was just tying it down on my way back. Why aren't there more of these on the road!

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