All, i am on the hunt for anyone with photos or information on Leightons gear from back in there hey day in Australia. I am specifically looking for plant numbers of there gear that hopefully could be obtained in pictures some may have from there time on Leighton sites in Australia. Thanks
I machined a lot of the cushion hitches on the WA Leightins scrapers. They run a heap of 631's out at sites like Lady Bountiful and nearby.They had some 651's which were sold to Civils before they went bust. I don't think I still have a contact at Leightons that date back to thier scraper days. Thats a few years back now. A lot of scrapers from that era ended back in North America. They were in demand because of the exchange rate and the fact that they were better equipped than some overseas.They all had enclosed cabs and air con.
Not the bext photo Gavin, I'm abit pissed at my old man, he has 1000's of photo's dating back to the early 70's all over WA but binned most of them afew months back when they moved house, sorry these are Theiss scoops from Tom Price
Always worth a shot on these forums and i am not giving up yet, i am sure the info is out there. Thanks for the replies gents Man that is a bummer on the pics rare, history you will never get back.
Gavin84w, Will have a look through my photos when I get home next week but we were only running dozers, loaders and dumpers at Shay Gap WA - Cat 988,992,769 and D9Gs - mid 1975.
Thanks Paydozer, i have an article saved from Leightons Newsletter showing a pic on that job, open cab 992A laoding 769B trucks. It staes they came over from NSW and i can vaguely recall visiting Leightons plant yard at Bankstown and seeing a 992 there so will be great if any of your pics have plant numbers, thanks.
Open cab. Yes both the 992 and 988 were open cab as were the 9G - if I can recall right not even the 769s had AC cabs - there was a back up Inter 560 loader with a enclosed cab and am sure no AC, - this was a Brambles supply unit .There were some pretty dirty operators at the end of a 12 hour shift. The crib hut on job had a AC but no tables - there were a few chairs - you just sat on the floor which was no big deal as the food brought down from the main mine site was always good. Would not get away with that sort of stuff today?
Hi Gavin If you check out post #301, page 21 of Wabco scrapers at work, you will find all the Leighton's Wabco's that worked on the Capital Hill Ringroad in Canberra backed in 1969. THe C'Pull open bowl was MS13. I also have some shots of the "new" 621 Cats that were purchased during that job, MS500 and 501 and their 633 MS502 (I think from memory). PM me and I'll email originals to you if you like. Just thought of another shot I have of a Euclid TS14 owned by Leighton's mid 60's working on Adelaide Ave/Yarra Glen in Canberra. Don't remember its machine no: but on the same job they had 2 V Power C'Pull open bowls, MS3 and MS7. They also had a D'Pull/10E2 machine on that job as well as 2 C'Pull/222A combos. On page 173 of Phil Gowenlock's book Wabco Australia, you will also find a great shot of MS11, Wabco B-70/333A combination purchased by Leighton's Nov 1966. It also worked on the Yarra Glen job here in Canberra. Cheers Gordon
Dirt hog What years are you looking for, i work for leightons from late 70's to present, started of on scrapers up north then moved to goldfields and up north again where im now a manager with leightons
Thanks Dirt Hog, i have sent you a PM, looking for machines from about the mid 70,s, Charles Coomer,s era.
Used to be a heap of old photo's up on the lunch room wall at Leightons in Kewdale. I imagine they all got binned
Gavin,i know im a few years behind here,but if you happen to read this i seen something from the era you are talking about.I used to work for Charlie Hull and at one of his ,shall i say storage points,on one of his farms i seen some of Leightons old 31s from South Windarra open cut,which ive been told was one of their first big jobs over here.The scrapers werent in one piece, bowls stashed over there , prime movers over here,and of course being charlie parts missing everywhere,they where on his buggies.I can remember on the sides of the bowls,where the boilys had tacked some stuff on to help with the wear,they had also "written"south windarra 1973 or74.