Western Star 4800SF – Town of Pompey

Do you know this truck yet? It’s the Western Star 4800 6×6 for the Town of Pompey, NY. I first noticed it on the dealer lot October 19th, 2013. Back then it was just a bare chassis. The next major development in its life cycle came when the Hi-Way Do-Al body was installed sometime around March of this year. And now, thanks to my wife stopping by the dealership, we have the finished project. *trumpet sound*

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At least six months and counting to get to the stage but it was worth it! Right? Eagle eyed visitors may notice one slight changed on this truck from March photos and this photo from two days ago.

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The bumper has been painted black from the factory color of white. That’s it as far as I can tell. The case of the Western Star 4800 for the Town of Pompey is now closed. Hope you enjoyed the coverage.

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Smile, You’ll live longer.

By now we all know I take pictures of trucks and equipment that the majority of people simply don’t care about or even notice. I’ve received puzzled looks from passerby’s as I shoot video of road construction or snow plowing but usually the most confused looks come from the operators of these vehicles. I really don’t blame them. In this modern age there is always someone looking to catch “lazy” government workers or document something unsafe or dangerous for a future lawsuit. I try to be discrete when I take my photos and keep any faces out of the shots whenever possible. Most of the time my work goes unnoticed while other times I get caught in the act. At most I get a head nod and wave. At worst the stare of confusion.

I’ve had my eye out for a city garbage truck for awhile now. They have a sizable fleet of International 2674’s(?) that are growing older by the minute so I’ve been eager to document one. By using the word document it makes my hobby seem as a civic service. It’s all about the wording. Living just outside of the city so I usually don’t cross paths with these rigs so I knew fortune was smiling on me when I caught one the other day during my lunch time walk. I grabbed my camera, waited for the truck to enter the frame, took a shot, waited for it to show on the screen and then looked up to watch the truck grind down the street. To my pleasant surprise I was greeted with the smiling face, waving, thumbs uping worker you see below. I waved back and then the interaction was over but it made my afternoon. I don’t know anything about the guy but I assume he enjoys his job and was happy to see someone take notice of him and his truck for other than the dirty stinking mess it is.

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Trash on Mr. Garbage Truck man. Trash on.

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Uuuuggghhhh

Let’s be honest, we all thought winter was over. Technically it has been spring for weeks now but winter refuses to leave. Waking up to an inch or two of snow on the ground was more depressing than I thought it could be and this is coming from someone who enjoys winter. Oh well, at least it gives me a reason to share more plow photos.

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Jason sent me this photo of a Case 2600 Traction King used to plow a shopping center parking lot in Fort Wayne, Indiana. With 4WD this beast probably doesn’t encounter much it can not push.

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Produced from 1974 to 1979 over 5,000 Traction Kings rolled of the Case assembly line. Any farmer hoping to buy one of these new back in the late 70’s would have been on the hooking for over 50,000 dollars. Seems like a steal when you check out the prices of today. For all the nitty gritty details you can check out this informative page at TractorData.com

Thanks to Jason for sharing!

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Syracuse Inner Harbor Rebirth

More action is taking place in the section of Syracuse known as the Inner Harbor. You may recall that this part of town used to be known as Oil City and in the late fall I documented some of the final buildings of that industrial neighborhood as they were torn down. Click here to refresh. Most of the land in the area has now been cleared in preparation for future development pending tax incentives and political palm greasing. When did I become so political? This past Saturday I stopped by to watch as excavators picked at the carcass of a former NYS Barge Canal maintenance building. I was able to get as close to the action as dared seeing as most of this area has already be redeveloped into a public space.

Building Demolition

More action is planed for this site including the move of a fairly large warehouse from one end of the property to the other. I’m going to have to keep tabs on this one! I smell prime movers in the air. Syracuse.com has the full story of the site along with more demolition photos.

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Autocar Mondays – Lysander and Salina

Just when I thought there would be no Autocar Monday this week Joe comes to the rescue. Back in 1996 Joe attended a municipal auction at the Town of Camillus facility. It was there that he saw this 1983 DC with Do-Al spreader and a setup for one-way and right side wing plows. A Cummins NTC-300 Big Cam resided under the hood with a 5 speed main and 4 speed air shift auxiliary comprising the transmission. The Town of Lysander was the operator of this truck.

