NorCal Waste Systems Heil Rapid Rail Co-Collector Part 1

[@Trainlover1995]

I remember that time. Waste Management's contract with the city went up, and they didn't renew. When WM served the city, they used Amreps on Peterbilt chassis for garbage, and some sort of MSL loosely resembling a Dempster Recycle One on a Mack chassis (I'm not sure if it was an actual model of truck, or something the local WM division cobbled together). In the Summer of 2002, I remember, WM pulled out, and the city was divided between two haulers: GreenTeam San Jose, and NorCal Waste Systems. The city issued brand-new Otto carts for recycling (colored grey with blue lids), and also rolled out new Ottos for garbage (all-black) that have slowly been replacing the old SSI Schaefer carts from the WM days, but even today, the old carts are still very common (we still own one, but one of the lid hinges is broken). The new carts are easily distinguished from the old, aside from manufacture, by the fact that the new carts have the city's logo on them. Truck-wise, NorCal brought Rapid Rail Co-Collectors (on full display in this video) to bear, while GreenTeam used Labrie Cool Hand Co-Collectors for single-family residential and Labrie Expert Helping Hands Co-Collectors on multi-family residential. The wisdom behind the use of using co-collectors was that it would be more efficient and cheaper to send one truck through to collect both streams (yard waste was, and still is, collected separately). I remember, though, that in the early days of GreenTeam, they used a few different trucks to cover for shortages, such as a rear loader with tippers and what I believe to be a Rapid Rail. Speaking of yard waste, the method has always remained consistent. Primarily collected by Green Waste (though NorCal collected its own yard waste, restricting Green Waste to GreenTeam areas), most of it is collected via piles in the street using a rear loader and a Caterpillar front loader (I usually call them the "truck and tractor", and have done so since I was a kid). The rear loader has a kick out on the back to facilitate easier loading, and has tippers on both sides of this hopper extension. Three types of rear loaders have been used: the Heil Formula 5000 on a Volvo chassis (I don't know when they were introduced, but they all but disappeared around 2002, a few months before WM left town; I last saw one in 2005, and recently, WasteManTony filmed one in downtown, now in white instead of all-green), the Heil Big Bite on a Peterbilt chassis (introduced in 2002 several months before WM left, several still in service), and the Leach 2RII on an ALF Condor chassis (introduced in 2007 after NorCal left and Green Waste scrambled to expand their fleet to cover their new service area). Two types of CAT loaders have been used, the newer ones introduced in 2007 alongside the Leaches, with the last of the old loaders disappearing 2013-2014. More recently, they have been using more and more ASLs to collect the carts (all-green) to speed up collection. These ASLs have included Labrie Automizers, New Way Sidewinders, and Heil Rapid Rails. In 2007, NorCal did not renew their contract with the city, and in their place came Garden City Sanitation and California Waste Solutions. GCS uses Labrie Automizers, while CWS uses McNeilus Autoreaches, plus a few ex-NorCal Rapid Rails as spares. Around this time, GreenTeam also acquired some Automizer Co-Collectors to supplement the Cool Hands (which were never particularly fast in the first place, but alot of fun to watch, nonetheless). The old NorCal Rapid Rails can now be found in the unincorporated parts of Santa Clara County, though NorCal is now known as Recology. In addition to the Rapid Rails, Recology also serves these areas with Automizers and Heil Liberties (formerly Pythons). The most recent change to San Jose's garbage trucks came in 2013. Trillium opened a new compressed natural gas fueling station, and, hoping to reduce their carbon footprints, GreenTeam and Garden City jumped at the opportunity to upgrade their fleets. Garden City upgraded their trucks to run on CNG (these CNG-equipped trucks can be distinguished by the big, ugly rectangular thing between the cab and the rest of the truck body), while GreenTeam just outright got rid of the diesel trucks and bought new CNG trucks. They also took the time to change how the streams are collected, going back to the old WM days of having separate trucks collect them. Garbage is now collected by McNeilus ZRs (of which WasteManTony has expressed his skepticism due to the problems the arms had in the Pendpac days), while recycling is collected by larger-capacity Automizers, with occasional visits by West Valley Sanitation diesel Automizers (since, as I've recently found out, GreenTeam and West Valley are owned by the same company, seeing as how they apparently share the same yard on Oakland Road). In the first few weeks of the new CNG trucks, not all of them were delivered yet, so GreenTeam sent one of the old diesel Automizers to my neck of the woods on recycling, utilizing both compartments (at one point, a large plastic storage container was utterly smashed by the divider). GreenTeam also replaced their Labrie Optimizer front loaders with new McNeilus Contenders also running on CNG. One the second week of the CNG trucks, I glimpsed one of the front loaders in the Country Lane neighborhood, leading me to believe that, during a truck shortage, the FLs are pressed into residential service with Curotto Cans. The contracts for all of San Jose's haulers expire next year, so it'll be interesting to see what happens. I'm hoping we get Curotto Cans in full force. Maybe also bring back the Amreps, I miss those.

