Land Rover Defender

 Military vehicles are not noted for their comfort. They are built to be rugged and usually fairly simple mechanically, allowing for ease of repair. So selecting an ex military vehicle for a long road trip - even if off-roading is part of the plan - seems pretty much guaranteed to involve discomfort.

The Rover name however does imply luxury, and so there is a civilian version of their military model and may give a bit more pleasant ride. 

I am not sure which version I was looking at this morning when I spotted this unit.

Some interesting features are the combined light bar  / brush guard. I am surprised that it doesn't have a high mount snorkel / breather, so deep water driving is not in its repertoire (and the U-1995 number plate is not significant).

The German license plate however does indicate a Saxony home base. 

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Mack in tow

 On May 29 I posted a photo of an old Mack, and I repeated the often used phrase "Old Macks never die..." (- supply your own ending). Some Macks due from time to time require hospitalization (for jaundice?) however, and last week I caught this unfortunate member of the Mack family in the care of A-1 Towing and Recovery Ltd.

The Mack is more than a little unsual, because it carries Armour Transportation signage on its door. It may be the only Armour truck that is not painted red, it is certainly the only one I have ever seen. Armour, based in Moncton and including Pole Star, was a family owned company until sold in 2021 to Seaboard Transportation. Up until now I had not noted any change under the new owners. Seaboard was best known for tank trucks, where as Armour has been heavily involved in dry van and intermodal.

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Internationals on the job

 Navistar's HX model International has proven popular with the heavy haulers and has recently become a more common sight on the road.

  Atlantic Tiltload has been a Western Star operator almost exclusivley, so it was a surprise to spot this rig today. Carrying fleet number 301 it also has untypical looking company markings on the door.

Total Transport + Rigging gets a lot if use out of this HX, which can be seen almost daily on short hauls out of the Fairview Cove container terminal. It will likely hand over this aircraft tail assembly to a long haul trucker such as Watson's.

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More Axles

 Some large loads on the roads recently, required additional axles to spread out the weight.

Trucks from D.Dumais of Dolbeau, QC are frequent sights in the Port of Halifax area, hauling away new forestry machinery. This Western Star had a Komatsu harvester on its flatbed trailer.

Birch Hill Construction of Moncton, NB sent their fine looking Kenworth to fetch this piece of McCloskey quarry machinery. McCloskey is a Canadian company and also manufactures some of its equipment in Ireland and India.

Valley Flatbed and Transportation's Western Star also had a green coloured load - a farm trailer, plus ....

... a small trailer which was neatly transferred from Superior Towing Services Navistar International tilt bed.

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Trains on Trucks

 #1

 The Canadian National Railway CNR, operates a large truck fleet. Some trucks haul inter modal containers for deliveries from railroad hubs. Other trucks are used in the maintenance of the company's infrastructure. They also have an assortment of specialist vehicles that are not seem very often. One of those unique trucks paid a visit to Halifax recently as part of the Port of Halifax's "One Port Day" when many of the port's users had a sort of open house.

CN's safety promotion activity involves a miniature "replica" locomotive called Little Obie, that does not run on rails, but hauls several open "cars" for passengers. The little train criss crosses the country to promote rail safety, and travels in its own special trailer, hauled by a custom Freightliner truck.

The truck is fitted with "fifth wheel" equipment to haul the trailer, and was upfitted out by Auto Truck Corp a specialty vehicle builder. It is actually operated by CN Police, the company's private police force, that has rail safety as part of its mandate.

#2

Trains travel on wheels, and the friction from steel wheel to steel rail leads to wear. Also train wheels develop flat spots from emergency braking.  The banging that results from the latter can be damaging to rails and to the rail cars themselves. Periodically wheels must be replaced and the worn wheels sent off for repair. New or reconditioned wheels ( in pairs, and on their axles and complete with end bearings) are then sent out on flat bed containers to rail rail yards where they are stockpiled for installation when needed. Worn wheel sets are picked up periodically and sent off repair.

I recently spotted one of Atlantic Tiltload's Western Stars with a Landoll tilt deck trailer, complete with special steel frame on the deck, leaving the intermodal terminal with a load of wheels. (By the look of the bearings, the rusty wheels seem to be new - the shiny ones show signs of wear.)

The multi-purpose 'Star is equipped with its own Palfinger knuckle boom crane. 

#3

There are four railroads in Quebec that are isolated and not connected to the CN or CPR's extensive grids. Three were built to connect mines to shipment ports and are "captive". Equipment must be delivered by sea or in the case of two of the railroads, by road. Both the Quebec North Shore and Labrador (running out of Sept-Iles) and the Cartier Railway (running out of Port-Cartier) are accessed by the Quebec highway Route 138. 

Recently the Cartier arranged for rail grinding equipment to be delivered from Europe to Halifax, then to be trucked to Port Cartier. I saw the third unit loaded and ready to roll on June 12.

Thanks to Tony from JNB Heavy Haul, I received photos of the first unit being lifted aboard a week or so ago.

I am assuming that the loads are too large to cross the St.Lawrence by ferry at Matane, so they must go to Quebec City, to cross the river by bridge, then by special permit along the torturous, and hilly, two lane Route 138 all the way to Port-Cartier.

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Down in the dumps

 Some big dump trucks have been moving through the port of Halifax recently - both new and used.

Sandvik mining trucks are common enough sights, as they seem to be the most popular underground trucks.

This new Toro TH663i was riding on a big Aspen trailer. The model number indicates a 63 tonne capacity. It also has a Volvo 565 kW (758 hp) Stage V engine.

Intended for above ground work, this used Cat 773E (59.36 tonne capacity) was headed west behind a JNB Western Star. I have seen several pieces of used equipment from VINCI - a large French construction company, with many interests in Canada.

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M.A.N. from all over

 This large M.A.N. is wearing an Italian licence plate. From what I have been able to determine the letters "EY" signify a 2014 vehicle.

Confusingly however there are French flags posted on the cab front and doors.

 The RV body has corner castings like a shipping container, so presumably can be lifted off. I am not sure how the cab tilts without spilling the contents of the roof rack.

In looking for Italian license plate information on line I discovered a photo of the same vehicle taken in March 2022 in Montreal. Perhaps the rig is headed back to Europe.

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More of them

 The European RVs keep rolling in (by ship). After a few days in bond they are cleared by Customs and head off into deepest darkest North America. Some recent examples:

Not a converted bread truck, this is a Niesmann + Bischoff luxury build. (The company is a subdidiary of Hymer.)

 

We don't see too many VW vans. This one may be a DIY. Is that a solar panel on the roof?

 Fiats are more common - this cab / chassis unit was the basis for a Franka RV body.

Even rarer are Jeeps from Europe - it would be interesting to learn the history of that one on the right with the folding roof top tent.

A giant Mercedes-based Eura Mobil would provide luxury transportation -  with staggering gas bills.

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