Connecticut Construction Trucks

[2stacksuperdog]

Stillman Concrete

[2stacksuperdog]

B & D Truck Service

[purepressure2004]

B & D Truck Service

What's history behind this company? I remember years ago there was B&D construction from Branford, but those trucks where green and gold.

[BKrois]

Heres some info and more vintage pix from them;

http://www.redcoachsandandstone.com/about/

[2stacksuperdog]

What's history behind this company? I remember years ago there was B&D construction from Branford, but those trucks where green and gold.

B&D trucking now gos under as Red Coach Truck Service. B&D Constructioin from North Branford was Mike Bondwell and Davis as in Davis Auctioneers. Bondwell also went under as Amber Construction

[Red Horse]

Bob- I was just thinking you might be thinking about Tomasso who was bought out by Ashland Oil of England who now go's under as Tilcon. They had a lot of B-models and DM800s too at one time.

No Matt. I know Tomasso sold out-but in the back of my mind I thought someone had told me that Suzio too had been bought by one of the big Euro outfits. Nice to know they are still family owned. Speaking of Tomasso I hauled my share of asphalt out of the Sackett Point plant-but I'm sure that is gone now.

And speaking of oldies, the other day I found a concrete slide rule calculator that was my fathers. A "freebie" from "C. W. Blakeslee & Sons, Waverly St. New Haven" Long before they sold out to Westinghouse. Even your dad probably wouldn't remember, but they had Autocar mixers with a second front axle

[2stacksuperdog]

No Matt. I know Tomasso sold out-but in the back of my mind I thought someone had told me that Suzio too had been bought by one of the big Euro outfits. Nice to know they are still family owned. Speaking of Tomasso I hauled my share of asphalt out of the Sackett Point plant-but I'm sure that is gone now.

And speaking of oldies, the other day I found a concrete slide rule calculator that was my fathers. A "freebie" from "C. W. Blakeslee & Sons, Waverly St. New Haven" Long before they sold out to Westinghouse. Even your dad probably wouldn't remember, but they had Autocar mixers with a second front axle

Tilcon still uses the Sacket Point Rd Plant all the time. You have to back the tri-axles underneath it but they still use it. Same thing with Pine Rock. As for Blakeslee he remembers when they were on Sargent Drive. He says you might know Pat Crocco, he was from Hamden and he rode his Horse all around town. He worked for C.W. Blakeslee too

[purepressure2004]

No Matt. I know Tomasso sold out-but in the back of my mind I thought someone had told me that Suzio too had been bought by one of the big Euro outfits. Nice to know they are still family owned. Speaking of Tomasso I hauled my share of asphalt out of the Sackett Point plant-but I'm sure that is gone now.

And speaking of oldies, the other day I found a concrete slide rule calculator that was my fathers. A "freebie" from "C. W. Blakeslee & Sons, Waverly St. New Haven" Long before they sold out to Westinghouse. Even your dad probably wouldn't remember, but they had Autocar mixers with a second front axle

The garage on Waverly St. used to be called the "barn". That was originally where the horse and wagons where kept 100 years ago. Mixers and dump trucks where parked on Waverly St. and all the prestress trailers and horses where kept at Pine Rock. When a good friend of mine started working there he was #136 on the seniority list. They weren't at the Sargent Drive garage for very long before they moved the trucks to another garage on Middletown Ave. then eventually Rt.139 in Branford. By then Blakeslee Prestress and Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman where totally seperate. Suzio took over the concrete and operated Pine Rock and Chapel St. for a year before unloading all the property on Pine Rock Ave. and selling the asphalt plant to Tomasso. Suzio wound up with two Riteway mixers and about six DM mixers and I think one B61. Suzio also employed most of Blakeslee's mixer drivers as well. Blakeslee now is hardly a shadow of what they once where. I don't think they ran those quad steer A car's for long because my dad or the few guys I know that worked there don't remember them. My dad was a laborer at the Chapel St. prestress plant. He said they had at least two mixers assigned every day to that plant pouring single and double Tee's.

