I can not seem to be able to find any history of this company on the internet other then a company with the Columbia name down south, is this the same company from Howe St in Vancouver?, I know they made a lot of off hwy trailers and on hwy log trailers but just can not find any history anywhere, Thanks
I am not positive, so probably I am wrong, but the Columbia I know in Clackamas OR is a dump truck operation. They have been around since 1903, so perhaps they did do log trailers at one time. I have never seen one though.
Hi. Columbia Trailer- BC was mainly a local company, they started down on Howe St, moved around Surrey -Langley. They were Columbia Remtec for awhile doing mostly tankers then it seemed they were just phased out. The last time I did any searching all I got was a American company that did tankers. I was after them for some info on the logging trailers for model building. Thanks Doug.
Thanks Doug, it's almost like they didn't exist
the logging trailer part of columbia trailers was bought out by peerlees page they have all the blue print casting john gregg at peerless may help you
I drove a few trucks with Columbia rigging and found it to be well built, the bunk cup and saucer set up never seemed to crack the welds and the trailer walking beams would go a long time before requiring maintenance. Here is an old add from the "truck logger" mag
Here's three more from 1960- 61
1967 Truck Logger mag add
Just came upon this thread. Columbia Remtec also made a set of chip boxes and chip pups.
I know the some of the history of Columbia trailers as I worked there from 1969 to 1981
Columbia trailers went from Howe street to Brighton Ave Burnaby where it stayed until Columbia Remtec took over all their operations in Canada. the Van Raden family based out of Oregon had owned it. they still had some patents for logging equipment
thanks for finding me I'm not used to this format
In the 70's Columbia trailers would build any thing with wheels, I built mostly tanker trailers but also worked on logging trailers when it was slow in the Aluminum shop. I worked on chip boxes, ore carriers, one Cement bulker a refueler and odd ball stuff the owner wanted built
I know these posts are old but I have to reply, started at Columbia trailer in 1969 quit in 1981 right before the recession. my 11 years there set me up for the rest of my working career.
Great pictures thanks for sharing.
I think Columbia trailers were pretty popular in the oilfield. Going back I seem to recall quite a few Columbia floats being sold at RB auctions.
I remember the Columbia steel shop building flat deck trailers with rollers at the back for Alberta, what did floats look like?
I got my start at Columbia trailers because of these Ore Containers for White Pass
I think that's what they called floats. Usually behind winch tractors for pulling skids, buildings and other platform type equipment on. The pipe roller at the back made it a lot easier. Most of the huge bed trucks had the rollers too.
That's what I've always called a float. Scissor neck with a roller at the back.
Here are 2 Oil Field Floats, Not Columbia but all the same or close. Most did not have landing gear if they did it was a fold up as oil field trucks had a winch, to pick up trailer or winch up over the roller at back. Growing up in Edmonton watched many of these trailers load up tanks etc over the back with a winch.
That's why I love Alberta, you just don't see near the volume of big iron like that in BC.
I worked at a tank shop building hooped safety ladders. I had to make a new ladder for 1 tank because it wasn't removed from the tank and the truck driver pulled the tank over on the ladder when tipping the tank over to load it. The tanks skid was made for float trailers. There was a skid lengthwise with the tank for transport and another skid at 90 deg's. for the tank to sit upright on when in service and/or move around a bit.
I was laid off when the aluminum container order was finished and 5 months later was brought back to the steel shop. No loss of seniority. I welded on flat deck trailers and some steel container trailers. Laid off after 8 months, I was brought back to the Aluminum shop. There I learned how to build and weld on Aluminum tanks. When it got slow, I was sent back to the steel shop and welded on 20 ton loggers, stakes, bunks, turn tables and walking beams. I think it was 1971 the Van Raden family bought Columbia, They were from Portland, Oregon and had owned Peerless trucking. The steel shop built these huge trailers for making asphalt runways. I think Boeing was a customer. I remember us getting blueprints from the States no one could read, even our best men.
That is what I welded on, never knew they were called floats. I was just a dumb kid back then, just did as I was told.
I hope you are still around to read some of the answers to your questions
Found this Pic on the internet, I have a feeling White Pass is not around anymore. When we built these containers, they were shipped out by train. These look exactly like the ones I worked on, but not 100% sure they are the same ones.
Just wondering if these rail cars were built for The White Pass R.R. at Skagway Alaska ?
If I remember right the White Pass R.R. is a narrow gauge rail line. So my guess is that Columbia built the tanks to fit on the rail cars there and I think it does run May till September.
Yes , white pass is a narrow guage railway. Not completely sure but think it is still operating in summer. Snow burrys the line. Not sure how much frieght is moved but it is diffently a tourist attraction with the busy cuise ship bussiness. In the mid 80s my parents did the trip skagway to whitehorse, back then they had flat cars included with paasenger cars and would haul your vehicle. Mom took pictures of the pickup with camper being loaded. There is tv show great train trips, they did an episode on the white pass.
I don't know, Columbia shipped them out on rail cars, there was a rail spur and loading dock across the street where Costco is now. As far as I know they were built to fit container trailers, possibly the same set up as the train cars. Back in those days I kept my nose to the grindstone, People got fired very easily if you were not a Journeyman. I didn't see them load the containers. I did see them testing the containers with a contraption that moved the containers up and down to see how long it would take them to have damage. My job was to weld the extruded parts on the plate at the ends of the open container. we had a jig built so I could rotate the ends for ease of welding.
