Thought I might generate a bit of interest with a few old kiwi earthmoving projects.....so will lead of with Benmore Earth Fill Dam..located on the Waitaki River near Otematata...South Island ...New Zealand. The project was given the go ahead in 1957 at an estimated cost of 36,400,000 pounds. Some dimensions of the Project being 1600ft wide...360ft high with a crest length of 2700ft and 15.6 million cubic yards of fill. Construction was completed for the earth fill dam 1960..heres a few old photos that I've scanned...look forward to others
I've never knew International made a three axle scraper, never seen one, they were International 495's? Nice lookers. You ever run one RayC? Any junkers around in New Zealand sure would like some photos for my scraper photo album. Good morrning Ray Mike Nebergall
Hi Mike I'm not sure how many 495's survived....hopefully this will create an interest...heres a couple of photos I took in 1989...Twizel Information centre have a 495 and Cat D8 on display
I remember Dad taking us there while on holidays in the South Island back in those days, 1936 Buick straight 8 was the car you wouldnt want to be paying for the petrol in one at todays prices over there, got the Benmore book around here somewhere as the pics look familiar. Those were the days of the big dam jobs Roxburgh, Benmore, Twizel and all the ones on the Waikato river and Matahina to name a few. Cheers RDG.
Hi RDG.. The photos have all been scanned from a MOWD booklet...hopefully we will get a few interesting posts for subjects such as this are all becoming history and it would be great to find any photos before they get stashed away in a cupboard and never seen again. I have managed to track down Contracting and Construction mags from the 50's...so my intention is to scan subjects and put them on the board and hoping to drag out old memories/photos...such as this...Matahina...Roxburgh..highway projects..and if folk can't work out how to post photos get hold of us ...myself...Malcolm..etc and we can post photos on behalf for it would be great to see this subject grow Regards RayC
Hi Ray Great stuff, Keep it coming. Note the 495 at twizel has a later grill and air cleaner than the others shown on the earlier photo's, also that it is aftercooled. Early 295's where not aftercooled, I presume that 495's were the same. This is the only complete 495 that I know of in N.Z., would be great to find some others. D8 at Twizel is a 22a D8h, (direct drive) made in Great Britain. Cheers 68M
http://books.google.com/books?id=vv...&resnum=7&ved=0CD8Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false A little information on the 495... hard to find much on the net about them. Alan
http://www.trademe.co.nz/antiques-collectables/automotive-transport/other/auction-418800804.htm brochure found online. Here are the pics I robbed from it including the 295 and 495.
Hello RayC Would be keen to know where you tracked down Contracting and Construction mags from? - they are a bit like Rocking horse s_ _ _ I subscribed to Road Transport and Contracting from mid 1966 on and have obtained a few C&C on Trademe and Ebay but very hard to come by. I have photos of 495s and the 295s that finally replaced them from my working days at Twizel - its just a matter of digging through boxes to find them. Its a long time ago and I do not remember how many of the 495s of the original 15 were left at that stage 1973/74. I think Baker Construction ended up with some after the MOW sold them off.
Gidday Paydozer Thanks for the post...and if you get a chance dig thru those old boxes for it would be sure great to see any of the old photos that you may have....and like I said before if your unable to work out how to post pictures just send to me via my e-mail and I will happily post for you.. Yeh the Contracting & Construction mags are a great find...having searched libraries throughout NZ...only to find via another contact that a friend has virtually the full set just down the road from me ...I have been borrowing mags to copy relevant info for my reference... Look forward to your posts Regards RayC
in those days men were men and gay was a word for happy! How the world has changed
Yeah, it,s sorta like one i saw a long time ago that siad, "Remember when sex was safe and drag racing was dangerous" !!
RayC, Will be back in Kiwiland in a couple of weeks and will do a bit of digging and see what photos I can find. Would be interesting to get a bit of history/photos on some of the contractors on these jobs also as there would be very few if any still in operation today? Earthmoving like the world has changed - I am told it is called progress? Paydozer.
great thread boys, quite enjoying the pics of when our taxpayer pounds were actually spent on work projects instead of beneficiary payments like now. I,d be quite interested in seeing any pics about the kopu Hikuai road. green and mccahill had there first D9G on it and alan mills had at least 1 maybe 2 TD30s on it Cheers merv
I have photos from when I did my apprenticeship on dozers down there. MOW had a fleet of 295's' **** Collis had some, very smokey they went ok.Baker's had some of those 4x4 payhaulers & payloaders. Green & McCahill had that D9G there, Higgins had that impressive fleet of S24's. I worked for Doug Hood they are still around. Fred Willetts had that D9G with the U blade.I think that was the 1st in NZ Butson had good gear.Gina Howey pulled the pin cause MOW wouldn't pay enough.Rooney's had a HD 16 there they have a bit now days.Burnett's were there MaKay's.MOW would buy heaps. Remember when there machines had all factory cabs , blades where the poor old contractor had to have local build.I think at the time it was the largest no of D9's on one job. The list goe's on.I will get my photos out of storage when I go back to NZ one day.Cheers
G,day Ray some of the best photo collections Ive ever seen have been from a couple of different Kiwi mates that I had and have lost contact with over the years.... probably of some of those early jobs that you talk about
Benmore Hey...thanks to all who are viewing and commenting...great to see some new names checking out this post...so spread the word ...for it would be great to expand a whole list of topics...but at the moment heres a few more scanned photos from a second publication...enjoy Regards RayC
Railway Line Constr Murupara to Edgecumbe 1953 Heres another project ...constructed due to logging of Kaiangoroa Forest...est cost 3,600,000 pounds...3,000,000 cuyds of earth to move.. Contractors on site: H Allen Mills ...using Cletrac tractors/LT Scoops x 6 Taylor & Culley Ltd ...Using AC HD15 x3 HD 10 x1 HD7 x1 John F Smythe ...using LT Tournadozers x2 Cat D8/15yd Birtley Scoops Cat D7/12yd Onions Scoop NZ Roadmakers Ltd ...using Cat/IH and AC Equipment Downer & Co ..using Cat Equipment
Rail Line Murupara Heres a few more photos
Murupara Rail Line And a few more
Ray, this is a great subject for a thread. I wonder how many years it took to shift the 3,000,000 yards on the Murupara project given the size of the fleets and equipment? I think I have a copy of the same Benmore booklet that some of your scans are from. Attached below is another page from it for the Caterpillar machines on the project. The 631's I think were the first in NZ and belonged to JR Bishop. I'll see what else I have stashed away as well. Looking forward to some good posts in the future!
