12/01/2001

It is here in Newport and is " in service".  Thanks for following along and please stop by Station One and see our new truck.

Engine 13 Status

Thursday October 11th, the inspection crew arrived in Shawano, Wisconsin to do the acceptance testing on the new truck.  It is an American LaFrance Eagle Series Pumper and was built to Newport Fire Departments specifications.  It is powered by a 430-hp Detroit diesel and is fitted with a 1500 gpm fire pump.

Monday, 10/15/01.  Engine 13 is scheduled to leave the great cheese state, eh. 

Hydraulic ladder rack Officers side of the cab sectionTodd inspecting the cab section Detroit Series 60 Diesel (430+ HP) 

Here are some pictures of the truck in the finishing bays at the factory.   This is the plant that outfits the truck with all of the trim and compartments.  Fabrication of the body and mating to the chassis is accomplished at another location, across the street.

Todd Butterfield on the test drive

Newport Engineer Todd Butterfield on the initial road test.

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These are a little older and show the cab and the body during the fabrication process.

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Howdy from Cheese Country, eh.

We are in Minneapolis for the night, got out of Shawano at 3:30PM.    Things are going well.  We just passed 500 miles on the truck and it drives well.  There were 272 miles on it when we picked it up.  Here are some pictures that we took just before we left.

--Ron

10/16/2001

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Another action packed day on the road.  We are in Rapid City, South Dakota for the night having driven from Minneapolis.  The truck is running great and getting almost 9 mpg.  This is good since we were told that 5 mpg was average and 6 was terrific.  Found out where the "Low Fuel" light comes on. Off to Mt. Rushmore in the morning and then up through Montana and into Idaho and Spokane tomorrow. 

We have an official mascot.  A small black cat has been affixed to the map light....we call it Mr. Kitty.

One of these pictures was taken at Newport Fire Department in Minnesota.  Couldn't help it.  The others are from the Lewis and Clark overlook of the Missouri River about Fort Pierre,  South Dakota.  One is of Todd checking the oil (38 quarts).  See you Thursday.

--Ron and Todd

10/17/01

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G'day all.  Made it to Butte, Montana today.  The engine got to climb some hills and start into the Rockies.  Crossed the Continental Divide at 6393 feet and worked the Jake Brake down the hill.  We had been carrying the full load of water, so we stopped and shot the master stream out into the woods to lighten the load.  Todd commented that it was so easy to put it into pump gear and configure it that he thought for a minute that he had done something wrong.
 
Cold this evening on the way in.  Down to 31F.  The sunset was absolutely beautiful over the Beartooth mountains.  Video will likely not turn out because of all of the bugs on the windshield.
 
Montana, Idaho, Washington and then Oregon tomorrow.  See you soon.
 
--Ron and Todd

10/18/01

 

Good evening all.  We left Butte, Montana this morning at 8 AM and made it to Hayden Island just before 10 PM.  Long day but the truck is waiting to be dropped off tomorrow.  We are staying across the street from American-LaFrance NW and will see them in the morning.  We have the check so they bring the donuts.

 
No new pictures tonight.  Too busy driving.  We did get some video for later......
 
night
 
--Ron

10/29/01

The engine is scheduled to be delivered to Newport Fire on Tuesday, October 30th.  Unknown what time it will arrive, but it's 3 hours from Portland......

 

--Ron