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Electric Vaults

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Eric

I’ve touched on the topic of electrical equipment vault replacement before but I’ve never really documented much of the process until now. And believe me, it is a process. You walk over buried portions of the electrical grid nearly everyday. At times you can stare down between the grates on the sidewalk to see the components while other times there is nothing more than a steel ring for lifting the accessing door. Like everything else these vaults wear out and need replacing. This time the entire electrical tomb was replaced from floor to ceiling. Weeks upon weeks of jack hammer music drifted through my office window. Finally the old sections had been cleared and the new walls arrived via flatbed.

At this point you hope your measurements are correct because crane crews cost money.

As far as I know everything went well. A few days later the top sections were put in place.

And that should be that right? Wrong. Time to grout in the curbs and fill in the gaps.

That Freightliner M2 112 is looking good with dual stacks. Take what you can get with modern trucks! After two months you probably figure we should just be about done. Wrong again. Time to install the electrical equipment. We’ll see how that goes in due time.

Posted in On the Job | Tagged geneva curb and concrete, national grid vault replacement, saunders concrete, syracuse utilties | Leave a comment

SPAAMFAA Syracuse 2015

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Eric

Compared to other trucks on this page fire trucks usually don’t receive that much attention. For that I am sorry. Consider this coverage of the recent Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Antique Motor Fire Apparatus in America summer muster in Syracuse, NY as penance.

We’ll jump right into the action with a nice video containing the trucks arriving to Long Branch park from the convention hotel. Also included are a few clips of trucks parking and pumping water from the Onondaga Lake outlet. All ages of apparatus are present in this film.

One of the trucks that caught my eye was this 1941 American LaFrance truck from the McGraw Fire Department. I can’t begin to describe the lump of iron this truck has for an engine. Honestly, it had like 80 spark plugs going into what looked like one giant piece of cast iron. Jay Leno restored the exact same model in his garage/museum. Click here to learn a little more about the history of the McGraw truck.

Another American LaFrance, this one is all original. Yes, all original minus the refinished ladders. It survived the years thanks to an untold number of firemen keeping her in pristine shape when not out on a call. Idle hands do the work of the devil after all.

And many more.

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in Truck Show | Tagged SPAAMFAA | 1 Comment

Back in the USA

Posted on August 4, 2015 by Eric

Things are gooonnnnaaa channnggee around hera! Big news from the Caterpillar line of vocational trucks as it has been announced that their partnership with Navistar is drawing to an amicable end. Caterpillar has decided to bring manufacturing of the CT line of trucks in house. Production will move from an Navistar factory in Mexico to a Cat hydraulic excavator factory in Victoria, Texas. One of the original knocks against the Cat truck was that it was nothing more than a restyled International Paystar. It was a hard notion to shake with the original CT660 line of trucks rolling out of the same International facility as the Paystar while using the same style cabs and Maxxforce 13 liter engines. With production now returning to the US and complete Caterpillar design control a whole new round of questions have sprung up, namely will cab or styling changes originate to reflect a uniquely Caterpillar design. Short time span answer no. Long time span answer yes. In case you were wondering Cat officials have adamantly denied any return to on highway engine production for the United States. I assume that means Navistar will stay in the mix while leaving the door open for a Cummins engines perhaps? Related reading here at Commercial Carrier Journal. Check out DriveCat.com for complete details and video. Congratulations to the 200 soon to be new hires at the Victoria plant!

Speaking of the Cat CT680, I finally saw one in the wild yesterday morning at Good Year tire dealership in downtown Syracuse of all places. Not specializing in commercial tires I guess the delivery driver’s get home vehicle, a minivan, had some sort of tire problem. In person, this is a very big truck with dual stacks and breathers. I hope to see more of them on the road soon.

Remember when the CT660 was the new kid on the block? Well, they still are in this part of the world. Here is one pulling at the Broome County Fair this past weekend. This pull was one of the more tame of the day but that’s okay. Don’t break on Saturday what you run on Monday. Stay tuned for more intense action in the coming days.

