
By Jim “Buck” Sorrenti
Working in extreme rough terrain requires extreme equipment. Scott Wolff, the owner of Iron Horse Towing of Missoula, Mont., has a specialized fleet to handle his working area of Northwest Mont. and Northern Idaho.
Missoula is located along the Clark Fork River near its merging with the Bitterroot and Blackfoot Rivers in western Montana and at the intersection of five mountain ranges, thus it is often described as the ‘hub of five valleys.’ This is rough and rugged terrain indeed.
To handle winter recoveries in this terrain, Scott a very unique piece of...a snowcat. Scott informed, “I've got three of these things that we do the recoveries with. Each one has its own purpose.”
The areas in which he works are not always accessible with his conventional wreckers, so he goes to one of his three cats to get the job done. Featured here is Scott’s T2009 Tucker Sno-Cat Special Edition 275 hp.
“This so far is my all-time favorite recovery,” stated Scott. “The Missoula Snow Goers snowmobile club had their groomer slide off the trail. It was way steeper than the pictures show. It threw a track and was stuck. This was a 22-hour job and we got a foot of new snow while we worked it. This was at the Crooked Fork drainage in Northern Idaho about 22 miles in.”
The Forest Service, Montana Fish and Game, and the Missoula Snow Goers coordinated the recovery. Scott, with his 2009 Tucker Sno-Cat, along with several members of the Missoula Snow Goers snowmobile club on snowmobiles handled this recovery.
The Prinoth BR 350 snowcat was grooming the snowmobile trail and slid off the trail and down the bank. This section of the trail is very steep and off camber and has been a trouble spot over the years.
Scott explained, “The trail in this section hadn't been built up with snow yet so it sloped downhill quite a bit and fought us the whole way. The groomer was trying to build up the trail when he slid off. The operator tried to walk it out, but in the process threw the driver's side track off. At that point they called us. By the time we got there the next day everything had frozen and we had to chip ice off the undercarriage and shovel a lot of snow out from around it.”
Scott rigged both of the Tucker winches to trees uphill through snatch blocks to the Prinoth, to hold the machine and used to work the track back on. It took several hours to get the track back on and to get the Prinoth running and able to move under its own power. He rigged both lines to the blade framework to spin the Prinoth around so it was facing uphill and used them individually to steer its progress.
“The Prinoth could help somewhat, but we had to be careful not to walk the tracks off again on the hill as I was winching it up,” informed Scott. “Once we had it back on the trail, I couldn't let it go or it would go back down the bank so I had to hold it up with one winch and winch it forward with the other to get it up to the flat spot where I had parked the Tucker. Once I got it up to where my Tucker was we held it there and I moved forward for the final pull to the flat spot. While we were in there it snowed so hard getting about a foot of fresh snow which made things even more complicated.”
When the Prinoth was on the flat spot it was able to drive out under its own power.
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Scott founded Iron Horse Towing in 1995 and now has 15 employees. His extensive fleet consists of 22 trucks, which includes four heavies, two medium-duty, four light-duty, three carriers, three service trucks plus, and as Scott stated, “A bunch of other stuff.”
The “other stuff” includes the three Snowcats, three tractors, two Landolls, a bus trailer, a 45-ton crane, one telehandler, two skidsteers, a light plant, an end dump trailer, two trailer dollies, four pickups, and the list goes on…
Show Yours @ TIWDo you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to our Field Editor Jim “Buck” Sorrenti at jimchaos69@yahoo.com; your story may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!

by Jim “Buck” Sorrenti
In the wee hours of the morning on August 18/19, 2020 Battelini Transport & Towing Service was called to assist with a water recovery.
Company President Albert Battelini explained, “The incident happened at South Vineland Park on Elmer Rd in Vineland, NJ. We were called by Vineland Police Dept to assist in the removal of a submerged vehicle. We were dispatched at 1:15 a.m.”
