The Brits tend to over kill any job but this takes the cake for me!! Five guys on a recovery crew in One truck.
Must have been designed by a Pommie( British) public servant who was empire building. BTW that model Scammell was still in service in the NZ Army in the early 70's.
You'd think they could have issued those fellows some gloves... Seems crude by modern standards, but I bet it was awesome at the time. Some simple hydraulics could eliminate 3 of those men.
Pretty cool rig ! I like the over tire track option . What's interesting to me is the " Holdfast " ground system they use to anchor with on multi part line pulls . Looks like it's spiked to the ground at 3:25 in this video .
I thought that was neat too. All the rigging is pretty neat. The main winch holds 600' of cable and has 8 tons of line pull. That sideways winching used a 5 part cable. That's a lot of heavy rigging to string out. Definitely not an operation that would be performed while under fire. Also seems designed for specific terrain with firm ground and anchors like trees. That ground anchor thing would never work in sandy soil.
I like the overall concept of it . Using a smaller piece of equipment for a big task . They were ahead of times in the 1940's . I noticed the mechanical " hand winch " around 11:15 pulling the track back under the carriage . Remember Scrub Puller calling it a " Trehwellah " tree puller . Looks like a handy item to have around . HeavyEquipmentForums
Everything was harder to do including milking the cows. But at the same time people have forgot how to work because things have become too easy in some areas. Nothing against progress but if it looks like to much work people have a tendency scattering. Idle hands are evil hands they use to say. Truck Shop
Yeah I didn't see any type II diabetes in that rigging crew.
These days instead of where's the beef-it's here's the fat. Skinny folks in that video, percentage of obese males today 45%. Truck Shop
Seems like there was a job for everyone in those days. People worked and used their minds to build that stuff and use it. Now we have outsmarted ourselves by complicating so many of these tasks, creating far reaching reaching social consequences.The out of control homeless camp in our old yard might be one example.Places like that havent been heard of since the great depression of the 30 s.
Watch the Video "Last of the Giants" on youtube, It's about the days of the last of steam locomotives when labor was a reasonable cost of doing business. The Union Pacific roundhouse complex in Cheyenne Wyoming employed 5,000 people over 3 shifts in the heyday of steam power. Those guys knew their stuff and were indispensable in those days.
Another to think on. I can remember the days before the interstates pretty clear yet, the old roads were not so good but were the grand times.
Any old lowbedding pictures out there? It would be interesting to see how some of the iron was moved where the railways didnt go.
The Less glamourous days (or More for some of us)in pictures, some low beds in here
Great photos. What the heck is that green, Central Freight truck? I have never seen a sidewinder cab on a truck tractor like that.
Used to be a thing. lots of local delivery freights used them. In no way would they get a rider in that cab.
Those Monfort trucks brought back a few memories.........
A couple more for us old guys:
The Pig Iron Express and Green Barn(Garrett Motor Freight) trucks from out west also triggered a landslide of memories for me, the music too for that matter.
Looking at the trucks from the 40's and 50's, I have to wonder how many of todays drivers would last in those rigs. No power steering, no AC, No microwave in the sleeper.... Oh, 2 shifters? WTH is that?
How about that driveline hand brake lever that would ALMOST hold a truck by itself still!!, NO spring brakes and only that damn drop down flag to tell you not enough air to stop when you really needed them!! Or Vacuum brakes with as in that one photo a t handle cable to shift the two speed!! Armstrong'd a many 4070B and old KW COE or Corn Queen long nose with a TRW or Ross manual gear. They worked really well as long as were moving at all.
I have always said that everyone should have to use a truck with no power steering for the skills test part of the CDL test!!!
To be fair, the old timers were not using their trucks like we use them today. Trips would have been short and done at pretty low speed. Probably from a port or rail terminal to an end user or the opposite. In those days long distance shipping was done with ship or by rail, and people had a lot more patience. Nobody was jumping into a 1940 rig and expecting to drive coast to coast in 5 days. If you know anyone who was doing 3000 miles a week in a truck with no A/C, no power steering, no sleeper, etc I'd say he's the got to be the toughest SOB on the planet. Modern trucks largely reflect the way we use trucks now as long haulers. They are more like miniature trains with a caboose called a sleeper bunk.
A lot of those late 40's and early 50's trucks were coast to coast haulers.
Not sure but I think I started a thread like this one a way's back. HeavyEquipmentForums Truck Shop
never hurts to have more than one!!
Yeah , in that time frame they was getting ready to truck across Europe hauling go juice & beans to GI 's in the conflict .
The more the better with old trucks.
One thing that puzzles me about the Scammel rig …. What's up with the " scotch blocks " under the steering axil with a rear winch application ? Scotch blocks under the rear tires fellers . If the steering axil is still on the ground it aint pullin hard yet
This was interesting . " Field Expedients 1944 " . Ya got the tools & equipment ….. Deal with it .
Interesting solution to the bridge that was too weak for a tank to cross. Park another tank in the creek under the bridge and crib up to the middle of the beams to hold it while the other tanks crossed.
somebody needs a winch
Someone did a really nice job on the " cutaway " Sherman display . Herringbone final drives & twin 6-71 engines .
International Harvester film showing manufacturing & products in 1974 . Would have been an interesting job to work on the test site at 12:38 .
20 mule team trucking . Amazing restoration of the wagons & mule team ! https://engelscoachshop.com/1880s-style-wagon-building-borax-wagons/ Pretty cool how they jump the inside mule over the chain on tight curves .Fast forward to 25:20 in the video .
That is pretty cool, would have to be the original road train... thanks for posting td.
Somewhere recently I watched a video of them building those wheels. They used all sorts of obsolete machinery to make the wood wheel parts and then put the steel wagon tire on a pile of the burning oak scraps, heated it rather red and then dropped it over the wood wheel with lots of smoke and fire.
To keep those steel rims tight on pioneer wagon trains crossing creeks took some time to let the wood swell up tight. Pioneers didn't waste any water, not common knowledge but urine was tossed on the wheels also.