Interesting the apprentice's jobs were more on the line than the journeyman's. A lot of shops the 1st first people laid off are the journeyman because they get paid more. The shops backwards thinking is they're saving money. Often the J welders can get things done faster and better.
I've haven't seen that happen before. Then again most places I've been at were apprentice heavy, so they couldn't boot the journeymen and still maintain the 2:1 apprentice to journeyman ratio.
So I started setting up and welding the container ends. I was green as grass. some ******* told me I had to set up and weld two of the ends, a shift, or I would be gone. So I worked my ass off that day and only got 1 and 1/2 ends done. Worried, that same ******* told me he was only fooling. If anyone is wondering when I got hired I was paid $2.32 an hr, when I got my Aluminum welding ticket I got paid $3.12 an hr.
Columbia trailers, Columbia-Remtec and Advance were the only Trailer Tank builders I ever worked at, they had the same belief. steel welders were a dime a dozen, Aluminum welders not so much, Journeymen tank builders and Journeymen fabricators were Valuable. I mentioned I was laid off twice before I got on steady. I was very lucky the best tank guy trained me. He didn't say much, I just watched and welded what he wanted me to weld. He was very competitive, he wanted us to be the best and fastest team and we were. he hated one of the other tank fabricators we had. They had worked together at West tank in Regina. I'll explain how we built tanks back in the day, some techniques are still used today
we did not have a real apprentice system, we had helpers, Production A and B welders, Fabricators, machinists shipping and receiving people, 5 engineers and drafting people. a Journeyman at Columbia trailers had to know 90% of the jobs in the shop and be an expert in one field. We were non-Union but we were paid 5 cents an hour more than our union competitor Willock to keep us that way, we got all the benefits Willock had but paid no Union dues. We never had a strike, The only time we had a walk out was because the new Aluminum shop built for the containers had no heat, that winter was cold. Don Trice who was a Senior welder got us to walk out, I was worried I might lose my job but decided I wasn't going to be known as a brown noser or rat. Fred Denisuk the man who hired me told us if we did that again we would all be fired. Don told him that's a **** poor attitude, next shift we had propane heaters in the shop.
Denis, welcome and glad you found us. Those stories are priceless. I worked a dump barge in the Duwamish river in Seattle in 2019, made by Zidell Marine. It so happens my neighbor got a job there and welded barges after he got back from the VietNam war. He probably welded on that dump barge, based on it's age. These stories are often the best that there is left.
I have a lot of stories, my memory is decent
I did all the welding on this refueler built in 1973 at Columbia Trailers, it was still being used as of 2014 when I took these pictures At Advance tank Centres. My partner Was Peter Kusumniac Spelling is probably wrong. He was the Brains, I did what I was told. I basically taught myself how to be a good Aluminum welder on this thing, at first I used an early pulse arc machine that was a POS because it was bad at filling gaps, eventually went with a one pound Airco spool gun, Unknown to me a welding inspector cut out some discarded welded aluminum pieces and had them tested. all passed. Things I remember about building the tank, the bulk heads were all fabricated and hard to hammer in. Pete wouldn't let me use the 12 lb sledgehammer even when he was tired, I was the welder he was the fitter. We had some disagreement, Pete like to tease, I had a short fuse, so we had a wrestling match inside the tank until we were tired. No one else knew, we still remained friends. I was by myself welding inside this tank when I could hear yelling outside. I poked my head outside the manhole and saw the roof on fire I scrambled out, everyone else was gone I went to the back breeze way, Paint shop had caught on fire ventilation went into the Aluminum shop. Sprinklers were turned off, the flames did minimal damage to our roof but the paint shop was a write-off
That does not look like aluminum. 3rd pic. especially looks like steel welds by the ripples in the beads. Nice welding though. Even the colour of the metal doesn't look like aluminum.
A 1955 Bullmoose that was at Columbia trailers when I started in 1969 and is still used at Advance Tank centres in 2022
all Aluminum but not new now and I wasn't at the top of my game yet
Compare the ripples in the weld to known aluminum Mig welds. It could have been galvalume steel to help prevent rust. Similar to some exhaust pipe. The colour is definitely not aluminum either.
Looks like aluminum to me due to the streaking/discoloration the beads look like aluminum that was placed on the cooler side of settings.
I can guarantee that tank is all Aluminum, Columbia built one Stainless tank I was not involved in and a few steel tanks I was. You have to remember this tanker has held Jet A since at least 1974, Aluminum gets oxidized even when immersed in fuel.
The ripples in the bead are more consistant with a slightly too fast travel speed with steel. The welds on the baffle don't look like aluminum welds either. Can't find and have never seen aluminum Mig with similar bead profile. Maybe some clearer pics. would help.
A 1955 Bullmoose that was at Columbia trailers when I started in 1969 and is still used at Advance Tank centres in View attachment 274124 View attachment 274126 View attachment 274126 View attachment 274126 2022
I took these pics when Advance did a 5yr inspection, so no more pics. I've welded on Aluminum for 50 yrs. After a 1-month upgrade basically taught myself. I never stepped, I did a tight circle technique so to not get leaks, step welds sometime leaked. Almost all petroleum tanks are Aluminum especially refuelers, this was a refueler for 747's. if I remember correctly it held 16,500 gallons 1/2 of what it took to fill a 747
the whole tank shell was 1/4 Aluminum. Running gear sills and landing gear sills 5/16". the upper 5th wheel sill 1/2"
Me having coffee in the Columbia Aluminum shop mid 70's Don't remember his name now, I remember him because I took him to the SIR drags with my friends and he got drunk and obnoxious to the couple sitting in front of us in the stands. I gave him ****, and he disappeared until we went home, never asked him again. I'm the guy in front
I'm the guy at the back, This pic was taken at Advance in Surrey. at this point I welded very little. I was a trailer mechanic, B-620 inspector did some MVI inspection and was a lead hand for a bit. I did not want to be a lead hand again as I had been one for 15 yrs at Columbia-Remtec but the Boss asked as the only other guy available smoked a lot of weed.