[2stacksuperdog]

The garage on Waverly St. used to be called the "barn". That was originally where the horse and wagons where kept 100 years ago. Mixers and dump trucks where parked on Waverly St. and all the prestress trailers and horses where kept at Pine Rock. When a good friend of mine started working there he was #136 on the seniority list. They weren't at the Sargent Drive garage for very long before they moved the trucks to another garage on Middletown Ave. then eventually Rt.139 in Branford. By then Blakeslee Prestress and Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman where totally seperate. Suzio took over the concrete and operated Pine Rock and Chapel St. for a year before unloading all the property on Pine Rock Ave. and selling the asphalt plant to Tomasso. Suzio wound up with two Riteway mixers and about six DM mixers and I think one B61. Suzio also employed most of Blakeslee's mixer drivers as well. Blakeslee now is hardly a shadow of what they once where. I don't think they ran those quad steer A car's for long because my dad or the few guys I know that worked there don't remember them. My dad was a laborer at the Chapel St. prestress plant. He said they had at least two mixers assigned every day to that plant pouring single and double Tee's.

When Blakeslee was on Middletown Ave is when Vinny Arpaia and Roger Chapman bought out the Construction Division. Plunskee's has one of their old mixers which they took one steer axle out and put a wrecker body on it.

[purepressure2004]

w

When Blakeslee was on Middletown Ave is when Vinny Arpaia and Roger Chapman bought out the Construction Division. Plunskee's has one of their old mixers which they took one steer axle out and put a wrecker body on it.

I remember when I was kid Blakeslee used to plow Pratt and Whitney's North Haven plant. I remember them using at least three DM' s with plows heading over there. I think they kept a couple loaders there too.

[2stacksuperdog]

My dad was telling me when he use to fuel Pratt & Whitney they use to have 4 or 5 Heavy duty r-model tractor with plows on them that never got used.

[Red Horse]

The garage on Waverly St. used to be called the "barn". That was originally where the horse and wagons where kept 100 years ago. Mixers and dump trucks where parked on Waverly St. and all the prestress trailers and horses where kept at Pine Rock. When a good friend of mine started working there he was #136 on the seniority list. They weren't at the Sargent Drive garage for very long before they moved the trucks to another garage on Middletown Ave. then eventually Rt.139 in Branford. By then Blakeslee Prestress and Blakeslee Arpaia Chapman where totally seperate. Suzio took over the concrete and operated Pine Rock and Chapel St. for a year before unloading all the property on Pine Rock Ave. and selling the asphalt plant to Tomasso. Suzio wound up with two Riteway mixers and about six DM mixers and I think one B61. Suzio also employed most of Blakeslee's mixer drivers as well. Blakeslee now is hardly a shadow of what they once where. I don't think they ran those quad steer A car's for long because my dad or the few guys I know that worked there don't remember them. My dad was a laborer at the Chapel St. prestress plant. He said they had at least two mixers assigned every day to that plant pouring single and double Tee's.

Wow-you guys are taxing my memory. Your dad might remember the Camerota boys- Frankie ran a Hough at Pine Rock. His brother Mike-not sure what he did but I think he was there too. Their father was a supervisor there. And I think their grandfather went back to the turn of the century with Blakeslee. I think he got all the laborers right off the boat when they got here from the "old country". I also remember hauling crushed stone out of Pine Rock-but wasn't the scale house and the hoppers run by Farnum? I remember the nice old guy in the scale house- let's see if he were alive he would be about 120

The other thing I remember about Pine Rock. You guys remember Clark-Barone Ready Mix from Woodbridge? They pulled their stone out of there with a Ford F-1100 Super Duty single axle with a 10' body that was about 5' high at the boards. I was a young kid-and a Ford guy- and loved that truck-talk about an overload!

