http://plowshareforge.blogspot.de/2014/04/youre-going-to-drive-to-south-pole.html http://www.icepeople.net/mark/d8.html
I wonder where they are getting shipped to. I could somehow make room in the barn for one.
Cool machines more pics are always welcome
I get very curious when I see these pictures about the engine: was it the original Cat D8 engine, maybe with a turbo added or was it a newer Cat engine? And is it the only dozer model that was ever stretched like this? And what about steering/transmission?
One of my neighbors has a brother that works as a catskinner in Antarctica for their summer part of the year, and opens and maintains an ice airfield in Greenland in the north hemisphere's summer. My neighbor was telling me a story about his brother and another operator that supposedly walked 2 of the arctic set up Cats from the Antarctic base 500 miles each way to assist in the recovery attempt of a crash landed military plane that stopped hanging across a cravass. The orders were to destroy it if it could not be recovered in reasonably flying shape. They built an ice runway, the military flew in personnel and the plane was recovered and flew out from the ice strip they built. The story is they spent around 60 days on there adventure. This apparently happened a number of years ago and was classified until recently. The military air dropped them fuel and supplies and directed then on the route. My neighbor told me he would introduce me to his brother when he travels through. I eagerly wait to meet him and ask him about the Cats used and the trip. Now I wonder if these are the machines he worked with. Any body else ever hear about this mission?
Sounds like an exciting story. I would love to hear more of it.
I heard it when I was there in 00-01 and 01-02. I believe it's true. Do they call your neighbor's brother Snackbar? By the way I ran Pam, Maryann, and Colleen around Mcmurdo. Colleen was refered to as frankendozer because she was assembled out of the boneyard. They were turboed direct drive with hard noses and pony motors. I think they were based on the 14A D8.
Yes, 9A and 14A. Pam was my favorite girl, I worked on the shelf, mostly at Willie.
I was told back in December that two were being shipped off the continent, and only one was being left behind. It deepley saddens and pisses me off at the same time. Their is not another machine on the continent that can do what the stretch 8's can. The new **** likes to break and can not go where the 8's can or pull what the 8's can. More than once I would break out loads that even the JUNK 8R could not. The American program is really be hind the ball due to the lack of equipment that can do the tasks that are necessary, and some of it has to do with the emissions regulations.... and the rest has to do with politics... Yes I have a opinion on this matter, and yes I am holding back....
The first picture is either Big Jon or the other one that was lost in a crevasse I can not recall her name.
The frame was stretched, Motor was moved farther forward, and a larger motor was installed. Big Jon and his mate had a D-9 motor installed.
I don't know. I will ask him.
Lost one in a crevasse ouch. Those are cool machines.
Snack bar, I recall hearing stories of some of the things snack bar did..... LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwivfg7dDhc
Grandpa D9 I hope the rest do not end up in such sad shape.
Did I understand that right that they walked them 500 miles each way to build a runway? Some years ago, I considered buying a Cat 977 traxcavator, in nice condition. The owner's uncle had an interesting story about the machine. Years earlier, he had worked with that same machine in the Canadian Arctic, building runways for oil exploration activity. They dropped the Cat out of the back of a cargo airplane in the spot where they wanted to build the runway. The plane came in low and slow, they put the Cat in reverse, and it walked out of the back of the airplane. After it hit the ground, it kept on walking until it ran out of fuel. They just put a little fuel in it, so it did not go far.
Not sure what his nickname is but his givin name is Scott Kouno. Not 100% sure if I spelled the last name correctly. I did not get a chance to speak to him as he went through. He was only home a day and on to Greenland for the summer. Hope to catch him this fall. His brother has a book of pictures that Scott took at the base that he's holding for Scott. He is going to show me them. Hopefully I can get some of them posted.
Yup, that's Snackbar. A real Antarctic legend.
How do you become an equipment operator in the artic?
I went to a job fair in Denver and was hired by Raytheon Polar Services for the Antarctic. Not sure about the Arctic.
Big John, was supposed to have been sunk along time ago. Yes it and one other had D353s fitted. All the D8s at one point or another were overhauled by the NZ cat dealer gough gough and hamer. and were 'normalised' with the fitting of a turbo. yes they were basically a 14A D8. Few pics by me at mactown in 84. Big john has the 2 aircleaners. Is Kimberly the D8K still there ?? Was also a 36A D8H there called Fang
Great pic Merv. I just drool when I look at these. I would sell about ten other toys to get one of them historical Antarctic cats in the shed.
dr. ernie.. I share your sentiments entirely.
