roadtrip chris arbon: Canadian Trucking Show 2015

In the yard at Niverville. #56, before it was ever coupled to a trailer.

____The Canadian Trucking Magazine held their truck show on the 18th and 19th of July 2015 at the Husky Truckstop in Headingley; just a few miles west of Winnipeg on the Trans-Canada Highway. The organisers put a lot of effort into the show but the weather didn't cooperate; frequent rain showers and high winds kept the attendance down, both people and trucks. There was live music in the marquee and fireworks, plenty of companies had recruitment displays but the whole event lacked atmosphere. Shame really, it was free to get in; both for the public and for anybody taking a truck to the Show and Shine.
____I took along Flying Eagle #56, a brand new Freightliner Cascadia. It gave me the chance of a test drive with the automatic gearbox and to see if I liked it enough to change over from the Peterbilt. It does have the advantage of the high-top, full-width, double-bunk, integral cab with the electric climate control comfort system. Extra batteries run an air-conditioning and heating system that does away with the donkey engine of Tri-pac type systems. But it is an automatic and it does have the dreaded Diesel Exhaust Fluid injection and the bothersome re-generation ceramic filter; all of which spoil an otherwise very attractive vehicle.