MacMillan Bloedel Ltd. Red & White Iron, Past and Present....

[Hayesno1]

M&B loader unit #L303. It is a Koehring 545 Sprawler Logger.

 

[Hayesno1]

Not much left of M&B unit #H32. It's a Hayes HD model (preload winch type).

 

[markthashark]

YEAH DBDLS- Don,t know if you heard,but MADILL are now being built in N.Z.

D.D. this question is going back to the analog days of photography when there wasn't all kinds of information to go along with the picture. I'm estimating that it was taken somewhere around 1994 or 1995. Like you said, "Who would have known there would be any interest in all this years down the road?" I thought Madill was going to be around forever, along with 144's and 075 log loaders and MacMillan Bloedel. It broke my heart when Weyerhaeuser destroyed MB and again when Madill went bankrupt. I hope that Nicholson can bring Madill back and keep them alive. It's a little bit of history that I would like to see carry on. DBDLS

BRIGHTWATER ENG. have now got the rights to build them. Was offered to me but didn,t have the capital. Wish I had tried harder now!

 

[trakloader]

Finally got back on here, forgot my password, LOL! I have scanned the Mack article, and will post it ASAP.

Well good to know, although they did make changes to the front windows, as after the fitting of Pacific door, the front glass is much larger than the standard Mack.

Ap40

 

[trakloader]

Thanks for sharing my videos, I bet a lot of people have great memories of those days.

Not sure if you guys have seen these videos. There's some pretty good footage and still photos packed in here.

[video=youtube;JVpjPzJ9bu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVpjPzJ9bu8&feature=share&list=FLHseRq4MOhZH6TftsvSPiJw[/video]

 

[BTC]

I have some crew currently in Bella Coola. While driving down highway they noticed an old 90 foot tower. MB logo still visible. This tower looks like home grown. Kenworth truck under it. J-61 still very visible below MB decal. I'm thinking its from QCI. Anyone know for sure? Thank you

 

[glenlunberg]

Not sure if you guys have seen these videos. There's some pretty good footage and still photos packed in here.

[video=youtube;JVpjPzJ9bu8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVpjPzJ9bu8&feature=share&list=FLHseRq4MOhZH6TftsvSPiJw[/video]

This video is very interesting. I really enjoyed watching it. Thank you for sharing!

 

[skadill]

truck tower

photo response to the post 2 above.shared photo I recently received.This would be one of them there.

 

[trakloader]

Okay, I don't think that tower is from QCD but the truck may be.

 

[dunwurken]

I'm thinking Kelsey Bay, I don't remember their equipment numbers but at least a couple 009s where taken of tank carriers and mounted on Kenworths. That would have been in the late 70s. The only thing that doesn't look right if I recall the KB machines had yarding cab risers about 3ft higher than the one in the picture. There wasn't a lot of other MB divisions using Kenworths at the time.

 

[BTC]

I'm thinking Kelsey Bay, I don't remember their equipment numbers but at least a couple 009s where taken of tank carriers and mounted on Kenworths. That would have been in the late 70s. The only thing that doesn't look right if I recall the KB machines had yarding cab risers about 3ft higher than the one in the picture. There wasn't a lot of other MB divisions using Kenworths at the time.

Im from Kelsey Bay, Looks like what they ran for trucks but i don't ever recall the J-61. I will ask this weekend.

 

[BTC]

J-61

Im from Kelsey Bay, