A Mixed Bag

 Catching up on several days worth of photos, I realized it is a bit of a mixed bag.

As usual I have some outsize loads. There are lots of farm equipment imports these days, as harvest season is fast approaching.

S+M Trucking from Sydney, NS has their big Freightliner lashed up with a four axle trailer (fourth axle is folded up on the deck) to haul a Massey Ferguson tractor.

[Massey, the Canadian company founded in 1847, later called Massey-Harris, joined with the British company Ferguson in 1953, forming Massey-Harris-Ferguson. They dropped Harris from the name in 1958. With numerous bailouts, international mergers and takeovers, ownership moved to the US, but it is still the largest tractor manufacturer in the world. It has manufacturing facilities in Jackson, Minnesota. This particular unit has a European license plate, so may be used.]

Forestry companies are also buying new equipment, much of which is imported from Scandinavia. XLR Transport from Terrebonne, QC had this sharp Peterbilt in Halifax to pick up a Komatsu loader.

Komatsu is headquartered in Japan, but is a multi-national company, and has its forestry division, based in Sweden, where it took over Partek (formerly Valtra and Valmet). This unit is a good fit on the Manac 35 tonne capacity trailer.

The biggest traffic generator in Halifax is container hauling, and there are hundreds of trucks involved on a daily basis. They are also usually on the move, making picture taking difficult. Occasionally I am in the right place at the right time:

This Navistar International Eagle model is a bit more high specification than most of the "sea can" haulers.

One of the over the road haulers that I seldom see, but is active running in and out of Halifax is C.A.T. The Coteau-du-Lac (near Montreal) based company took over the Sears Canada owned SLH in 2017.

This big Western Star is a bit of a departure from its usual Freightliners. The copmany also has some compressed natural gas (CNG) fueled tractors. Seven of them were destroyed in a fire in February, but have since been replaced. They also have some hybrid CNG assisted electric vehicles.

 When I see a load like this I wonder if Big Box Stores get their merchandise in Big Boxes? In this case however these crates are headed for Stelia Aerospace, a Lunenburg, NS based manufacturer of aircraft components made of "advanced composites".

I didn't catch the name of the operator of this handsome Peterbilt, due to the fog and rain, but it is likely from the local area. He also has a 35 tonne Manac trailer. The yellow spray painted "HAL SUN" means the crates were transported to HALifax on the ship Atlantic SUN.

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COEs and Scania in town

 COE trucks are uncommon, and Scania trucks in North America are as rare as the proverbial hen's teeth, but for some reason the Province of New Brunswick seems to have attracted at least two. See previous posts about the conventional straight truck Scania which I last saw in 2015: http://truckfax.blogspot.com/2015/07/road-trip-2-report-1-scnia-freightliner.html

Today, July 7, 2021, I spotted another Scania. Operated by Milltown Trucking from Oak Bay, New Brunswick, it was in Halifax picking up a piece of exotic machinery.

I could only squeeze off this rapid fire shot, (thankfully my windshield was clean enough that the auto focus worked.) The massive COE has a lift axle, typical of Euro trucks, and a high rise sleeper.

For machinery fans, the trailer was a Ross Elephant, beet washer! Too bad I didn't get a front view - it has an array of driving lights sufficient for movie making!

For those who really want a  COE it isn't essential to get one from Europe. Rebuilding a domestic unit from the last century may be the answer. This pristine Navistar was hauling something like ethanol for Fisher Transport, a growing liquid bulk company, better known for its milk tankers.

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More big loads

Atlantic Tilt Load got this Terex Finlay rock crusher on the road with escorts, using a Freightliner paired up with the Trail King trailer set.

With six axles under the trailer and dolly, there was no need to drop the third tractor axle.

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What's New

 The dealers have lots of new trucks on their lots:

Mack Trucks (part of Volvo since 2000) has re-entered the medium duty market going head to head with Freightliner and Navistar International, the industry leaders and to a lesser degree Paccar (Kenworth/Peterbilt). Ford and GM nibble away at the sub-class 6 market too, but haven't returned to class 76 in a serious way.