Posted in Industry News | Tagged cat ct660 truck, cat ct680 truck, caterpillar truck | 1 Comment

Autocar Mondays – Forbidden Sights

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Eric

I don’t know about you but sometimes I have a hard time when it comes to figuring out the the age of certain Autocar Trucks. Is it a DC or a DK? Was built under the White Motor Company reign or during the times of Volvo? It can be confusing as the design we all love and know changed in only a few subtle ways over the years. So how can we tell by casual inspection? Read on.

Thanks to some helpful tips from George Murphy over at the Facebook group The Autocar Truck we learn to take notice of the smaller details that help us zero in on the year. To begin, take notice of the radiator and the presence or lack of a shell. Post 1980’s Autocars had a grill/radiator unit that appeared all as one piece. You’ll notice in the truck below this is not the case. There is an external protector while the curved top portion of the radiator meets the side supports at a flat surface. Next, move on to the doors and notice where the handle is located. If found near the top and resembling a handle that pulls down you most likely have located an older truck. Later models had the recessed spring latch style opener located toward the bottom of the door. Finally move your gaze to the bottom of the door. Is there a skirt? No skirt typically indicates an older model truck. This is also the location of the dead give away clue in the form of a Volvo White Corporation logo.

So, to sum up. The truck below does not appear to have a radiator skirt, it has high mounted door handles and is missing the door skirt. I would place this truck solidly in the pre 1980’s White Motor Company time span. The White labeled mirrors are one final solid clue.

So what about these two? Well, we can’t see much of the doors but look at those radiators. Completely different from the truck above. Can I promise you that the tips above are 100% fool proof? Absolutely not. I have seen Autocars with high mounted door handles that have skirts. I have seen low mounted door handles with no skirts. You’ll always be guessing until you talk to the owner or see the door info plate.

By the way, if you can get into the cab (legally of course) take a look at the interior. The first obvious clue, the white steering wheel with Autocar logo. Also the tachometer and speedometer should wear a styled WM for White Motor Company. This particular image comes from an Autocar Construcktor with proper radiator setup but paddle style door handles. See what a mean? Still, it’s a solid DC cab.

Well, I hope that clears a few things up? Thanks to Ryan for the top two photos. As always, if you have information or a point of view that can make things clearer please leave a comment below.

Posted in At the Dealer | Tagged autocar construcktor, autocar spotter guide, autocar trucks | Leave a comment

Coming Soon!

Posted on August 2, 2015 by Eric

Yesterday was a busy day for me with no less than two truck events taking place that I really wanted to attend. Just a short cruise from my front door Long Branch Park played host to a SPAAMFAA event featuring dozens upon dozens of classic fire trucks and other apparatus. One hour south of town the Broome County Fair held their annual Big Rig Show and Shine along with truck pulls. I found away to have my cake and eat it by attending both events. Coverage to come of both shows after a regularly scheduled Autocar Mondays post. Until that time enjoy this screen grab of a 2000 + HP Kenworth doing its best to block out the sun.

Posted in Truck Show | Leave a comment

August 2015 Plow Update

Posted on August 1, 2015 by Eric

First day of August. First plows of the month. We begin with a pair of NYSDOT Mack Granites doing what they do during the off season. Generating traffic.

The dogs days of summer may have just begun but new plows leave the lot in full battle dress. Here we see a Western Star 4700 for a destination unknown.

Compare and contrast with this next rig. The last time I photographed this truck was back in November of 2013. Little has changed on the truck with exception of a rust, “new” side boards and a semi repaired rock shield. Take a look and see what you can spot.

This Freightliner FLD from the Town of Clay, NY is sending me a military surplus vibe. As you can see from this fine gallery curated by Joe Kelly the military was a prime supplier of Clay Highway Department trucks over the years.

