Dinosaurs still roam the land

I am pleased to announce that dinosaurs are still with us. At least two that I know of, and both in Truro, Nova Scotia.
Within in a few yards of each other, on Saturday I was much impressed to see a Mack DMM and an Autocar (granted a late model White/GMC Autocar, but when you are desperate...)

1. This dog looks like it is straining at its leash. The offset cab looks great and the 4x6 drive would give it lots of muscle.

2. Perhaps it is the out thrust, lower jaw power take off, but it does look like it wants to go. Lafarge concrete had this DMM, without a transit mix body outside its shop.

Just down the road at McKay's Volvo/ Western Star, I spotted this:

3. A well worn, late model Autocar. Despite previous disparaging remarks about the evolution of this particular model, it still mounts an A'car type rad, and several Autocar emblems. The trailer? Its a Trelan 23L, wood chipper. See more at http://www.trelan.com/23l.php

The plastic fenders and lack of skid-plate do diminish the potential impact somewhat, not to mention the dreaded Volvo bar-dexter - herald of things to come for the Autocar. But zoom in on that emblem - can't be beat.

.

Classic Pete for the Big Orange

Day & Ross, the trucking arm of the McCain foods organization, was long known as the Big Orange, for its distinctive black over orange colour scheme. The Big Orange name, eventually used by the company after many years as an informal nickname, was quietly retired. As the company kept building their fleet (like many others) with plane jane factory white painted trucks, the only orange showed up on door stickers.

Long a major user of owner-operators, it required that the trucks be painted in company colours. This classic Pete with Newfoundland plates is pretty obviously an owner-operator. To go with its classic look, it is good to see the classic Big Orange paint scheme today in Burnside.

.

Low rise Cascadia

Sirois Transport had several trucks in Halifax today to load out O-rings at the Haltern container terminal. These rings are used in framing windmills and arrive in Halifax by ships. They are then trucked to New Brunswick and Quebec for fabrication.

A least two of the trucks were Freightliner Cascadias with the low rise sleeper option. The aerodynamics of high rise sleepers are are suited to vans and container trailers, but for flat decks, they are not as useful. Hence the low rise option.

This particular rig has the B-train configuration to spread the weight over more axles than a single trailer would.

.

New Boat Trailer

Got a boat and trailer? Why not haul it with a Western Star?

Yesterday this new Coast Guard pollution control craft was moving only a short distance (which is why it was not tied down very well) but it was moving in style with a Western Star day cab tractor and tri-dem aluminum trailer.

Of course you may need a big crane to lift it off once you get to your destination.

They're back

Those hardy international travellers in their camper vans are back again. Each spring, their vehicles arrive by ship, and the travellers pick them up and start on their way. The most frequent visitors are from Germany, but Monday's arrival was from France. The Fiat /Hymer seems to have covered a good part of the globe already!

For more on Hymer, see their web site: http://hymer-ulm.com/index.html

.

Another Land Rover.......

This truck cab equipped Land Rover greeted me this morning as I drove out of my house. I had to go round the block to get the full view, but it was worth it!

That's a 1958 commercial plate on the front, and how about the all round visibility from the midships cab.

.

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.

Welcome back Leavitt's

1. Two Petes (#309 - left and #301 - right) flank a KW (#316). The KW is set up with a portable satellite dish for a weekend stay over.

2. These well equipped rigs are set up for special loads.

Leavitt's Freight Service of Springfield, Oregon was back again this past weekend with three trucks.

Specialists in long loads, particularly timber, they were here last September with truckloads of utility poles. See http://truckfax.blogspot.com/2010/09/looooong-haul-by-leavitts.html

This week end three more trucks were back, and there are three more to come. Again they are carrying utility poles from Oregon, which will be shipped to Ireland in the coming weeks. The first three to arrive, pictured above had to wait over until Monday morning until their trailers were unloaded and they could hit the road once more.

Update: I just missed getting a photo of two more Leavitt's on Monday. They were a pair of Freightliner COEs, no doubt selected for extra long loads. Too bad, but them's the brakes Jake.

.

