how did they

i was asked if i could offer any ideas on this subject ,and thought people on here may know the answer :notworthy
the original poster is a member here but cannot start threads yet
and input gladly received

Please can you tell me of any forums that have Caterpillar enthusiasts.I am trying to find out more information on how Northern Canada construction companies got Cat bulldozers to very remote mining,oil exploration sites to build runways etc for exploration companies before a runway had been built. When flying across Northern Canada I can JUST see extremely isolated airstrips and I Wonder HOW did they ever get the Cats there to level the strips and exploration sites.
Yours Sincerely,
Nigel.


thanks in advance graham

I worked on a mine project a few years ago (Galore Creek) where they disassembled Cats until they weighed 44000 pounds and then flew them to the site with a Mi-26 Russian helicopter. It usually involved removing the blade, C-frame, canopy and both track assemblies. They would then fly it on site and put it back together. The biggest Cat they had was a D10 and the smallest was a D5. They flew Cats, excavators, rock trucks, drills and even the camps themselves onto five different sites when I was there one summer. They used a Mi-26, CHinook, Kamov, Boeing 107 Vertol and dozens of Bell 212's, 205's and 206's. Back in the old days they would walk Cats through the bush and over the ice in the winter. On the DEW line project they parachuted Cats out of Flying Boxcars onto a frozen lake . All it takes is money.

thanks very much for the info and pictures ,thats great
cheers graham

here this might help to, its old pipelining video across thr rockieshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF7V_gINFl0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Note the complete lack of hardhats, hearing protectors or any other safety equipment. Those oldtimers were tough.

Scott;
That,s a wonderful video it being back wonderful memories of a child and my Dad working on pipeline project in the late 40's on a transcon pipeline in the lower 48 that was following the Union Pacific railroad it seems like we moved every couple weeks in our trailer house.

No problem sir... somedays i wish i could have worked liked they did back in the day just to see what it would have been liked

d4c24a said:

i was asked if i could offer any ideas on this subject ,and thought people on here may know the answer :notworthy
the original poster is a member here but cannot start threads yet
and input gladly received

Please can you tell me of any forums that have Caterpillar enthusiasts.I am trying to find out more information on how Northern Canada construction companies got Cat bulldozers to very remote mining,oil exploration sites to build runways etc for exploration companies before a runway had been built. When flying across Northern Canada I can JUST see extremely isolated airstrips and I Wonder HOW did they ever get the Cats there to level the strips and exploration sites.
Yours Sincerely,
Nigel.


thanks in advance graham

Click to expand...

Hey Nigel I have been fortunate enough to have met several people who worked on the now shut down "DEW" line which stands for Distant Early Warning. This was a network of radar stations set up in the far north in what they call the Barrens where there are generally no trees and summer is often only two months long. In order to bring equipment and materiel that far north they often loaded up barges and ferried the equipment up the Mackenzie River from Hay River. Later on in the years Cat trains would haul supplies north until a man by the name of John Denison built the first ice road in the North West Territories then trucks would haul supplies to the remote mines and northern communities.

Here's a few links that might help and one fellow in my home province of Manitoba who still runs Cat trains with pretty much the same equipment used fifty years ago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew_line
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackenzie_River
http://www.thedieselgypsy.com/CAT-TRAINS-1930's.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboats_of_the_Mackenzie_River
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Transportation_Company_Limited

That pipeline across the rockies movie was awesome! Great find.

A complete lack of safety equipment, i wonder what the accident rate was. I suspect that safety was your own concern cuz the pay stopped when you went off the line.

Interesting to see how they did it.

thanks for the replys guys much appreciated