I am trying to post a pictur of some of the fun I have had recently this is one of a 3 8's left on the continent
Hey it worked!!! I can operate 50's iron I somehow managed to use 21 centry tecnology here is another tease, these pictures were not taken by me as I passed off the camera as I was busy using history
I am working in Antartica for the next few months. I have a nice thread going over at Red Power Magazine.com it is in the coffee shop section under Stories and pictures from the land of the ICE. it is usaly in the first 2 pages. I have a hard enough time keeping up on 1 forum, so IF you are interested have a look.
Pretty cool pictures! Must be having a warm spell, I see the cab door is open. Not many guys can say they've been to Antartica, let alone ran equipment of any sort there. Guess the local dealer is a bit of a drive?
I've heard about work down there running equipment. How did you get that job, and what company? I'm interested in going some day.
Antarctica Pictures Hello Dr Ernie, Great to see some more pictures of the Antarctic . I see they have a double wide sled hooked up to the Stretch D8-14A . That's a 1st. Thanks for posting . :usa
Deere at the other Pole You wouldn't have any pics of the tracked JD 7820s that should be down there?
Well,,, this is bigger equipment that the first tractor to go south. Anyone know what kind they were??? Paul P.S. Nice pics
As far as the Green stuff, their is none to be had around here. As far as I am concearned all of the new crap should be shiped off of the continent. Electronics have LOTS of issues. Their is 3 D-8 R's here and they are ALWAYS broke the old H serries stuff is new enough. The sled that you see me hooked to stoped a D-8 R I backed to the drawbar took the slack out and walked off did not even spin a track. I am not shure if it was the operator or the iron. Everyone is envited to see the other pictures I have posted on The red power site, you do not need to regester to view the thread.
First?????????? Hi, Buggyman. I'm not sure if they were the first or not but some of the very early tractors down in Antarctica were the grey British Fergusons fitted with Bombardier half-tracks and with a weather protection screen around the operator's position. The Australian expeditions had them down there for some years. I think there is one preserved here in the 'Mexico' part of DownUnder somewhere.
Dr. Ernie, I'm not sure if you saw most post? I was wodering what company is down there and how to apply for such a job?
Winner!!!! Yes Deas your the winner!!! The Fergusons were the first, I'm not sure where the story is about the first trek but it is very interesting to read. The Fergusons never failed them, not one breakdown. Now that is something to be proud of. Oh by the way, I have a 1953 TO-30 Ferguson that my dad rebuilt when I was 5 or 6, I've drove it all my life. Well dad didn't let me start driving it by myself until I could push the clutch in by myself. I learned to stand on the clutch and pull up on the steering wheel and then I had enough to get that pesky clutch in. So lets see, that would have been like 42 or 43 years ago. We did have breakdowns with our Fergy, every decade we would have to put a new battery in it! It feels like winter is here, it's snowing outside right now; the first of the season. Happy Holidays! Paul
In the first picture, whats the ripper belong to? Nice to hear the old stuff runs good there. How about the gensets? Are they old stuff too? Hmmm guess they don't worry about tier 3 or what ever there.
Some fun in the cold... Ya think??? LOL Take a look at this... before the last update, gust was 51 mph. http://rwis.mdt.mt.gov/scanweb/swfr...0&Siteid=263004&DisplayClass=Java&SenType=All Whoops, this should have gone in TGIF, I guess. OCR
Stretch D8 Gidday Dr Ernie. I worked down there in the summer of 83/84 at McMurdo and there were quite a few D8s there then, heres some of the ones I can remember. Big John A stretch 14A D8 that had been fitted with a 18A D9 motor Mary Ann Pam Both stretch 14A D8s that had turbocharged D342 motors Two other stretch 14A D8s that had the standard 14A motor in them , they were stationed out at Willys field. Kimberly A late model D8K Fang A 36A D8H with a ripper on the back There was also another 36A D8 there but I think it belonged to to USARP. All the other machines belonged to the US Navy. There was also a D6D and several D4Ds there. At that time I worked for Gough Gough and Hamer; the New Zealand caterpillar dealer and we were sent down there to work for the US Navy to help maintain the cat equipment at the ice. At that time Mary Ann Pam and Fang had all just had major overhauls in NZ and had just been shipped back to the ice. I,d be interested to know how many of those girls are still there. Cheers Merv :drinkup
I took my father to the Massey factory about 6 years ago and they had 1 or maybe it was 2 of the tractors that had been in Antartica, on show. Not sure what would have happened to them when they moved production to Brazil? I do know that dad had a good day, hes a Fergie fanatic.
One of the TE20 Antartic versions is located at the ** plant in Beauvais, France, in their visitors centre. Here's a link to the story..... http://www.fofh.co.uk/articles/pole.htm
Very interesting thread! And really nice pics uploaded! Was the 14a fitted with a D9 engine because of the heavy UC? at least they had plenty of room to fit it in, they could have put two D6 engines instead In Finland there are some ** and other brand tractors fitted with tracks, they use them when ditching peat bogs!