Nice pics and history, Denis.
One shop I worked at the painter had somehow got pinned between the chain link fence and his pick up just before I pulled in to the parking lot. He wasn't hurt and asked if I could back his truck up. I opened the door and almost gagged it stunk so bad of weed. Certainly explained how he somehow managed to get pinned against the fence by his own truck. Easily could have been a lot worse. Sometimes being a lead hand or even a foreman is a lot worse than just being one of the guys on floor. You get all the flack for everything because you're supposed to get everyone else to to do things right and on time even when there's unrealistic demands from the boss. A lot of guy's don't think the extra bit of money is worth it.
I found my time a Columbia trailers story I wrote a long time ago, some of it repeats what I already wrote but it corrected some of my previous post My time at Columbia trailers starting 1969. A welding school chum Danny Sewell tells me Columbia is hiring Starting wage $2.32 Fred Denisuk hired me because I had told him I had two weeks of aluminum welding in an 11 month course, in reality I didn't remember much and BCVS had crappy Alumium welding machines. First Forman was Ross Stag a chubby cigar smoker but a nice guy, First person I worked with Cosmo Cattroppa, I was tacking air tank brackets on small chip trailers that were one their side, with him holding the tank, I dragged the gun to weld and Cosmo says to me “ I don’t know anything about welding but I think you should point the gun in the direction of travel” . The first tank I worked on was with Bert Frizzel and another fellow putting a tank together, in those days the over rails were part of the top shell and the tanks were pretty smalI. I remember two men flanging a head by hand but we got a head flanger at some point. The first time I went inside a tank it was a bulker tank that had internal piping that needed victaulic rubbers replaced, they gave me old gum boots to wear. I went inside to see about 6" of bulker fuel still inside the tank, I replaced the rubbers with no respirater. I remember getting sick after welding on a steel painted trailer and Ross sending me home with pay. After about 3 months of working Fred Denisuk asked me if I wanted to upgrade my welding, I agreed but I was going to have to go to school for 8 hours a day for two weeks and work night shift as well, two other fellows were with me, George Swain and Gary Hurlbert who were much older than I. I passed the course and received a shop ticket George got mad at me during the course because I didn’t help him but I was trained during the 11 month course to do my own thing and only ask the welding instructors for help. Someone told me one of the other fellows got a raise who didn't get a ticket so I asked Fred about this. He said I have little experiance but I said I have the welding ticket, He looked at me and agreed so I got a raise to $3.10. this was the only time I have ever had to ask for a raise in my working career. Columbia built an addition to the shop for the White Pass project the new building also had a paint shop on the other side of the south wall. Over 180 containers were to be built, they had a machine that the first container was bolted in to twist sideways up and down to see how long one would last, my job was to weld all the end sections of the containers together before being attached to the main sections. Our tool and die maker made a jig to fit and weld these container ends. Some jerk told me I had to do two of these a shift. I busted my butt but only got 1 -1/2 done After this project was over I worked with Lorne Allen A big 300 lb. guy, he had the shakes when he fitted anything so I always had lots of gaps to fill. I got pretty good at making the gaped welds look good. Lorne had been in WW2 and told me he had been a machine gunner, he had used a thompson machine gun. Times got a bit slow so in the summer of 1971 I was laid off for 5 months and when I was called back I went to the steel shop for 8 months, welding flat deck trailers and some logging trailers, I got to know some of the very skilled journeymen and they gave me some welding pointers something the Aluminum guys never did. I was laid off again for 3 months and when I was hired back I was back in the Aluminum shop. That winter was very cold and the Aluminum shop had no heat, it was freezing in the shop and very hard to work. Don Trice who was a journeyman welder organized a walk out to protest, I was torn whether to walk out or not because I was new but decided to go along, we had a meeting with Fred the next day and he warned everyone if there was another walkout we would all be fired. Don Trice said ” that’s a **** poor attitude” they brought in propane heaters , I always had respect for Don after that. My Aluminum shop Forman was Armando, a good man and I was doing a bit of everthing. Lionel Winerak worked in the Aluminum shop and his brother Terry was a machinist, Columbia had threes lathes then. They eventually both left to start up Alweld in Kamloops, when you see an Alweld truck tank sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference from a Columbia. Eventually I was teamed up with Peter Kazubniak who was a master tank builder and taught me a lot about tank building, We built the only cement bulker Columbia ever built, In 1973 we built a refueler that’s still around today. we were inside this refueler when Pete irritated me so we had a wrestling match inside this tank until we were tired, nothing was said to anyone we remained friends.