A little bit more on the IH 495s. The 495s used at Twizel were the same machines that were initially used at Benmore and Avimore. They were a great machine and moved a lot of dirt in their time. I was working for the MOW at Twizel as a diesel fitter and spent a fair bit of time with these scrapers. At least 2 were written of due to accident damage - jack-knifing on icy roads and another was converted into a penstock hauler in the fabrication shop in Twizel for the Tekapo B powerstation. They were replaced with 15 IH 295s in 1974 which overall gave a poor run with a lot of transmission problems. Of the 15, we were lucky to have more than 10 running at any time. I spent most of 1975 looking after these 295s. The 495s were good on the road and would easy do 50mph plus and rode as good as a truck with no bounce. We also had safety latch hooks fitted to the bowl so that it would not drop while travelling on the haul roads. Regards, John
I doubt if the scrapers in the second last post at Benmore belonged to John Bishop. At that time from what I can recall, he only had a couple of DW15 scrapers and the largest dozer was a D6C. I remember having a go driving this pushing the DW15s while I was at highschool on a road project near Herbert in North Otago. He later went to a couple of Terex TS14s he set up push-pull for working in irrigation races in the lower Waitaki Vally. His first 631s would have been B series which worked on the Tekapo Canal. regards, John
Hi John, yes you may be correct with the 631's not belonging to JR Bishop. For whatever reason I always thought they were but after thinking about I don't recall seeing it in writing any where. Must have been one of the other contractors working at Benmore at the time. Thanks Mr Euclid
Just stumbled across this website................ http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113162022035760#!/group.php?gid=113162022035760&v=wall Lots of great photos of the earthmoving associated with the hydro project at Twizel.
Mr Euclid Many thanks for a great link to the Twizel Photos...Fantastic photos...just what we are looking for...lets hope this jogs a few more memories
Great link to the photos. Brings back memories of the Camp4 / Camp 6 area and the different machines used on the site.
Good Memories. Really great link - lots of good memories - the MOW 560 Payloaders and Komatsus were after my time.Will have a go over the holiday season to try and post some of my Twizel photos.
A Few Kiwi action shots enjoy Malcolm
Some more
4 more
Some red Tractors at Matahina
Any ideas ? Malcolm, Some great shots - I see a couple of Roadmakers TD 24s - any idea on ownership of the other gear in the shots ?
A couple more shots. They link to an external hosting site as the scans are quite large. First up another Benmore Ad: http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2139/benmore1fs.jpg http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/7261/benmore2fs.jpg Some more Twizel: http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8162/upw02fs.jpg Mr Euclid
Good morrning Malcolm, Love these photos of the cat and can activity, I only ran a cat and can once myself, the cat and can was my dads era back in 1941 he told me he ran a D8 2U pulling a 35 yard woolridge scraper and how steep they would come off the hills. I also under stand the cat and can were great for finish work, I knew a lot of old timers that swore by the cat and can era, the stories they would tell at lunch they were great. Have a great day Mike Nebergall
Hi, I am a newbie here (FIRST post reply), I found this forum via a search for LeTourneau Heavy Equipment and this thread appears to be an appropriate place to key into the these forums because it relates to the following thread that came up when I landed at this website: Thread: LeTourneau scraper Furthermore the following reply within the above thread caught my interest because of a question that I cannot ask until I have passed the three post requirement. So for the present, I have simply copied and pasted that particular reply below and I will ask the question once I am permitted to do so. 11-11-2006, 11:32 PM#3 JimBruce42 JimBruce42 posted the following: “LeT never was in the business of small thats for sure.” Meek, Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability
Hi again, I am not just trying to fullfill my three post requirement but yes I hope this is allowed to add as my second post because the administrator said someting about a test place that I don't quit uderstand. Anyway you folks most likely have seen the (National Geographic?) documentary on PBS TV about the building of the Panama Canal. If you have not seen it, it is a MUST see. BTW: I have a little Terra Track Dozer built in the 1950's smaller than a D2. CASE bought out Terra Track in the 60's. I am rebuilding the undercarriage on my Terra Tack. Because parts are no longer available for the TT, I am upgrading to "Deere 40" pins and bushings on the rails (links) for the tracks. These new pins and bushings are larger in diameter and longer than the TT pins and bushings so I designed and built a fixture (tooling) for my milling machine to to bore the holes in the rails for press fit of the new pins and bushings and of course these new parts have to also be cut to length and naturally they are hardend alloy steel. Quite a project. Please let me know if there is a better forum within Heavy Equpment Forums.com for me to engage others on this topic because I am going to need input on this project and could help others who might be doing the same or similar. For example; I could provide free drawings and photo's of my milling machine fixture if anyone wants to copy it. I should mention that this Deere 40 upgrade has already been succesfully accomplished by a friend of mine on his TT. Meek, Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability
Hi, I am a newbie here (FIRST post reply), I found this forum via a search for LeTourneau Heavy Equipment and this thread appears to be an appropriate place to key into the these forums because it relates to the following thread that came up when I landed at this website: Thread: LeTourneau scraper Furthermore the following reply within the above thread caught my interest because of a question that I cannot ask until I have passed the three post requirement. So for the present, I have simply copied and pasted that particular reply below and I will ask the question once I am permitted to do so. 11-11-2006, 11:32 PM#3 JimBruce42 JimBruce42 posted the following: “LeT never was in the business of small thats for sure.” Meek, Design for RELIABILITY, manufacturability, and maintainability
Ooops, sorry: after my second post, my first post came up in the quick reply box as if my second post had been rejected as I incorrectly assumed so I just clicked on Post Quick Reply expecting to start all over again.
