Rust free is the way to be! This Autocar ACL from the City of Utica is looking pretty good all things considered. Despite the extended frame rails and quick hood access panels I don’t see an signs of plow equipment so I guess this truck takes the winters off. Maybe it was spec’d to be a plow but the dream never came true. How sad.
Continuing the proud tradition of Autocar trucks used in the refuse industry is this ACL of Roberts Construction. Worn but working. Nothing wrong with that.
Time to start the year off right at Daily Diesel Dose….by looking at trucks from an auction that took place in October! I kept putting these shots on the back burner for one reason or another until so much time had passed I almost thought it was too late for prime time. Then I realized it doesn’t really matter and I did promise continuing coverage of this event so here we go!
We saw some of the other plows from this sale in the forms of a giant military spec Oshkosh WT2206 and a former NYSDOT International 2574. As cool as those trucks are they were not the only rigs up for bid that day. There was this nice looking 2000 Volvo WG42 from the Town of Cato, NY. All you had to do was to bid, win, plow.
Parked next to the Cato truck was a fairly large Autocar from the Town of Homer, NY. Moderate rust was to be found along with a 1420-3B Spincer transmission that provide all the low range gearing you could ever want. Further down the line was a nice looking 1996 single axle 2574 from the Town of Lysander, NY. Well, it was nice if you could look past the rust. In some places it was possible to look through the rust. Also in the gallery are a pair Volvo’s from parts unknown.
Along with the plows there was an eclectic mix of other equipment like this old sweeper.
Some random notes about the gallery seen below. I never knew there was money to made in sawdust delievery. The stank eminating from the cab of the Ford tanker made me dizzy. Long live the S-Series. The Ford box truck was in decent shape but gas powered so forget about it. I lift things up and put them down. Pretty sure this truck was at the auction last year but returned again this time with some fancy LED’s and more bondo. Random International 4000’s series love. A Mack R-Model with over 800,000 miles on the odometer.
A few months back my dad pointed out this crew cab F-800 dump truck for sale in the Westside of Syracuse. When we stopped to take a closer look it was evident that the truck had been painted a few times since leaving the factory. Underneath the flaking black paint the previous layer of red was straining to make a comeback. Peering through the windows yet another color could be found in the hue of a bright yellow. Most likely the original complexion, this yellow spoke to the past life of the truck and uncovered a long forgotten mental note to investigate a similar vehicle nearby.
Travelling to the Eastwood section of the city found yet another road crew limo. While any outwards clues have been long removed from the westside truck this particular Ford hasn’t received the same treatment. Clearly this one is a former Onondaga County DOT rig. You can still make out the hastily covered logo on the door.
Shortly after finding these trucks a conversation developed on Flickr regarding the whereabouts of such rigs during which it was revealed the trucks to be from the 1989 model year. Now that the Fords have been found we need to find those Brockways!
Yesterday, as I so often do, I passed by the Town of Dewitt Highway Department garage and immediately noticed that some house cleaning had taken place near the back forty. The graders and industrial forklifts are now gone leaving a much cleaner view of the snow thrower in question from a few weeks back.
It’s clear to see now that the rig is an Oshkosh of a very old vintage. Defintatley mid 50’s oare earlier. Please let me know if I’m completely wrong on either the age or make. My feelings won’t be hurt. I promise. Regarding the other equipment the two graders have been moved closer to the salt shed while the forklift remains to be seen. Possible auction items in the near future? If so, my religious visits to Auctions International will certainly pay off.
What is it about beat up Autocars that I find so appealing? I guess they just wear the damage so well. Seth shares with us this wrecker from the Newark DPW who like most municipalities along the east coast was a large user of Autocar trucks. This classic still sees action from time to time according to Seth. It’s a fantastic catch! Make sure you stop by his website x635photos.com for more great shots.
Would you like to help Autocar Mondays stay a regular occurrence? Email Me any photos or videos that you have!
If it’s not broke…don’t replace it it! I couldn’t believe it when I saw the photos below. The City of Utica, NY still has four FWD plow trucks in active service. Four! Long live the old iron. Maybe a decade ago this discovery wouldn’t have been such a big deal but now a days you don’t just don’t find these rigs in large numbers or on the front lines. Sad but true.
These FWD’s have probably seen more than their fare share of newer trucks come and go. They now share the stable with a mixed bag of International and Mack plows trucks and probably a few other makes.
I know some of you probably saw those Macks in the background and started to drool. Don’t worry, here is one in all of its glory.
These photos come to us courtesy of Ryan. More to come!
Ryan returned to his ancestral homelands last week for the holidays and didn’t waste anytime getting back to his old tricks of shooting plows. Check out this Mack RM of Deerfield, NY.
Looks good right? Can you believe it’s still wearing the original paint? That’s what preventive maintenance can do for your trucks people.
New heavy equipment is expensive. Very expensive. If you find an older piece that can still pull its own weight you hold on to it. Sure, the hydraulics may not cycle as quickly as a newer machine and there certainly isn’t a computer screen to be found anywhere in the cab but getting the job done is the most important task. Here is a Ford 755 still doing site work at a new housing development. Based on the front tires 4×4 power could be an option on this old backhoe.
Here we have a pair of John Deere 544 wheel loaders. These two machines are currently stationed at a local shopping center. Sometimes they sport plow blades while other times they run just buckets. I hope to grab some operational footage of these two before the winter is done. These 544s bare the company logo of Seneca Pipe which we’ve seen before on this site in the form of some old International and Ford dump trucks.
Looks like the JD544 is a popular machine among the mall crowd. Zack sent me this photo the other day of a one clearing snow at shopping center in Connecticut.
Buildings are tumbling down all around the City of Syracuse this week. Merry Christmas to me! I mentioned yesterday that one of these demolition jobs is setting the stage for a new building while the other is simply tearing down a derelict structure. I had to make a choice of which one to visit yesterday so I went with the new construction site. Work is moving along at a relaxed pace with crews keeping the site clear of debris one dump truck load at a time. The process appears to be simple. Peel one segment of roof apart, load into truck, bring down steel support frames. Repeat if necessary.
I snapped a few photos of the J.K. Tobin Hitachi excavator at work during some of these steps. It was a rainy and windy day so I had to keep stopping to clean and dry my camera lens.
Is there video you ask? Of course! Here is a selection of the days events starting off with some loading of rubble followed by some light demo work. It’s amazing how effortlessly the excavator can bend the steel beams. The power of hydraulics! I was hoping to see one of the main trusses come down in one piece but it never happened. Oh well. Maybe I’ll get lucky tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, seeing as this future building is so close to my own job I hope to have many more months of footage documenting the entire process. I’m already looking to 2015 and Christmas hasn’t even come and gone yet.
I’ve been attempting to catch the demolition job seen below for well over two months now. Once the site of a very forgettable one story warehouse type building a new student housing complex is set to rise from the rubble. The original design called for used shipping containers to make up the core of the building, a plan that has since been abandoned in favor of traditional construction methods.
Feast or famine seems to be the story around here and I now find myself having to choose between two demolition jobs. Just last week an abandoned building partially collapsed in the Armory Square area of the city. As fate would have it both jobs started on the same day and reside on opposite sides of downtown. Seeing as I can only be in two place at once I started off with the building collapse mostly because I had no idea the other demo was underway.
I hope to have more coverage of both jobs to share with you tomorrow but until then enjoy some of the footage below. Just like a summer block buster it has been edited down to just the most action packed scenes.
