Steel Haulers

Ontario steel haulers use a variety of axle arrangements on their trailers.

1. The most popular arrangement is five axles, with axles one and five on lifts. This trio of Samuel's haulers all had the same trailers. They are also curtainsiders to allow side loading/unloading. Dutton, ON, October 25.

2. Nice to see a Mack once in a while. This one had a six axle trailer. Axles one and six are on air lifts. It looks like there is no weight on number six in this shot, but is it touching the ground. Tilbury, ON, October 24.

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More Road Trip shots

Trucks of almost every brand are on the road with advanced streamlining on cabs, incorporating high rise sleepers. Skirts are also beginning to appear on trailers.

1. Fairway of Ancaster, ON still runs a more traditional looking Western Star, with a curtainside trailer for hauling steel. Ancaster, ON October 25.

2. Slippery Pete with reefer trailer at Tilbury, ON, October 24.

3. Aerodynamic Kenworth on Route 23 near Marion, OH, October 24.

4. International with extensive skirting, Angola NY October 22.

5. Slick Freightliner, with cab heater and skirted trailer, Angola, NY October 22.

6. Volvo with damaged skirt, Stateline, PA, October 22.

7. Ever wonder what's behind those panels?

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More road trip shots

1. Clean Pete for IFS, with a well tarped, odd shaped load.

2. Some of southern Ontario's immense crow population makes its way home, unimpressed by this very clean, classic, split window Fliner at Waylon Dormer's in Chatham, ON.

Big bumpers, big stacks and clean looks. That seems to be the rule at Waylon Dormer Transport in Chatham, ON. Also in the same yard last Sunday was an equally sanitary Pete running for International Freight Systems of Tilbury, ON.

Robot Beaver Bus

Yes, this is the Robot Beaver Bus, a coast to coast project to give kids a chance to build robots that then do art! There's much more on their Web site and various social medias. Start here:http://robotbeaverbus.webs.com/

But the bus! A classic 1962 Western Flyer, with a straight 6 Red Seal gas engine. The bus was picked up a few weeks ago from the Parry Sound, ON area, where it had lain idle for several years. But it is running and gets over the road at highway speeds (except on hills, where it crawls) and consumes about 30 liters of gasoline per hour in doing so. Love the headlights.

More COEs

There are still COEs on the road. Last weekend's road trip turned up a few and then again this morning I spotted another.

1 and 2 North Star Moving of Alberta had this FL overnighting in Halifax. The cab heater was going full blast when I came by this morning, so I guess the driver was getting some much needed kip. It's a 2007, so it is among the last of the breed.

3. Venerable Ford 9000, Waylon Dormer Transport, Chatham, ON October 24.

4. Narrow and wide cab KWs, Waylon Dormer Transport, Chatham, ON October 24. Neither appear to be operational.

5. Wide cab KW, Chatham, ON October 24, looks like it may still be running. It was also parked at Waylon Dormer's yard. (Those dots in the sky are crows heading to roost at sunset.)

Another Routemaster

RML 2328, still bearing its license plate CUV 328C, wends its way along Lower Water Street today with cruise ship passengers. This bus was built in 1965 and remained in service until 1994, in the London area. I have seen photos of it in the traditional red London livery, but also in the green County livery.

Now in black, it looks very shiny, and in prime condition.

Opportunities to see these buses are now limited with the cruise ship season ending this week end.

Need a lift, eh?

This Holmes wrecker can probably lift just about anything on the road - or on tracks. Operated by the Canadian National Railway (as it was back on May 15, 1981) this vehicle is equipped to travel on railway tracks to attend to repairs or wrecks on CN lines.

Bearing the legendary Holmes name on the crane, the cab carries the letters "E.H." This is probably not a reference to the popular Canadianism, but to Ernest Holmes Sr. founder of the company or his son Ernest Holmes Jr who continued to run it until 1973. I suspect therefore that Holmes built the whole truck, or at least most of it, on special order to CN.

Read and hear more about Holmes at:

http://www.internationaltowingmuseum.org/

be sure to watch the 4 minute video - it's a bit of a hoot.

RML 2578

I know, but don't say I didn't warn you. This spiffy looking Routemaster drove by my window when I was looking out, so it got snapped.

With the height of the Halifax cruise season waning (it's all over at the end of October) I want to capture as many of these as I can before they go into winter hibernation.

RML 2578 is in excellent condition, with hardly a flaw in its body work and fenders. Despite the flamboyant advertising it is in virtually original condition.

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According to various internet sites on the subject, the bus dates from 1966. It was refurbished in 1994 and retired by AC Metroline in March 1997.

