Today we are taking a look at the Western Star trucks depth chart starting with the “lightest” truck in the lineup, the 4700. This one belongs to Paragon Environmental Construction and comes equipped with a rather intense looking Vac setup.
The second truck is a 4900 SB with a J&J dump bed that will soon find a home with the Oswego County Highway Department. I spotted this truck back in November so most likely it is already at home with its new owner. The 4900 model has a variety of looks depending on the axle configuration. In the set back setup (below) the hood is more round with modern curves while the other axles configs come with the traditional look of long square hoods.
Cranes have been spotted over Buffalo folks. Perhaps there is some economic hope after all. Dan has yet another great photo series of one such monster being erected at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. I can speak from experience that squeezing a crane like this one into frame is no small task but Dan was able to pull it off. Really great work here. Rumor has it that there are three other such units in the Buffalo area. More to come? I hope so!
Fire Truck Friday never really took off around here but I know more than a few of you enjoy them (as do I) so here two for your approval.
In 2009 I came across this old Seagrave fire engine that once belonged to the Solvay Fire Department. At the time of this photo it was located near a rear parking lot of the NYS Fair Grounds. I believe the Syracuse Nationals were taking place so once again I was outside the actual event taking photos of derelict equipment. The unusual white color and old style rotating beacon emergency lights caught my attention.
I’m not sure if The Trooper every found a new home. It looks to be all there and rather solid.
Moving back to more modern times here is Engine 1 of the Syracuse Fire Department. At the time of the photo it was responding to some sort of motor vehicle accident. Two cars were facing the wrong direction respective to their side of the street when I walked by. I didn’t notice any damage to either of the two but someone was being strapped to a rescue board so I guess it was worse than it looked.
I know, the title of the post sounds like something you would find in the “personals” section of Craigslist but keep an open mind for a moment. I think it is safe to assume that many of us enjoy truck related television programing and I think we can all agree we need more quality shows relating to the industry. With reality TV still being the hottest thing on the screen cable networks continue to scour the working world for the next hit. Will it be a series following moose poop collectors in the frozen north? Or maybe the zany exploits of a tuxedo wearing garbage man? Right now the sights are set on trucking couples. Check out this casting note I received the other day. Click to enlarge.
Question: How can you tell when you have finished building a sufficiently large and all together bad ass truck?
Answer: When the truck is too large to fit through your factory door.
The builders of Pacific Trucks figured this formula out in 1995 when they put the finishing touches on the very last rig to roll out of their shops. Thankfully someone had the presence of mind to film the truck, a P12W3 model, emerging from the shop and the subsequent test run around the neighborhood. It is nothing short of amazing to see it running down regular streets as pedestrians stop and stare. Near the end of the video you even get to jump in the pristine cab for one of the shake down runs. The only thing missing is that new truck smell!
Weighing in at 28 tons the final Pacific was destined to be a 100 ton ore hauler. I couldn’t find any information regarding the current status of this truck but given the overbuilt nature of these trucks it wouldn’t be surprised if it was still running the haul roads of an open pit mine near you. To give you an idea of how the truck may have looked when upfitted click here to see a mid 80’s version in a similar setup or you can watch this video.
Anyone know what type of advantage a P12 would have over a more contemporary style of haul truck?
Also available on YouTube is more footage of this truck during assembly. Watch as it transforms from a pile of random parts into a massive machine. Click here for Part 1 and Part 2, and finally the truck loading up for the start of its working life by clicking here.
To further bolster my claims that Pacific Trucks are still out there earning their keep here is video evidence that Big Foot and UFO believers could only dream of!
While poking around the web looking for more information relating to this post I came across mention of road trains for South African Railways that utilized massive 600HP Pacific Trucks. Naturally my interest was piqued. Thankfully photos of these impressive trucks also exist. Click here for a nice gallery.
For those of you who do not know and those that forgot the 2009 ATCA classic truck show in Macungie, PA was a real wet one. Heavy rains soaked the show field the entire weekend resulting in more than a few stuck trucks. Despite the poor weather more than a few brave souls brought their vintage rides out for display. One of those trucks was this perfectly restored Autocar.
As far as details, I have none but stay tuned as I am chasing down the facts. Until then, video!
By this time most of the Northeast has recovered from winter storm Hercules. Here in Central New York we received around 6 to 8 inches of snow. Of course some locations that have a permanent snow cloud tethered above their homes for the entire course of winter saw a few more feet. You know who you are. Despite all the snow I didn’t come across much action to share with you all. Mother nature was polite enough to wait for the holidays to be end before letting loose. This means I was back at work so I could only stare out the window and wonder about what could have been. Of course this spared the snow plow crews and their families so I guess it’s a good trade off.
So here is the one storm related show I grabbed of Syracuse DPW truck 260 was waiting for me as I left the office. Hero of the day!
Thankfully Andy was quick on the ball when it came to grabbing a shot of this Oshkosh brine truck for the NYSDOT. While speaking of road treatments there is an interesting video here about the various materials used to keep roads free of ice. Everything from molasses to cheese to beet juice is being poured on the streets today.
Also found in the gallery below is truck 262 (Syracuse DPW) as it sat at the local heavy duty spring shop prior to the storm. Gotta love that snow blasted wing. The orange Western Star 4900 belongs to the Oswego County (NY) Highway Department and was spotted at Tracey Road Equipment just the other day. It’s a nice looking setup.
So what do you think this strange looking device is for? I think it has something to do with railroad ties but I’m not entirely sure how it works. It almost looks like it would lift them up toward the cab based on the carriage near the front but that doesn’t make much sense to me.
Either way it’s a cool looking device with all sorts of hoses, tanks and other moving parts. It even looks like it has two sources of power.
It was part of a larger convoy of other strange looking equipment tasked to maintain the local rail yard. Equally confusing in appearance but all wearing the same awesome shade of green.
Usually when you see a water crew on the streets this time of the year it means a water pipe has burst and is quickly flooding the streets with ice. Nothing quite so dramatic this time as crews were just replacing a fire hydrant.
Did you know that JCB (seen below) is the the world’s third largest manufactuer of construction equipment?
Welcome to a new year! Time to start it off right by looking at photos from over a decade ago. Were always moving forward here at Daily Diesel Dose!
This first truck is a unique looking International 9670 in a quad cab format. I spotted this truck at the 2002 Syracuse Nationals. Yes, I am that guy that goes to car shows and takes pictures of the car haulers. Pro’s Pick is a company that specializes in custom pickup beds and tonneau covers and used this cool looking truck to peddle their wares. Anyone know if they still have this custom setup?
Sometimes a truck has such an outrageous paint job that no photo can do it justice. Back in 2002 Big Foot was hauled by a Ford Aeromax with just such a paint scheme. Just like the monster truck it hauled it was larger than life. Plus it had side pipes. How cool is that? You can check out some of the “modern” haulers of the various Big Foot trucks by visiting the official website here.
