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Arrow Transportation Co. machine shop

8D-132

Cast Iron
Joined
Mar 4, 2004
Location
Grants Pass, OR.USA
I thought I would share a picture a friend of mine sent me of The Arrow Transportation Co.
machine shop in Portland OR.
Arrow produced trucks of their own design from 1936-1952 utilizing some Kenworth parts for their own use.
The best we can estimate 24+ trucks were built and so far we know 4 survivors two of which I own and one of others belongs to my friend who sent the picture, They also had a large fleet of Peterbilts and Kenworth trucks.
Arrow ran the 400 Hall Scott 1093cid Gas engines in thier trucks used mostly for fuel and oil transportaion.
 

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Great picture - thanks for posting.

I lived in the Portland area until 1955 and probably saw Arrow company trucks on the roads. Can't recall if I ever saw an actual Arrow truck though?

I do recall Corbett's, as the local sawmill had one used as a logging truck.
 
Here is an early Arrow in front of the Hall-Scott factory mid 40's There were several companies at this time in Portland building their own trucks, Consolidated Freightways being the famous one for Freightliner trucks.
Can anyone name off the machine tools and the build in the shop picture?
 

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8D-132

Those are great pictures, and +1 on the thanks for posting them. I like the long-nosed look of the truck. Kinda like an alligator.

The shop photo could be scaled if you consider that the most likely wall stud spacing is 24". They appear to be too far apart to be 16" spacing, so I'm interpreting the wallstuds as 2x6 on 24" spacing. (The short cripple studs over the side windows look like 16" spacing to me.)

If I'm correct in my interpretation, the cammelback drill has about a 24" swing.

What I really like is the long wooden workbench under the skylight. It's double-wide with a divider down the center. The legs look like 6x6's. (Note the diagonal braces, which look too wide to be 2x4's)

They relied heavily on natural light - note the mininal schoolhouse-style fixtures and the ventitian blinds! (Try keeping those reasonably clean in a machine shop!)

Anybody recognize any of the machinist's chests or the vises?

JRR
 
I think the machinists chest closest to the camera is a Kennedy? Is that a round head Regal lathe at the extreme right edge of the photo?

The closest vise, maybe a Prentiss?

8d-132, thanks for the Arrow factory photo. Love those long nosed 40's trucks. At one time a log trucker had rescued a 1946 Peterbuilt with a new engine to add to his fleet to haul logs for my Dad. This was in about 1960 and I recall how much smaller it was than late 1950's models. The driver said the suspension was terrible and about beat him to death.
 
Looks like a "silent" chain drive South Bend there at the end of the bench.It may even have an armature between centers.
 








 
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