This new MD series unit awaits a body at the dealer in Burnside.

Mack's new models in the larger sizes are also appearing in service:

This "Anthem" model appears road ready. Those hood mounted convex mirrors should keep the driver well informed about what is around and behind.

This F'liner has been in service for a while, but still looks new.

Western Star's lot was full of new trucks too:

Nice to see some that weren't in 'plain vanilla' paint.

This highway rig is ready for rural areas with a stylish "roo bar". [Roo for Kangeroo - these bars were apparently first used in Australia.]

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New Territory

 Instead of hanging around the port area I decided to branch out a bit today and take in something different. Out in the Rocky Lake area, I spotted a nice day cab Mack tractor with no owners marking.

If I were going to haul slippery cargo like that I would like a headache rack or a trailer bulkhead.

Nearby was this short wheelbase Volvo day cab, specialized for moving mobile home and factory  built houses.

But back to the port, and all the oversize cargo that arrives by ship. One recent one was this pile driving tower bound for Ontario.

A sharp looking Western Star with a four axle trailer and single axle dolly bound for Ontario had to wait several days for permits. JNB Heavy Haul claims Brodhagen, ON as its home, but is really based in nearby Mitchell, ON near the home of some of my ancestors.

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Pair of New Petes and an Oldie

There must be a happy Peterbilt salesman in the area, having wrapped up a deal for two of the trucks recently.

The first one I saw was this red on.

It was pulling a flat rack container with some sort of shrink wrapped UFO.

The second one has a B-train / step deck set up carrying lumber.

With the price of lumber these days, maybe he should have an armed guard.

Today's oldie is not a Pete, but a Freightliner COE.

I may have pictured this truck before -it looks familiar. It operates for Milltown Trucking Co Ltd of St.Stephen, NB.

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Small stuff and Big stuff

 There seemed to be quite a combination of smaller sized trucks and bigger sized trucks on the road today.

Among the small stuff was this wonky Freightliner with a very light weight trailer and three cars strapped on board. The road runner on the cab door hints at a more southern sort of origin, which was reinforced by the giant cactus on the sleeper. It looks like it was spec'd to tow a fifth wheel RV instead of towing old used cars for export.

There are still Sterling trucks on the road, although most are showing signs of wear. Production was discontinued in St.Thomas, ON in 2009 and in the US in 2010. There was a stock of new trucks available for some time after those dates, but even so the newest Sterling would still be at least ten years old. 

Therefore this Halifax Water tanker is looking pretty good. (The operator is the utility responsible for maintaining the drinking water and sewer systems in Halifax.)

Peterbilts are favoured by many owner operators, and by wrecker operators as they are made to order with very strong frames for long wheelbases. However to see a large day cab Pete with a wrecker body is a bit unusual. 

A-1 Towing + Recovery operates this Pete with a NRC 35 ton slider. It had been dispatched to tow a twin steer dump truck, one of many bringing fill to a pier expansion area at the Fairview Cove container terminal.

This Mack is typical of the twin steer dump trucks operating in the area. It has just dumped a load of fill and is NOT carrying the container terminal sign.

Although it looks like a major car wreck, the equipment behind this Kenworth is a mobile screening plant, used to grade gravel. It is quite an impressive bit of machinery: Terex Finlay 833

Operators of the Kenworth chose not to show their name on the truck, but it looked like it had New Brunswick plates. 

As usual there were lots of containers going out by truck instead of the cheaper (but slower) train. This Freightliner is running for CANAM Flat Decks out of Winnipeg, MB.

As the driver straps down his load, the sun was just right to see the strong undercarriage which allows the trailer to carry a loaded container.

It is paving season, so there are trucks on the road carrying asphalt. One of the clues that it might be carrying that cargo is the heating line "taps" on the side of the trailer that allow for the cargo to be heated up to make it pumpable.

This big Kenworth has a trailer that appears to be fitted to carry asphalt. Note the "taps" near the front. However, since it was near an asphalt plant, but had no hazard symbol displayed, it might also have delivered some form of oil to the asphalt storage facility, which uses "food grade non-toxic oil" to heat the asphalt.

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