We built Columbia’s first B-trains designed by Sam Fujimura, Art Copes was the head Engineer. I was welding inside that refueler when I heard a lot of shouting and when I poked my head out of the manhole I could see the shop roof was on fire, I scrambled out of the Tank and headed for the north exit, no one else was around. I went to the south end of the shop to see the paint shop on fire and a logging truck with its tires on fire, Columbia had a sprinkler system but somebody had turned it off for maintenance. Once it was turned on the fire was quickly put out. Welding on the Refueler made be a better welder and I was trusted to weld on anything after that. unknown to me, George Sullivan a journeyman and who was also the welding inspector took samples of my butt welds from cut off sections of the Refueler and had them checked, all were 100%, back then only qualified ticked welder could weld the shells and any tanks built for Shell Oil then had to be x-rayed. I was working on a truck tank that was complete and had installed two cabinets on either side, the Tank was upside down so had to be turned right side up, we did this by using the crane with lifting straps, George was helping me, he set the straps and I ran the crane, George set the straps wrong and I didn’t notice or check as he was a Journeyman and I thought he knew what he was doing, when I lifted the tank it swung wildly and hit the another tank beside it, the truck tank had a big dent between the voids, George took a couple of aspirins and went home leaving me to face the music. I didn’t say anything but if I had been fired I would have said what had happened. We pulled out the dent and put bondo on the tank then painted it, the tank was shipped out to a customer but never made it, it was not secured properly and fell of the truck totaling the tank, it was jinxed. I was made a Journeyman in 1974 thanks to Pete’s training, to be a Journeyman then you had to be an expert in one field and know 90% of the jobs in the plant, I could weld shells and heads, in time I could use the head making machine and the head flanger, I could build manifolds from scratch, skin hot oil tankers. Pipe and weld the schedule 5 aluminum pipe and stl pipe, welding that thin pipe with the mig gun was not easy Columbia had no tig welding machines then, it took you longer to test the pipe for leaks that to fit and weld the pipe. There were no turners then so the upper 5th, landing gear and running gear Sill all had to be fit and welded with the tank upside down. All holes were cut on the shell with a air sabre saw, hole saws or in the case of manholes a skill saw. We had an hydraulic punch to punch 4" holes in the baffles and flange the manholes in baffles. In 1970 the first time I used it I screwed up, I didn't check to see if the punch was screwed on the ram tight tight, I bent the punch on the ram threads, Pete told me he will take the blame as I might of been fired. In the early days all the heads and stiffners were only tacked in the welded shell before any welding was done on the heads. The thought was in those days that the tank might twist if you welding one head at a time, Pete didn’t like this as it meant he had to find something else to do while I was welding inside for a few hours. one day after we stuffed a head and fit the stiffeners Pete says to me “weld it up” , After I welded everything Pete checked the tank closely “no twist” he says so we installed another head and stiffners and I welded them ,no twist, Pete went to Armando and told him so after that we welded the heads right after installation, this made it easier for the welders as we didn’t have to weld in a confined space for so long, only holes were the manholes, drain holes were cut after, so it was smoky inside even with the air sucker working nobody was issued or wore respirators. Another Pete innovation was the prints called for baffles to be installed opposite the front for no apparent reason, Pete thought they should all face flange to the rear if possible, this made it faster to install the heads and baffles, Engineering agreed and after that most heads and baffles flanges faced the rear. When I was teamed up with Pete he wanted to be the best, there were other welders and fitter teams at Columbia and when Pete thought they were getting close to our production we would pick up the pace, so I learned to be a fast welder. His work ethic rubbed off on me, without Pete I don’t know how good a worker I would have been, Columbia was my first full time job. The Van Raden Brothers had bought Columbia trailers in the Early 70’s after selling their interest in Peerless. The steel shop built some very interesting trailers because of them, One was a huge turbine hauler built for the Russian company who built the turbine meant for the BC Mica dam, we had an embarrassing situation after the trailer was built when the trailer was on a private road way up north and broke, it had to be shipped back for repair, turned out there was no welding procedures for the welders to use they just welded as they saw fit, large gaps were filled with round bar and welded over. This made me mad as hell because a fellow I ran into knew about the fiasco and laughed about it. I told him I never worked on it.
