With the royal wedding coming up (HA!) it’s only fitting that I share this photo of the Queen Mary.
What. Is. This?
This past weekend while travelling back from Palmyra, NY there was a nasty accident that closed RT 31 in both directions. The detour just happened to run behind the Wayne County Highway Department garage. A few seconds after driving by these machines I knew a U-Turn was order. What you are seeing are two home made road wideners. This first, The Queen Mary, appears to be built on a Mack chassis based on the style of spoke wheels upfront. A 6-71 Detroit is reverse mounted while the operator sits to one side. I don’t know how old these machines are but they have to be pushing 50 years based on the visual clues of their former truck bodies. Perhaps the spreaders are newer? Anyway, this kind of equipment is a wonderful throwback to when custom equipment was often home built by towns and counties.
Both machines seem to be in well maintained shape with clean paint and well labeled operator consoles. The Wayne Spreader even seems to have some form of old Continental gas engine under the sheet metal. Any thoughts on the original make? I’ve got nothing.
Very cool. That widening machine looks like it was an Oshkosh plow truck in a former life.
The second I saw these two I knew you would love em.