More Brockways --- The trucks of Barney & Dickenson, Vestal, New York

     I found out about this amazing collection of old Brockways through a post on THE BROCKWAY TRUCKS MESSAGE BOARD, and could not resist the opportunity to go down the road to Vestal, New York to photograph the collection myself.  And so after a call to BARNEY & DICKENSON to gain access to where these great old Husky's a resting, I set our date for 4/13/12 -- Friday the 13th.

     It was to be the best Friday the 13th ever -- more about that in a latter post. So here for your viewing pleasure are not only the photos I took, but also some photos found on the net showing those Brockways in their hay day ----





    What a great day!!!!

The Chief Lines Trucking Company

      I received another of those wonderful emails in response, well sort of, to one of my posts. Here it is --

"Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "A LOST MOMENT IN TRUCKING HISTORY -- NAVAJO Freigh...":

Hi...Great pics...somehow I got here looking for information on a large sign I acquired. It says "THE CHIEF LINES" just copy no logo. Can't tell if this was a trucking or bus line operator...the type or graphics are very early...30's 40's.
Appreciate any info if possible, thanks, Don Sayrizi."


      Of course, this email had sparked my interest --- What is this "THE CHIEF LINES" all about? A quick search on the internet returned very little information. Did this sign have something to do with rail service, was is connected somehow to the Santa Fe "CHIEF"?  Was it some sort of bus service, also possibly connected to the Sana Fe? Or, was it some unknown trucking company ( I liked this option )?

      I sent Don a request for a picture of his "sign" and got back the following --

     Hmmm, I thought, this looks  like it came from the side of a truck. So how come I can't find any info. on this company? Well actually this company is fully known as THE CHIEF FREIGHT LINES COMPANY, but even with that information I could find very little information about the company. The following is quoted from Fred Gruin's site on HANK'S ----- 

" Chief purchased Morrison Motor Freight sometime in the very late 1970s in order to expand the system eastward. At that time Chief began using "Teams" to span the system because historically, they had only operated as far North & East as KCY. In 1980, Chief was a victim of deregulation, as were so many carriers at that time. Later, the owner, Lloyd Stith (sp?), resurrected the name as C.H.I.E.F. and purchased some of the trailers from the bankruptcy court and inserted the periods on the signs. The company was technically named, Custom Highway Interstate Express Freight and was TL only. The company was based in Tulsa, Oklahoma and went bankrupt in 1980. "

    Further investigation lead to my finding a company map, part of a Christmas greeting card, showing the area covered by "THE CHIEF" ---

  Also found was the badge worn by their drivers ---

    I am sorry to say that I could only find a few pictures of their trucks, and one of them is actually a die-cast from FIRST GEAR --

   The other picture is from Fred Gruin's collection on HANK'S TRUCK PICTURES   ----

    Anyone having further information and pictures of this line, PLEASE contact me via my e-mail!!! 

UPDATE 2/7/16 -- Just found the following pic that show terminal locations --- 

Truck Spotting --- European Trucks

Truck Spotting

A new link has been added to my site thanks to it's blog master, Cristian Cristenel. If you like European trucks then this is a site worth checking out. You can get there by clicking this link ----http://truck-spotting.blogspot.com/ or by finding the link at the side of my page --- TRUCK SPOTTING.

ENJOY!!!!