The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 I thought I'd start this topic to share some of the machinery my Dad John has driven for the best part of 40 years of his life having left the family farm to persue a career in civil engineering. He's driven quite a few different machines over the years spending a fair amount of his career on bulldozers and other heavy plant, before spending the latter part mainly on JCB 3CXs and similar machines on new housing estates. The first selection of photos are of some Case 850 tracked loaders, a solitary Massey Ferguson and a JCB 806 excavator. JCB 806, MF and Case Tracked loaders being used on a slurry lagoon project near Gristhorpe, Filey. B series tracked shovels awaiting delivery at Bradford. Dad aboard his 850C Working a steep slope in preparation for housing near Whitby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysmassey135 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Superb pictures when were they taken? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Superb pictures when were they taken? Thanks Rhys, these are from around or just over 30 years ago mate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysmassey135 Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Thanks Rhys, these are from around or just over 30 years ago mate. Not trying to sound stupid.. but how did you get them onto the computer? scanning them in is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Not trying to sound stupid.. but how did you get them onto the computer? scanning them in is it? That's correct mate, I have a Canon A4 sized scanner that scans them to a program that allows me to trim up the edges and remove any scratches, i've had it about 4 years and it's finally getting some proper use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Ferguson Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Great pics as always David... you've made some absolutly stunning posts on here recently... as always many thanks for postng mate MF200b if I am not mistaken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tellarian Posted January 28, 2009 Share Posted January 28, 2009 Not brand knocking - but how did your Dad fand the Case 850's? Reason for asking my father had some on trial against existing Cat 955, 944's and Drotts, found the Case drivetrains a little unreliable, the first one failing in days IIRC. OK the machines were on much heavier work at times directly digging rock chalk which may have shown the weak points. Stayed with Cat in the end, but great photos of classic plant. Will have to find mine when I can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Great pics as always David... you've made some absolutly stunning posts on here recently... as always many thanks for postng mate MF200b if I am not mistaken Thank you Mark for your kind comments, you are correct it's an MF200b bought as an ex - demo machine. Not brand knocking - but how did your Dad fand the Case 850's? Reason for asking my father had some on trial against existing Cat 955, 944's and Drotts, found the Case drivetrains a little unreliable, the first one failing in days IIRC. OK the machines were on much heavier work at times directly digging rock chalk which may have shown the weak points. Stayed with Cat in the end, but great photos of classic plant. Will have to find mine when I can! Thank you Tellarian, i've just given my Dad an impromptude interview on the subject and this is his honest verdict: They were good machines capable of operating faster than the Caterpillars but in the smaller models this did lead to some drive train trouble and parts wearing out quicker, later Cummins engined machines were less frail, but the Cat loaders were probably better engineered, my Dad drove a number of 951, 955 and 977 machines in between and after operating the Cases. Look forward to seeing some of your classic plant pictures too. Regards David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 28, 2009 Author Share Posted January 28, 2009 Here's a Caterpillar 951 that was ran by the same company, my Dad used it on a site near Guisborough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richo Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 What lovely photos, your dad looks very happy in is work too! I've got a friend who has been driving plant for a good 55 years and has always had a camera with him. I really enjoy having a coffee with him showing me all the old pics and the stories that go with them. How times have changed! Please post some more photos :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deere-est Posted January 29, 2009 Share Posted January 29, 2009 Smashing photo's. For years there used to be a pair of old tow along earth scoops parked not far from me. Part of the Chivers & Porter equipment. A small in size but large in operations company based in my village. A lot of their work was up on Salisbury Plain doing the roads and tank tracks. I was too young to take in model numbers but they had big CAT's for pulling them around and the huge vibrating toothed roller .. .. Wish I had paid them more attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 What lovely photos, your dad looks very happy in is work too! I've got a friend who has been driving plant for a good 55 years and has always had a camera with him. I really enjoy having a coffee with him showing me all the old pics and the stories that go with them. How times have changed! Please post some more photos :) Thank you Rich, there's a few more on the way I love the nostalgia and stories associated with the older machines, especially the tracked loaders and bulldozers Smashing photo's. For years there used to be a pair of old tow along earth scoops parked not far from me. Part of the Chivers & Porter equipment. A small in size but large in operations company based in my village. A lot of their work was up on Salisbury Plain doing the roads and tank tracks. I was too young to take in model numbers but they had big CAT's for pulling them around and the huge vibrating toothed roller .. .. Wish I had paid them more attention. Thank you Tris, as you will see in some photos i'll post soon I have quite a fondness towards big "Cats." My Dad clearly did too when he was younger. The story goes, he was drilling turnips on the farm in Dalby when a chap who was doing some land reclamation work on an old gas drilling rig site with a Cat D4 wondered across the field to where he was working. He asked him whether or not could he operate a bulldozer? My Dad said he'd have a go even though he'd never driven one