British Columbia built logging equipment, obscure makes....

[trakloader]

Correct me on this one. Did these winches have 5 speeds? I got to work on them way past their prime but they still pulled well. I remember hearing them change gears as the turns were making the final run into the landing. I also remember opening up a hatch in front of the mainline drum and sticking in a pry bar to flick a 'butterfly gear' into another position to allow the machine to change from forward to reverse when driving them around. The best thing about them was the foremen always put the machine on the worst shows because of the 120' pipe and therefore cut you some slack - though I was a producer. It was fun being a young logger in his early 20's back in those days.

I think some of them had five speeds, but I'm not certain... I know lots of the K-166's did. Maybe check my Tyee thread, and see if the K-65 is there.

 

[jackd]

I've got a 'Tyee' builders plate on my basement wall as well as the K-65 bronze builders plate. That's the one that was shaped like the football - pretty snazzy design for those times. I would love to have one of those green/black/white S Madill stickers that used to be on the covers over the forward quarter guy line winches on all the '009 yarders. These got replaced by the all red stickers as that company headed toward its end - not as nice in my view.

 

[jackd]

Sparmatic

These are shots of the Sparmatics at Sproat Lake Div.

 

[Contract Logger]

VIEW Sparmatic at Rayonier Holberg

Here's a dandy shot that was emailed to me this morning. Hopefully he can come up with a few more pics of it!

 

[jackd]

That's quite the shot you received. The size of the operator's cab surprises me - never saw one like that. The yarder which donated the pipe to replace the bent one from the above mishap, was yellow and came from the North Island. I'm curious how many of these Sparmatics were built.

 

[trakloader]

That's quite the shot you received. The size of the operator's cab surprises me - never saw one like that. The yarder which donated the pipe to replace the bent one from the above mishap, was yellow and came from the North Island. I'm curious how many of these Sparmatics were built.

I think that was the VIEW cab, used when a converted donkey was used for the yarder. One of the machines at Juskatla even had an old steam winch that was converted to diesel. I was told that only about 12 Sparmatics were built, but I think that's wrong. Probably more than 20.

 

[Contract Logger]

That's quite the shot you received. The size of the operator's cab surprises me - never saw one like that. The yarder which donated the pipe to replace the bent one from the above mishap, was yellow and came from the North Island. I'm curious how many of these Sparmatics were built.

A bunch I think. I know of at least 15 that came to the States, - Crown Z had 2, Weyerhaeuser had 2, Mayr Bros at Hoquiam had one, Roseburg Lumber in Oregon has or had a fleet of them- with mostly big Skagit hoists.

And there were a lot of one-side contractors that had them in Oregon and Washington that I ran across over the years. Wish I had taken more pics!

That cab was big enough for the crew to eat in at lunchtime!

 

[Contract Logger]

Mike Walch of Ranier Rigging has 4 Sparmatics sitting side-by-side in Auburn Washington at his place.

-2 are Orange/Green/White and are ex-BCFP machines with Washington hoists. Still have BCFP logos and the whole works. Have pics somewhere of these.

-One is the ex-Mayr Bros machine with a Washington hoist- painted Yellow/Green.

-4th and last one has a Skagit IJ-90 hoist and was purchased from a contractor from Port Angeles. I have pics of this machine working (found, but not scanned yet).

Mike owns lots and lots of yarders, 75 or so there last time I visited. He was trying to aquire the Roseburg units as they were phased out.

I suspect we would all be shocked to see build numbers......more than we think maybe.

 

[jackd]

Back in the '90s...

I did a hunt for some information on Sparmatics back in that decade and happened upon this fellow who had bought all the rights for Tyee, Sparmatic and a few more designs. He was quite the story teller and he quizzed me on who I knew in the industry - it would appear that we ran in different circles. What he had in his office was an old wooden file card cabinet - identical to what you would find in a library in the old days - and this was full of all the build records from everyone. He might have pulled out the records from the J-87 & J-88 that I worked on at M & B and showed me the build details. What I deduced from all of this was that there were quite a few built. Am I wrong? Anybody know the guy?

 

[trakloader]

I did a hunt for some information on Sparmatics back in that decade and happened upon this fellow who had bought all the rights for Tyee, Sparmatic and a few more designs. He was quite the story teller and he quizzed me on who I knew in the industry - it would appear that we ran in different circles. What he had in his office was an old wooden file card cabinet - identical to what you would find in a library in the old days - and this was full of all the build records from everyone. He might have pulled out the records from the J-87 & J-88 that I worked on at M & B and showed me the build details. What I deduced from all of this was that there were quite a few built. Am I wrong? Anybody know the guy?

Hmmm..... That must have been before John Edwards bought Tyee, tried to build a grapple yarder, and went broke.

 

[jackd]

If John Edwards was the guy who set up in Delta - big facility on River Road - who went broke, then this is the guy who came in behind and bought the pieces in the hope of making a go of it. From what I can tell, the market for new equipment had vanished and so this guy was sitting on the plans and the rights to all these machines. I doubt he ever put his big plan into action which was to produce new machines but he was building parts at the time I visited him.

 

[Greatwestcam]

Old iron in the bush

Here is an old donkey that is on Gilford Island, we were logging near it so hiked in to have a look. Tag said it's Westminster Iron Works. Had a new-er engine in it as we found an old "Buda" motor down over the bank. the wooden tree had long fallen down and following the lines down the hill was a smaller yarder ( redish one ), story told was two brothers owned the operation and one was killed, looked like they shut down and never came back. pic's taken in 1984.

 

[DoubleBitTimber]

I'm looking for information about the Rosedale Machine Shop (RMS) Sidewinder Swing Yarder. There's a few kicking around the Northwest States and i'm wondering if they'd be a good salvage yarder. Any info about ease of operation and problems would be appreciated.

You need to talk to Monte at Eagle Carriage in La Grande, Or. He worked on one for awhile, knows a load about it. PM me and I'll give you his number.

 

[hayeslogtruck]

location

Hello were is Gilford Island? great old piece of iron

 

[Hayesno1]

Hello were is Gilford Island? great old piece of iron

Gilford Island is located North-East of Telegraph Cove - between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. I could see the Island when I went whale watching this year

 

[Greatwestcam]

Old iron in bone yard

Yes looking on most maps shows Echo Bay, Weldwoods camp was one bay over from there.
Heres a pic of an old skidder that was sitting in Friel Lake log's bone yard, looks like a tough piece of iron to operate!

 

[580bruce]

I dont think I would have liked to spend much time on that!!

 

[trakloader]

Yes looking on most maps shows Echo Bay, Weldwoods camp was one bay over from there.
Heres a pic of an old skidder that was sitting in Friel Lake log's bone yard, looks like a tough piece of iron to operate!

That's either a Westfall Performer, or a KW. The little red yarder in your other picture is a Lawrence 10-10, by the looks of it. The old ones were that cherry red colour, after Hayes bought them out they started painting them yellow.

 

[furpo]

Tyee Yarder

Here are a couple of youtube videos of the Dennis Hayes Tyee

YouTube - Dennis E Hayes logging Ltd - Tyee Hauler - Scabbing.MPG

YouTube - Dennis E Hayes logging Ltd - Tyee - Sky Line System #2.MPG

 

[trakloader]

Nothing on this thread in ages! What the heck?