A FRUEHAUF TRAILER IN MIDDLETON

The Museum is home to a classic 32’ dry van built by the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation at its Fort Wayne, Indiana Plant in 1950. Fruehauf, founded in Detroit, Michigan, in 1918, was once one of America’s largest manufacturers of semi-trailers. Its dominance in the industry waned in the latter part of the 20th century, and the company was bankrupt by 1997 when it was acquired by Wabash National.

Our van was built for Eastern Express of Terra Haute, Indiana, primarily serving the American Midwest. The stainless-steel body was manufactured using a shotweld process patented by Earl Budd of Philadelphia, which ensures a highly durable product.  This design set it apart from its contemporaries, making it a ‘Cadillac’ of transport trailers. The body structure is very similar to that of the DAR’s Budd-built Dayliners and the CPR fleet of cars for the Canadians and the Dominion.

Nic Harris of Fleetworx Inc. found our trailer in rural New Jersey and floated it to his New Minas, Nova Scotia facility. The vehicle lacked registration papers and was not a refrigerated van, so Nic set aside his plan to show it in parades as a mascot for his specialization in reefer trailers.

The 32’ length and rounded front are characteristic of the early 1950s, creating a capacity and style that have long since been supplanted by our adjacent 2002 ’53 Utility storage trailer.

 The van is positioned to represent the exchange of parcels and goods from trains to trucks through our historic freight shed. We hope to acquire a companion 1950s vintage transport tractor to better represent our museum’s 1956 theme. In due course, the trailer will be re-lettered as a CPR vehicle of the 1950s.

 We are proud of this addition to our collection, which was made with generous assistance from Fleetworx and the Municipality of the County of Annapolis.

Bill Linley 2025-01-19

Vintage van pays tribute to trucking industry at railway museum in Middleton, N.S.

Contributed | Posted: March 22, 2024, 9:12 a.m. | Updated: March 22, 2024, 9:11 a.m. | 10 Min Read

Bill Linley, a Middleton Railway Museum Society board member and member of the museum’s acquisitions team, stands by the 1950 Fruehauf trailer acquired from Fleetworx in New Minas. The van will be refurbished to become part of the museum’s outdoor exhibits and represents the close association the railway had with the trucking industry. Lawrence Powell • Special to the Annapolis Valley Register

MIDDLETON, N.S. — The railway through the Annapolis Valley wasn’t just about steam locomotives, freight trains, and passenger cars. It was about trucks and wagons and carts hauling goods to and from the station.

A recent vintage acquisition at the Middleton Railway Museum is meant to reflect the role played by those in the local trucking industry.

“It was more than just trains,” said Middleton Railway Museum Society (MRMS) chairperson David Hankinson. “When the railway opened up the Valley, it helped create a vibrant economy that grew hundreds of jobs, offshoot businesses, local prosperity – and put us on the map.”

The museum acquired a 32-foot, stainless steel Fruehauf van from Fleetworx in New Minas.

Middleton Railway Museum Society board member and railway historian Bill Linley points to the Fruehauf name on the 32-foot, stainless steel dry van the museum recently acquired from Fleetworx in New Minas. Lawrence Powell • Special to the Annapolis Valley Register

Municipal donation

The Municipality of the County of Annapolis contributed funds to help refurbish the 1950 trailer that was typical of the era being portrayed at the museum.

“I am happy to see that the Middleton Railway Museum is continuing to adhere to its mission of ‘preserving and interpreting the development of railway transportation in the Annapolis Valley,’” said Annapolis County Warden Alex Morrison, who is no stranger to railways.

“My father devoted the whole of his working life to Canadian National Railways and infused his family with the truth that efficient rail transport was essential to the development of Canada from coast to coast,” he said. “From his talk of hot boxes, auxiliary call-outs in the middle of the night, and the beauty and usefulness of the round tracks at the end of the line in Sydney, I learned much about trains and also about the service atmosphere that bound the CNR employees to be professionals in their trade.”

Morrison said he was overjoyed to hear the Middleton museum was obtaining a dry van trailer to enhance the overall appeal of the museum and its exhibits.

A closeup of the Fruehauf logo on the 1950 trailer the Middleton Railway Museum recently acquired. Bill Linley • Special to the Annapolis Valley Register

The trailer

Nick Harris at Fleetworx helped load the van for transport to Middleton. While he had initially bought the trailer to fix up and use in parades, Harris said that never came about. But he’s happy it ended up at the museum where he said it suits the era the museum is trying to depict.

“Nick retrieved the trailer from woods in New Jersey where it had languished for many years,” said Bill Linley, a museum society board member and railway historian. “It had served Eastern Express based in Terra Haute, Indiana. It was built in Fort Wayne, Indiana by Fruehauf in 1950.”

Linley said Fruehauf was a leading, long-established manufacturer of truck trailers and its stainless-steel construction set it apart from contemporaries at that time. He noted the rounded front end was often found on trailers of this vintage.