Ernie, I hope you are staying warm out there! I found some pics of the North Slope pipeline project in Alaska, it looks extemely cold and isolated in some of the pics. Easy way to get in trouble! similar to your environment. here is the link http://images.google.com/images?nds...north+slope+oil+rush+source:life&start=0&sa=N Life magazine has put it's archive on Google, there are tons of old pics of equipment if you figure out where to look. Enjoy! alan627b Life Archive http://images.google.com/hosted/life
Well, some of the names have changed. Pam is still pam she has the larger motor, it is currently down,(front idler bearing out) then their is pualeen?? I seem to think it was trisha or something like that, she was used to day, their is another one that has not been run yet this year, sitting at the heavy shop. Big john fell through the ice, and Mary Ann is in the bottom of a cravase, she fell in several years ago 10 or so They tried to retrive it, but the area was way to dangerous(keep finding more cravases) I was using pam earlier I liked her as she is in good condition and is all their she runs real well as well and most important of all sounds awesome... I am hoping to get her fixed soon, this week maybe?? Kimberly is still here, their is a D-8 coming on the ship I do not know if it is a H or a K. I do know that it was at the Kewi base and they are giving it to us(they owe us money) their is still 3 D-6D's here, and another that was compleatly rebuilt in NZ and is at the pole, as of 3 days ago. Their is 2 D-4's in the area. Not alot of the old stuff left. It is a shame as it is superior, to the new iron, their is 2 D-8R's here they are broke all of the time, and majior stuff often. Did you get out to Willie field much?? Do you rember a woman named Jules??? Uberagua she is still here, 30 years in a row this year, I work with her every day.....
Rathyon is the current co. you will need to do some surfing to find the internet site, The cat agory does not always come up, just keep checking on it. Their might even be a spot open now. I belive that in march or so they will start looking for next years people. I belive that Ray jobs .com is the site. You want the polar services portion of the Co.
Ice Hi Dr Ernie Pity to hear Big John and Maryann disapeered. I never did much at willys field, was mainly in workshop in mactown. We worked for Transportation a division of the US navy seabees. Two names I remember were Skip McGeorge; our commander; and a eskimo guy who had been there alot called Butch Badger. In those days the Navy ran the base, but there was alot of United States Antartic Research Program personnel there too. Jules may know those two names. 30 years is a hell of a long time to keep going back. What do they do for power now.? In my time "Penguin Power and Light" had eight D399 engines for gen sets, before that there was actually a nuke reactor for power, but they took that away before the greenies found out. Not suprised us poor broken arsed kiwis owe the US some money. In my time Scott Base had a late 46A D8H there, so you may be inheriting that. You should be thankful your not getting Ferguson half tracks or R model Bedford trucks as well as they were still in use down there too.:beatsme Cheers Merv :drinkup
Ice Gidday Dr Ernie Found a few photos down there from 25yrs ago so will try and post them. Colleen was the name of another of the stretch D8s there. In 1984 there was 6 of them at McMurdo and possibly some at the pole.
D8 Well that worked. 1st pic is some of the fleet. Kimberly the D8K behind a No12F grader then a LGP D6D and then a standard D6D 2nd one is Big John a D353 powered D8. There was 2 of these girls down there. I think they were factory fitted with the bigger engine for the original tractor trek of 500 miles to the south pole station in the late 50s. 3 is Fang a 36A D8H fresh home from a overhaul in NZ And the last 3 pics are Pam hauling fuel sledges to Willys field. Cheers Merv :drinkup
You know we did plant the flag on that pole first! There are some heavy equipment on the Norwegian station too. Norway started with all year round personell on their Troll station just some years ago. With that some extra equipment was transported down there. The first start of Troll was around 1990-91. The BV206 that where used that time had a trip back to Norway after the first round. Had my rumpsteak in one of them some years ago. Now they are back down there with some other equipment.(Army was involved because of the winter experience) They got Takeuchi excavators, JCB fasttrack, atlas Copco drillrigg, some pisten bullys, cars, snowmobiles and a couple of BV206. Have added some pics of the equipment Norway got there. That container handler on a sledge is not seen so many other places. Leonard Nilsen & Sønner (LNS) has the contract on construction down there. They got the job because of their expertice from Svalbard.(near the other pole) Pics show some of their equipment. pic 4 is from the airstrip. They are using ilusjin 76 to fly in equipment...
A hot tub... no way LOL
Looks like that water in the hot tub has a yellow tint to it.
cool pics and stories, i work with a guy who talks about working there back in the eighties, clearing an airstrip, he said they would just push snow so planes could land, by his stories some of the best times in his life. i will get some info from him this week, see exactly where and when he worked.
Its the beer. Awesome pictures guys.
why the big space between the cab and hood on the 8?
So no new stuff down thar. Completely rebuilt OLD ones????? D8's that is. ???? Why?????
I'll take a guess? I would think it was for the special long and wide undercarriage? Not the standard system that you usually see. So because of that they had to extend the frame for the long tracks,and extend the final drives for the wide tracks also.Trying to get the least LGP for the weight of the machine,since it was going to be used on the ice. Just a guess:beatsme:usa
The above post was for this question.Sorry:usa
i've always been curious what the pay is like for an operator down there. i've heard that it isnt z whole lot different than than working up here, as there is a lot of people willing to work there.us any truth in that?
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My old man went on the cat train last winter in Nunavut. He ran a d85 komatsu, most of the hauling was don by chalenger tracked tractors. He made the trail with the D85. 250km one way. He hauled a sea can behind him with food, a bed, tools and fuel. every week he made it to one of the base camps the get more supplies and good rest. He was out their for a few months. He liked it but now that he has done it he wont go back.
Thanks for shareing. Still dont think I coulf take the colh.LOL