before. A very hastily arranged "trial" was set up and Dad played on the machine for a few hours and confessed to really enjoying it and was promptly offered a job. A week later he was sat aboard a Cat D7 levelling top soil on a quarry in the Yorkshire Dales. Although he returned to the farm to live when working closer to home (and prepare a pair of pretty quick rally cars, his other major interest for a while) he's never looked back from a world of plant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 30, 2009 Author Share Posted January 30, 2009 Continuing with the very Case theme to the start of this topic. This machine was one of a pair bought by the company who ran the tracked loaders. Although Dad had driven a couple a JCB 3Cs for brief stints, this Case 580G was the first backhoe loader he spent any length of time on. He used quite a few of these over the years before switching to another company with JCB 3CXs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 This next series of photographs were taken when I was barely 3 years old and I had my first experiences with a "Big Cat." My Dad was using the machine, a D6, to take off layers of top soil in readiness for the installation of a gas drilling rig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Ohh i love this sort of photo, the old kit that broke in the land we now live on and dont think any thing of, my father was plant operator also, he was a specilist dozer driver, could do any thing with a tracked tractor and would go any where also, I will never turn down driving a steel tracked machine over the flash tractors i drive now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Speaking of old cats and scoops, There are some aussome old girls on Youtube Here is a short one, this guy has aussome videos http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOfgMW0Xis Sorry for going of topic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 Ohh i love this sort of photo, the old kit that broke in the land we now live on and dont think any thing of, my father was plant operator also, he was a specilist dozer driver, could do any thing with a tracked tractor and would go any where also, I will never turn down driving a steel tracked machine over the flash tractors i drive now Got to agree Nick there's nothing quite like the sight and sound of a big uncomplicated Caterpillar that makes the earth move, and given the chance my Dad would much rather be on something similar today aswell, as it is, he starts a new job on Monday after been laid off since Christmas on a 6 tonne JCB 360 degree excavator. Speaking of old cats and scoops, There are some aussome old girls on Youtube Here is a short one, this guy has aussome videos http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2DOfgMW0Xis Sorry for going of topic No problem mate, thanks for sharing, some superb old footage there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rich.new holland Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 fair bit of kit there walter we had one of those case 580 drot/loader i think its round the back still and we have a cat 954 \ same type of thing but it has a side tip bucket only thing the head gaskit went and its been parked up since waiting for the hospital door to open looks like this http://loaders.assettrader.co.uk/1/APUserImages/U14F1DWUSWQTP.JPG oohh i wish i could find my uncles album of old pics :'( hes got loads of machines in there from years ago big cat dump trucks next to our 8210s with tankers (bit of a size differance as it shows in the pic ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted February 1, 2009 Author Share Posted February 1, 2009 fair bit of kit there walter we had one of those case 580 drot/loader i think its round the back still and we have a cat 954 \ same type of thing but it has a side tip bucket only thing the head gaskit went and its been parked up since waiting for the hospital door to open looks like this http://loaders.assettrader.co.uk/1/APUserImages/U14F1DWUSWQTP.JPG oohh i wish i could find my uncles album of old pics :'( hes got loads of machines in there from years ago big cat dump trucks next to our 8210s with tankers (bit of a size differance as it shows in the pic ) Thanks Rich, one or two bigger machines on the way Hope the hospital door swings wide open for the Cat loader, my Dads driven a few of those over the years, but I don't have any photographs of the rear engined machines, very smart loaders Hope you find your photos soon, would be very keen to see them. I have some photos on the way of a machine that was the forerunner to Caterpillar's articulated dump trucks Here's another old Cat bulldozer, this time a D5 that Dad used for levelling out a new caravan site at Flamingo Land theme park many years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Another cracking post with shots of older plant...lovely ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 Another cracking post with shots of older plant...lovely ;) Thanks BC, appreciate the comments, here's a nice "dozer and box" combination used on a sports field site around 12 years ago. The mode of power for the scraper box coming from a tidy Komatsu D65. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhysmassey135 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 I bet that Komatsu sounded sweet pulling that scraper box Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 I bet that Komatsu sounded sweet pulling that scraper box It certainly did mate, although not quite as sweet as this 300hp monster My Dad worked extensively on this big Komatsu D155 stripping top soil off in a quarrying operation about 10 miles away from where we live now around 20 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi6920 Posted February 2, 2009 Share Posted February 2, 2009 Do you know what your dad thourght of the Kelly ripper? i know my dad hated the one on his dozer, he complained so much they sold the dozer and got him a D8K, Now that was a nice tractor Lovely pics mate,makes me wish i had more of dad working now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Tractor Twitcher Posted February 2, 2009 Author Share Posted February 2, 2009 Thanks Nick, just asked him and he said it wasn't a bad tool. He was using it in some fairly tough going on some of the quarry shelves and on odd occasions it would start to pull the rear of the machine up. Give my Dad a D8 to play on for the remainder of his working life and he'd be a happy man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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