Aaron Loyet said:
Those are some awesome pictures John, thanks for posting them. Don’t really know of any operations outside of Washington that used them, though I can’t imagine the cost of getting one moved from the factory cross country to another operation.
I don’t know. Narrow gauge locomotives were shipped from factories back east to the western railroads. So shipping costs couldn’t have been too prohibitive.
John,
That first picture that you posted is of the machine we are talking about. It was preserved/displayed at Point Defiance park and recently moved to Roots of Motive power in Willets, CA. Great shots but I still think there should be some film footage out there somewhere.
Rick
David Maynard said:
Aaron Loyet said:
Those are some awesome pictures John, thanks for posting them. Don’t really know of any operations outside of Washington that used them, though I can’t imagine the cost of getting one moved from the factory cross country to another operation.
I don’t know. Narrow gauge locomotives were shipped from factories back east to the western railroads. So shipping costs couldn’t have been too prohibitive.
That Willamette tower skidder weighed in at about 230 tons may have been a bit more of a problem to move than a narrow gauge locomotive. But move them they did indeed.
Rick
Great pics of some awesome equipment!
Darius and Clark Kinsey are my source for pictures. The University of Washington has great collections. I’m not aware of them using movie cameras.
The hardest thing to find is shots of men working, mostly group poses on the equipment we want to see!
Smile!
Oh that is one of the Kinseys
David Maynard said:
Aaron Loyet said:
Those are some awesome pictures John, thanks for posting them. Don’t really know of any operations outside of Washington that used them, though I can’t imagine the cost of getting one moved from the factory cross country to another operation.
I don’t know. Narrow gauge locomotives were shipped from factories back east to the western railroads. So shipping costs couldn’t have been too prohibitive.
Very true, but at the weight, being close to 300 tons for some models, and overall size clearance wise, I doubt they could be moved cross country in one piece, making more work and probably higher costs. Definitely not impossible, but probably detoured a lot of potential customers
They probably shipped them in pieces,and assembled them at the destination. Some companies send out people to help setup and teach operating skills. I’m sure this was a high profit item for the seller, and they wanted happy customers. That would help future sales
John Caughey said:
Darius and Clark Kinsey are my source for pictures. The University of Washington has great collections. I’m not aware of them using movie cameras.
The hardest thing to find is shots of men working, mostly group poses on the equipment we want to see!
Smile!
Well, with the old box cameras, they needed a long exposure time. That is why most pictures from that era are staged, or posed.
Here is a picture of a Lidgerwood tower skidder in operation with a crew train near it to give you a little perspective on the enormous size of these critters.
Somewhere (can’t seem to find it) I have a picture of a skidder being turned on diverging tracks using two locomotives. Don’t think I would have wanted to be anywhere close while that operation was in progress.
Rick
What an incredible beast. It would have been a tragedy if the last one had been scrapped.
Regarding Movies;
Most likely they would have been produced by a collector or historical society.
As impressive as they were, they weren’t as efficient as Caterpillar Dozers and Arches. All the cabling and workers to haul the hooks eliminated, the support staff and cost to operate led to their demise.
Wayerhaeuser Timber bought several steel spar skidders from Washington Iron Works. In the book I have the authors seem to get confused between the two brands…
Darius Kinsey had up to date photography equipment, but I don’t see any cranks on his cameras.
The museum watermarked has more of the skidder pics, but not on line (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-frown.gif).
John
Well, after almost 4 years in the making, its time once again to blow the dust off this beast! I have been gathering up new parts and looking through data, and today I started a new framework. I will be posting some pictures of it in the next couple of days. stay tuned…
Yes, finally we may see this beast come to life.
We are waiting with “a worm on our tongue” (baited breath)
as Mork use to say.
Pictures and progress please.
Rick
As promised, a few progress pictures. After much searching, I decided to go to the frame design similar to the shop built unit that is preserved at CASS, though I like the look of the decks on the Lidgerwood and the Willamette unit, this one will be more friendly to move around on track.
And overall shot. I have decided to salvage as much as possible from the original unit. Here the rear tower has been removed and placed onto the new deck
more to follow soon…
Well this will be cool
I hope it will. maybe i’ll get it done while i’m young enough to enjoy it hahaha
Aaron Loyet said:
I hope it will. maybe i’ll get it done while i’m young enough to enjoy it hahaha
Well let me ask you are yo young enough to enjoy building it. Because a project like that one is more about the building process than the completed project. Well to me it is anyway.
Devon, yes, but its always nice to see the project finished and trundling down the track.
