More visitors from Europe

The European camper vans keep rolling in. Every week the Atlantic Container Line delivers more of these vehicles, and unfortunately I only catch a few of them, because the variety is amazing - from big to small. Today's crop:

 1. This rugged MAN looks like it could go just about anywhere.

2. From the map, it seems that it has - except North America. Iceland. India, China - you name it!

3. This petite Ford might not be as rugged, but it appears to have sufficient accommodation space for comfortable travelling.

Hi-Railers at work

I spotted this pair of hi-railers at work on the CN line at Birch Cove this week. A long section of track was being replaced, and these tow rigs were to be found in the midst of a lot of the work.
The International 7600 crew cab is owned by CN and features the usual orange well ventilated, body work.

The Volvo, owned by Holland of Crete Il, carries a flash butt welding device slung from a hydraulic crane mounted inside the body. There is also a large generator in the body to power the welder. The truck can be driven from the ground by controls on the welder unit. Holland specializes in rail track work, see: http://www.holland.co.com/
There are still lots of these first generaiton Volvos with GM cabs on the road (or on the rails in this case).

Freightliner classics

I have found a couple of classic Freightliners working on the Halifax waterfront.
First off is a COE twin steer concrete pumper. It has been set up at pier 9B to support a continuous pour that will be going on for several days. The truck was brought in from Saint John, NB for the job, probably because a local truck could not be found to dedicate for so long a period of time. McNally Construction is the general contractor and Bedford/Quality are supplying the concrete. They have a mixed fleet of Macks (some twin steer) and Volvos on the job.
Most concrete pumpers are now mounted on Mack chassis since there are so few heavy duty cab forwards being built.

1. Freightliner COE twin steer from FCS (the Rocca Group) of Saint John, NB at Pier 9B.

At the other end of the port, Phil Leil has a classic split windshield, Freightliner set-back conventional at work to move a construction shed. The shed, the size of a house, also belongs to McNally Construction, and was used for the pier C extension. The hydraulically operated trailer was set up by only three men using a P and H truck crane (another classic) and a front end loader to slide the beams under the house. Pros make the job look easy! Leil's equipment  is spotlessly clean and freshly painted.
[Footnote: the motto FROG appears on the equipment. It stands for Fully Rely Upon God]

 2. Split windshield and set back axle - classic combination.

 3. Assistance came from another classic-the P&H truck crane.

 4. The empty trailer required some short extensions to accommodate the house.

5. Loaded and ready, with extensions fitted (they are only prime painted.) 

Travelling season for me too.

Travelling season is upon us once again. I will be travelling for the next month, so there will be very few if any posts on this site.
Those intrepid European visitors are also travelling. They have been picking up their camper vans in Halifax for the last week or two and embarking on various odysseys.

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.


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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.