 1963 scene from the yard at Sanitation Service Company of Santa Barbara, California UPDATE FOR NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 September saw the return of the CRT Video page, after a hiatus of over one year. Announced in the last update, the new site at You Tube consisted of videos posted to my personal page and open to the public. In a recent development, a new group has been formed at You Tube, moderated by Trashman242, where individuals can "pool" all of our videos at one location. The group is called Classic Refuse Trucks and will be the official location for all CRT video. Actually, individuals who have You Tube accounts will not have to change anything, or go through the tortuous uploading process again. All you have to do is join the new group and "add" your existing videos to the group, which takes only seconds. This also gives one the flexibility to upload non-refuse videos on their personal page, and transfer only the refuse-related videos to the group pool. As you upload new refuse videos to your page, simply add them to the group after they have been uploaded. This is a great step forward for the CRT family of websites, allowing us to actually watch classic (and current) refuse trucks in action. For many of us, we can now observe long-discontinued models that we thought we would never see. Personally, this was true of the twin SD Revopak factory films submitted by Jaap Mikkers which are now posted in their entirety. In another case, it was a real treat for me to once again see a 1961 Gar Wood Load-Packer in action, from a rare film sent in by Michel Ferro. These trucks were once so common in America, but have mostly vanished from our streets. The collections of Michel and Jaap make up the bulk of the 68 videos that are currently posted as of this writing, and new films are constantly being added. But there's more, including footage of contemporary trucks in action, including a "living legend" found by Bill Tetreault; Signal Hill Disposal's classic 1989 Bowles front loader, in all its glory, still on the job in southern California! Or, how about Amrep and Maxon bodies, two makes seldom seen outside of the western United States? Or video clips of classic refuse trucks in films (linked to the CRT Films page)? They're all here, and are far too numerous to list. Additionally, I will be adding direct links from various pages within CRT as pertinent videos become available on the CRT video site. This will be a running change over the next few months. REFUSE TRUCKS ON FILM While we're on the subject, there area bunch of new titles which have been submitted to the CRT Films Page in this edition. Also, I have updated the page with direct links to each films respective video clip, wherever available. When submitting titles for the list, please try to obtain as much information as possible (such as the year, episode title, etc.) since many times, several movies may share the same names. The latest additions to the list will feature a "New" icon preceding the title. The list is getting very long, and I plan to reorganize it in a more logical fashion in the near future. CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS One of my favorite sites is Brian Carpenter's Unofficial Shelvoke & Drewry Website. As many of you probably know by now, Brian has changed the site URL to a worldwide web address which is: http://www.shelvoke-drewry.co.uk/ I have changed over all current links within this website to point to the new address. INDUSTRY NEWS; LABRIE PURCHASES LEACH Federal Signal Corporation, which had recently purchased famous refuse truck maker Leach, has sold that company to Quebec-based Labrie Environmental. Federal Signal made the news in 2004-2005 when they closed the Leach factory in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and consolidated operations with their Wittke division in Alberta. Tim Salentine, who is Parts and Service Manager for Labrie USA, recently contacted CRT with the details. Tim writes: "Federal Signal sold the Leach refuse product line to Labrie, closing the deal on August 4. Labrie purchased all Leach domestic designs and the USA based customer service center located in Appleton, Wisconsin (of which I am part). They did not purchase the manufacturing facility in Medicine Hat, Alberta; that was closed by Federal Signal on August 4 as well. Federal Signal did retain a joint venture that Leach pioneered with the Chinese government to produce small rear loaders in Shanghai; this is now the Federal Signal Refuse Division. The bodies are based on the HEW rear loader out of Denmark; the Asia and USA rights to this design were purchased from HEW by Federal Signal in 2004. FYI, I attached a photo of the HEW next to an Alpha-III that I took when I attended the Asian version of Waste Expo in Shanghai in '04 (note the Leach tag on the small truck). 
Although we planned on developing a domestic version for North America, that was dropped when Federal Signal closed the original Leach Oshkosh plant in 2005. Labrie is going to produce the Leach 2R-III and Alpha-III curved shell rear loaders starting at the end of this year, at their facility in Quebec. The Wittke name will be re-introduced in mid-late 2007 for the front loader line, also manufactured in Quebec. The current Labrie side loader lineup will remain intact. Although the Leach and Wittke companies are gone, their brand names and designs will be used. The customer service center will continue operations in Appleton, Wisconsin, expanding to cover all of Labrie's products. Federal Signal is continuing to provide parts support for Leach/Wittke until the end of 2006 through their portal, FS Depot. At the end of the year, the parts will most likely be integrated with Appleton operations under Labrie management." Many thanks to Tim for bringing us up to date on this major development. I believe this is a good turn for Leach in that Labrie is company specializing in refuse equipment, as opposed to conglomerate Federal Signal. Moving production to Quebec from Alberta would also seem to make the product line more competitive in the northeastern U.S. market, an area with a long tradition of loyalty to the 2R Packmaster. MORE INDUSTRY NEWS: E-Z PACK AGAIN CHANGES HANDS E-Z Pack Holdings, LLC, a division of Colorado-based Republic Financial Services has acquired E-Z Pack from the troubled Clean Earth Environmental, according to a July 31 press release. The new owners plan to continue production of refuse equipment at the Cynthiana, Kentucky plant. Clean Earth had only recently purchased E-Z pack from McClain Industries in 2003. COLLECTORS CORNER This month, the 6th edition of CRT Collectors Corner. features a new model from Granite State Collectibles, a very nice Mack roll-off with various containers/attachments. Also, we once again visit the fantastic collection of Michel Ferro, with a look at his newly re-organized library/display area.  Though not shown in the Collectors Corner, it is worth mentioning that First Gear Models will be introducing a new model (with an expected delivery date of February, 2007) of a Heil ASL, which joins their existing die cast refuse truck line. Credit for the advance scoop goes to CRT member gtpmike81, who also posted some excellent photos of modified First Gear models in an album in CRT Members Area at MSN groups.
 Your CRT editor has also recently seen a new edition of the Conrad 1/50 scale Leach 2R-II on ebay. I don't know for sure if they are authentic, but it sits atop a new International 7000 chassis in Waste Management colors. It is an excellent, realistic truck and body combination, though at this late date they should start casting a curved-shell 2R-III edition ! Eric Voytko, November 5, 2006 Click here to return to the CRT Archives All Rights Reserved Logos shown are the trademarks of respective manufacturers Photos from factory brochures/trade advertisements except as noted |