Evolution of the Balford Fleet

We have come a long way, since the horse-drawn wagon Frank Baldwin started this business on, over 100 years ago. 

Between 1957 and 1960, someone had the forethought to take movies of the Baldwin Dairy operation. The film was in the posession of Wayne B Baldwin, Sr., but after he passed the film on, it had been missing since the 70's. Wayne Sr., passed away in 1996, but the film was recently found in the office of a building that Wayne could never have been in. We don't know how he got the film to us, but we thank him and it is now securely stored in his son's vault. This as well as several following photos are from that film which we cherrish as the best representation of that era.

The dairy was actualy running horse & wagons into the late 50's which was not uncommon in a city like Philadelphia with many narrow streets. Notice the heavy construction of those wagons, such as the rubber wheels and metal rims, when compared with the one Frank drove in the top photo.

Real Milkmen drove Divco's, and they did it standing up! The Divco was the delivery truck of choice. Baldwin had it's share of Divco's which changed several times over the years, but the baby face model you see here, was it's best known. Today, Divco lover's have created clubs, bought them & restored them (which we hope to do soon). Even Hot Wheels has created some very desireable toys modeled on the beloved profile.

Of course another popular vehicle in any form was the Ford. There were Ford's to do just about anything. This was a very popular delivery model and Baldwin had several of them.

We're not sure what this is yet. Divco had a slope front model, but this isn't one of them. Popular guess called it an International Harvester, but a more authoritive opinion was logged 01/21/00 by Edward O'Brien of Squat Rods (an awesome miniture copy of the Divco truck. If you're interested in a Squat Rod, you can see a photo on the Divco web site or eMail: Iluvcatson@aol.com ). Ed calls it a "Ford (i.e 1949 F3) and the grill cutout is the identifying feature. Of course, the body could have been built by any bodyworks, Boyertown for example". Thanks Ed, and one day after we have finished the restoration of our real Divco, we'll probably grab a Squat Rod to go with it!

Another Ford. This time a hybrid... is it a station wagon or a van? Obviously the predessor of the Econoline which came shortly thereafter. These vehicles were used by solicitors and special delivery drivers.

Returning from the film to a chronological display, this is the earliest photo we have of a vehicle that doesn't eat hay.  This is believed to be about 1935.  Early power units were either Mack or Brockways.  The early large trucks were used mostly for farm pick up, as opposed to today where they're used for wholesale delivery.

Bob McKee lived just North of the Duffield Street plant.  He could do just about anything at the old plant but is best remembered as a driver who picked up raw milk from the farms. It looks like a Barry & Baily tandem axel model.

Here's the earliest rendition of our beloved "Little Man who serves the best" icon, although obviously dubbed onto an otherwise Black & White photo.  We do not believe the "Little Man" was even conceived when this photo was made. A Mack cab with a body assembled by Barry & Baily Company of Philadelphia, sometime in the 40's. Incidently, we're told by his son, that a driver from the mid 1900's, John Paterson designed "The Little Man".

In the early 70's, the Sweeteners Division was started.  We did our own blending into these tankers from Conrail tank cars, and delivered corn syrup and fructose to various food manufacturers.  Several of our tractors and trailers had blending units incorporated.  The design was our own invention for blending to our customers specifications right on the rig!

The GMC Brigadier's were being bought new starting in 1979.  These trucks had 3208 Caterpillar engines and were 32,000 GVW.  This was the first one purchased, but it is a year old in this photo at the Upper Salford school in Montgomery County.  The body is a recycled 18 footer, with a ThermoKing unit.  The fog lights were not a stock item.

Although the Scranton branch had been distributing hard ice cream for many years, the Bensalem Branch began frozen distribution in 1984.  The cab is an International 32,000 GVW cabover model, reminiscent of the Balford milk trucks of the 70's.  The freezer body is an ex Breyers Dole cold plate model.  "Cold plates" are frozen over night by electric, and were used in both milk and ice cream trucks, however many ice cream trucks also had pony refrigeration units to supplement the plates during the course of a day.

This 1985 GMC Top Kick is powering another hard ice cream truck.  A cold plate with pony back up, this is called a "reach" truck, in that the deliveryman accesses his product by reaching through multiple doors, as opposed to a walk-in door in the side or back.  The Top Kick was also used for our "straight" milk trucks during the late 80's.

In the mid 80's, we contracted to distribute ice cream to the Thriftway grocery chain.  The fleet began with new GMC Brigadier single axle tractors and pony trailers from Breyers.  The freezers were Thermo King.

Later in the 80's, the Thriftway distribution grew to include Shop N' Bag, IGA and frozen bakery products to other supermarket chains.  This was our first new forty foot low-temperature trailer along with a new GMC Brigadier tandem axle tractor.

During the mid 90's, we switched to Volvo's.  This is a 1995 model, with ThermoKing refrigeration on a twenty foot body.

In the mid 90's, then president, John F. Baldwin created our very popular 800 telephone number WOW-COW1.  It was immediately applied to all of our trucks and more recently amended to include our World Wide Web URL:

In 1998, our fleet again is an International product.  This 1999 model has automatic transmission, AM/FM stereo radio, air-ride seat and remote controls for the Carrier refrigeration unit.  The body is twenty-two feet.

No, not a space aged milk truck. In March 2001, Balford Farms launched a radio campaign in cooperation with Radio 1210.

You just might just see a PT Cruiser with a familiar paint scheme at an associated event near you!?.

In September 2001, we began taking delivery of these Sterlings (Ford). We've gone all out on these with air conditioning, air seats, stereo radio, CB hookup, air horns and lots of chrome embellishemt. A Cat 3126B engine with a 6 speed Allison automatic transmission. A brand new Morgan 22' box with Carrier refrigeration monitored from within the cab.

Another peek at those sterling, Sterlings!

May 2002 brings new Internationals. These have the DT446 High Torque International engines and MD 3060 6 speed Allison automatic trannies. Again brand new Morgan 22' boxes with the new Supra 744 Carrier refrigeration units. The same creature comforts inside such as air ride seats, stereo radio, and remote refrigeration controls but, oops, our supplier forgot the air conditioning in the first few delievred this year.

Also in May 2002, we completed the restoration of our antique Divco truck. Learn more about it from our "Divco" web pages.

In June 2003 we started toying with some new paint schemes. Here's the result of a simple color change on one of our tractors.

03/28/01