I wandered back up to the Carrier Dome the other day to see if I could catch any sign of dirt being hauled in for the upcoming Monster Jam event. As you can see below there was a little action taking place. š
Truck after truck rolled up the hill and through the air lock doors of the dome. Two at time just like Noah’s Ark. A few minutes later the doors would open again andĀ empty trucks would leave. This process will repeat until around 425 trucks loads of soil have been moved.
As you can tell from the photos it was wonderfully cold, windy, and bitter day to be standing on a large hill but still beat sitting on my desk bored during lunch.
The monsters are coming. Monster trucks that is. They yearly spectacle that is monster truck racing has once again returned to Syracuse. As you know, I have attended the past couple of years and found both the actual show and the post show clean up equally as entertaining. This year, fresh off a vacation, I’ll be watching from the cheap seats. The real cheap seats. So cheap that I sit outside of the building and don’t have an actual seat. In other words I’m not going. But just because I didn’t get gouged by Ticketmaster doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun. Yesterday I hoofed up to the Carrier Dome during my lunch break on the off chance I would catch a few dump trucks hauling dirt through the air lock doors. As it turns out that activity is still a day or two away as the heavy equipment was still arriving from Milton Cat on the back of Big Red Towing.
A line of material handlers, skid steers and one rather large 950K were already unloaded and gathering attention from curious SU students. You just can’t be a selfie in a bucket larger than the average dorm room.
Maybe tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll head back up to the hill to catch more of the prep action. But if I don’t, please enjoy the photos below.
It has been a down year for snow across much of the country if you don’t pay attention to that blizzard from a month ago. So far the forecast for March looks similar to that of February, unseasonably warm and sunny. At this stage of the game I won’t complain. Even though the snow has been scarce the plows still exist. We’ll start off with this 2004 Oshkosh of the Dutchess County Highway Department. This truck is equipped with a Cat C-12 diesel capable of generating 375 horsepower while an Allison automatic helps reduce driver fatigue.
Heading down the Hudson River we arrive in Greenburgh, NY and find one of their former trucks, a 1979 4×4 Mack RM ready for surplus. With just a little rust repair and some fresh paint it will be ready to run again. Seth tells us this truck was ready for auction around November of last year so there is a good chance it is all ready plowing the highways of Massachusetts, the land of contractor based highway snow removal.
Back on the home front I came across the City of Syracuse Paystar convention. Two identical looking units parked next a later model. All were enjoying a well deserved lunch break on the local Price Chopper.
I actually stopped by this spot on my way to and from my intended destinationĀ and found this WorkStar decorated for the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day.
The winter of 2016, one to forget! Thanks to John and Seth for the shares. Make sure to check out Seth’s website for more great photos like the one you say above.
At first glance this old Autocar may not seem like much but under the hood there is the potential to discover plenty of history.Ā When we first saw this truck during an Autocar Mondays post from last year it was mentioned that possibly, just possibly, this was one of the first Autocars to use a Caterpillar engine, a 1673B, direct form the factory. This DC103T once belonged to Southworth Caterpillar and when paired with a lowboy trailer moved an untold number of machines for decades upon decades. It would make sense that a Cat dealer would want a truck with a Cat engine right?
Currently the 1673B is seized up tight and before any restoration process begins a choice needs to be made regarding the engine. If indeed the Cat is original to this truck and one of the first to be shoved under an Autocar hood then current owner Larry Marmet might just go through the trouble of bringing it back to life. If not, well, there is a Cummins NTC290 just waiting in the wings.
From what I understand Caterpillar first started producing diesel truck engines in the mid 50’s that were less than successful. Production ceased for a period of time before starting again inĀ 1961 with two or three different engines of which one was the 1673B. Larry’sĀ DC103 is believed to be a ’64 model year which puts the two close enough in history to make a connection. Are there anyĀ Caterpillar or Autocar experts out there that can weigh in with a definitive answer?
Caterpillar announced today that production of their Cat line of trucks will cease with no further orders accepted as existing customer orders are fulfilled. BOOM! Just like that the dream is over. This past summer Caterpillar announced plancs toĀ bring production of their trucks in house, back from a Navistar facility in Mexico and into a excavator plant in Victoria, Texas. Over two hundred jobs were expected to be created and Cat flooded social media and the press with fancy videos about sticking to the product line and creating jobs. This turn of face might be surprising but not totally unexpected.
Back in 2011 when Caterpillar announced their line of CT heavy duty trucks I was excited, as any truck fan would be at the promise of new iron on the road. However, the part of my brain that suffered at the hands of various marketing professors in college couldn’t help but feel the heavy duty truck market in North American is a mature one. This means entry costs are high while opportunity for success is low. Long established manufactures have the market carved up,Ā with singleĀ digit sales increases stolen from each other as one of the few avenues of growth. Hoping to defy the odds Caterpillar partnered with one these existing players to utilize their experience and facilities. Some might say this was the first mistake as International was entering a phase of disastrous engines and product quality. The CT line was billed as premium truck but many found it hard to look past the DNA it shared with the International Paystar. Anytime I saw this truck at a trade show the poor sales folks couldn’t go one minute with out the “ain’t this just a International with an ugly hood” comment flying through the air.
