Gee, I wonder what's under that tarp?

I don't pretend to know much about tanks, but as the old saying goes, I know one when I see one.
I also know that Canada has purchased 100 Leopard tanks from Europe, mainly from the Dutch. Therefore when I saw this tank with "NL" on its side, I assumed that this is one of them.
More info here:
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/tanks-for-the-lesson-leopards-too-for-canada-03208/

It arrived by ship without the tarp, but that was added before it was loaded aboard this Paron trailer hauled by one of Mills's big Western Stars.

1. Paron trailer is well loaded with this tank.

 2,3,4,5 The tarp doesn't do much to disguise the tank or its origins. I can imagine a lot of air got under it once the truck was under way- I wonder how long it lasted?

Macks move mountains

There is a major crushed rock movement underway for pier construction work on the Halifax waterfront.  Among the variety of trucks bringing the material in from Conrad's quarry in Dartmouth are tow Macks- one new and one with a few miles on the clock.

The Mack DMM 8x6 operated by Fred Dunphy Trucking is "twenty years old" according to the driver, which is pretty good for a dumper. The Beauroc body is newer, which helps the make the truck look good.

The new Mack is a Granite model with Simard Suspensions twin steer. A bit lower to the ground it has rear drive only.


.

New Sweeper for Halifax streets

1. The new sweeper in the dumping mode, this afternoon.

Halifax Regional Municipality has a new street sweeper. The sweeper body is a Johnston North America VT650, with all the bells and whistles, including stainless steel body and hydraulic operation. The sweeper mechanism is powered by its own dedicated auxiliary motor.
The chassis and cab is of course dual control, but it is labeled "CMC". The only CMC  I can find is the China Motor Corp of Taiwan, who seem to be in the business of building Mistsubishi cars and light trucks/vans.  So far I can't find any heavier trucks built by CMC-so this one is a bit of an oddity.

2. The new CMC with Johnston North America sweeper this morning.

Still running is a Sterling chassis with Elgin sweeper. The Sterling is of course the European type Ford Cargo cab, which was produced by Sterling when it took over Ford's heavy truck line. With Sterling gone from the picture, the light duty low cab forward/COE market is wide open.


3. CMC and the Sterling/Elgin. 

The new rig replaces and older Ford Cargo cab and chassis with Johston 605 sweeper.

4. The retired Ford with Johnston body at W.D. Lawrence's auto salvage in Upper Rawdon in April.

Mighty Military Merc

The flagship of the Canadian military vehicle fleet must be the Mercedes-Benz Actros AHSVS (Armoured Heavy Support Vehicle System) This huge 8X8 truck was ordered in 2007 for delivery to Afghanistan in 2008. A total of 82 were delivered at a cost of $87mn (my math says this is more than $1mn per truck!) with an option for 26 more. 
The standard  truck has a palletized loading system (PLS) allowing it to mount dump, box and other packages. There were also other variants including wrecker/recovery, tanker, and tractor for towing tanks and howitzers.
Main featutre is the armoured cab produced in South Africa by LMT. It has proven to be resistant to mines and improvised explosive devices. The engine is a Mercedes twin-turbo producinig 503 bhp and it has an automatic transmission. It is definitely an off road vehicle built to ford rivers, but can achieve 88 kph on roads.
Following Canada's mission in Afghanistan the remaining units were to be returned to Canada for storage.
The three trucks recently delivered in the port of Halifax appear to be brand new, so these are likely part of the option order.

1. Front of cab has Mercedes symbol in grille.

2. Mills Heavy Hauling uses a mighty Mack to haul the mighty Merc.

3. A gantry crane and hydraulic tongue are used to load and work the various packages the truck can carry.  

4. One big truck

To see these might Mercs in action see the beautifully produced video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djzRWIhiD00
For more specs and photos see:

http://www.casr.ca/bg-ahsvs-project-actros.htm

Freightliner- Maritime Ontario- Random Shot #51

In case you were wondering from last month's ancient photos of Maritime-Ontairo trucks - they are still on the road - although they are big interrmodal users.

And the good news is some of the trucks are still painted in traditional M-O blue, but with modern twists. This impressive long nose M-O is operated by A. Bernier of St-André, NB and was just about to set out from M-O's Burnside terminal this morning. 

Plain Jane trailer is unusual for Maritime-Ontario.

A quintet of quints

The Halifax Regional Fire & Emergency Services currently carries six quints on its roster. Ranging in age from 1990 to 2008, they seem to be well spread around the urban core. One lone unit (95-248Q) is based in Lakeside.It dates from 1995 and is not pictured here. It is a Pierce, with a 1250 gpm pump. 500 gal booster tank and 75 ft ladder.
The newest quits are also Pierce:

1. Quint 7, Pierce 08-435Q is rated 1750/500 with a 75 foot ladder. It is based at Knightsbride in Clayton Park., and is here responding on the Bedford Highway..

2. Quint 12, Pierce 07-417Q is housed at Highland Park in Dartmouth, and is seen at MVI in the Burnside.Industrial Park. It rates at 200/500/75

A pair of American LaFrance quints from 2001 are rated at 1750/416 with a 28m (92 feet) LTI ladder.



3. Quint 13 is an American LaFrance, 01-144Q  is based at King Stret in Dartmouth, it is seen here responding to a house fire in a crowded (but high end) Halifax south end neighbourhood. 



4. Quint 5 has identical specs. It is based at Bayers Road, but was called downtown to the same fire .

The only survivor of three quints from a pre-amalgamation order is designated as a spare now, but was in service today, working out of West Street. It is now the only Emergency One quint in the force. 1050/500.

5. Spare quint is an Emergency-One, 90-57Q, one of several ordered by the old Halifax F.D. before amalgamation.



6. This unit is rated at 1050 gpm, with a 500 gal booster. It was working out of West Street today.



7. I'm not sure if this is the same unit, photographed in 1992 at Bayers Road in the colours of the old HFD. These were the first quints in Halifax fire service. 



Volvos in Truro

On a recent road trip, I spotted some interesting Volvos at McKay's the local dealer.

1. King Freight Lines of New Glasgow has several of these new Volvos on the road, all with similar paint schemes. King carries a lot of freight for Michelin tire, including containers in Halifax and runs to plants in the US.

2. The truck says Premiere, but it is operated by Atlas Van Lines- no orange anywhere on this one.

3. A low rise sleeper on a straight truck. This one picks up waste chemicals for reprocessing.

4. Across the street at Will-Kare Paving, they are selling this day cab and Manac trailer. The truck has an aggressive stance!