[2stacksuperdog]

What was the deal with Farnum? My dad was telling me they use to haul stone out of Tilcon NB and dump it at Pine Rock load it back on trucks and haul it down to beard. Seems to me it would be easier to just run it over the scale instead of dumping and reloading.

[BKrois]

Beard

[2stacksuperdog]

What ever happened to that tri-axle? My dad was trying to buy it from beard for years but they said it was registered just in case they needed it even though they hadn't used it for years and it was all apart.

[mackman1965]

i would love to crawl around that Suzio yard taking pictures and exploring. Are they receptive to truck people like us ?

[2stacksuperdog]

i would love to crawl around that Suzio yard taking pictures and exploring. Are they receptive to truck people like us ?

From what i know you just gotta call up there and ask and they will let you look around and take pictures. I have been meaning to get up there, I have a school break coming up so maybe i can convince my dad to take ride up there

[purepressure2004]

Wow-you guys are taxing my memory. Your dad might remember the Camerota boys- Frankie ran a Hough at Pine Rock. His brother Mike-not sure what he did but I think he was there too. Their father was a supervisor there. And I think their grandfather went back to the turn of the century with Blakeslee. I think he got all the laborers right off the boat when they got here from the "old country". I also remember hauling crushed stone out of Pine Rock-but wasn't the scale house and the hoppers run by Farnum? I remember the nice old guy in the scale house- let's see if he were alive he would be about 120

The other thing I remember about Pine Rock. You guys remember Clark-Barone Ready Mix from Woodbridge? They pulled their stone out of there with a Ford F-1100 Super Duty single axle with a 10' body that was about 5' high at the boards. I was a young kid-and a Ford guy- and loved that truck-talk about an overload!

The Camerota's where my grandmother's cousins. There was Jerry who was at one time VP of Blakeslee. Jackie who was President of the Operating Engineers. Mike and Frank where his sons. I was told Jerry wanted to buy the ready mix side of things after Westinghouse took over. I think he wasn't going to have the cash flow to buy a fleet and aggregates, so it never worked out for him. In the early seventies Foxon leased or rented the Chapel St. plant in order to complete the Rt. 40 connector. Clark and Barone was bought out by Len-Crete. The plant in Westville or Woodbridge was closed and everything was moved to Leonard's Mather St. yard in Hamden. I think one of the Barone's stayed on with Leonard as a salesman for awhile. I remember Leonard Pipe manufactured so much pipe, they rented empty lots up and down Dixwell Ave. to stage pipe before it was shipped.They actually had two sales offices.One in NYC and the other north of Albany.

[2stacksuperdog]

The Camerota's where my grandmother's cousins. There was Jerry who was at one time VP of Blakeslee. Jackie who was President of the Operating Engineers. Mike and Frank where his sons. I was told Jerry wanted to buy the ready mix side of things after Westinghouse took over. I think he wasn't going to have the cash flow to buy a fleet and aggregates, so it never worked out for him. In the early seventies Foxon leased or rented the Chapel St. plant in order to complete the Rt. 40 connector. Clark and Barone was bought out by Len-Crete. The plant in Westville or Woodbridge was closed and everything was moved to Leonard's Mather St. yard in Hamden. I think one of the Barone's stayed on with Leonard as a salesman for awhile. I remember Leonard Pipe manufactured so much pipe, they rented empty lots up and down Dixwell Ave. to stage pipe before it was shipped.They actually had two sales offices.One in NYC and the other north of Albany.

Are they related to the Camerota Construction of North Branford

[purepressure2004]

What ever happened to that tri-axle? My dad was trying to buy it from beard for years but they said it was registered just in case they needed it even though they hadn't used it for years and it was all apart.

Im pretty sure Mallico construction from Milford bought it over the summer. They ran it for a little while and didn't like it's lack of power. They're used to 5 & 600 hp Pete's. They might have already unloaded it to some overseas broker in Jersey. I hope they still have it, but I have my doubts. Would be a damned shame if they did indeed sell it.