I worked with Webb Butler a Big black guy who was fun to be around. One time we started to work on a small truck tank and I noticed there were no center marks on the head I mentioned this to Armando and he said just put them in as they go. We stuffed a head and then I fit and welded stiffners on, the print called for heads on the opposite end so we followed the same procedure, we were working fast so we really didn’t take time to stand back and look at the tank but Ray Denisuk son of Fred warned us something was wrong, the tank was getting a huge twist, not having center lines on the head was a big mistake, we should have never used those heads, I remember Armando looking sick when we told him and him saying this had never happened before. We cut out both heads and stiffners and Cosmo made new heads with centerlines. Lesson learned, no matter what anybody says never use heads without centerlines and they should follow the tank centerline as closely as possible. Our head flanger was not perfect, we tried to make the heads 1/2" bigger than the shell for a tight fit, we were lucky if we got the heads 1/2" bigger or smaller than the size we wanted. I worked with Webb quite a bit and really enjoyed working with him as he had me laughing all day. In the morning he would say good morning and as usual I would say nothing until he had repeated good morning about 3 times. Back then we had no plasma machines so manholes were cut out with skill saws in the baffles and the shell, drain holes were cut when the barrel was complete and upside down, we used a old air driven sabre saw that shook you like hell and went through blades like crazy, we pretty much fabricated every component on the tanks except for manhole rings we welded on the tanks, sumps, pipe elbows and suspensions. We formed the overturn rails, if you look and an old Columbia you can see the rails are in short sections and up on top not very straight, they did the job though. Don Trice, Nick More and Lionel Winerak all had quit so That made me the senior welder and Armando gave me more responsibilities, I was taught how to build manifolds from scratch and build ladders, Columbia also built other ore carriers I called them ant eaters because they were pointed at both ends. one time I was welding in one in a confined space and when I stopped I could not see anything the smoke was so thick, I never did that again. I was a grouch in the morning, everyone knew it so some of the guys used to always say good morning to me, I did not want to talk to anybody until first coffee other than Armando, I used to tell them what good is the morning. I had an aluminum tool box someone had left behind which had a flat top and some used for a work bench on the other shift, when I would come in for work in the morning sometimes I would find things on top of it so I would throw them on the floor, this one morning when I came in for work sure enough there was junk on my tool box so I threw the stuff off and tried to open my tool box but couldn’t, I lost my temper and tried kicking it open to no avail when I heard a lot of laughter, my co-workers had set me up, Ray had tacked the lid so I needed a chisel to open it, I did find the humor in it. Most of the guys were good people. Irvin Reddeman was one of my good friends, he was a very good welder and we got along well, one dayshift it was lunch time and Irvin has an empty ½ pint milk cartoon which he decides to fill with acetylene and oxygen then tape up we go outside where Columbia kept the lumber for the low beds and Irvin lights the carton on fire and we moved away and boom, it sounded like a bomb going off, Armando came running out and spots us, he just shakes his head and goes back in the shop. He always liked me not too sure about Irvin. One night shift there was only 3 of us working on chip boxes and preload bunks, no foremen, Nick Spagnola the foremen in the steel shop was to keep an eye on us, Irvin, Harold HiII and myself were working steady, I needed some parts so I walked by Irvin and just stopped for a second just at that time the Ken Van Raden walks through the shop and spots us but doesn’t say anything a short time later Nick shows up and says he is supposed to give us hell for slacking. Irv got real mad at that as we had been working steady until that point. Fast forward to the Company Christmas party I was with my wife Sally and Irv was with his wife and he got drunk, the Van Radens brothers were there, Fred and Ken, Ken was drunk and came around to our table Irvin eyes him up and says you’re a ******* ******* to him, I was shocked I thought that was it for Irvin’s job but come Monday morning nothing happened. One other memorable Christmas was when a bunch of us went on Harold Hill’s 40 ft. boat after the Christmas party, most of us were drunk, Fred Denisuk was drunk and when he went to get off the boat he fell in the Fraser River, our English maintenance man pulled him out. A lot of the workers didn’t like Fred but he had hired me and I never had a problem with him. So I don’t have a bad word to say about him. Once Pete and I were split up, sometimes I ended having many helpers to build the tanks, I wouldn't trust them to swing the 12 lb sledge hammer to pound the heads in so they just held the makeshift tool we used and I pounded the heads in. Armando would ask me how was the guy, if I could work with him I would say OK but if he was useless I just told Armando I could work faster by myself and he would be gone
I was getting quite stong as I had joined a Gym along with welding and swinging a sledge hammer, I had a bit of a short fuse. we had turners for round tanks so we could weld a bit in the flat position. This one helpers job was to push the button to roll the tank while I welding on top, I kept telling him to push the button, he was eating cookies. At lunch I went out side for fresh air, this idiot helper follows me outside and smokes beside me. I'm a non smoker. I tell him to get away from me, he doesn't move, I tell him again, no movement. the third time I tell him if he doesn't move I'm going to pick him up and drop him on his head, he doesn't move so I grab his ankles, pick him up, move him away from where I was sitting and drop him on his head. Never saw him again after that. I had a few close calls and one serious injury at Columbia. We had rollers to roll the tank shells. we had to paper the shell so they didn't get scratched. We had rolled paper we rolled out on the floor and cut pieces, I hated this job so I got the bright idea of using the tank rollers to cut the paper on. I set the rolls as tight as they would go and fed the paper through it. I had a new helper, there are contols on both sides of the rolls. While I was feeding the paper in the rolls my hand got caught in the rolls, I panicked and yelled for my helper to reverse, luckily he hit the right button. All the meat was off my thumb and I could see the bone on my left trigger finger. The Docs fixed me up so I didn't lose any fingers. I almost killed my self rolling a 30 ft shell with the overhead crane. the shell was welded on the outside bottom but needed to be rolled over to weld the inside. I used a heavy chain to roll it over. The controls were on the south side near a completed tank so I had to stand between them. I gave the tank being rolled too much slack on the chain and the shell pinned my head to the completed tank I could feel the pressure on my skull until the shell bounced off my head and I dropped to my knees. No one else saw this as when I rolled tank shells eveyone seemed to disappear. The worse injury I ever saw was when Cosmo Cattroppa was grinding something, I was welding a truck tank shell when I