Thanks for the great pics Malcom; must have been alot of TD24s running around here once ! Have only seen about 2 in my life, neither running. Any idea how many 24s, 25s and 30s were sold here ? That first photo of the couple in love looking into each others eyes; almost letting the crawler run itself; is supposed to be Baldy Margan and bride, isnt it as am certain i have seen that pic before in a article about them ? Anyhow looks like true love; and the perfect woman; be hard pressed to find a real woman to do that today ! Thanks and cheers Merv
HI Not sure about the red ones at Matahina must have been in to much of a hurry to earn a buck than do sign writing the others are mainly Roadmakers you are right Merv Baldy and wife
great pictures Malcolm, I haven't seen a picture of a D pull in years, we use to use them a lot back in the early 1960 on small road jobs as a matter affact on all jobs. The electric stering and the famous GMC four silender Diesel engine is what I remember the most, we would use them to pickup windrows for the fine grade, this is of course before John Deere came out with the famous padle wheel scraper. Was the John Deere the 460 padel wheel? I still see them around every once in a while here in washington state. one more question Malcolm in the 1960 did Caterpillar have the operators sitting on the right side of the scrapers in your area or did the come like they did in the USA? Thanks Malcolm. Mike Nebergall
They were allways left hand drive as in ths USA from all the ones Ive seen.
Sorry Ray Got side tracked off your thread , Here is the Mangere Airport pics i have cheers Malcolm
More
Higgins Earthmoving lineup Twizel 1980
I met a fellow many years ago by the name of Graeme Craw? North Island who had a huge Packard car collection plus many other things. Apparently He used vickers crawlers and was very heavily involved in major earthworks projects . He had been interested in agetting a vickers again, although He has passed away some years ago would be interesting to see some photos
yes graeme is deceased, but his son Fenton still runs the collection. Sheds full of vintage earthmoving machinery, including a vickers vr180 and a immaculate allis chalmers HD19, and alot of others. Huge collection of packard cars too.
I worked with some of that Higgins fleet,it would have to be some of the most immaculate gear around at the time,also there fleet of XY/XA Falcons.Are they still around.Cheers
HI D6 Merv oh terrific, I got lost in the old factory for hours whilst Graeme told stories of his toys , good to see He found a VR 180 , fascinating fellow, a simply amazing collection of gear
Hi Merv, where is this collection at? might have to have a look next time i am back over there, was over there for the rugby world cup back in sept and if I had known about that I would have gone for a look. Cheers RDG.
Hi RDG. Its in the old maungatapere diary factory on the road from whangarei to dargaville. About 10 minutes from whangarei end. i only got to see it thru a mate of a mate, and managed to invite myself. Fenton is a real nice guy to talk to and you can certainly get engrossed and lost in the place.. is easy to spend over half a day there. Don,t know if you,d like it tho. LOTS of Allis Chalmers, and Caterpillars there; but none of cyrus Hs stuff, ! ! ! Cheers Merv
Some Photos of Craws
A good collection there, at least they are all under cover, the VR 180 looks quite tidy, even a couple of vickers onions scoops. Thanks for the info Merv if I get time next time Im over I will try and get up that way. Got plenty of time on my hands at the moment, had 6 stubbies on sun arvo then thought I better clean the pool, ended up having a slip/trip/ falll or what ever and now got plaster from the knee down 2 crutches to get around on and about 4 wks off work, what a day probably should have done things in reverse order might have had a different out come. Cheers RDG.
Benmore..Contd Heres a few more article photos to enjoy..
Thanks Ray for the pics These are the 1st pics I have seen of a TD24 with a single exhaust pipe , It must have been the last of them they are all late model ones with the air cleaner on the left hand side but the last pic shows 2 machines pushing a 2t75 the 1st with twin stacks and the second only one as in your 1st pic , cheers Malcolm
Benmore Hi Malcolm..Heres another photo of the 24 from another angle... Ray
Great posts fellows Spent my younger years working on Cat Equipment in NZ (Gough Gough & Hamer) Mainly on the Tongariro Project, Raurimu Spiral Bypass and some time at Deep Cove. Would be interesting to see some pics of them if available. Cat 12H, D8H and D6C were new back them. Now in Laos, doing training, Just love it here, but work permit is running out soon :-(
I have a book called Servicing Caterpillar by a bloke called Ken Anderson who was a GGH service man in Taumarunui back in those days, 200 pages of pics and info from down around Tongariro/ Taumarunui. It has lots of info on machines s/ns and who bought them + some of the names of staff at GGH at the time as well as lots a info on the history of Cat in NZ in the early days. Dont remember where I got it from, think my son saw it somewhere on line and got it from there, its published by C&S PUBLICATIONS Taumarunui, if thats any help. Cheers RDG.
