Fred Weber B Model

[autocardc]

Action shot from the mid 50s of highway 64 construction in St. Louis. They still have one left.

Edited April 6, 2020 by autocardc

[mowerman]

wow,,,that thing looks really clean,,,thanks for the post....bob

[Ditchdiggerjcf]

Manitowoc shovel piling it high. Old school. Gotta love it.

Let's hope there is enough of that good ol american can do attitude to put this economy back together after the wuhan is gone.

[alex g]

Good pic when men were men. No hard hat no vest no problem. 

[Vladislav]

Nice old picture. And cool to see the truck is still in the perfect shape.

What are the fuel tanks? An aftermarket convertion? Is the LH one for hydraulic supply?

[Ditchdiggerjcf]

1 hour ago, alex g said:

Good pic when men were men. No hard hat no vest no problem. 

Yep. He is rockin khakis, a sweater vest, and a twill ball cap. He has the look of a man that knows how to get stuff done. I like it.

[j hancock]

They are getting a full pull on that belly dump!

 

3 hours ago, Vladislav said:

What are the fuel tanks? An aftermarket convertion? Is the LH one for hydraulic supply?

The rig with the dump trailer could be a hydraulic tank under the pass. door?  Sort of has that appearance.

The truck with the Christmas lights appears that it may have air start.

[Ditchdiggerjcf]

Yep, piling it high.

[1965]

You say mid 50’s. That’s before my time but that car sure looks like some sort of 60’s model??  Someone can probably tell what it is. Cool picture.

[Phase 1]

63 - or maybe 62 Pontiac is my guess.

[Rob]

Honest mistake on the photo date. The building in the background is the James S. McDonnell Planetarium which was built in 1963. It is now part of the St. Louis Science Institute located in Forrest Park. One of my first jobs as a young boy was repairing grounds maintenance equipment in the park. I-64 was being punched through at the same timeframe the St. Louis Arch was being built. As a boy I well remember Fred Weber trucks and belly dump trailers. They had all kinds of equipment and were seemingly always a part of large projects such as highway, bridge, and levee type construction. 

[Red Horse]

9 hours ago, Ditchdiggerjcf said:

Yep, piling it high.

For sure-looks like that last bucket was just tripped and looks like there  was no room on that belly dump. Also check out the large root-hope that didn't grab an air line when he drove over it.  Wonder how many cable shovels are still operational today?   Then again, if you had one, how many 70 or 80 year old guys still want to work. 

New operator manual...."  Right stick crowd, bucket,  left stick swing, boom, two in the middle-make it move"😎

[Ditchdiggerjcf]

There used to be some of those old heads around that still worked a full time gig. They were all serious motor grader and/or scraper guys. They had built interstates and major airports all over this country.  No laser, no problem, they were experts at their craft. A pleasure to watch them work. I guess they are just about all gone now.

 

[TS7]

Redhorse a cable shovel and a cable dragline took a lot of skill to operate, both hands, both feet all the time. It helped if you wore a size 14 shoe. In 1975 I was working on a sewer crew putting in storm sewer  on a road project, we had a Northwest Model 6 cable hoe digging. One day a new Cat 225 showed up. The operator who had never run a hydraulic backhoe before, outside of a Ford tractor backhoe, was digging faster than before by the end of the first day. The rest is history.

[Red Horse]

7 hours ago, TS7 said:

Redhorse a cable shovel and a cable dragline took a lot of skill to operate, both hands, both feet all the time. It helped if you wore a size 14 shoe. In 1975 I was working on a sewer crew putting in storm sewer  on a road project, we had a Northwest Model 6 cable hoe digging. One day a new Cat 225 showed up. The operator who had never run a hydraulic backhoe before, outside of a Ford tractor backhoe, was digging faster than before by the end of the first day. The rest is history.

For sure on the skill level.  We had a T-6K Michigan backhoe.  I think that was the smallest of the Michigan truck  cranes with a single axle carrier.  I would drive it on road but never "allowed" in cab.  The boom and dipper were like 10" dia. pipe.  Had a Continental gas engine.