Despite a product line of three unique models, one of which was just introduced this past summer, Cat was only able to move, at best, 1200 units a year. In the age of shareholders demanding increased returns with each quarter a business unit like the truck line was just the right sacrificial goat for the time.
“Remaining a viable competitor in this market would require significant additional investment to develop and launch a complete portfolio of trucks, and upon an updated review, we determined there was not a sufficient market opportunity to justify the investment,” said Ramin Younessi, vice president of Caterpillar’s Industrial Power Systems Division.
And there you have it, the corporate press release we all knew would fall if givenĀ enough time. Say what you will but I’m sad to see Cat go. It’s always good to have an outsider muscle their way in to the established club. With their an intrusionĀ new products, ideas, and service become mandatory no matter the age of the market.Ā Maybe this was the problem with Cat trucks along, they tried to follow the path already blazed by others decades ago.
In memory, a collection of some of theĀ Cat trucks I saw in person. I always thought I was being cheated but now that I know they sold less than 10,000 over 6Ā years I figure I saw a good portion!
Construction never stops in sunny Florida especially in the tourist centric hub that is Orlando. During my recent trip to the sunshine state I found myself with some free time while my wife enjoyed a few hours at a spa. To keep myself busy I did what any sane person would do, watch construction. Early in the day I had noticed the unmistakable boom of a concrete pumper at a job site within walking distance of my hotel. I wandered over to have a look not expecting to see much. If you’ve ever been to Disney you know the construction fences are very tall and explicitly designed to hide everything from view. Thankfully this was not Disney property and only a rinky dink chain link fence stood between me and the action.
I watched as truck afterĀ truckĀ from Cemex rolled in the Buena Vista Palace Hotel and Spa with concrete for their new swimming pool complex. It wasn’t uncommon to have 7 or 8 trucks scattered around the site at any one moment. Impressive for a small town rube like myself!
Bright sun, 70 degrees, unrestricted views. It was almost too easy.
I spent some time the other day watching the movie classic Over The Top staring Sylvester Stallone. To be fair calling this movie a classic is a bit of stretch and if I want to be brutally honest (which I have to be) the movie would be unwatchable if not for the trucks. Like so many other movies in which trucks play a major supporting roll, events would have been so much better if there was less shots of actors and more shots of the trucks. Cut back on the cheesy music montages as well and let those diesel engines breathe!
For those unfamiliar with Over The Top here is the basic premise. Stallone plays a simple but hard working trucker (Lincoln Hawk) who is estranged from his wife and young sonĀ due to a rich and overbearing grandfather played by the wonderful character actor Robert Loggia. Events conspire to force the father and sonĀ togetherĀ during a journey to Las VegasĀ in the hopes of winning a world championship arm wrestling tournament. The grand prize? The love of a son and the admiration of limb warriors across the land. Oh yeah, and a 1987 White WIM 64T.
I bring all this up because right now on eBay you have the chance to own one of the two trucks purposely built for this movie. That’s right, you can now be Lincoln Hawk and arm wrestling your way across this great land of ours.
By the time this story is published there will be a little under one day left to bid on this movie marvel. Bidding has already reached a dizzying sum of 35,000 dollars with a reserve still yet to be met. The seller tells us this truck comes with a Detroit 8V92 producing 435 horsepower. The engine has been completely rebuilt with an odometer showing just over 291,000 miles. Everything runs good and works as should. The double bunk contains a sink, refrigerator and shower. Styling! It’s always hard to tell if a certain vehicle was actually used in a movie or tv show but based on the interest and current price people must believe this is the real deal. So what about that second truck? A little digging across the web reveals that it showed up at a Mecum auction in the fallĀ of 2012. Pictures of this rig are more flattering as it basks in the California sun.
This truck seems to be more representative of the rigĀ shown in the many background shots of the arm wrestling tournament. No details on the engine but Mecum does tell us this one has an automatic. Hmmmm. Also, looking at some the Mecum photos reveals a refrigerated trailer in the background that matches the paint scheme on this truck. Original or not it certainly was not in the movie but would look great after a repaint. The hammer dropped on this truck for a mere 15,500 leaving it unsold. Now if you’ve seen the movie you may be wondering about the other diesel star, a 1965 Autocar A64B. There is a long back story about that truck or should I say trucks. However, that is a story for another day. *cough*autocar mondays.
I don’t pay much attention to buses of any size, shape or color.Ā They just don’t light up my brain like a good heavy duty vocational truck or OTR tractor trailer. My preferences change when I find myself visiting Walt Disney World every few years. Suddenly I enjoy looking at buses. I enjoy riding buses. I enjoy filming buses. When in Disney do as the Disneyians do. Now we’ve seen Disney bus footage on this site before so I decided to do something a little different this time around.