Sadly Ken passed away about 3 years ago; But the book is a exellent read and alot of great photos. It was for sale through goughs in auckland, and also the caterpillar museum in rotorua. Ken also helped write the kopuku book about W Stevensons big opencast coal mine there that ran from the late 40s to the late 80s. And another one about bush logging tramways in the king country. He was agood friend of mine and wabcomans on here.
Yes, Ken Anderson is sadly missed. A very kind and knowledgeable man
Sorry to hear about Ken, he certainly wrote a good book, I also have the one on Kopuka and just thinking back I might have got Kens book from musuem in Rotorua as I went thru it a couple of yrs ago. Cheers RDG.
Wow it is a small world. Ken Anderson was my mentor. I started as an apprentice under him at GG&H in Taumarunui hence my association with the area Ken was the Service Manager and the branch manager was Ray Robinson. Ray and his sons had some of the first D6C;s in the area. I will try to get a hold of that book. Many Thanks
Sorry to hear of kens demise, I agree he was a knowledgeable Cat Man. Ken Anderson was my mentor. I started as an apprentice under him at GG&H.
Contraman, You certainly had a good teacher in Ken Anderson. Incredibly patient and a great diagnostic brain. Did you know Jack Carrol who took over from Ray Robinson ?
Cat 631 The 631 in the photos belonged to WH Butson. There were 4 631 at bemore, 2 with factory cabs were Butson's and the 2 without cabs, belonged to Higgins Earthmoving.
Hi guys, Would any of you have any information on the company by the name of Fowler Sealing that was based in Rotorua, and possibly Auckland? AS I have an old Galion grader that I am in the process of restoring that used to belong to that company. As I would be Interested to get in contact with anyone aho used to work or knew someone who used to work for that company, or someone who might know something to do with the history of my grader
Hi, Thought I would add a bit more to this thread to keep it going. Firstly, a link to some more photos from the Twizel era - Twizel Photos Then, some photos from the construction of the Wairoa Dam near Auckland in the early 1970's showing Downers equipment, which suprisingly included a few 637's scrapers, and various other contractors in action - Wairoa Dam I didn't take these photos so thanks to the original photographers for preserving these little bits of the past. Regards Mr Euclid
Cracking set of pics in the first set, tnanks for the link. If i could ask fi those first pics are scanned in to a higher resolution would you be willing to share a couple?
nice pictures
Thanks for the link to the Twizel photos - brings back memories from when I was working there
Hi Gavin, Your right, they are great photos in the first link and if they had a higher resolution and they would be fantastic.....unfortunately I wasn't the original photographer as all I did was find them on the web and posted the link. Mr Euclid
Great pics alright. Downers had 3 637s at weavers crossing huntly until somewhere in early 80s then i know they and a late D9G were sent off to a big job they had in fiji ? definetly some pacific isle. Anyone ever know what happened to them ?
mate ran the job in chatems,they built the airport,and just left the gear there.
Cheers kerry; hard to believe they just left it there ! place an,t big enough for any other big job there ! Thought would be too good a gear to abandon, shipping back here wouldnt have been that bad, after all supply ship for there would mostly be coming home here empty !
its hard to believe,kerry
I am particularly interested in the Higgins photo from Twizel, A guy i know has recently aquired a D9G, it came from a lime works not far from Dannevirke And before that it is ex monistry of works (Hawkes Bay?). Still has the MW plant number painted on it and also has a brass plate inside cab with NZ Govt Asset number. It looks the same as the ones in the photo, full cab, white roof and a 3 tine ripper on the back, Is it possible to find out more of the history of this machine.
Hi There, The D9G you speak about was new to MOW and in the 1970's work at Porirua near the Police training college. MOW used to have a cushion pusher blade for it, hence the single blade ram mount at the top of the nose cone. I understand the lime works were the second owner. Don't think Higgins ever owned it, in fact 4 (I think ) of Higgins D9's went to Russia when they were sold. 68m
Thanks for the info, do you know what projects it may have worked on? I was wondering about Twizel as some people have said it must have come from there, and looks the same spec as the higgins machines. Interesting to know about that blade we thought it could be for a cable blade. All in all its. A fairly tidy machine. The guy who owns the lime works said he got in from the ministry of works hawkes bay.i can post some photos if youd like.
Thanks! Very good link!
dbtmaz, Ant chance of the MOW plant number on the 9G.
Hi Paydozer Plant number 813210 Have attached a pic hope you all like. Have some more from the Hawkes Bay vintage Machiney expo, including cat ten, D2 D4 Several D8's aswell
FYI, JR never worked any machinery at Benmore during it's construction stage. Bishop Earthmoving Ltd was based at Twizel in the early 70's and were involved with the Tekapo project and worked on Ohau power project.
If anyone is interested, I have pics of Twizel when it was just a paddock with a few sheep. The sheep of course were delicious and long since digested, but the township is still there. Pics show the layout of the town and houses being bought in, as well as being constructed, also countless photos of the dams being constructed as well. For those that don't know, Twizel was a relocatable town bought over from Central Otago in the South Island. Properties were added and the town flourished. When the dams were finally constructed, the place became a virtual ghost town over night. People left and houses were dismantled or moved or offered to those who wished to stay and retire in the area. However Twizel has now become a tourist mecca, plus has easy access to the local ski fields.