Al’s nephews, Anthony and Wade Battelini, responded with their NRC 40/50 50-ton rotator. When they arrived Downe Twp Fire/Rescue Dive Team, Sta 39 Divers were on scene to recover the vehicle for Vineland PD and Fire Company. They used sonar to find the vehicle in approximately 50-plus feet of water.
Sta 39 Divers attached chains to the front wheels with rim slings and Anthony and Wade did a little night fishing using the NRC 40/50 to winch the catch to shore.
The Battelini family has a long history of fishing/recoveries. One of the images posted here shows company founder Alesio with quite the catch hanging from his wrecker.
Al stated, “Jan 2021 starts our 100 year Anniversary. My grandfather Alesio Battelini started out by going to Sweeney Automobile school in Kansas City in 1918 and with the help of his father Dominico he built our original garage in 1921. Happy New Year to our family, friends and customers. Heres to the next 100 years.”
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Albert Battelini is the president of Battelini Transport & Towing Service in Landisville, New Jersey. The company is co-owned by Albert, his brother Anthony and their father Dominick (RIP). This has been a family built, owned and operated business since grandpa Alesio Battelini started Battelini's Garage in the heart of South Jersey on Route 40 in Landisville in 1921. There are four generations of Battelini boys that have become men in their family business and a fifth generation waiting to come of age.
The family also runs Battelini Wrecker Sales, a full-service dealer for NRC Industries and others, servicing New Jersey, Delaware and the surrounding New York City area. They install almost everything they sell in their South Jersey facility.
Sadly Battelini patriarch Dominick Battelini (see last image) passed away peacefully in his sleep on the morning of December 7, 2020. Al said, “It's with a heavy heart that we have to tell everyone of my father’s passing. He was 92 years old and lived a full life. He touched a lot of people along the way and hopefully will be remembered for the humble man he was.”
Show Yours @ TIWDo you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to our Field Editor Jim “Buck” Sorrenti at jimchaos69@yahoo.com; your story may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!

by Jim “Buck” Sorrenti
In the wee hours of the morning of November 7, 2020, B&W Towing LLC was called to recover a vehicle that went off a bridge.
B&W owner Kristen Klemenz informed, “This incident happened on River Road in the town of Corning, NY, a few miles from our shop. We were dispatched by the Steuben County 911.”
Shop manager and rotator operator Blaine Westervelt responded with their Kenworth T800 with a 2019 Century 1150 50-ton rotator and operator Leroy Vannatta went out in their 2018 Kenworth with a Jerr-Dan bed.
Kristen said, “Leroy, one of our rollback operators, is an amazing guy. He has been with us for over four years. I went out to help and take pictures.”
When they arrived, they discovered the car left the roadway, hit a utility pole and launched across a creek bed into the riff raff rocks on the other side, the force literally shooting the car completely under the bridge. The car had severe damage with every air bag blown out.
Kristen explained, “We had to use the Century 50-ton rotator to recover the vehicle from under the bridge, between a live gas line that ran along side of the bridge and navigate it between the broken and low hanging utility lines.”
The crew rigged it with an endless loop and two D-rings on the rotator. Blaine boomed the rotator out sideways to get from under the bridge and then once they had a few hand lines to it, he boomed up and between the gas line and utility lines.
“After the lift, the wrecked vehicle was safely set back on the road, winched and secured onto our Jerr-Dan rollback and transported back to our yard,” stated Kristen. “This was a pretty cool recovery.”
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B&W Towing LLC, owned by Kristen Klemenz, is based in Painted Post, NY. The company was started in Sept of 2009 with one truck and now has a fleet of over 40 trucks. They are NYS DBE (Disadvantaged Business Enterprise) and WBE (Women-owned Business Enterprise Program) certified and 100% women owned. The company does repair work on all makes and models for diesel and automotive, offer roadside assistance to light- and heavy-duty cars and trucks, does motorcycle and tractor-trailer towing, and handles NYS inspections and environmental clean up.
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Do you have a recovery to share with TIW readers? Send some pics and info to our Field Editor Jim “Buck” Sorrenti at jimchaos69@yahoo.com; your story may even be selected for print in American Towman magazine!