Glen Innes Tusk Front-Lift

During my past road trips I have focused a lot of time on residential collections, namely side loaders, but this didn’t mean I visited places without knowledge of commercial contractors and/or some idea of trucks used in the area. Generally speaking, when I arrive in a regional location I expect there is some kind of locally based operator providing C&I services to the community, which is sometimes the case and sometimes not. I honestly can’t remember if I came across Glen Innes Waste Disposal when I did my Google searches some years ago, but I did spot a number of their front-lift bins around the Glen Innes township when I arrived. Instantly I got wondering exactly what kind of truck empties these bins... was it a common late model truck or something completely out of the ordinary?! Well bloody hell, while in the process of videoing the single truck in charge of residential collections, I was on the very western edge of the town and drove past this property containing a large shed housing a number of heavy vehicles. Behold one of the vehicles was the local front-lift, with the tailgate sticking out in clear view between the other equipment. I only got a brief glimpse as I flew past, but that was enough to come to the conclusion this wasn’t the typical truck out there. After swinging around with intense curiosity to see this truck better, I laid eyes upon it again and identified what I learnt was a 1994 model Volvo FL10 with a Tusk Industries front-lift body. However, the body wasn’t mounted directly to the truck, in fact this was a detachable front-lift compactor sitting on top of a dino roll-off! Basically this truck can work as a RORO to handle bulk containers like compactors and open top bins or it can work as an FL with the body pulled on. I was ecstatic to find out from the side loader driver that his brother takes the front-lift out a few days a week and would run it for a couple of jobs that afternoon. Of course I would’ve liked to have gotten more footage on a day there were more bins to service, but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get even two pick-ups on video. So we see the truck servicing a 3m at the local McDonald’s and dumping a 1.5m around the corner, before transporting it to another place nearby - bin relocation the country way! It would’ve been a bonus to get the RORO component in action, but after checking the truck out I don’t think the FL compactor ever slides off the dino frame now. I wonder if this truck has always been in Glen Innes or served more as a multi-purpose vehicle somewhere else in the past. No matter the case, I’m damn glad to have gotten this special machine on video the amount I did, just too bad I didn’t get the Cleanaway detachable dino set-up I saw in the ACT. Also sadly to say I don’t think I’ll ever get another Tusk garbage truck in action as they’d all be about retired now - quite a shame I only managed to capture one other FL in action years ago.