Hi guys, am chasing a bit of information on Wabco 111A scraper. I am wishing to change the steering from electric to hydraulic, if anyone has got any ideas or know anyone that has done this would be of great help. thanks
Photos Gidday EDG Look forward to as many photos you have...just seen your Photos in the Terex thread...fantastic....many thanks for posting Regards RayC
If anyone could help over here I would try Stan Goodman or Showpony on the wabco thread,good luck,Kerry
EDG,many years ago I was on a save the marriage run and went through Twizel,stopped at Higgens yard and met I think Mike or John Higgens,showed me photos of D9s etc that 68m was saying where taken to Sibera,I was looking at all their models and hats on display and asked if I could have a hat,sure he said that will be $10 I bought it.There was also a restored scraper in yard original price in pounds on gooseneck,Kerry
Hi Ray, no probs, will post many more, the majority are of Cat, Wabco, Int etc but will post these with the Twizel pics if given the ok.. Cheers Drew.
Hi Kerry, Here's a rare photo of John Higgins (far left) taken at the Twizel Reunion in 2010. Cheers Drew.
Hi Drew Great...post all photos you have...I started this thread to build an interest with the history of earthmoving here in NZ and find people like youself who have photos sitting in albums who can share this history. You mention Cat/Terex/Wabco/IH so there will be great interest from all parties...have a read of all the great previous posts...and we look forward to your posts Regards Ray
If anyone here on this forum worked at the Twizel Project, ie; Ohau A or B, or Tekapo, throw some names of who you worked with or knew and I might just have a piccie of them taken at the reunion in 2010. Sadly a few of them have passed on, to work in the big earthmoving arena in the sky.
I do not remember many of the houses being shipped in from Central Otago - may be a few of the early ones. I think most of the early houses were re-located from Otematata, the town built for Benmore. While I was there, all the houses that were transported in were built at the MOW yard at Benmore or on an assembly line at DeGuest's yard in Oamaru. Waitaki Transport had 2 special trailers made for carrying them and were lifted off the trailers by 2 mobile cranes.
Hi John, 100% correct. The ones that were shipped from Central Otago, were ex Roxbrough dam project, not that many were sent, but were used by the staff for the original setup of the Twizel floor plan. Houses were used from Otematata as well as the Maternity hospital. I have pics of the original site plan as well as workmen laying pipes, building roads, bringing in houses etc etc etc. Its a full history of Twizel preserved via pictures. As the pics are not of machinery as such, do you think it would be ok to post them, or should I run a pm via steve (admin) first. ????
Thanks EDG thats the guy,ran one of the best fleets in NZ,Kerry
Hi Drew Post here as it will tell the whole timeline Regards Ray
:thumbsup opcorn Thanks!
This pic is the actual floor plan of Twizel.
The laying of all sewerage and water pipes.
The beginning of the township. The houses just below the middle of the picture are what was bought from Otematata. The others just above (bright white) are being constructed for the singlemen who were present to build the town.
The singlemens huts held in the MOW yard.
The Maternity Hospital being transported from Otematata to Twizel.
Prefabs built by Degeest Bros in Oamaru on there way to Twizel ready to be set on the foundations.
Lifting of the prefabs onto the foundations. This was what Aussie John was referring to in an earlier post.
The township starting to take shape, at this stage no-one is living in any of the homes, they remain empty until basic landscaping, electricity etc is hooked up.
An ariel view of the township with most of the homes laid on there foundations. The industrial area is also starting to take shape with workshops being constructed.
To a fully functional temporary town. I wont post anymore pics of the town except for the dismantling stage when the dams were complete, so "Let the dam building begin". Feel free to right click and save them, this is history.
As mentioned in the Lizard Post, plenty of pics ready to upload. I will start with Ohau A and then if everybody is happy will post pics of Ohau B and around Tekapo. Most of the pics are of the dam construction with various machines on display, at work and having a sleep or a lie down in a ditch.
Yair . . . EDGLimited . Bloody marvellous mate, it's a pity more of us did not have the foresight to record on film what to us (back then) was ordinary and mundane. Cheers.
No prob's mate, hope your enjoying them, there's heaps to come. We have around 9000 slides to process and transfer to DVD and Pic.
Looking forward to more photos, brings back some memory's, My family were dam dwellers and started at Rocksbour?? Otematata and then Twizel, I was only a kid growing up and left Twizel to go to ChCh as dad needed to be close to a hospital about 1974, Dad was the head store-man and his name was George Avant, I had a brother work at the lab doing soil tests his name was Ken and 2 brother inlaws working on the dams Wattie Watts Stonie Burke. I remember the name Higgins he was a small contractor then for smaller trucks. As a young kid growing up I remember in the sixty's open wheeled cars racing around Benmore dam, something like Sir Jack used to race, I can't remember too much about it and it always puzzled me why they were there racing, ie if it was a world formula type race, I was looking for that and that search bought me here to this page. Does any of the old blokes from Benmore remember this, or was I dreaming it.
Hey Patch, Let me have a look through the archives and see if I have any pics of the names you mentioned.
Dad must of been pretty high up the ladder as we had 1 of only 3 special built 6 bedroom houses with 2 toilets, and our old house from Otematata was bought up and used as the bus station across the road from the shopping center. We lived next door to Charlie Herbert in Otematata and he also got 1 of the special 2 toilet houses as well. ours was placed behind a large carport for parking works cars and trucks,next to a grass lane way which lead to the school. I think it was Higgens trucks that were bringing all the soil etc to the houses, there seemed to be very few contractors, most people worked for the MOW and his name stuck out as it was on the side of all his trucks. I ended up doing an apprenticeship for MOW in ChCH in the main workshops but the rest stayed in Twizel for many years later.