The transportation system at the Walt Disney World Resort is massive and varied with passenger options including bus, monorail, and boat. During my most recent stay I attempted to film a little bit of everything with footage from the four theme parks and many of the larger hotels. Some of the modes are designed for the most efficient movement of large groupsĀ like the bus. The most common of transport options, the Disney Transport buses run from every Disney Resort (over 30 properties) to all four theme parks, two water parks and one massive entertainment district now know as Disney Springs. During the start of my trip I had the crazy idea to film every model and paint scheme the buses come in. I quickly became overwhelmed and or lazy and ended up settling for what drove my stop. Below you see the older Disney Transport paint scheme but buses also come in an all white paint job with simulated red fenders or a newer grayish color with red stripes. There are evenĀ articulated buses of which I never got around to catching. Gotta leave something for a return trip right?
Before leaving for my vacation I had alreadyĀ begun to mentally picture one of my “white whale” vehicles, the elusive Disney Transportation Engineering service trucks. I’m not sure why this truck was hard for me to find on previous trips as I saw it at least half a dozen times during my stay this time.
Sadly I didn’t see a single Nova RTS bus anywhere, not hiding behind the scenes or way off in a back parking lot used as crew rest stop, gone, all gone. Secretly I knew the last time I was on property would be the last time I would ever glimpseĀ these ancient relics but a part of me didn’t want to let go. They were they first buses encountered during a few of my first trips to Walt Disney World. I’m sorry to see them go but you can’t live in the past so here is the new generation.
I know Minnesota has the tag line of The Land of a 1000 Lakes but I’m pretty sure Florida has just as many if not more. Many are man made products to help with flood control and run off while others were constructed for the aesthetic qualities. The Seven Seas Lagoon is one such body of water and borders the entrance to the Magic Kingdom theme park. Several of Disney’s larger and more expensive hotels are also situated on the shore of this lake making water transport a viable and quick option of travel. Boats of various sizes and shapes can been see daily on the lagoon from massive steam powered paddle boats carrying hundreds of visitors in one trip to the many smaller resort connected water taxis. Here we see one of the smaller boats that typically run between hotels such as theĀ Wilderness Lodge, the Contemporary, and the Grand Floridian.
Larger boats run between other resorts on other bodies of water and canals. A few are seen below. The low and long boat seen in the gallery below has thrusters that allow it turn on a dime. It’s almost a ride in itself!
Monorail!Ā It’s not just for North Haverbrook anymore! Perhaps of all the Disney Transport choices the monorail is the most iconic and popular of all. Gliding as softly as a cloud monorails offer service to all the hotels around the Seven Seas Lagoon along with the themes parks of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The views offered by the Epcot monorails are some of the best you will find as the train actually enters the parks and makes a loop before arriving at the station.
Anyone who has ever traveled on the monorail will be familiar with this Spanish phrase.Ā Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas. When you hear it you know you’ve arrived. It even comes on a t-shirt which I bought, washed, and promptly shrank to a size no longer wearable by a human adult.
Now the video, all 9+ minutes of it. As a rule I tend to avoid making long videos for YouTube as the attention span of the modern world simply isn’t there so let me drop some highlights to keep you interested. As expected there is plenty of bus footage and while some of it is boring to non bus folks keep an eye out for some unique shots. I particularly like the night time pan of the massive Magic Kingdom bus stops from the 14th floor of the nearby Bay Lake tower. I mentioned before that the monorail provides service to many hotels, one of which it drives right through, keep an eye out for that one. Amphicars were a quirky design of the 1960’s that tried to combine a car and boat into magic vehicle. They sold in small batches for a number of years before fading into obscurity. Disney now has a small fleet of these boats providing cruises around one of their lakes. From what I saw each boat has been restored to pristine condition. You’ll also see still shots of more unique ridesĀ like the Animal Kingdom Safari trucks and an authentic steam train. It might seem like a lot because it is! That’s what you get at Disney, you can’t see it all in one trip. Believe it or not I didn’t grab any video the parking lot trams, paddle wheelers or articulated buses. Like I said before, gotta leave something for Volume II š
Here is a little gem from the 2010 Washington (NY) County Fair featuring two classic Autocar trucks pulling a sled down down a dirt track. As for the ages and exact models I can only speculate but I can tell you that on the day of the races both trucks were still working daily for a living. That’s right, play on Sunday, work on Monday. I went back to my original footage of the show hoping to learn more specific details of the trucks as I remember the announcer always having something to say about the drivers or the rigs. Sadly he was quiet on these two classics.
If you would like to see more from the Washington County Fair click on this link to see an International M-Series plow pulling for all its worth along with a Continental gas powered Brockway fuel tanker. To see even more including my favorite V12 powered Kenworth click on the VideosĀ link located near the top of the page. Once you make it to Youtube search for Washington and let the internetĀ do the driving.
If you plan on watching the Daytona 500 today keep your eyes peeled for a fleet of Mack trucks near the infield. Mack has been named the official hauler of NASCAR, earning a multi year contract with America’s most favorite Motorsports brand. The trucks are powered by a 5o5 horsepower 13-liter MP8 Mack engine connected to a Mack Mdrive transmission. Both set forward and set back axle Pinnacles comprise the fleet. For the inaugural season I think all twelve truck should make a lap or two around the track. Don’t you agree?
For more info visit the Mack Trucks website by clicking here.