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Also at the same auction was a former truck from the Town of Salina (NY) Highway Department.

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I am happy to report that Salina trucks still rock that maroon and white color scheme. Power to push snow was supplied by a Cat 3306 paired to a 13 speed. Many years after the auction Joe found himself living in the Harrisburg, PA area when he noticed this very same truck at a local job site. I’m sure the paint job helped to tip him off. Small world to say the least!

Big thanks to Joe for coming the timely rescue. If you haven’t checked out his growing archive of truck photos over at Flickr I suggest you do. Not only does he have great photos but he has all the facts and figures that a simple picture can not convey.

Would you like to help keep Autocar Mondays alive? Send in your photos to eric@dailydieseldose.com

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New Pete’s On The Street

I gotta be honest, I like the way this Peterbilt 337 looks wearing the New England Motor Freight colors and I’m the last person on earth you would call a Pete fan. Plus I think it’s fun to sound out the acronym NEMF. This rig stands out to me as NEMF runs a large fleet of Volvo and Mack products with more than an handful of older International 8100’s still slugging it out.

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When I saw this truck parked outside of the ONCenter earlier this week it brought to my attention that the Goo Goo Dolls with special guest Run River North were in town. I was a little PO’ed that I didn’t know this until it was too late. To top it off they were performing an all acoustic set! Gotcha! I could have cared less. A brand new Peterbilt 579 for Upstaging Inc does this heavy hauling for the tour.

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*Bonus*

I liked the NEMF truck so much I followed him down the street to grab a side profile shot. Click to Enlarge.

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On the Job – Ruston Paving

I’ve featured one or two trucks of Ruston Paving on Daily Diesel Dose before but until now they have just been fragments of their vast fleet of equipment. Today I am able to provide a greater picture of the equipment they run especially when it comes to the heavy equipment side of things. This is by no means everything piece of equipment but it gives you a good idea of the outfit. If you don’t like baby blue (or maybe robin egg blue) you better close your browser window now.

These photos come to us from the rehabilitation of large shopping center parking lot. Curbs and pavement are being removed and replaced after years of neglect.

You can check out past Ruston’s action by clicking here, here, and here. If you’re still looking for more check out the historical photos of the company by clicking here. You’ll be glad you did!

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Freightliner Brothers

From the outside I’m not sure if there are any defining marks that help to determine the difference between a Freightliner Coronado and a Freightliner 122SD except for the badge. Under the hood the engine, transmission and suspension choices change with the 122SD grabbing the larger and heavier options of the two trucks.

Below is a Coronado for Fred Burrows and Son Trucking and Excavating. The pin stripping really help this rig stand out. Two years ago Ryan shared with us some great photos of Duplex plows once owned by this local company. Click here to remember.

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Here we have a 122SD in a similar blue color but much less eye catching than the Burrows’ truck. At least it’s not white in color.

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FWD Tractioneer

Why waste money on printed For Sale sign when you have a can of blue spray paint laying around the shop? Andy came across this FWD Tractioneer snow plow outside of Camillus, NY a number of years ago. He was wise enough to grab a few photos at the time. While unsure of it’s final fate it’s unlikely the truck is in the same location.

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Over the years FWD trucks utilized a number of cabs manufactured by a variety of larger truck builders. The International Comfo-Vision was a common find as well as the cab found on the Dodge C Series line of trucks.

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The bottom half of the cab is painted a flat black making it hard to tell how bad the rust infection could be but I am willing to take the leap and declare it as salvageable. How about those rims? The spokes almost look like wagon wheels. I believe this was a style exclusive to FWD trucks but I could be wrong. They must insanely heavy chucks of steel.

 

Thank to Andy for another great share!

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Autocar Mondays – Truck 100

Check this out. An Autocar DK(?) hooked to an International AWD plow truck. These two rigs comprise the coolest trucks in the Syracuse DPW fleet. This photo comes to us from an an anonymous source.

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Would you like to help keep Autocar Mondays alive? Send in your photos to eric@dailydieseldose.com

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