Cheers for that Patch, The name Charlie Herbert rings a bell. (might just be a coincidence). We bought a property at 1 Dobson Cres, just off Waitaki Drive West at Otematata. This was in 1975. I can remember when I was young, when the rabbits were running rampant, you could see the whole side of a hill move, there were that many of them.
Cheers for that Patch, The name Charlie Herbert rings a bell. (might just be a coincidence). We bought a property at 1 Dobson Cres, just off Waitaki Drive West at Otematata. This was in 1975. I can remember when I was young, when the rabbits were running rampant, you could see the whole side of a hill move, there were that many of them.
if there's any mods about, can you please delete either #114 or #115, plus this one. it wont let me do it. cheers.
I would say very likely as his son Murray started as a apprentice chief at the pub there about that time. Yes I remember all the rabbits.
Just for a change of scenery before I start upping some more pics, found some of the t-shirt designs worn by some of the crews at Twizel.
Not sure where this pic was taken, I know I didn't snap it. It's def not Twizel, not even sure about Benmore, but the machinery fits the time frame. One hell of a parade. Led by 495's.
Yair . . . EDGLimited . I have seen that picture before somewhere and I believe it was in connection with a coalmine, could that be right? As you say it's a helluva line up of gear . . . and just look at the dear old Landy's! Cheers
Yeah you might be right Scrub. That rings a bell, Huntley Coal Mine comes to mind for some reason. I got a pic somewhere of droopy Prince Charles (about 28yrs) in a MOW landy taken at Twizel way back when Moses played fullback for the Romans.
That is Stevies gear at Kopuka,Kerry
Bang on Kerry, Kopuka is the name not Huntley. Apparently all the gear in that pic belongs to Stevies. Didn't know they had that much.
Kopuku boys, scrapers are DW20s and 21s at the time kopuku was the largest earthmoving project in the southern hemisphere, stevies moved something like almost 100 million yards of fireclay to get to the coal. is a huge lake at the mo, but they are pumping it out and rumor mill is it may go again. Doubt if we will see; or hear :notworthy anymore 1693 powered DW20s tho
There is a book out which I have a copy of called Kopuku which has lots of pics and the history of the kopuku job as well as the serial numbers of all the machines that were used there and some of the blokes who worked there. Well worth getting a hold of, cant remember where I got it but GGH might have some info as to wether it is still available. Cheers RDG.
Great information guys. I've enjoyed reading this thread. :drinkup
I was at Twizel for about 10 months 1976/77. Worked for Doug Hood on his D8K mostly on Tekapo Canal Camp 5 and 6. Some of the names I can remember were Bondy, who was tempory boss for Hoods until John Cairns came from Goughs to take over. Cant remember the guys full names, there was Matey, drove a D9G, Big Bob drove the 16G grader, Ding (surname Bell, get it?) on the 16 grader, Ebe drove one of the S24s, Smithy on another 24. Got on well with **** McBride of single handed round the world yacht race fame. He was a great guy, at 3.00am when we finished a night shift, pointing out all the stars in the Southern sky including at times the Southern Aurora. Used to give him a hand on Sundays when he was building that steel yacht used in the race. Of course we worked with most of the guys from the other contractors, Burnetts, Green & McCargill, Earthmovers Waikato to name a few. They had open days for the public once a year, would shift a heap of gear into one area, dozers scrapers etc and the public could see them working. They had scraper tyre changing competitions, which was a laugh, but some guys took it very seriously !!
*NEWS FLASH* This Will Shock You.!!!!!!!!! Hey guys, haven't been on for awhile, been a bit busy. With regards to Tekapo, Ohau A and B, have just learnt from an old cobber today, who lived and worked at Twizel, when they were closing down and moving out, a lot of the equipment was abandoned and left. This included scrapers, dozers, rollers, brooms shovels etc. MOW dug huge holes and buried the lot. This ol cobber was one of the guys responsible for the big funeral. And he has pics......farkyeh. Stay tuned...
Hi I spent time in Twizel with Doug Hood drove D8H at Tekapo canal with Higgins scrapers, Duncan on their D9 stripping for the canal, then Pukaki dam then got then got Hoods first D8K with **** Mcbride I lived in a house on the shores of Pukaki with big Bob then on the new 16g. Zac, Andy, Bondy ,Max Rye,John Lincoln his mate the white Maori Phil King, Ding Bell,John Roland on a S24, some of the ones I remenber some more will come one day.**** was designing boats when last saw him.We had to move out of house cause of the lake was rising and I couldn't stand the camp and left. I have a few photos but I am in Australia at the moment.They were great days compared with the crap nowdays **** was just starting to build City of Dunedin then
Hell!... someone should go down there and try digging all that gear up!!
theres a dump at benmore the top is strewn with old grouser bolts, track pins you name it, over the side is where you can see rust coming out of the ground. It would be interesting.
Maraetai Dam Heres a new subject...Maraetai Dam ...another major earthmoving project in the early 60's. A photo from Contracting and Construction Magazine - Jan 60
Nice pic RayC keep em coming
Just found this forum and suspect there are a few guys in here I know but are hidden under your Avatar and forum name. I grew up on the Otematata Twizel projects, worked with Uncle MOW, Bill Butson and Earthmovers. Took off for Oz in 81, PNG in 88, Chile in 95 and forgot to go home. I have my own rebuild business here in Chile. D1Rs and T's. 777B through F's. 854G's and K's. Plus what ever else the industry throws at me to rebuild. I have a good few old photos from the Benmore, Aviemore, Twizel day sbut if anyone wants to see them en mass then go take a look here. https://www.facebook.com/groups/113162022035760/ Great bunch of old mates hang out there and some photos that are irreplaceable. Looking forward to seeing who's faces are behind some of these posts. I know we know each other, at least some of you. Allan J Main. Antofagasta Chile.
