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Endless Cycle

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Eric

Welcome to the snow clearing mega post! Over the past week I’ve received plenty of photos and taken many myself of snow clearing operations. With back to back storms followed by arctic temperatures many business and communities have been forced to remove giant snow piles from street corners and parking lots in the name safety. The usual strategy of waiting for warm air or rain to help reduce this accumulation simply isn’t working this year.

Clearing in Granville, NY

Clarence shares with us a shot of his 2004 GMC 7500 being loaded by his 1992 Volvo L70 loader. Good looking setup! Feel free to stop by my clogged driveway anytime.

Clearing in Little Falls, NY

The front end loader and the dump truck may be the most common method of removing snow but heading off to Little Falls, NY we find a different set of equipment in use.

Mark shares with us some shots of a LeeBoy 3000 at work. A Bobcat working with a grader pull the snow of sidewalks and street shoulders for quick loading. The process moves as fast as returning dump trucks allow.

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Clearing in Syracuse, NY

Just about an hour west of Little Falls we find the City of Syracuse using the more traditional method. A John Deere 624J with a multi purpose bucket first removes snow from around parking meters and street corners to the center of the street for eventual loading into waiting dump trucks. While not requiring any specialized equipment the front loader option demands the entire street be closed until work is completed. Take a look at the video below to see some wild action.

And here are some still shots from the day of the video and a few days later on a nearby street.

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Clearing at DestinyUSA

Heading off to DestinyUSA, the sixth largest mall in the United States, we find some very large Michigan/Volvo L120 loaders moving very small amounts of snow.

OnSite Services has the contract to keep the mall clean and accessible to meet your consumer needs.

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The video.

Clearing at OIP

Some business with small parking lots started clearing snow weeks ago. In this case, the Original Italian Pizza location on James Street. BTW, amazing chicken wing pizza here. The best you will EVER have.

This nice looking Case loader was doing the loading.

Clearing at Delta Sonic

A new Delta Sonic just opened up but before it could…snow removal! Here we see a nice looking Mack from Orchard Earth and Pipe.

Clearing in Dutchess County, NY

John shares with some photos of snow removal from Dutchess County. Looking closely at the second photo you will notice a loader with a front mounted blower. As John passed by the scene the Oshkosh also pictured was hooking up to remove the stuck loader from deep snow. The fast moving crew has pulled of the rescue before he could turn around.

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Phew, that’s a lot of material to digest. Thanks to Clarence, Mark, John and all the hard working snow removal crews seen above!

Posted in Snow Plows | Leave a comment

Town of Adams Highway Department.

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Eric

Look! Another Walter Snow Fighter! How could you miss it? This unit along with that fancy Western Star belong to the Town of Adams Highway Department. This little slice of the world lies right in the path of a persistent lake effect snow band. While destinations just north and south can be spared depending on the winter Adams always will see the heavy stuff year in and year out. Not only does the snow fall heavy but the winds blow strong resulting in some massive drifts. This is where the Walter truly shines and demonstrates why it can not be replaced by any modern vehicle.

If you’re on Facebook and you haven’t joined the DOT Plow Trucks group I suggest you do. There is some great video of this Walter at work shelving or if your prefer, benching. You know the snow is heavy when this truck encounters drifts that physically push the truck to the side. Thanks to Ryan for the photos and Ty for opening the doors!

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Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged town of adams highway department, walter snow fighter, western star snow plow | Leave a comment

Running with the Bulldogs

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Eric

As promised today is an all Mack day courtesy of Ryan and the Town of Minden, NY.

Nice truck but I think more lights are needed. 😉

The photos below contain some serious puppy power. While the fleet is mostly comprised of Macks there is at least one off brand mixed into the group. Can you spot it? It’s a good one I promise you that. Tomorrow we head to a town named after the second president of the United States and one that is no stranger to drifting snow.

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Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged mack truck snow plows, town of minden | 3 Comments

Herkimer County Highway Department

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Eric

Across the Northeast snow has been falling for weeks now along with the temperatures. With no thaw inducing weather on the horizon the snow is simply refusing to go. When then this happens you have to call out the heavy iron. The machines that can bench the snow making room for more. We call these machines by the name of Walter.

