NY-B61

Lol!

Found this old girl while enjoying today's snow. Enjoy the pictures!

I agree. More pictures tell the story!

I was out in the one-horse open sleigh today, leaving a huge manure footprint like my ancestors and those before them did. Didn't have time to add the suddenly required $9.95/oz. additive to Dobbin's oats, but darned if the sky wasn't still blue, my ass still frozen to the seat of the sleigh, and the globe in my study the same temperature as when I left. Am I mistaken? Found this beauty after I'd gone over the river, through the woods and on my way to Grandma's house. The sleigh knew the way, but if it didn't, this nicely restored Brockway would have fired on the first try and towed me and the chestnut roaster to Grandma's house in record time. It was a pleasure to photograph! Enjoy!

Paul, Family actually lives in the Shenandoah Valley, give or take 100 miles from your Summer/Winter(?) residence. It's a whole different world without the constant hands-out, pay-to-play and toll booth (good segue back to original topic ) extortion that takes place in New York. It's a shame, really, because most citizens, here and everywhere, are basically honest people trying to enjoy a decent life with their families. Please don't get me started on K.ing C.uomo and The Sunshine Band again. It seems to lead to midnight sessions and increased tolls. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83I9El6C47A

Progress makes progress!

Have you ever stopped to figure what this never-ending stream of inspections and 'official approvals' has cost you? No need to reveal the figure but call me if LifeFlight needs to be dispatched to your home. No, I'm not a rabble-rouser, just someone who believes that after you've paid cash on the barrel head for something it belongs to you, without the risk of it being chiseled away. Short story long from my town to yours: 95 year-old brick, coal burning powerhouse used for local trolley line. Deactivated, asbestos remediation completed and certified, building mothballed 1982. Potential buyer to reuse as restaurant/offices 1990, asbestos remediation re-do AND fresh environmental survey required by town, buyer walks away. Ditto in 1997 as brewpub and eatery, buyer walks. 2008, ditto as indoor sports facility, buyer loses funding due to contingencies. 2011, potential buyer for conversion to housing for elderly, walks after abatement survey AND remediation REQUIRED regardless of survey outcome. Redundant environmental survey also required before permitting. Unbeknownst to all, my town had an assembly line in place to apply for and receive....you guessed it, Federal and State grants to assist with asbestos remediation. The beautiful, turn-of-the 20th century, cavernous brick building with the carved sandstone lintels and gargoyles was finally bulldozed this past Fall. Grant money was, of course, used to accomplish this task. The fluorescent green ground cover, probably containing asbestos, that was haphazardly sprayed over the lot does look nice against the snow though!

With the regulations in place to ward off new businesses and the fees designed to kill old ones, the number of citizens fleeing the state daily with no herds on the way to replace them and the never ending taxes and tolls, I'm surprised you were even able to find an insurance agent. Maybe he's seen the writing on the wall and hopes your policy premium is his ticket to a new life in a country without a U.S. extradition treaty. I'd shop around.

More destruction, this time at the hands of those paid to do so.

It's a nice one and you can't pay too much if it brings you happiness - even with 3 tons of scrap steel to unload!

With the thorough description you posted here, along with photos of truck and drum sent to the company, they should be able to give you a 'ballpark' estimate over the phone rather easily. They've done a number of these, right? If they show up for the estimate with the equipment in tow then offer to deduct the cost of the estimate if you buy, kick them off your property. The machinery and process either works or it doesn't, and you pay in full upon completion.

Not sure if this is permitted, but for those of you unfamiliar with New York's peculiar brand of political bonhomie, this is claimed by someone, somewhere, to be a video of our current Governor. It was allegedly filmed during an Economics class he was taking at the time and could help explain some of his current fiscal policies:

The tentacles seem to extend everywhere. Pity the poor peasants of the North Country. Their sheaf's of wheat insure their treacherous mountain sections of the Interstates receive the most thorough plowing and salting imaginable. Once a year, sometime at the end of August, but right before the State Surplus Auction. Meanwhile, back in Gramercy Park..... Why do KC's late night sessions always result in "administration fees"?

This kind of mindless destruction happens far too often. I might have egged a car or two in my youth, and still feel somewhat guilty about it, but the thought of destroying an entire vehicle never crossed my or my buddy's minds. There's an old Hendrickson single-axle tractor parked by the side of the road several miles from my house. The last seven years have seen the truck go from a restorable piece of history to what looks like the remnants of a rusty crime scene. The owner won't sell and the gunfire continues. What can that type of destruction possibly achieve and why?!?

The shop does remind me of a sterile operating theater. Very nicely organized and well-lit. You'll never lose a spleen in there.

You're care for your Mack is obvious and, again, you're doing things in a mature and correct order. Think of how proud, and safe, you'll feel come Spring and you get it out on the road! Please keep the pictures coming. You really only get one chance with a camera to document the tremendous amount of work you're doing to your B61. And I know you're fellow BMT members, me included, really enjoy seeing them!

Thanks for the rescue, Matt! That must have been a white-knuckle ride on the way home with the ancient tires and bearings in the back of your mind. Is it worth restoring? Any chance you might refurbish it instead of sell if the overall condition allows for it it?

There has to be something hidden but major to cause the truck to be parted out. Bent frame, cracked block, runaway turbo resulting in huge damage...... still a nice looking unit though!

And if you live in the Kingdom of New York, don't question King Cuomo about the idiocy of these financial decisions. Toll-payers aren't allowed free use of a toll Thruway they finished paying for 30 years ago. And, for some reason, and unlike other states, only cash, more cash or EZScam may be used on the paid-for Thruway. No credit cards. Just cash. Good old cash. Literally tons of cash every day. Big, smelly, steaming, runny, untraceable piles of it - with corn. Cast this current bridge boondoggle in an unfavorable light and who knows what might befall your family, pets, property tax rate, tax audits, sewage service, garbage collection, tail lights and the like. After all, who really needs the businesses and jobs that an end to this blatant corruption and waste would bring to New York? "But it sure is a purdy bridge and I, as your Emperor, personally built it!"

This might be a stupid question but is there a Triple A equivalent for heavy trucks? One low annual fee? I ask because a friend had roadside recovery and towing through (I believe) AAA on his 40ft GMC bus registered as a motor home. No hanky panky of any kind with the enrollment paperwork and I believe the cost was around $65 annually at that time.

And that is one bad-ass video! Great shifting!

Glad to see things are moving along and the care you're putting in to each step of the process. I second what Mike D. said about the mechanics. You're doing the safe, responsible things in the right order. You'll have so much more fun when you get it on the road knowing you're not an accident waiting to happen. Plus, EVERYBODY loves to see an old B61 go by. Start doing your left-thumb exercises now!

But you'd better not miss the big Christmas Mattress Blowout.

This just in - after 3 am Monday morning, modifications to each toll booth will begin appearing.