Some good pics in there Allan. Was interested in the one of the benmore coffer dam where the D8H sank on its side. Have seen a different shot of them doing the coffer dam clearly showing 3 D8Hs plus a 4th on the opposite river bank, all with drawbars and front cable controls and 8A blades. [Stuck tractor looks like one of them.] plus 2 D9Es one with drawbar and cable angle blade and other one with rippers [cant see blade] In your pics someone thought one D9E belong to 'evans' a TC 50A model. afaik only one of these was ever sold in nz, MOW bought 3 DD 49A models and one or 2 PS 34A models, any ideas whos all the dozers were ??? D8Hs must have all been fairly new and wondered if they all must have been MOW dozers too. be interesting to see any other pics of them. Ones I saw where taken at point where river was finally dammed.
Gidday Merv, You have a ton of questions there and I need to do some hunting to get at least a few answers. The D8's I think would have been 2U's in that era and the D9E's were either the first models with the stick shift transmission and a conventional clutch. I do remember one that had the diesel converter in it however so not entirely sure on serial numbers or models. I was a fluffy bummed 16 year old when I started work at Otematata so the matter between the ears was not to interested in remembering stuff like that. There were too many other distractions at that stage in life. Merv I can recall your name, not your face but seem to have some distant memory of boats associated with you. Am I on the right track mate or way out left??
Hi Alan, D8s are most definetly Hs and am pretty sure 46As as very few DD 36As and only 3 35A TC units came here. Used to work for granny gough in a previous life so do know abit about dozers. The D9Es 49As were gear drive with only 4 sold [mow had 3, Wilkins and davies the other] the one and only 50A torque converter drive was originally 'valley contractors' ??? I think, that has to be one of the 9s. and a few other powershift 34A D9Es in nz [works only had one] As for me, your name rings no bells in my lost mind; I was never in the south island, but did work on some boats [cat engines] in ak, whangarei, and coro peninsula. plus am only v early 50s. Knew 3 guys from goughs who were in twizel, Owen Neal, John van pomeran, and Bernie coxhead [partsman for ggh] this guy knew part nos for final drives on 8s and 9s like the lines on his hands, and was a great guy to have a beer with :drinkup
Gidday Allan, I am the same guy thats restoring the Ex mow Galion grader that was posted on the facebook page a few months ago. You should find this thread an Interesting resource of photos as there are a fair few of them on here, As a member of the Facebook group I recommend other HEF members to check It out to as there are some interesting pics on there.
Dozer closest to camera pushing out fill is a D9E; can see the dual air cleaners, other one with drawbar and A blade looks like a 9 too. And see one of the original posters saying he thinks its that 50A model.
The 495's suffered major head cracking and IH supplied a factory mod with intercooler and larger radiators. 10 were given major overhauls for the Upper Waitaki PD and fitted with the 817B engine
Benmore Diversion D6 Merv The D8's are 46A's 672, 674, 675 & 682 very new at the time August 1960. the D9 with angle blade and rippers is 49A269, the one in trouble is the 50A of W G Evans Ltd the only 50A to come to Australasia still very original and in a collection in North Canterbury. The 49A is currently under restoration by a collector in Dunedin The MOW had 3 x 49A's 2 in the North Island. MOW also had 2 34A's at Benmore these arrived later
cheers kiwi43; that's all very interesting; take it the D8Hs were all MOW, would have been amongst the first ones sold here. What little info I knew about the D9s came from "goughs list" of ones they sold for the D9Ds and Es. Only part of list I had; would love to see a complete list, would be interesting reading !! 20yrs ago 49A268 was still around in my area, Fenton bros owned it. Don,t know what happened to it after they sold out. D9E 34As list I have showed 7 sold here. MOW is only listed with one 450. what was the other one.? Porters at one point had 320 and was wrecked. roadmakers one 508 was up my way late 80s but died and was wrecked. Be interesting to know if any other D9Es still exist. Most of the D9Ds are still around; mainly belong to a gent up kumeu way, most are dead but some still run, and another tidy runner in wanganui.
Benmore Diversion The other MOW D9E was 34A454 9S blade and No 9 ripper this one went to the North Island Western Logging I think when sold 34A450 9s blade no rippers was wrecked down south
Merv. Owen and John I recall but Bernie was my beer drinking buddy. He was a CAT parts computer on two legs. Amazing guy when you think about it. If you needed parts for a machine you did not need a parts book or a list of parts. All you had to do was tell Bernie what you were working on and he had it in his head. He lived in Twizel with his Dad and was famous for his home brew. I think NASA got the recipe off him for the Saturn 5 rocket. Man it was potent. Great people and a great time.
hi Alan. afaik Bernies still in Hamilton nz havnt seen him for awhile, is long retired. He was a unreal parts man for sure :notworthy and could drink beer; and a bloody nice guy. :drinkup
Hi Alan Kiwi 53, I remember you from Twizel. I worked in the PRD around 1972-3 then later went to Camp 4 with the 773s & 992s and then to Camp 6 with the IH 295s for a while before moving to Oz. At least one of the early D8H's had a diesel converter too as I remember doing a reseal on it replacing the carbon face seals. I also remember your Dad Jim who was earthworks supervisor on the Tekapo canal section. I also worked with Gordon Reynolds in PNG for a few years. When I get some slides scanned I will add them to this thread. John Newman
Stone the crows John, small world. I certainly remember you though would no doubt walk past you on the street these days and not recognise you, same the other way round I'm sure. Gravity has changed a few features since 72. Gordon is in Indo now, Dad passed away in 2001 and I have been hiding over here in Chile since 95. Im not sure if you have seen the Twizel machines site on FB but it has some seriously great photos and many that will bring back memories for sure. I look forward to seeing your slides when you get them scanned. I just picked up a slide converter off Amazon yesterday as Mum has hundreds of slides boxed up and they are useless in that format these days. Hope all is well for you mate and looking forward to some pictures.