B.C. Peace and Love Van

This ancient (mid 1980s?) Chevy Van 10, with British Columbia plates, showed up on the waterfront today. It has references to New Zealand on it, but they are relatively unintelligible, as is the paint job. That paint job appears to have included the tires at some point - good work!

This particular line of Chevy vans - the 3rd generation- ran from the the early 80s to the mid 90s, with only superficial changes.

Freightliner M2

Truckfax HQ generates a lot of garbage and so we have at least three pickups daily at our backdoor, and each by a different vehicle.

Enviro Waste Ltd is the operator for all the trucks, and they are sometines Freightliners and sometimes Macks and there are different models of trucks too.

Today's noon time pickup was made by this Freightliner M2 112V. It is the heaviest version of the Freightliner M2 vocational class truck, and is distinguished by the large rad and conventional circular headlights. The tear drop/wasp eye headlights are left to the smaller 106V versions and other lighter M2s. It has the aluminum cab, power take off, and set back front axle, and is intended for severe duty. Truckfax is proud that it requires a severe duty truck to haul away our debris.

This truck carries a Universal Handling Equipment rear-loader refuse compactor. Universal is a Canadian company based in Stoney Creek, ON, Red Deer County AB, and Owosso, MI.

www.universalhandling.com/mobile/rear-loader/RearLoader.pdf

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Diamond T conventional

I couldn't leave you hanging for too long on the subject of Diamond T conventionals with International R type cabs.

Not much more can be said than wow on this nicely restored mid 1950s DT, from Frederick Transport.

I spotted this in my old stomping grounds of Chatham, ON September 27, 1995.

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Tradition lives on- for now.

1. Fastrax division - in traditional "big orange" colour scheme.

2. M-O with traditional blue, but plainer than the old days.

A while back I decried the current trend to take trucks in factory white and run 'em like that! Day & Ross has apparently forsaken its famous "big orange" scheme and I have seen numerous others, who I won't embarrass by naming - but you know who you are!

I was therefore celebrating in my usual mild mannered way the sighting of two traditional colour schemes today.

Maritime-Ontario, once the holder of the official Truckfax best looking trucks award (they never actually received it, I know, but I still made the award) has gone into intermodal in a big way, but they still do have a few trucks on the road and they look better than decent. They also still sport the legendary blue paint job. There is a lot less originality in it than there once was but at least it ain't white.

Day & Ross still has orange and black trucks, but I guess not new ones. Today I spotted one of their Fastrax Division Western Stars in a traditional paint job. Unlike M-O, D&R never got very fancy, they just kept the basic black and orange, but they do look sharp.

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Because both of these trucks are Western Stars, I suspect that they are owner/ operator vehicles. Also neither one is new- the M-O admits to being a 2001 - that's pretty good going, and still looking good.

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I promise a few from the shoebox from both of theese companies in the near future, so we can compare the glorious paint jobs of yore!

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Teaser solved

I hinted on October 13 about the truck in the background of a White 7000.

If you said Diamond T - you win the prize. It is indeed a Diamond T, using essentially the same cab as the International "Fort Wayne" also featured here before. (June 27, 2010)

Diamond T was always noted for mid-size trucks, not just big highway tractors. In the days when they had their own cabs, they had a very distinctive and stylish full fendered conventional truck, with a low roof. It was favoured by soft drink, beer and meat delivery companies. When it became outmoded, Diamond T got new cabs from International. (Or from the same supplier as International. FWD got cabs there too as did several others such as Canada Diesel.)

Diamond T never had a tilt cab of their own, and their post war cab-forward model was too dated, and lacked the convenience of the tilt feature, introduced (in mass production) by the White 3000. In 1953 Diamond T began to use the "Fort Wayne" tilt cab, in order to maintain market share in that area.

Thames Valley Brick & Building Material of Chatham, ON had this Diamond T running in May 1966 (a year before Diamond T was taken over by White.) It was a straight truck, with a stake bed to carry brick, block and farm tile. It was not new in 1966, and probably dated to the early 1960s. It was quite a sleek looking job, and its white paint and green trim were always kept well washed.

The Internationals of the era had quad headlights for a time, but Diamond T kept the singles.

Random Shot #45

It's...a... Ford.

No...it's...a.. Sterling.

No - aw come on it's not a Chev!

Maritime Rail Maintenance of New Glasgow obviously has a Chev fan in its midst. Since Chev no longer builds class 8 trucks, what can he do?

He sticks some Chev logos on the nose and on the fenders, and pretends he doesn't have to drive a Sterling, with a second generation Ford Louisville cab. This rig has been parked on the Africville Road for the past couple of days. MRM does rail construction and repair work for CN under contract.

White 7000

1. Garage Charlevoix Enr. of Baie St-Paul, QC used their White 7000 for medium duty work. They kept an Autocar for the big stuff. Not sure if they towed any bicycles for the neighbour. July 7, 1987.

