A little over a month has passed since my last coverage of the Bristol Myers-Squibb demolition job. The work site looks completely different now and for a local such as myself the new view is amazing although slightly sad. The two large buildings and their foundations that existed just a few weeks ago are now completely demolished. Work has moved onto processing the leftover concrete and bricks of the massive plant. I affectionately refer to this pile as Mt. Bristol. A crusher and screener is onsite slowly transforming large pieces of debris into smaller pieces.
Click to Enlarge
So far the crushed material hasn’t left the site. It’s very possible that it may be used as fill as the transformation continues. A small army of four to five dump trucks is running a loop from behind the plant. They bring load after load of topsoil to fill what was once the basements of the demolished buildings. RH Law Inc is responsible for this part of the job.
RH Law Inc – Click to Enlarge
It looks like heavy demolition is just about done on the Bristol campus. The largest machine (a Case) used in the demolition has already been dismantled and hauled away. Up near the site office there is a growing collection of specialty attachments like shears and claws just waiting for the ride home. Speaking of a ride home…check this out.
Rock City Heavy Haul – Click to Enlarge
This Peterbilt and its massive trailer showed up to haul away the Case excavator. Tuesday afternoon everything was loaded and chained down. The boom and counterweight had already been removed and carried offsite. It was simply impossible to fit the entire setup into frame based on the length and a group of annoying trees. As fate would have it I had already taken a day off of work so I held onto hope that I would be able to see this truck on the move. I stopped by bright and earlier Wednesday morning but there was no activity. I swang by a few hours later and still nothing. Around 11AM I was back again and this time the driver was in the cab and a pilot car was standing by! I became excited. I milled around for 20 minutes or so but it became apparent nothing was going to happen anytime soon. The driver was looking at a huge map. The pilot car driver was reading a book. The local crew stopped by to talk about lunch. I decided to move on to greener pastures. Returning 90 minutes later revealed a very large empty parking spot. I was in a funk the rest of the afternoon. Oh well, at least my greener pastures produced some other interesting trucks for another day.
Here you can see how large the Case excavator is.
Case Excavator – Click to Enlarge
Standing in my backyard each morning I can hear the sounds of the continuing demo work. Trucks using their jake breaks. Backup alarms. Diesel engines running at full bore. Large booming sounds. It’s all music to my ears. A part of me we will feel sad when the site work is done. I’m sure most of my neighbors will not feel the same way. Soon there will be nothing left to remind us of the factory that once produced the wonder drug penicillin and the strange smell that hung in the air most days of the week. The remaining Bristol employees will gain a manicured green space while daily commuters on Thompson Road can now see the Village of East Syracuse. It looks rather nice. I know the whole process is bittersweet to many former employees. My father happens to be one. My mother tries not to look each time she drives by but you can’t help to stare and remember what once was.
More shots of the action.
Click here for some video action of the “reserve dirt” being removed and moved. Or you can click here for some crusher feeding activity. There is great shot of the Peterbilt at the start of this video.
Past Coverage
Building a Ramp of Destruction
The Case in Action – Buildings Fall Down