Plenty of cool stuff in the gallery below with more NYSDOT trucks, Town of Indian Lake and NYS Thruway Western Stars, new rig for Town of Eaton, Indian Lake again, Town of Elbridge 4700, Town of Scribe Volvo, and a new Western Star 4700 for Town of Ovid.

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged city of syracuse dpw, nysdot truck, western star snow splow | 3 Comments

Accent on the Cool

Posted on July 31, 2015 by Eric

This old WhiteGMC WHL(?) sure gets around. A few weeks ago I spied it behind a local hotel after a day on the job. It’s owned and operated by Accent Stripe. The name of the company is fairly self explanatory so the real question is what does a line striping company need with a dump truck? I’m guess this rig plays a role as a long blocker/crash protection truck. As I pulled away from taking this photo a worker was leaving the hotel and heading over toward the truck. I’m sure he wondered what I was doing.

Just yesterday I received an email from Mark with shots of the very same truck! He also had the same question I did. How do you paint with a dump truck?

Neat old rig! That passenger side headlight seems to be taking more of beating with each passing day. So, who will be the next to find this old rig on the job?

Posted in Still Working | Tagged accent stripe, whitegmc dump truck | Leave a comment

NYC Carting

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Eric

In NYC they sometimes refer to garbage hauling as carting. I’m not sure why. The further you go from the metro area the fewer the companies that advertise as carting specialists. By the time you reach upstate the preferred phrase is rubbish or simply garbage. You could probably right an entire paper on this subject but let’s look at photos instead.

When not looking at mixer truck from his most recent NYC trip Ryan grabbed a few shots of garbage trucks across the city. Here is Castle Carting.

And Five Star Carting.

The owners of Mr. Rubbish have bucked the name trend with their busted old Western Star. Still cool.

Dirty and well used. A garbage truck really can’t look any other way.

[Show as slideshow]

Posted in On the Job | Tagged nyc carting, nyc garbage, nyc rubbish | 2 Comments

Detroit Diesel Opus

Posted on July 28, 2015 by Eric

As I kid I remember going to the local firemens field days and the parade that came along with it. I was too young at the time to realize that many of the trucks were Detroit Diesel powered. I only knew that the sounded slightly different from other trucks in that they were much louder no matter what they were doing. Being a fire truck the exhausts on these rigs was usually routed under or the side of the tuck placing it eye level with my younger self sitting along the parade route. I guess over the years the fumes got into my brain and my ears and now I can’t get enough of that two stroke sound. Now you can find plenty of people who swear by Detroit Diesel engines and plenty who swear at them but I think we can all agree the howl of a two stroke is music that you just don’t hear on the open road anymore. It’s a shame but one that can be forgotten, at least momentarily, by watching the video below. You guessed it. Nothing but Detroit after Detroit powered trucks from the 2015 ATHS National Convention.

And if you you’re looking for more here is a playlist I created from the extensive Daily Diesel Dose video collection. Over 30 videos provide hours of entertainment.

Posted in Truck Show | Tagged 2015 aths national convention, detroit diesel engine | Leave a comment

Autocar Mondays – Red Handed

Posted on July 27, 2015 by Eric

Spotless. Pristine. Factory Fresh. Better than new? The perfect companion to rescue old trucks and other equipment? Yes to all counts. Last week I mentioned I was done with photos from the ATHS national convention but it turns out I’m a big fat liar. This 1984 Autocar DC-64B is proof.

This fine example of Autocar was located near an hot spot of A-Car activity. Just a few trucks down the row this DK-64B with Holmes 850 wrecker was parked next to yet another DK tractor. It was paradise I tell you. This one reminds me very much of the Syracuse DPW wrecker still in service. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are the same year with similar specs if you look past the obvious 6×6 exception.

Below are some random clips of Autocars coming and going throught the show grounds. Some are brand new to us while others were seen in previous coverage.