purepressure2004

  

He doesn't really give a shit about what anyone earns unless it's enough that he can raise their taxes. His plan to raise the minimum wage is entirely self serving. First he's looking to buy more votes for Democratic Congressional candidates in 2014 so he might gain control of the House. Second, It's payback time for the unions for their support. Some union contracts are indexed to the minimum wage. If an apprentice is to be paid three times the minimum wage by contract their pay will go up from $21.75 to $27 per hour. And then everyone up the ladder gets a raise also.

Unions are at all time lows though, and they're not bringing new members in. I think the unions had they're agenda's also, why else would they have pushed so hard for him.

Nowhere near the work there was a few years back...I hauled a lot sand to their E.Granby/Granby location for many years,haven't for the last 4!

Where did you haul the sand from? They got kinda busy late last summer and fall, but I guess not busy enough to warrent hiring guys. Although, my buddy that worked in Saybrook told me two weeks ago that they shut the plant down, and they where shuffled into the senority list in Norwich. Saybrook was always a money making plant.

Those trucks still around?

I haven't seen the 81 around New Britain or Newington (where they keep all they're road equipment). Most of the traffic trucks are ex-Balf tractors, older KW's and Internationals. I was told a couple months ago that Tilcon is starting to unload alot of trucks and equipment. I know for fact that they're only running 30-35 mixers statewide. They used to run over twenty out of New Britain and at least 25 out of Granby. When they get busy they rent out trucks from other union companies like Suzio and O and G if they're not busy. Something is up because they're cleaning house.

I saw Gateway Terminals from New Haven with a mint R model tractor pulling a dump trailer earlier. Alum buds in front, alum tanks, all painted up nice. I'll have to track it down

That was the first brand new truck that they bought. That truck looks better then his newer stuff, they do a good job keeping that truck nice. About a year ago I saw it hauling a D8 sized dozer up 91.

Marquardt unloading at Tilcons Hartford plant

Marquardt, There's a name I have not heard in years. They hauled a lot of dry cement for Seneco along with fuel.

They had a nice Brockway fleet back then. They're mostly Mack now with the exception of a couple Pete's. They still do alot of cement for Tilcon Ct. Gas seems to be they're bread and butter now though.

I remeber Blakeslee's Superliner triaxle and saw the driver all the time but can't remember his name. He drove that truck from new back in the day. Would love to see some old Macks from south eastern Conn. from Soneco and Romanella.

There's a dude on flickr that has alot of Soneco and old school A.P. Marquardt pix. He goes by bemymack.

My dad remember back when they use to have all the old stuff working in the center of Meriden with the 275Bs.

Those 275's were working machines. Michigan was a top notch company then. Right up there with Cat. We still run a 475 as spare quarry loader. Mean looking machine! It has alot more class then the komatsu.

A couple pics I took this while working with the city of Meriden.

They bought 6 U-models from Hallamore. They were 84's with 300s, Hallamore got them from Hertz-Penski and put 2 stick 6 speeds in them. My dad was told to cut all the A/C belts on them.

I remember hearing that. I was told they didnt have power steering either. They just use those R-Model's for jockeying trailers, right?

Blakeslee Prestress Branford, CT

They used to have a quite a few U-Models.

More snow the better and are we talking about Scott Haney

Scott Hiney

OK!!!!!!

Wasn't that the station that had the "rainbow runner" doing weather a few years back?

I think that was WFSB. ABC news just said the storm was going g to sit and spin

I'm already getting sick of listening to the news build this storm up. We live in New England, we've been dealing with it our whole lives! If it weren't for Sonia I wouldn't watch the news at all.....You guys in CT should know what I mean!

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.

Ct public television had a pretty elaborate special on it like a year or so ago. I bet if you go on they're website you can probably buy a copy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The first time I drove a mixer with air ride I almost crapped my pants. I got off a highway ramp and felt like I was going over. Off road I like the walking beam the best.

So Matt- Are all those boneyard trucks the property of the new owners OR do they belong to the Suzio family???

Usually when one of these big foreign outfits take over they clean house-no sentimentality over old trucks-its scrap value to them.

Family owned and operated going on 115 years. Almost unheard of these days!

Some Suzio pix

There is a black LJ dump truck behind that DM800 in the second pic thats in pretty good condition. I always had a thing for that truck. I think Mick Jagger said it best, "you can't always get what you want"!