Interesting machines

Mainer_for_life · November 28, 2014, 07:08:57 PM

Hey guys being that I am still fairly young I still have my very curious side. I want to know and see pictures of any interesting machinery that you have worked, on seen or heard of. Thanks guys for helping to cure my curious streak.

barbender · November 28, 2014, 07:18:40 PM

Start of by looking at the Timber harvest methods and equipment thread, that will keep you busy for a while ;)

lynde37avery · November 28, 2014, 07:39:11 PM

Yea that's a fun thread. Lots of cool posts. I seen a bombardier with a winch used logging before. I think that they're used on ski slopes for building trails.

loggah · November 28, 2014, 08:02:19 PM

This the most interesting machine i ever helped restore. ;D a 1914 steam lombard no. 70 out of 83 built. I have seen and owned plenty of interesting machines. I worked on steam logging locomotives also in my youth,helping retube boilers and making driveline parts , at my friends tourist railroad ,the white mt. central in lincoln N.H also the home of Clarks trained bears..

Dave Shepard · November 28, 2014, 08:11:24 PM

That must have been something to see in the woods for the first time. loggah, do you know if steam donkey's were popular on the East Coast? I'm sure they must have been in the woods in '14 on the West coast.

I haven't been around too many machines that were too extraordinary. I helped build a wire saw for cutting marble. We've cut a block that was 30,800 so far, but you could cut much larger. This block is maybe 40"x40"x12'. It was full of cracks, so we set it next to the saw and have an 8 ton knuckleboom crane we are going to mount to it to handle the stone slabs coming off of it.

Mainer_for_life · November 28, 2014, 08:19:04 PM

I will look at the thread guys thanks. Loggah that is one nice lookin machine. The marble saw is something I never really thought about but now that I'm thinkin I realize cut marble has to come from somewhere. Keep it coming guys

thecfarm · November 28, 2014, 08:23:04 PM

I like this one,
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,56449.0.html

Jhenderson · November 28, 2014, 08:29:23 PM

From the operators perch,if you were running a Lombard and it got away from you, your sure to be the first one at the scene of the wreck.

loggah · November 28, 2014, 09:24:43 PM

There were few donkey engines used in New England as far as i know,some were used to haul sleds up steep areas ,and around log ponds for stacking logs.Sam White a famous Alaskan bush pilot said the most scared he ever was,was in his younger days as a steam lombard steersman !!!!!1 ;D ;D If anyone ever reads his book "SAM WHITE ALASKA" he is pretty graphic about his log hauler days ! ;D ;D

timberlinetree · November 29, 2014, 05:44:37 AM

That is really neat( both posts)! I don't really read but would like to read that book.

BargeMonkey · November 29, 2014, 09:04:56 AM

Thats some neat stuff. ;)
I know you could order a backhoe on a 440-440A-440B, there is one by me but i cant get the pictures to load. Little by little your not seeing the older iron around here, everytime the price of scrap goes high you see the stuff disappear.

loggah · November 29, 2014, 11:11:53 AM

The State of N.H. used to have a John Deere skidder with backhoe attachment,they used it for doing test pits,they probably still have it somewhere.

sawguy21 · November 29, 2014, 12:19:25 PM

Quote from: Jhenderson on November 28, 2014, 08:29:23 PM
From the operators perch,if you were running a Lombard and it got away from you, your sure to be the first one at the scene of the wreck.

I can't imagine trying that.

The ol' body would sure take a beating by the end of the day if he survived a crash or roll over.

loggah · November 29, 2014, 04:47:36 PM

Heres a few pictures of one of the most interesting machines i have ever been in. Its the original Letourneau land trains largest land vehicle ever built. It was made for the U.S. Army for use in Alaska and Northern Canada to build and service the DEW line, anti missile defense system. I found this in a scrapyard in Fairbanks Alaska back in 2010.The first one is the generator car,with the engine and generator each wheel is powered with an electric motor to bad the tires are flat there around 9" tall.,the trailers it pulled also have electric powered wheels.the total length of the machine was around 400 ' the second photo is one of the trailers.

Ljohnsaw · November 29, 2014, 06:40:29 PM

Quote from: loggah on November 29, 2014, 04:47:36 PM
Heres a few pictures of one of the most interesting machines i have ever been in. Its the original Letourneau land trains largest land vehicle ever built.<<snip>>

Now that is a cool piece of iron. What did haul with that? The trailer beds don't look all that large.

loggah · November 29, 2014, 07:00:30 PM

They hauled all kinds of supplies and parts for the radar stations. the big tires are for flotation in the muskeag and snow,most everything was made to be handled by hand and bolted together that they hauled. The crews quarters were behind the operators station.

thecfarm · November 29, 2014, 07:51:23 PM

Google koehring forestry equipment. THAT will keep you busy for awhile. ;D

Maine logger88 · November 30, 2014, 01:33:10 AM

Yes those feller forwarders and short wood harvesters are cool! Loggah I saw a thread you posted awhile back about a huge Clark skidder that's a cool machine I would love to see one in person!

ScottAR · November 30, 2014, 02:52:52 AM

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXzB5Oe9qjlkO1HQE9vFCJg Anything RG Letourneau built falls into the interesting category. One of his family has put the original films up to see. They made a few versions of the land trains and many other one off creations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J24RGyNR5M Rather large vid of Koehring shortwood logger.
Looks ponderous for today but pretty revolutionary for it's time.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbQzH0xkTwlujZFsE5UzMcw Nice channel about moving all this giant stuff around.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfS-VMAfEXRiJLqSAEnqNRg Big dirt moving out west.

These should get ya started. There's not much on tv that's interesting anymore so I youtube often these days.

loggah · November 30, 2014, 07:59:22 AM

Those big 880 Clark skidders were up in Kingfield maine ,but i never heard where they went after the auction. My wife didn't think i needed one! ;D

shinnlinger · November 30, 2014, 08:32:04 AM

The good news is they saved that Machine in Alaska from the scrapper.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOPSMxYcs3I

loggah · November 30, 2014, 12:52:40 PM

My computer wont let me see it,to old ! >:( When i was there the guys in the scrapyard said they thought it was going to a museum in Canada, they didn't know where . Back then i assumed it was going to the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskawin (SP) Alberta. Heres a few pictures of a slightly newer Machine that was used by the Alaska freight lines. Its owned by a slightly eccentric guy in Fox Alaska a bit north of Fairbanks.