heard all this yelling. I looked up to see Cosmo running toward me and then colapse, the first aid man ran over and pulled Cosmos pants down. there was a hole 1" above his penis about 3" long and maybe 3/4" wide, as soon as I saw that I ran to call an ambulance. A defective grinding disk exploded injuring Cosmo and later another man was inured in the foot by another defective disk. After that when I was grinding anything waist high I always turned my hips. Columbia built a lot of chip boxes most had aluminum sheet rivited to hat sections but we also built many with FRP sided ones. we also built self unloader semi chip boxes. I liked these breaks from building tanks. My job was usually setting up the top rails made of extruded Aluminum, fabricating and installing the doors. sometimes the doors would get a twist so I used that bullmoose to try to straighten the door by running over a corner. I forget what year it was but we had a tank explosion. It happened on the other shift. A hot tank has to be steamed before it comes in the shop usually at least 4 hours. Steam lines are dropped in every compartment. After steaming the tank is sniffed for being explosive or not. This semi is brought into the service shop, a fellow named Joe Boem started cutting a victaulic clamp off when there was a loud explosion, some manhole lids blew off and hit the ceiling. luckily Joe was not hurt. the inside of the tank was a mess, all the heads were blown to one end of the tank and the shell was buckled. Both lead hands were demoted. The strangest things I worked on at Columbia were for the Boss Fred Van Raden. I built a small steel bridge for his property in Portand. I built an Aluminum lifting device for a helicoper and Sailboat keel that would hold lead weight. the keel didn't work out as it warped. Fred was injured when was teaching a grandson how to cut a tree and this tree hit him. Things went south at Columbia then, the economy was slowing down. Fred did not want to take any new orders for the Aluminum shop. he had no interest in tanks so I was transfered to the service shop. At this point in time a guy I knew offered me a job at the same pay steady day shift. I was not impressed by the transfer to the service shoip, we called the service shop the penalty box. I was told to get a huge dent out of cement bulker with another man helping me, it was high up. we tried but couldn't get it out when I talked to the lead hand he said "if we couldn't do it he will find someone who could" I gave my notice and quit
I started my apprenticeship in an oilfield tank shop. Mostly built hooped safety ladders (for 7 1/2 month's) which was a good job for a 1st year but also built skids and did some work on tanks. The guy in the tool crib said I must have dreamed about ladders at night. A lot of 1st years get stuck grinding or being a welders helper and barely touch a stinger. Biggest oops I ever did was when helping move a large tank to the door so the RT crane could put it in the yard. When setting the tank down I wasn't watching close enough and the cable for the crane control got caught on a nozzle. The tank was on the ground though. The down control still worked but the crane was taking off back into the shop. Thankfully the maintainence man happened to be there and saw what was happening and quickly ran and shut the breaker off. I never really got in trouble but it was pretty embarrassing. Certainly wasn't the worst oops to happen. I think that would go to one of the foremen. Had a 750bbl tank with studs welded on to hold insulation. The tank had to be hydrotested before the insulators could start work. Tank passed hydrotest but without thinking the foreman opened a valve to let the water out without first relieving the air pressure. Sucked the roof of the tank in! The pressure probably wasn't that high but lots of volume. Most tanks only got tested to 1 1/2 to 2 PSI. Seems really insignificant until you open a 1" valve to let the air out. You'd swear there's 120 PSI coming out. Almost enough to blow you over when you walk by and sometimes would whistle. One guy got fired for playing around with a laborer in a bucket truck. The bucket was up in the air but the controls had to run by someone on the ground. The guy in the bucket wasn't too fond of heights and the guy on the ground was going in and out with boom kind of traumatizing the laborer in the bucket. The bucket was a little sticky and sometimes you had to throw your weight a bit to level it out. A welder put a Walter Maxi grinder down inside a tank and didn't realize he put the Deadman switch down on his wire brush. Grinder took off and cut him in the gut pretty good. Safety switches are a good idea. Nobody gave them much thought back then. Another tank shop I worked at several years later had a bad accident a few month's after I had left. A tank was getting coal tar epoxy on the outside and coated on the inside. Somehow a static electric charge caused an explosion just as one of the painters was climbing out of it. It shook the whole paint shop and came off the supports it was on. That painter was seriously burned and another painter outside was also injured pretty bad but not as serious. I had heard the painter on the outside wouldn't go near a tank after he recovered. Can't blame him. Not too long I posted about a shop that was charged $300k for improper storage and not having a monitor in the acetylene storage room. A worker was killed a day after Christmas I think it was. Huge explosion that some people heard 2 miles away. The shop across the street shook. I didn't feel bad for the shop. The owner was a former foreman in a shop I worked where that shop owner was always screaming and yelling. Worked with a guy that formerly worked for this guy's shop and he said they had to tell the owner to stay out of the shop because he was always yelling and screaming for the stupidest reasons. Similar to you I quit a job because the foreman/boss complained about my production before I even started the job. They built tapered hexagon shaped flare stacks that were made in 2 sections that had to be welded together. Mig root pass and 7018 cap. He said you should get 2 done, if you can't get 2 done somethings wrong. I ended up getting almost 3 done which was as much as anybody else in the shop could do. A couple weeks later when I gave my notice he asked the real reason why I left. I said more pay and I felt like I was unjustifiably told I wasn't going fast enough. Interesting that he was so impressed with my welding he said I was too good of a welder not to have my B pressure ticket and signed me up for the test when he gave me my Christmas bonus a few month's earlier. I got lucky and passed the test on the 1st try. The test is about 30% welding skill and 70% nerves. I was really happy to get it though. My welding teacher in high school said an Alberta pressure ticket is recognized around the world as one of the highest standards. In Alberta welding is a required trade that you have to be either an apprentice or journeyman to work as. I have quite a few welding stories over the years.
If you ever saw the fab line at a meat processing plant-they wore chainmail around lower torso.
I'm pretty sure I know of the shop you speak of that blew up. Out in Nisku right?
Yup, I posted it not too long ago, Jaco welding. It took a couple years for the judgement but at the time I thought they'd never release what happened and it would kind of just go away. I also was pretty sure the only way to have that big of an explosion was acetylene cylinders blowing up. I wonder if the company is continuing to help out the family of the killed worker? $300K isn't really that much for taking a life.
