1951 Mack LJT Slate Truck
Hauling slate over the road and off the road for a Quarter Century
09/23/2018
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After World War II, the slate industry used forklifts and pallets with over-the-road trucks to deliver its goods. This 1951 Mack LJT is one of those trucks. The truck was purchased new in 1951 at Albany Mack by Tatko Brothers and Sheldon Slate of Middle Granville, New York. The Mack ran as a single-axle highway tractor with a flatbed trailer to deliver slate products along the entire East Coast and into the Midwest until 1965.
Tatko Brothers had at least nine of these super-duty Mack LJ trucks, and for a time were a Mack truck dealer for themselves and other area slate companies. The Tatko family has been in the slate business since Sheldon Slate was established in 1917. Pete Tatko's father, John, now in his 70s, was in the business of Mack trucks and slate. The trucks delivered to a 500-mile radius.
Mack built almost 14,000 LJ tractors from 1940 until 1956. Over-the-road tractor and trailer combinations were not nearly as common in 1951 as they are now, and the big LJT was the bruiser of the lineup--serving as a platform for everything from fire engines to house movers.
Faced with such Herculean tasks, even the mighty Mack can wear out, but that didn't mean work was over for this LJT. As more modern tractors were purchased to haul slate trailers, the fifth wheel was removed and a dump body installed in 1965. The truck was sent to a quarry in Poultney, Vermont, where it worked until the mid-Seventies.
Only about 10 percent of the slate quaried is usable. The good slate gets sorted out for roofs, steps, countertops, floors, and even sinks. The rest of it, upwards of 90 percent of the material, ends up as rubbish. The diesel Mack LJT moved slate blocks and rubbish until it was made obsolete by ever-increasing demands.
With the transition from cable-driven to hydraulic moving machines, the single rear-axle Mack was no longer big enough to handle the increasing loads of slate blocks and rubbish. Sheldon and other companies switched to Mack off-highway dump trucks purpose-built to run off road. Pete had no idea that this Mack was destined for a spot in the Slate Valley Museum.
"The museum curator asked me if we had an old truck. I said we have a lot of them! You can't kill a Mack," said Pete. A few photos of various trucks were exchanged back and forth, until Pete pulled this very truck out of the pucker brush and brought it over to John Shaw at Wing Truck and Trailer in Granville, New York. The truck was prepared and preserved and is on display at the Slate Valley Museum.
The Slate Valley Museum is located at 17 Water Street in Granville, New York. For more information on the slate industry from the past or present, call 518-642-1417 or go to www.slatevalleymuseum.org.
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Head on over to Hemmings Auctions and take a closer look for yourself.
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