Classic Refuse Trucks

1970 Western Barrel-Snatcher
"The Son of Godzilla"

and Shu-Pak "Litter Pig"

Having proved the feasibility of automated collection with Godzilla, the City took delivery of a brand new, more efficient machine aptly named The Son of Godzilla. Designed by George Morrison to the city's specification, the The "Son" featured a telescopic lifting arm mounted to the front of a slightly modified Western Full-Pak front loader riding atop a Diamond Reo CF-5542 one man cab & chassis.

Truck #254 was delivered in August 1970, and is shown above grasping an 80 gallon can with its twelve foot arm. As with Godzilla, the new Barrel Snatcher proved to be more capable in the alleys than on the main roads. Despite being a factory built vehicle, it was no less troublesome initially than the patchwork Godzilla had been. The latter had to be kept in service while some serious failures were rectified, and a "cart dumper" was grafted on to Scottsdale's lone Leach Packmaster to keep collection going.

To make matters worse, Western was sold to Maxon Industries in 1970. Though they agreed to honor The City's contracts with Western, they showed little interest in any future involvement with automated loaders. Serious design issues with the Barrel Snatcher would have to solved by the City mechanics who, among other modifications, adapted a helicopter style "joystick" control to operate the arm which greatly simplified the operators job and has become an industry standard today.

The "Litter Pig" (above) arrived in September 1971, combining a side loading "backhoe" style arm with a Shu-Pack side loader, and was designed to overcome some of the problems encountered around obstacles during street collection. Again fraught with control and breakage problems, the arm was eventually discarded in favor of a side mounted version of the telescopic Barrel Snatcher arm. With this modification, the efficiency in collecting 80 gallon cans had finally been achieved and more copies of this setup were added to Shu-Pack side loaders. This particular truck is notable as having been equipped with an ejector panel, a feature not advertised as being available on the standard Shu-Pak. The City initially planned to use a transfer trailer system whereby their packer trucks would disgorge their contents into a titanic 55 foot Western rig dubbed the "Trash Hog". The system was never satisfactory, and Litter Pig was likely the only the full-eject Shu-Pak made.

Shown above left is truck #268, which was once an experimental commercial container truck designed by Marc Stragier and built by the City. It features and mid-engine mounting, and originally had a hopper and side forklift to the left of the cab. A modified packer pushed the contents into a hole cut into the packer/ejector panel of the front loader body. After unsuccessful trials, it was converted to a residential barrel snatcher, like truck #2405 just behind it.

By the late 1970's and 1980's, Scottsdale began replacing their early fleet. The City-built trucks had been expensive, and new trucks were now available fitted with automated lifts, largely due to the pioneering efforts of the Refuse Division. Of the original fleet, most were gone by 1983, and only truck #254, the first Barrel Snatcher still remains.

For more information see the Western album here at CRT.

Next: The Son of Godzilla Lives !

11/6/05