Happened before my time in Nisku. One of my coworkers who spent most of his career around the area was telling me about it not long ago.
My Dad was a butcher at Swift's Canadian meat packing plant, he had a chain mail left hand forearm guard, I worked for a Day in a half there when i was laid off from Columbia. I hated it, pig eye balls on the floor blood everywhere, I saw how they made hot dog wieners. the Superintendent was a jerk.
I forgot to mention two fellows and I were stuck in a upside down Aluminum tank for 2 weeks grinding everything smooth. we were told it was to be some kind of food tank. this was the worse job I ever had.
Yeah new guys get all the crap jobs until they can prove themselves useful for something else
nerves I know about. when in welding school my buddy gave me a Valium to take the last test for our number 3 ticket. I passed. I hated it when some big shots were watching me build tanks
We have had a huge snow dump here. reminds me of the time I was on day shift at Columbia and many couldn't drive home because of the distance they lived. These fellows worked a double shift. i lived about 3 miles away so walked home with a fellow who was brought up in Ontario. I was all bundled up, he wore a tee shirt. I had to walk back to work the next day.
Columbia Trailers made their own head blowing machine. It looked like a big jaw, with a rubber covered base, hydraulic jacks than could be moved were on the top section above the head die to be used. Columbia had many head dies from quite small to large, An 0 grade sheet of aluminum about 1/8 thick would be put in then the top jaw would close, any adjustment of the jacks would take place. three large pins locked the jaw in place then the 10,000 psi jacks were activated. Air pressure formed the head, a dish from 6" to 7" was the norm depending of the hardness of the Aluminum sheet. this was a two man operation as the aluminum sheets had to be moved by hand. after the head was blown the flat sections were cut by skill saw to fit the head flanger. The head flanger made in 1955 used micro switches to activate the hydraulics. a 1/4" steel die the shape of the head allowed two wheels to follow for cutting the shape, all the flat sections remaining were cut off. two powered wheels with steel rounded dies clamped the head and started to form the flange, there was a wheel you cranked to make the flange, you would crank it about 6 times a rotation. a perfect flange was under 90 degrees maybe 80 degree's. This was because we made the shell size according to the the heads sizes. We wanted the heads to be 1/2" bigger than the shell. I mentioned before the flanger was not very accurate. sometime the heads were too tight some times loose, Tight heads the tank would have a long life too loose was no good. I remember after I had just started working for Columbia the whole crew had to go to the service shop to see a tank cut apart and Fred saying this is not how you build a tank, all the heads were too loose and had broke apart inside.
I was at Beall-Portland picking up a MC 406 code trailer that had some internal repairs done. While waiting I got a tour of the production shop. Very interesting looking at trailers in all different stages of manufacture. I watched as a bulk head was being flanged.
You should see the heads they can make at Edmonton Exchanger. Up to 8" thick and heated to 1650F. They designed and built a 3000 ton head press that uses a 6' dia. hydraulic cylinder. They also spin large heads. I went to school with the shop superintendent. He got lucky, he went there for work experience in 1981 and was offered a job. Worked as a welder for 12 years, then became a foreman and worked his way up about as high as he could go. Interesting he bought an acreage of me when I subdivided. I'm glad it wasn't one of the bullies I went to school with that got that job offer. Mind you they probably wouldn't have lasted.
Columbia Trailers got their tank building expertise from Beall in Portland. An old Columbia tank looked like a Beall tank
A friend who worked in the Columbia trailers Steel shop named Russ Phelan gave me some more info, Seems Fred Van Raden designed some logging trailers. Russ told me when he was a kid he tack welded some parts for Fred on a logging trailer.
Talked to Bill Shea today, he worked for Willock, Columbia trailers and still works some for Columbia Remtec as a Sales rep. He gave me some new info and jogged my brain, going to chat and get more info to post
Charges laid in Eastway Tank explosion that killed 6 workers https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/eastway-tank-ottawa-explosion-charges-laid-1.6704496
I could find no info on the Stern wheeler
That's scary!
somebody messed up big time, I was around co-workers who were doing that job, there was no source of ignition anywhere near the area and the tankers were grounded. when its very cold and a tank is being loaded and its not grounded, explosions do happen
I agree with that, I only took the lead hand role at Columbia -Remtec because the guy I respected didn't want it and to protect myself. I didn't want an ******* for a boss. I ended up baby sitting 25 young guys. coming out of welding school they could not weld Aluminun very well. I set up a training course and the good guys caught on quickly. took a bit longer to get them trained on how to build tanks.
Gon don't know who built the logging equipemrnt
back in the beginning Columbia used a log for the reach, an old timer told me this. I never saw one
Head ache rack looks like 6x6s stacked together
That's a good photo Denis-I like those old black and whites. Reading your stories--your a talented fellow. Keep typing.
Thanks I like to tell real stories, I've had a pretty intersting life, I was never bored LOL
Theres a old international with trailer with log reach at the duncan forestry discovery centre.
Wooden reach's were used on logging trailers as late as the 1950's .
My friend Maurice worked for this company in North Vancouver
It makes sense. They used huge logs for making hoists to lift logs and/or log trailers. Lots of log bridges too.
Oops
He might know Diamondtguy on this forum who worked at Pacific for 10 years or so.