Keep the story going I think these old cats have a very interesting story as do the men that ran them. Enjoying the pics pretty much too. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
some more from 84 !
and more; last ones the dump ! yep set adrift to go splash, a D4; dump was all cleared up sometime after 84 afaik.
Are the ships in the second to the last picture grounded as it appears? They appear to be pretty big. How to they re float them. Are the tides that high. Great pictures. Thanks for posting them.
Some awesome pics and stories. Really neat dozers.
Is "Fang" an 8K?
She looks like an H.
Fang was a late 36A D8H; gear drive; she had a big single pick ripper, hence her name. She was USN, was another one there belonged to USARP. Was a USN D8K there called Kimberley. Old Iron; outer ship is USCG and inner one USN supply ship. Both are floating on the sea, icebreaker had to break up the sea ice for the supply boat to get there. which you can see. Mountains in the background are the 'mainland'. McMurdo is on ross island. Antartica is a vast continent; bigger than Australia and whole USA !! They are moored to whats called the 'ice pier'. Basically a huge floating man made ice cube, covered with 3 ft of dirt to stop it melting !! They build a new one each year; or did 30 yrs ago when I was there !! Dr Ernie will know more hes been there quite a few times.
The 3 ft of dirt on the ice explains everything. Made it look like they were aground. They sure looked like they were setting straight for being on the bottom. Thanks for the education.
Plane rescue from cravoss A number of posts back we were chatting about Snackbar and another fellow walking two Cats some distance in the Antarctic to attempt to rescue an Air Force plane that was laying across a cravoss. Here's some pictures that Snackbars brother shared with me. Sorry about the quality. It was coffee shop cell phone pictures out of an album that was shared with me. For those who know Scott, he has been back from Greenland a while and is catskinning in Duluth, MN. His brother told me a few weeks ago that Scott is in love and may not return to to Antarctica this winter.
I finally got a little more information on this rescue. The plane was a research plane that had a bunch of high tech gear in it. It landed on an ice field where they had landed before but this time a crevasse had opening up and caught the plane. The "runway" was plugged. Scott and Terry walked the D4 and D6 for many days to get to the site. When they arrived it was their choice to attempt the rescue or not. They tethered the D6 to the back of the D4 and filled the crevasse with the D4 working in tandem the entire time. After they got the plane off the crevasse and the runway open parts and crews were flown in to fix it and it was flown out.
So the 6 was the rescue dozer for the 4 just in case?
Sounds like it, safety line. When doing that on a slope, we call it yoyo-ing the smaller dozer.
Yes, The crevasse had bad edges that could and would collapse and was over a hundred feet deep and wide enough in many places to swallow a dozer. It looks small in the pictures due to the size of the plane.
Found this the other week. http://antarcticauction.com/auctions/construction-heavy-equipment/cat-lgp-d8/ I thought there was only one left. I have seen pictures of Pam in the cargo hold here. http://www.southpolestation.com/mcm/1314/14photos1.html Whats going on?
unbelievable ! someone will get a bagain piece of classic machinery. She has be rebuilt many times by the NZ cat dealer gough gough and hamer; who used to do all the USN repairs and rebuild work. When I worked for them down in mactown in 1984; I was told there was supposed to be 2 of them that were lost during unloading and were supposed to be submerged under the ice pier. Treasure story for some future adventurer ! A true pice of history gone ! Doubt if any other machine to grace the 'ice' will ever live there as long as all those D8s did
I was on the USCGC Ice Breaker Burton (WAGB 283) Island for operation deep freeze in 1976. We went to Mcmurdo Sound and Point Barrow Alaska leading in and out tankers and cargo ships for the bases resupply. In this pic I can see how the ice is going away. There was next to none of the dirt showing when I was there. Hate the cold but would love to go back and see the ice one more time
USCGC Burton island seems to ring a memory bell; most likely her in my pic; January 1984
Probably wasn't a new pic, she was sold for scrape in April 1982. They DECOM'ed her in May of 1978, I left for another location in 1977. Commissioned 1966 The ship was to go thru DECOM in in 1976 but had to keep her going because the Polar class Breakers (Start and Sea) were not ready yet. The Polar breakers need a lot of work for retrofit which keeps being postponed by congress. They either need to retrofit or replace
Anybody know anything about the early warning station that was at Cold Bay, AK that was shut down about 1970. I'm fairly sure it was located above the Arctic Circle. My oldest brother was stationed there in the Air Force when it was abandoned and he claims after pushing everything into the sea that they couldn't easily send back, they set the throttles and sent the Cat and a forklift to a watery grave. He's is not machine inclined and has no idea what model the crawler was, only that it looked like new yet. Most of the base was carved under the ice. Only had 80 men in its heyday.