2. Thames Valley Brick of Chatham, ON had a 7000 as pride of their fleet. They hauled brick and concrete block with this rig in May 1966.

3. The truck was plated for Ontario and Michigan. It was painted white, with green trim. [Hint for vehicle on the right - it may not be what you think it is]

4. The basic construction of the cab was brightened up a bit with some "speed bars" which didn't line up too well between cowl and door. The truck cost $27,000 when new in 1966.

While putting together my Freightliner COE tribute the other day I remembered that in the 1960s, at the same time that White was marketing the White Freightliner, they were also producing their own COE called the White 7000.

It was known in those politically incorrect times as a Jap Freightliner. Meaning that it was a cheap knock-off (how times have changed!)

The 7000 series was certainly several notches below the Freightliner, and was in league with the GMC crackerbox Jimmy COE and trucks of that ilk. Dodge's COE of the era was a far superior unit and Ford had their H series, which was a high mounted C cab and was also viewed as a low cost truck.

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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.

Western Star sleepers

1. Owner/Operator Tim Dolliver of Halifax runs this Western Star with Stratosphere sleeper for Jardine Transport Ltd of Fredericton, NB.

2. Lockhart's have this 2011 Model 4900FA on the lot.

3. It has a more modest 40 inch sleeper, but still with a big window on the passenger side only.

4. The wind is blowing - the truck is standing still.

When Western Star introduced the Stratosphere Star Light sleeper, complete with picture window and sloped walls, we forgot that other sleeper options are available.

Jardine Transport has the typical long haul highway rig with sleeper, taking a Thanksgiving Monday rest in Burnside. It runs to Ontario and the US where a roomy sleeper is a necessity.

Down the road at Lockhart Truck Center, the Western Star dealer, they were promoting a 2011 - 4900A with a 40 inch sleeper. A much more modest affair, with a big window on one side only. Incidentally it has a 500hp Cummins ISX and 18 speed transmission, so is meant for some heavy work, such as flat bed and heavy hauls where the aerodynamics are not as important.

Kenwoth COE Tribute

Second part of my COE tribute, is of course for Kenworth - the grand daddy of COEs, and known as the Cadillac of the semis.

1. Tri-State of Springfiled IL, ran this superclean COE, with its winter jacket over the grille to conserve some heat in the cab.

2. Farmer's Produce Trucking of Orland, FL and Westfield ME, had a load of produce for O'Brien's Wholesalers at the corner of Barrington and Hollis. A woman co-driver was rare in the 1980s. (That is she across Barrington) The double wide sleeper was also a rarity at the time.

3. Hoopers Moving & Stg of Cal Alberta were very economical of stick-on letters for the driver's door, but somewhat less stingy with headlights. This much used long wheelbase and drom unit was spotted in Quebec September 5, 1987.

4. Ken Giberson Transport Ltd of Newcastle, NB ran a KW Aerodyne. The pioneering streamlined high top sleeper was introduced by KW and was unique. Giberson (now of the amalgamated Miramichi City, NB) still runs some KWs, but all conventionals.

Rivière-du-Loup, QC, July 3, 1992.

5. The Aerodyne, long chassis with drom had a lot of miles under its belt. Polaris Moving & Storage of Whitehorse, Yukon, but taken in Halifax June 27, 1987. He's also got the second set of headlights lower to the road.

6. Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines Ltd operated the sharpest looking trucks on the road. This flat top double sleeper has quite an array of plates and a "#1 Kenworth" plaque up front.

This is a newer model with square headlights and a flatter top to the traditional tombstone grille. Dartmouth,. NS August 20, 1989.

7. CRS (Choice Reefer Systems) had this clean Aerodyne B-Train reefer on the road with Manitoba main plates, but an array of others. Quebec, July 1992. [No relation to CRST = Cedar Rapids Steel Transport, now CRST-Malone]

8. Brookville Transport of Woodstock, NB had this unique Aerodyne on the waterfront in Halifax. It has a triple wide sleeper, and four stacks. Sorry I didn't look to see how many mufflers there were! September 21, 2005.

9. Latter day KW Aerodyne with set-back front axle, nice and clean despite winter conditions (see the KW conventional right behind with a good salt cover) Midland Transport had this one on lease from K&G Transport of Dartmouth, NS, February 12, 1994.

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Questionable Visibility Award

This month's questionable visibility award goes to...

Drum Roll.......

The envelope please................

This Chev 5500/ Starcraft XLT is the hands down winner. The duct tape on the fender faring tells it all.

See http://www.starcraftbus.com/ for the much better looking International version.

Prince Edward Tours of Charlottetown, PE operates this coach but it carries Nova Scotia plates - the mysteries of bus licensing deepen.