Hew Mainy, how's it going..? I'm sure you remember me ........
Crikey mate, give me a few clues. Been a few ales under the bridge since Twizel Nige.
Better known as one half of "DOM & POM" ...... does that give you any clues..?
Geez mate theres been a few Nige's pass through my door over the years and a few were blighties so the answer is: still looking for easier clues.
Waioeka gorge construction circa early 1960s near opotiki.
waioeka gorge construction near opotiki circa early 1960shttp://photonews.org.nz/gisborne/issue/GPN98_19620809/t1-body-d9.html This Is the link to another website for more pics where you can actually see the newspaper writing etc. Sorry about the double post don't know how that happened:beatsme
You're thinking back to Kiwi-land. Think a bit closer to where "home" is right now and maybe you'll remember the 2 guys who shared an apartment with 2 La-Z-Boy recliners in the lounge. You ought to remember it, you drank enough beer on that balcony .....!!
D6 Merv.. I think Stevies still have a DW21 running as a water cart at one of their mine sites ?? its on the Stevenson net site. I was at Kopuku on a pusher 9 in the pit then went to Twizel with Waikato Earthmovers on a 637
I have a D9E in Dunedin Ex MOW s/n 49A267 am restoring it now should be done I a month or so.....
Twizel vets should recognise this old lady, chromes getting a bit tarnished, but she still has presence
Hi do you have any history of this tractor or Sn
Hello there! This project has always interested me for ages. My grandfather used to work for the MoW on that project carting Penstock sections with his old Kenworth. To my knowledge this truck is still in use today? He still lives in Twizel and has a ton of old photos and memorabilia of the project. I operate scrapers today in the Northwest of WA, Caterpillar 633 elevators and 631, 627, 637 open bowls. Have always loved scrapers.
Hi All, Really enjoying this thread, being an ex Kiwi. Did my time with the MOW at Huntly and around the Waikato. Have a few photos that maybe of interest when I can post images. A few of Twizel, Rotowaro, Huntly, Kopuku and Kaimai Tunnel as well of some rather grainy images my brother took when he was with Taylor and Culley. Will do a report on the demise of the Sherpa, the single engine scraper built by Hewco. When I read the comment about the gear buried at Twizel, I'm sure that same thing happened with the 3 120B shovels Downers used at Weavers Crossing. Wasn't worth the cost of Oxy-Acetylene to cut them up. Will get back to the board in a day or so. Going into hospital for a camera up the rear end, fun, fun, fun. All the Best, dozeron.
I don,t know what happened to those shovels either; I know one was called kimihia, think it was shifted over from that mine. Also the 190 shovel that was shifted up there from reefton ?? It was parked up by the main workshop for a long time. Anyone know ???
Hi D6 Merv, Your thread just reminded me I have some photos of the day we walked the 190 down into the mine for it's prestart prior to going to work in Weavers Crossing. I seem to remember we had some of the 773's from Twizel running with it. I think the old 120's loaded out the remaining Movalls mated with Terex S21 and the Aveling Barfords. Last I saw of the 190 it was parked up out at Waipuna. that must have been about 20 years ago. I have a shot of it I think. Jeeze, where does the time go??? Looking forward to posting images when I can. Best regards, dozeron.
Merv,the 190 was cut up while I was building part of the access road,it was parked on side of road heading out to Waipuna mine,Kerry
sorry guys but the 190 never left weavers crossing it was walked across the road and parked by the famous bucket wheel at the worksop when hoods took over. the one at waipuna was bigger than the 190 but also older than the 190 it took about 3 months to set up and it took over from the ts32s and 18s when the 785 dump trucks arrived and waipuna went on to 24 hour shifts and it was the main producer with the 785 and doug fargo was still pit boss when the 785s arrived dave the pom set up the 24 hour shifts.
the one in waipuna was a marina and it used to do 3-4 passes to fill a 785 where the 190 at weavers used to do 5-6. hte 190 used to do 3-4 on the 773 hope this helps and the marinas walked ot of waipuna when downers lost the contract
and was cut up just out side the mine
Just a question from a newbie, Do any of you golden oldies now or worked for Roadways at Benmore, (they had a fleet of DW21 plus the Big transporter etc.) and how did they got the D8 out on D Day after it stalled and would not restart?
Hi Roadways.....I havent posted here for a while but I have set up a Facebook page called NZ Road Transport and Contracting-Archives ....heaps of great NZ projects being posted included Roadways-Benmore. Over 460 people have joined page so a huge audience....Regards Ray
1975 Kenworth x Twizel now with Daniel Smith Cranes and still very tidy
Hello Ray, my name is Bill Hohepa. I produce a TV series called Low Gear where we look at the history of vehicles and machinery in NZ. You can find out more by visiting our webpage at http://www.lowgear.co.nz I have recently interviewed a man called Max Lye and Mike Higgins at Twizel about their machines and 'the project' at Twizel. They also talked about Benmore and Avimore Dams. I'm just wondering if I could talk to you and look at some of your photos of the time? my contact details are on my webpage. Look forward to hearing from, regards Bill
Nice Topic.. I learn a lot about this topic...
Hi Im Harold.. Great picture and site