Never heard anything about it, there have been rumors about such things but never found any facts. After working with the DoD for 28 years I can say there is all kinds of things that could be proven later and I would not be surprised. That said Cold Bay AK is in the Aleutian island south of AK. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Bay,_Alaska
I asked my brother about this again this morning. I was mistaken about it being at Cold Bay. They were managed and supported out of Cold Bay but the actual post was located somewhere about 500 miles north of the Aleutian Islands. He said they had a ice runway that typically had to be cleared for plane arrivals.
I had a bad dream I could not wake up from, so I came here... What a nightmare... I am going some place else...
there are 3 stretch d8 on anarticauction.com if some one wants 1 or 2 now your chance
Unless you had a museum, or a fetish for working on ice, what would you do with them? Would be nice to see them preserved though.....
It's cool to see one going to a museum the other to a collector!
Good!
They'd still be great as a LGP unit. and they'd have great traction so you never know they may have use elsewhere.
The stretch D8 named Mary Ann will be at the Santa Margarita (CA) Memorial day show showing off her stuff and working as she always did. The show runs over Memorial Day weekend. Also old trains, battle tanks, antique military machines and equipment, and old warbirds are flying in for the show. Going to be a huge show. Lots of cats and cable scrapers and also a 660 will be working the cut. Lots of equipment already being moved in to behind the locked site. There is a website but I am not savey enough to post a link. There was actually three stretch D8s that came back recently. Mary Ann went to a good friend and collector, Colleen is going to the Navy museum on the base where the auction was held, and Pam is unofficially reported to be going back to Peoria, presumably for the Cat museum that is being designed along with the new world headquarters.
I'm gonna try to make it it runs all weekend?
Glad to hear they have all gone to good homes. Is 31years since I last touched and saw them on that funny cold white stuff :beatsme Pam
That's all it would be,a story like peter-pan, Machine out the back of a plane. Where was Santa when all this was going on ????????????????
Runs Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the public. Monday, Memorial Day, is the start of haul it all back to the respective homes again.
Well, that makes me feel slightly better....
(Thanks old-iron-habit for the heads up) Took these at the CA show in Santa Margarita.
You will enjoy watching this..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bfuTJ0OIv4&feature=youtu.be
Looks like a lot of the old machines had the tracks too tight?
Thank you OM I did enjoy that Hills in the background are even a mirror image of my home territory in New Zealand ! Boy like me would have been right at home there !
I spent 7 days there helping set up and then playing. It would have been nice to meet you. Just got home at midnight last night. It was a good show.
^Did you drive or fly out? It would have been neat to see her pushing along side the other old 8's especially when that 660 came out to play. I saw the red KW with the yellow Dodge 300 there.
Damn, that is more dirt than Mary Ann ever saw... too bad she is not pushing snow... The tracks look tight because their is no top rollers, only a wood slide. I wonder if she still has the reduced blade fan? If I remember correctly she has 2 blades on the fan.
Wonder if Scrub has seen that video yet. He'd appreciate that for sure.
Yair . . . Thanks for the heads up Shimmy1 I had missed that. Bloody marvellous I liked the drawn ripper with the (I think) aircraft tyres. Cheers.
I drove out. Went early and spent a couple days in Loveland with friends on the way. Yes, Mike was there with his Kenworth and Dodge. He also had the HO 2U D8 and the D7with the Allis Chalmers cable scraper on it. Mike and the boys hauled equipment in for a few weeks preceding the show and then hauled it all out again.
The 14A with that sweet ripper came down from Petaluma. It is owned by the same man that owns Mary Ann. He also brought the Cat 660, the Walker Bulldog, another D8 with 80 scraper, a D6 with 60 scraper, A D4 with 40 scraper, a DW 20 scraper, and the Tucker Snow Cat. Glen supported the show in a monstrous way. I think I am missing a couple more pieces he brung to.
O-I-H, so............if you know someone can you test drive anything? The one thing I'd like to try someday is a string-control pan. I don't want to have to buy one, though.
might be of interest https://www.facebook.com/pages/Caterpillar-S-D8lgp-Dozer-on-Snow-and-Ice/350745131790392
I am sorry that I had to miss the show. I had been looking forward to it, and getting to try out some of the old iron again. I went a few years back when the had it at the Tulare ag expo. I had to sign up as a member, pay some pretty reasonable dues, and get a quick lesson then off I went. I got to try out a couple of cable pans and some others. It was a good time, and I am sad I did not get to go this time. Maybe for the next I can make up for it.