Have any of you guys heard of Bre-x the gold mining scam. Columbia-Remtec was building big logging trailers for a company in Indonesia. The GM went there to see what was required. While there he heard something about a gold find few knew about. When he came home he told me, the share price was about 2 bucks. I didn't do anything, the share price jumped past 200 bucks even though it was a scam anyone in early got rich. All I got was a story of what could have of been.
Major major scam! I'm sure a lot of people lost a lot too.
That middle photo--I knew Ken Goudy.
Seems like gold mining is rife with scams. In the late nineties I got a call from a person at the US Securities and Exchange Commission asking me to testify at a trial in a gold scam. A company was building gold separation equipment under one company name and then they created a bunch of shell companies where the equipment was sold into on paper, the price going higher each time. The fake sales went through a couple of transactions and then was sold to a pigeon for big money. It was supposedly inventoried and appraised by an engineer and accountant before the sale. When the pigeon transferred the money, it was found that the equipment didn't exist and the people behind the companies would vanish. The SEC was going after the accountant.
That yellow Mack B81 I shot in Wash. in 1984.
Pics of log reach I took last summer. I am not sure of make but it might be a Hayes. HDX knows for sure.
Bre-X was a big time scam that fooled a lot of people who were supposedly "smart". The chief geologist conveniently fell out of a helicopter to his death. Jeff
Tiny stakes, Columbia's normal looging trailer was a 20 ton, I couldn't guess what that thing hauled
Tiny stakes, Columbia's normal looging trailer was a 20 ton, I couldn't guess what that thing hauled
Another 70's story, no tanks to build in the tank shop, we were were building chip box b-train's and working on pre load bunks, these bunks were big, there were about 3 at the south end of the shop, new chip boxes about 20 ft away. I picked up a bunk to move it and the overhead crane started heading north on its own, no panic button on the controls and I was panicing. I'm holding the contols moving with the bunk and the only thing I could think of was hit the south button, the crane slows and is kind of moving back and forth when the breaker blows. Same thing happened to another guy but he was on the top rail of a chip box facing south. He was moving something and the crane started heading south this time he got about half way the length of the chip box when I yelled at him to hit the north button, blew the breaker again. I think they must of fixed the cranes in the tank shop because I do not remember any more issues with them
Could not find any pictures of pre load bunks just old logging trucks
https://foresthistory.org/envira/logging-hauling-trucks/
It looks like 20 tons or more to me. Those stakes were used in the 50’s - many still used cheese blocks at that time. Go to Hayes thread - some years ago I posted some Hayes HD adds with information about trailers/stacks
1950's not far from Hope BC Canada
Both of those photos great B&W's .
I believe those are "carco" stakes, and I think carco also made winches and were the predecessor to paccar
https://bradenwinches.com/carco.html
I believe those are "carco" stakes, and I think carco also made winches and were the predecessor to paccar[/QUOTE] You are correct, but they were actually called "Seattle stakes" since Pacific Car and Foundry (later Carco) was headquartered in Seattle. Actually, Renton just South of Seattle.
You are correct, but they were actually called "Seattle stakes" since Pacific Car and Foundry (later Carco) was headquartered in Seattle. Actually, Renton just South of Seattle.[/QUOTE] I have heard them called Seattle stakes, just remember my dad telling me "carco" when I was a young lad ! Interestingly, many years back saw them on top of some taller stakes on a gypo off-hiway truck working out of white river weyco
I have heard them called Seattle stakes, just remember my dad telling me "carco" when I was a young lad ! Interestingly, many years back saw them on top of some taller stakes on a gypo off-hiway truck working out of white river weyco[/QUOTE] Would those have been the Emerik (sp?) trucks?
Would those have been the Emerik (sp?) trucks?[/QUOTE] no, was an old,old mack nti had for a while, hauled for rawson, parked it by the sort yard- emerick trucks hauled out of smay creek
I found some info on this paddle wheeler. I was a replica Built for a movie. got some old newspaper clips
Moving an old train station, 1987
That's a nice looking mobile office.
From Lost BC on Facebook, they have lots of great old pics on logging
A derailed Grand Trunk Pacific engine, Northern BC
Look at that lumber-real clear. At Home Depot they glue the knots to the knots.
"Go home train, you're drunk"
I have the first columbia trailer built serial number 1001 it was 1939 logging trailer built for TW Mckenzie
thanks I missed your post, any pics?
I built this Semi tanker in the late 90's, probably the last big tank I welded on before I became a lead hand. This unit was for Quebec, that's why the funny spelling
A 200 or 300 ton trailer I was told both #'s. Trailer was owned by BC Hydro When I seen trailer it was in Vernon and hooked up to a 850 KW.
Denis Bourk, I have really enjoyed reading your posts on what it was like to work at Columbia Trailers. My uncle, Art Copes, was the head engineer. He took me out to the plant on one occasion when I was a kid. I believe he got one of my cousins (not his son), a job as a welder at one point. That's another story. My cousin didn't work for the company as long as my uncle did.
Nice photos Hank.
I knew your Uncle, he once got into a hot oil tanker with me, the heads were breaking away at the welds he said it was some kind of shear. we had to use another welding wire 5554 or 5454 and reinforcement
I was probably 21 or 22 years old when I got in that tank with your Uncle, it was the first and last time I ever saw an engineer get inside a tank
I should thanked you more for the info on that paddle wheeler. I'm a bit dense sometimes
Arrow A trains I worked on in the 80's. Centenial Semi tanker built in the 70's, the Aluminum shop in the 70's. Tipper dumping the chips
Are these Columbia lowbeds?