Some old TD-18 pics from my Army days.

[Taylortractornu]

Thanks for the explanation. Dad said the few Construction companies here all used TD 18's. My neighbors in the day had 12 of them and pulled pans. After he sold out and retirted they sold parts all ocver the country. Bonds used use them alot. Dad said Tom and travis bonds had one when working for their brother. He said it was hard to start and they had loaded it on the lowboy and pulled the blade up the the gooseneck. Dad told me they had left it running and had the clutch knuckled out to let it run. Then they chained it through the draw bar and took off to a site down the road they went undder a few low branches. Then they felt something and looked back and saw the old 18 comming up the gooseneck to the cab. they think the limb let the clutch engage. Dad asked Mr. Tom what they did and he looked at him and said we just got out of the truck no stopping just got out. Dad started out on a TD18 with the B&E blade that had the outside arms. He said it was teribbly slow and if you made wave you had to start somewhere esle because it wouldnt catch itself.

[RonG]

These are probably the last pics of this job,we will be moving on to other things like bridgebuilding and other things that engineers do to make themselves accountable.
I will need to crop and edit some more pics before long,I also have a few color shots that will show up here eventually to add to the mix.Ron G

[RonG]

I cropped and edited 150 more pics the other day so will have something to post for a while yet.I sure wished that I had taken better care of my negatives although I am not sure what I could have done.They were stored in sleeves in a scrapbook made for the duty of storing film.
These first two are of the dozer being used to move a bailey bridge as it was being built.We were using the piers of a bombed out bridge over the meine river adjascent to the site where we crossed it with a pontoon bridge every year when we bivouaced in Hanau every year for about three weeks to practice our skills and entertain the frauleins who were always plentiful,especially around payday)
The last three are of some german contractors Cats parked at a construction site as we passed going somewhere.It appears that I am a rider here so that I could take the pictures so we may have been on alert and I was probably listening to that ole Mopar 413 thrashing its heart out making me smile and pushing that M113 personell carrier on down the road.
I will have plenty more of bridgebuilding and other interesting (to me) things in no particular order but hopefully of interest to the majority of our readers here.Ron G

[Partsdude]

Fantastic pictures please keep them coming.

I have to admit that when you (RonG) said on the first page that you had a lot of pictures and stories to go along with them the first thing that went through my mind was Abe Simpson. "Back in my day .... ZZZZZZZZZ!"

All kidding aside, please continue to show us young un's how things used to be done.

[King of Obsolete]

keep them pictures coming, i enjoy the black and white since i'm colour blind.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[RonG]

I will be posting some color pics someday Ko0 but I ain't sayin' when.LOL.Glad to see that you enjoy them.Ron G

[RonG]

We have all heard about the rotten tires that were circulated for our vehicles.Here is one that blew for no apparent reason while driving on one of the local streets and it blew with a bang,it was not low on air.
That is me doing wrench duty there,a rare occasion when I was not holding the camera.
That tire came on the truck as it was new,that is I was the first to use it after it was built but who knows how long it had been in storage somewhere.
I will include a couple of sorry pics of us under way convoying to who knows where for more excitement)Ron G

[stock]

Absolutely brilliant RonG please keep the pictures coming I have really enjoyed seeing them .



Stock

[King of Obsolete]

great pictures RonG, please tell me when you post in colour so i don't have to ask xena, LOL

those were the good old day, you had hair, you could wide load with no signs, beacons or permitts.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[RonG]

This might be the cause of the snarled cable on the rear of my dozer when we were out in the field back a few posts ago.You would think that I would remember these things since it was only 45 years ago or so.
I remember the girl that used to bring my lunch pretty good.LOL.
I will include a pic of the dozer sitting in our motor pool and a couple of color (don't tell KoO) pics of me to clear up the "no hair" comment a while ago.
The first one is of my new guitar that I bought in Germany,still have it and it is strung up as a dobro presently.The other one was taken last December,getting kind of gray now but I will never worry about growing bald I don't think.I turned 68 a couple of weeks ago.Hah!I guess that the motor pool pic was alread posted so I posted the original of that wedge pocket before I rotated it.I think it is clearer too.If you look at that weld you can see that it did not get good penetration in spots there.I doubt that anyone was horsing on the controls enough to break it if the weld had been good.Ron G

[willie59]

Nice Gretsch there Ron.

[King of Obsolete]

RonG, 68 and still have hair, oh my!!! when i'm 68, i'll be bald for sure, LOL.

great pictures again.

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[RonG]

This looked to be a personell carrier,it was delivered to us by a squad of defecting russian soldiers who boogied across the plowed strip right into our hands.Wish I could give a more dramatic story with it but that is what happened.Now,the bad part.............I was on guard duty that day I didn't get to go pick it up.
It was parked on the parade ground so I was able to shoot the pics between shifts but I hated to have missed that one.
It was supposedly the only russian vehicle ever captured during peacetime up to that date anyway.
I am going to add a couple pics of my tractor in our motorpool,all shined up to go get the ruskies present to us.

[King of Obsolete]

once again RonG, excellent photos. what would have happened to the truck x-17????

thansk
KoO
Published Author

[RonG]

Thanks KoO,glad you enjoy them.I am still using that camera today....takes excellent pics,using color film these days of course.Not sure what you mean about what happened to X17.......It stayed on the base there when I left to return stateside along with the TD-18 assigned to the first platoon.........it is late in the day,it will probably come to me by morning..Ron G