[@GarbageTrucksofSanJose]

I wonder why WM never chose to renew their contract. It was probably their biggest service area in Northern California. Those Formula 5000s were made in 1998, based on license plate reports. They were either EX-WM or were purchased right at the beginning of their contract. Quite a few of them are actually still around. I recall seeing a 5000 passing my school a few weeks ago, with the Heil Big Bite style rims, and a billboard. I also believe the older CAT loaders you mention (I will always remember their noises) are still in GW's fleet, but used as spares, because last time I saw one, was roughly a year or so ago (February 2015) GCS, unless they do not renew their contract, will most likely be servicing SJ for a long time, due to their CNG fleet. CWS, I do not know the fate of them. They're still running diesel trucks (bio or clean diesel trucks most likely), and back in 2014 or 2015, had failed the recycling goals, due to high contamination. To me, Curotto Cans in SJ would be strange. For Green Team of San Jose, it would made sense, due to them having quite a lot of FLs. GCS and CWS, unless there is a change in service areas, them having FLs and Curotto Cans wouldn't make sense, due to the fact that GCS and CWS doesn't offer commercial dumpster service. A lot of the streets, are very narrow, and cul de sacs don't make it easier. I hope CWS, if they still are going to service SJ, they keep 3-7 of the Peterbilt 320 Autoreaches, if they are required to purchase new vehicles. The roaring engines I will never forget. I know their Oakland operation, their fleet consists of 2012 CNG and diesel vehicles, with a few remaining white diesels here and there. GCS, I believe the only remaining diesel vehicles in their entire fleet, are the Expert 2000 Helping Hands, which is roughly 3 trucks, and roughly 2 trucks, which are the container delivery trucks.

[@Trainlover1995]

Regarding the old WM recyclers, allow me to describe them: They were definitely bucket loaders, but had two separate bodies on one chassis. Both bodies had their own buckets: the front-most body had buckets for glass and cardboard, and the second, rear body had buckets for paper and plastic (I remember we always loaded our plastic into a can from Orchard Supply Hardware, which we still have around; the rest was in city-issued yellow bins, one of which my grandpa still owns to use for extra storage in his garage). The last time I saw one of the old recyclers was in 2006-2007 at San Tomas Expressway and Campbell Ave., by which time it was serving Waste Management's contract in Los Gatos, but still wearing the old white paint scheme. I cannot, for the life of me, find any pictures of one of these trucks. If anyone knows what the hell I'm talking about, and can positively identify this truck type (whether it was an actual model or a homemade recycler cobbled together by the San Jose Division of WM in the 80s or 90s), and prove this isn't the Mandela Effect at work making me misremember that they were actually Dempster Recycle Ones, I'd really appreciate. I don't need anyone to positively ID the old WM San Jose garbage trucks, as those were definitely Amreps. I do remember seeing Dempster recyclers (or similar bucket loaders) in service for West Valley Collection's predecessor, Green Valley Disposal, when I was in preschool. These were used on recycling, while yard waste was collected by front loaders with Carry Cans (I don't know what kind of truck was used on garbage).

[@Trainlover1995]

UPDATE: I've finally identified the old San Jose recycling trucks! Turns out they weren't custom-built. They were bought by Western Waste/USA Waste Services in the 1990s, and were ADR bodies on Freightliner chassis. They came under WM jurasdiction when Western Waste was bought by them in 1998. They actually seemed to hang around San Jose serving the unincorporated parts of the county until 2007, when NorCal/Recology took over. Here's a picture of one of the old recyclers: www.flickr.com/photos/71694865@N07/6478664253/in/pool-1888636@N23/

[@Trainlover1995]

UPDATE #2: Here are some REALLY good views of the old trucks: www.salvagesale.com/General/LotDetail/LotNumber/S10405-464

[@GarbageTrucksofSanJose]

Haha, that's super cool! I assume the Amreps on the Peterbilts were in a paint scheme like this? www.flickr.com/photos/146306131@N04/31664041102/in/dateposted-public/ I can now picture those ADRs collecting those yellow and green tubs, with those Amreps, collecting those old SSI Schaefers.

[@shadofax96]

This is fantastic! So from what I understand this was one of the first days of the contract? I understand now why they went with the WXLL. Since all I see these days are ACX's I didn't realize how common the old low entry Xpeditor was around here.

[@GarbageTrucksofSanJose]

While I do not know exactly when the contract started, this was within the first few months. I always saw the WXLL as a somewhat low-entry. After watching the video a while ago (after the INSIDE the split body 7000 video) when the driver said "I think I've been more times out than in" and reading the comments, I saw why NorCal used the WXLL.

[@theadditup2773]

This is the worst split truck ever...

[@GarbageTruckVideography]

What website did you go to find this?

[@GarbageTrucksofSanJose]

Garbage Truck Photography | While I do not know, because I got it off some YT video, I believe from comments, it's some sort of website where they demonstrate trucks/equipment.

[@garbagetrucksofthenapavalley]

How did you get this video??

[@GarbageTrucksofSanJose]

Garabge Trucks Of The Napa Valley | While I do not know the website, it was off of some YT video.

[@garbagetrucksofthenapavalley]

alright