Here is a quick look at Waste Management of the Inland Empire's old fleet from a few years ago. In 2017 & 2018, I was fortunate enough to meet some of the awesome people at this yard who were more than happy to show us around. At the beginning of 2018, I found out that the yard was planning to scrap all their old LNG Macks off by the end of the year, and so I made several trips out here to try and catch them while they were still in operation. Here's a little summary of some of their more unique trucks:
(0:30) - 262906: This was my favorite Wittke that the yard had in recent years for many reasons. What was unique about 262906 is that it was from the very first batch of Wittkes that Corona ordered. These pre-date the large batch of Wittkes that San Diego famously purchased, which is why this truck has the American flag next to the Wittke logo and a unique hopper design. The Inland Empire divisions (both MoVal and Corona) had a different way of stickering their trucks back then too. These trucks were originally branded as WM - USA Waste of California on the bodies, and a little bit of that sticker can still be seen on this truck. They also put those "We Care About Your Air" stickers on their very first Wittkes back in the day, so it was really cool to see a truck that still had that from the early 2000s. Another neat thing, seen at (1:23) is that this truck had the old button installation to operate the Curotto Can on this truck. I personally have never seen that before so very interesting in my opinion. Oddly enough, this truck was spec'd as a sit down drive unit, which is another thing I've never seen on these old LE/Wittkes.
(1:45) - 102831/102853: These two Heil Python originated as a Moreno Valley truck, and were sent around SoCal for a few years as I guess no one wanted them truck. 102831 seen in San Diego, Baldwin Park, and Chino before landing in Corona. 102853 was seen in Compton along with San Diego and Chino before coming to Corona as well.
(2:07) - 263531: This was probably my second favorite truck in the yard after 262906. This is actually the same Wittke that Bill filmed on a recycle route in Long Beach over 10 years ago. You can see the old "Recycle Long Beach" stickers poking through on the side. I loved how this truck had the fold up door on it and the green mudflaps were a nice touch! These old LA Hauling Wittkes were what really drew my attention to Corona back in the day. I loved the Recycle Long Beach logos on them and many ran with original Curotto Cans. When they were sent to Corona, my focus shifted to that yard and I started getting to know their operation better.
(2:46) - 263906/263907: These two Wittke/Leach FLs became the main focus for Kevin and me once we found out the Macks were about to get scrapped. In 2016, we stumbled upon a sister unit of this truck that sounded really good, so we wanted to find one of the sister units. Unfortunately, both 906 & 907 were extremely tired by 2018, so they were not as powerful as the one we saw.
(4:05) - 264509: A freshly repainted Autocar/McNeilus Curotto Can. I was a huge fan of this truck with the different rims it had and 1.5 Curotto on it. It now resides in Rosamond Hauling.
(4:53) - 632596: I believe this is an ex-Western Waste truck given how fond they were of Freightliners. Really nice looking rig especially with the new paint.
(4:57) - 263376: Another one of the old Wittkes from Corona's second batch of LNG trucks. Great sounding truck, and it has an interesting CVT Recycling sticker that I think was from when these guys were operating up by Colton.
(5:31) - 103542: One of two mini Amreps that runs out of this yard. These originated as Long Beach trucks as well. They're in rough shape for only being 10-11 years old unfortunately, but glad they are still around as these are the last Octos WM bought.
(5:41) - 632852: Corona has two of these large scout trucks that service the manure routes in Norco.
(5:59) - 263492: Here's the truck that really got our attention from Corona! Javier Correa's #263492 was known as the pride of the fleet. Even though the truck was roughly 15 years old, it ran really well and Javier kept it looking really clean. The new logos on the body made it look even better and the cab was repainted mid-2016 for a fresh look.
(6:28) - 263854: Another ex-LA Metro Wittke that I really liked. Sit down drive and Slammin' Eagle bucket made this particular truck stand out from many others in the fleet.
(8:34) - 265841/285842: These two Curotto Cans were transferred from Moreno Valley for Christmas Tree season. Due to serious hydraulic issues, they never saw route unfortunately!
Thank you so much to Miguel and everyone else at WMIE for letting us visit the yard - lot of great memories here over the years!