Macks at the ready (mix that is)

1. A pair of mighty Macks, the one on the right with a Simard Suspension twin steer arrangement.

2. A newer Mack compares favourably with an older Volvo.

3. The Mack Stone Slinger, with Simard twin steer and fancy red mud guards stacks up against a Western Star.

While most of the concrete contractors were working Saturday, the Mobile Ready Mix yard was quiet at Rocky Lake. The fleet is a bit of a mixed bag, but there were some fairly new looking Macks, with high flotation tires on some of them.

.

Thorson's sharp Volvo

Thorson's, the enclosed vehicle carriers, usually operate sharp trucks. Today's find is a low rise sleeper Volvo, with a nice critter fence up front. Not much of a match with its trailer in terms of colour or shape, but a disctinctive rig nonetheless.

I'm also not sure when the last time was I saw a spring cap on an exhaust stack.

.

Fresh in - another Mammoet crane

This new Liebherr was on the rail car and boarded up by the time I caught it. The crane arrived only this morning on the ship Fidelio, so that was quick work by the ground team.

The last big Lebherr had an 8 axle arrangement: http://truckfax.blogspot.com/2011/03/dear-sir-your-crane-has-arrived.html

This has a 7 axle arrangement, and according to the Liebherr website it is a 14 x 8 x 14. (All wheels steer, 8 wheels have drive) and it is a model LTM 1400-7.1 That means 400 tonne capacity at 3m, with a main boom 15.4-60m long and jib extension 7m-84 m.

Seems to be no end the numbers of these coming in.

.

Land Rovers - still around

From time to time a vintage Land Rover shows up, and who can resist a Land Rover? This one appeared in Seaview Park this afternoon, while the owner took the dog (s) for a run. 1. Carrying the name The Tramp, this LR has a meaty winch mounted up front.

2. Mandatory tire on hood - check. Nice to see a long wheelbase model, and in desert tan too.

3. Tarp top - for real winter adventures - not so bad for dogs though.

4. Nova Scotia plates - so not a visitor, but right had drive nevertheless.

5. Spotted last fall on Sackville Street. Check out the aerial in the middle of the spare tire, and high rise roof.

6. Also last fall. I know this to be a 1964, in a constant state of restoration. Note the low rise roof, and wing mirrors.

Green and White Patrol

Police have traditionally had black and white cars, and now it seems that refuse haulers have green and white trucks.

Save money by buying trucks in factory white, add a green compactor body and off you go.

With this scheme you need to look carefully to see whose truck it is.

In this case it is not industry giant WM (Waste Management) but RE Group, a locally owned company, part of the Municipal Group, which includes Dexter Construction. Its official name is the Royal Environmental Group. Royal started, as far as I can tell, with the creatively named portable toilet company Royal Flush, and now RE Group serves over 2,000 commercial customers in the Halifax area. It also claims to have the largest fleet of refuse trucks in town.

This particularly nice Mack Granite is backed by a Canadian made Universal Handling Equipment refuse body. Photo April 1, 2011.

Routemasters in Pink and some interlopers

Ambassatours had such success with their Big Pink campaign last year (raising awareness and funds for Breast Cancer research) that they are going all out this year, painting the majority of their Routemaster fleet in Pink in addition to the large bendy coaches shown previously.

This morning's line up was quite impressive, with only one non-pink Routemaster. (This is not the entire fleet - there are more!)

Also down at the end of the line were a couple of Bristols, one blue, one pink.

Several of the buses just have the pink base coat yet, but they will be getting the lettering as the tourist season nears.

.

Odd Auto Carriers

Watch for unusual auto haulers in the days and weeks to come. Both Chrsyler and GM are in the midst of disputes with their normal auto haulers, mainly Allied Systems, but others too. The carmakers want to reduce rates, but the haulers have collective agreements with their employees. As a result Allied has withdrawn its services.

Chrysler's Windsor minivan plant is running out of storage space and driving the vans to dealers lots, and paying dealers $60 to come and pick them up.

This morning I saw this very nice looking Western Star belonging to Oak Wood Transport Ltd of Ingersoll, ON with a load of Chryco minivans unloading at Steele Chrysler in Halifax. Obviously Chysler is finding some independent carriers to do the long haul work.

.