Now that's what I'm talking about. Maybe there is a chance I might get to play with one someday.
Maybe the next show they do could be time for a road trip.
Yair . . . What I would really like to see is a tandem scraper cable rig. I have never actually seen one except on a few old videos but there used to be talk about a contractor running a D8 over here with two 15 yard Le Tourneau LP's back in the early sixties . . . the second PCU drives off the front of the crankshaft. If any one can come up with any pictures it would be much appreciated. Cheers.
Scrub You have probably seen this, but if not, up around the 21 minute mark there are some double cable rigs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L45GRECeer0 Some other treats there for the old iron fans.
Yair . . . Thanks JDOFMEMI . That was one of the videos I was referring to, the other was I think some outfit working on the Aswan High Dam. I would love to see some good stills of those rigs showing the controls and how the string was rigged. Cheers.
Most of the guys are very generous with their equipment. Guys that are familiar with Cats have no problems learning how to operate the cable rigs. A round or two with them and let them play. I spent parts of 3 days teaching folks how to operate cable pans using Mike's, Glen's, and others machines. No big rush in the play area. Everyone is having a good time instead of rushing rounds. Even had an Aussie, old Cat restores, that lives in New York fly in for the weekend and he was on a cable pan for the first time.
Headed south today I saw MaryAnn on a lowboy heading north through Hayward CA. Any idea what her destination would be?
Probably going back home from Santa Margerita- The gentleman who owns her (Glen) lives in the Peteluma area.
stretched D8 We're the stretched D8's used anywhere besides the Antarctic? We have one with a D9 engine, I was just curious if it was one from down there. It's cool to know there are others still together out there. Years ago we were told that the only other one was in a scrap yard in California.
I think they were only in the Antarctic and Greenland. But I don't know for sure. You should post some pictures of that bad boy. A lot of people would be excited to see one with the big engine since the two that were in the Antarctic no longer exist. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I'll try to get some pics this week. It doesn't look very good its been sitting mostly for about the last ten years, and there's been talk about selling it. I would like to keep it and restore it one day.
im interested in the cat , would love to have one and restore it . and show it at the Brooks steam up
Murl's movie is the best! Back when things could be done in California; when we wanted to move water and cars. not like today. The sheeps' foot rollers towed behind the bulldozers bring back memories. Anybody have any videos of the construction of the Hi-Speed Rail train-tracks-to-nowhere?
There would be multiples of people interested on the stretch 8. They have long been stories about some built for the northern forests but no one was sure that any survived. To restore one is a huge undertaking with a lot of cost. A nice way to preserve it might be to contact the local ACMOC club there and donate it for a tax writeoff and the club can raise funds to restore it. That way you can still be involved with it, be able to run it at shows, and it will be guantereed to be preserved, have your history attached to it, and will not get cut up when scrape get crazy high again. Brooks is I believe the founding chapter of ACMOC. I believe that Mary Ann has the D9 engine also. They were retrofitted with them when they went to New Zeland for rebuilds over the years. As said we need pictures.
I'll try to get out to the site where it's at this week and get pictures. I'll look into the ACMOC also, but that part is up to the Bosses, I'm not an owner at the company yet or it would be an easy decision for me.
im interested in buying or acquiring it donate it to the club in brooks Oregon, i was bidding on Mary Ann for the same reason.
As far as being a working productive machine the Stretch D8s are not very user friendly or effecient for work on any terrian but snow and ice. The long wide (54" wide each, I think) tracks are not conducive to working very well on dirt. In addition they had no top rollers but used hardwood track supports that used snow for lubrication. They are a very cool machine for snow and ice however. A cool piece of history for sure.
I took some pics of the D8 we have today, but I can't figure out how to upload them on here
When you go to reply to the post, go to the advance link and hit attachments. That will take you to a page where you can upload photos from a box in the upper right hand corner. I can only load three at a time. Your internet service may be better.
I'll try that thanks.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/571928599531216/
Thanks for bumping this up, I read through and it is an interesting bunch of stories.
You may notice how well it was tied down as per the custom in those days before ambulance chasers became a thing.
Hell, I don't tie anything on steel down anyway unless I have to travel on the highway.