[purepressure2004]

Are they related to the Camerota Construction of North Branford

I don't think so. When my grandmother passed Jackie was the only one from that part of the family who showed up. They do have a big family though.

[2stacksuperdog]

Im pretty sure Mallico construction from Milford bought it over the summer. They ran it for a little while and didn't like it's lack of power. They're used to 5 & 600 hp Pete's. They might have already unloaded it to some overseas broker in Jersey. I hope they still have it, but I have my doubts. Would be a damned shame if they did indeed sell it.

That truck had no miles on it and was in relatively good shape. My dad kept asking Beard if he would sell it but he said they might need it and would call us if they would sell it but they never called so.

[purepressure2004]

That truck had no miles on it and was in relatively good shape. My dad kept asking Beard if he would sell it but he said they might need it and would call us if they would sell it but they never called so.

I'll ask my buddy tomorrow to see what's up with it, and I'll let you know what the fate was or is.

[Red Horse]

What was the deal with Farnum? My dad was telling me they use to haul stone out of Tilcon NB and dump it at Pine Rock load it back on trucks and haul it down to beard. Seems to me it would be easier to just run it over the scale instead of dumping and reloading.

Matt, I was talking to a cousin of mine today and mentioned this. He said that apparently Tilcon got in some sort of legal hassle with an aquisition and was forced to provide Pine Rock with material. In essence he confirmed just what your dad said. He did not have an explanation of just what the relationship was between Farnum and Blakeslee. I can remember though that I was never loaded by Blakeslee -it was always under the hopper for straight stone or by Farnums loader for process.

The Camerota's where my grandmother's cousins. There was Jerry who was at one time VP of Blakeslee. Jackie who was President of the Operating Engineers. Mike and Frank where his sons. I was told Jerry wanted to buy the ready mix side of things after Westinghouse took over. I think he wasn't going to have the cash flow to buy a fleet and aggregates, so it never worked out for him. In the early seventies Foxon leased or rented the Chapel St. plant in order to complete the Rt. 40 connector. Clark and Barone was bought out by Len-Crete. The plant in Westville or Woodbridge was closed and everything was moved to Leonard's Mather St. yard in Hamden. I think one of the Barone's stayed on with Leonard as a salesman for awhile. I remember Leonard Pipe manufactured so much pipe, they rented empty lots up and down Dixwell Ave. to stage pipe before it was shipped.They actually had two sales offices.One in NYC and the other north of Albany.

Wow-talk about small world. Didn't Mike and Frankie start or buy a sand and gravel operation somewhere on the shore-Madison or Guilford? They were into drag racing too. I remember Mike graduated from the Univ. of Idaho with a degree in biology or game management or something like that. Anyway he didn't do anything that summer except work on Frankie's new 63 1/2 Galaxie with a 427, dual quads. the authentic drag package with fiberglass nose, lightweight seats, floor mats etc. They took the car home from Bradford Motors, pulled the motor and shipped it to Holman Moody and then spent every Sunday at the strip. We came back from Dover in NY one Sunday night and Monday when Mike got up to work on the car, discovered someone had come into the yard and stole the two four barrels off it during the night. I went back to school in Sept. and they ended up selling the car-talk about pissing a lot of money away! Much more expensive then fooling around with old Macks

[2stacksuperdog]

Matt, I was talking to a cousin of mine today and mentioned this. He said that apparently Tilcon got in some sort of legal hassle with an aquisition and was forced to provide Pine Rock with material. In essence he confirmed just what your dad said. He did not have an explanation of just what the relationship was between Farnum and Blakeslee. I can remember though that I was never loaded by Blakeslee -it was always under the hopper for straight stone or by Farnums loader for process.

My dad sees your cousin(i think) that has the granite tri-axle down working at Gateway all the time.