Ryan stopped by the Herkimer County Highway Department a few weeks ago to revisit a place he spent countless hours while growing up. As the grandchild of a county foreman Ryan had complete access to these trucks which we can only assume led to his continuing fascination with snow plows to this very day. There is visual evidence of these days but I’ll spare everyone the embarrassment. Never stored outside and meticulously maintained it’s hard to believe we are looking at 60+ year old trucks. Looking at the blower equipped unit I believe I see fresh paint dribbles on the ground. Ryan tells us it a Bros Blowers of equal vintage to the truck it is mounted on.

It’s unbelievable the grip Walters head on the snow removal market back in the day. I don’t believe there was a single municipality in New York with fleets larger than two trucks that didn’t have a Walter in the barn. The fact that many still exist on active duty are testaments to quality of these trucks and the workers that brought them to life.

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*Editors Note* The Mack Truck action promoised on 2/15/15 has been rescheduled to 2/18/15

Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged herkimer county highway department, walter snow fighter | 4 Comments

Left Turn Only

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Eric

I was sitting in a left turn only lane the other day when I noticed a sharp looking truck for JPW Riggers coming from the opposite direction. I hit the wipers and snapped off a shot. I think it turned out rather well. Consider this a palate cleansing photo before we return to more plow truck coverage tomorrow.

Posted in On the Job | Tagged jpw riggers | Leave a comment

Town of Mohawk

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Eric

Next stop on our world class snow plow tour..Town of Mohawk, NY! You may remember the first rig from the Town of Mohawk that graced the digital pages of Daily Diesel Dose, an insane 6×6 Western Star 4800. As it turns out that Western Star keeps some good company in the form of two equally impressive International PayStars.

Not sure which color I like better, the green or the yellow. Tomorrow, a brief break in the tour schedule before we’re back at it with some heavy duty Mack action.

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Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged international paystar5000, western star 4800 | 2 Comments

Town of Lorraine

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Eric

Our tour of north country DPWs continue today with a visit to the Town of Lorraine, NY.

Those with sharp eyes for the old snow fighters will recognize the box behind the Oshkosh as a Walter’s. On the new iron front has a mix of International trucks raging from Paystars to Workstars.

Where will the Ryan Pedone tour stop next? Come back tomorrow!

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Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged international paystar, international S-series, international workstar | Leave a comment

International M-Series Snow Plow

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Eric

Fans of old school heavy iron rejoice! Your International M-Series snow plow has arrived!

Can you believe the condition of this truck? Hardly a spec of rot or rust through to be found. This is nothing short of a miracle on an old plow truck. International produced the M-Series for a number years with production ending sometime in the mid 70’s with the introduction of the Paystar line. At the least we are probably looking at a truck that is 40 years old. A round of applause to The City of Little Falls who still has this beast in their arsenal of snow fighting equipment. Chains, single tires, 4×4, Frink plow gear and a Hi-Way spreader. What more could you ask for? The gallery below also contains a cool looking Oshkosh.

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Speaking of M-Series, here is a fun little video I shot years ago at the Washington County (NY) fair. This particular truck is gas powered but still cool. 🙂

Once again, another great find and share by Ryan.

Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged frink plows, hi-way spreader, international m-series snow plow | 6 Comments

The New and The Cool

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Eric

For the remainder of the week and probably into the following the material on Daily Diesel Dose will be coming from the prolific camera work of Ryan Pedone. During his short period back in NY he wasted no time covering an immense portion of ground and found some really great old and new iron. I’ve been sitting on his emails for too long now. We’ll start by paying a visit to Utica and their collection of brand new Macks and too tough to die FWD’s

I thought it was cool seeing the trucks lined up in the garage a few weeks ago but this is much better. The Macks seem to be hold up to the rigors of life in Utica.

Make sure you come back tomorrow as we travel to Little Falls, NY. You won’t believe what they have hiding in their back lot.

Posted in Snow Plows | Tagged city of utica dpw, fwd snow plow, mack granite snow plow | 2 Comments

City of Watertown DPW

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Eric

As I mentioned yesterday the City of Watertown DPW runs some pretty unique snowplows. During the warmer months (they do exist) these trucks sit in storage patiently waiting for winter. The ideal behind these singular purpose machines is to combat heavy snow as quickly as possible and as long as possible before returning to the garage for a refuel. Cutting out the material box means these trucks can stay out longer. The large counter weight and single tires in the rear provide ultimate traction. Ryan was in town a few weeks ago and paid the DPW a visit to photograph these monsters. Enjoy!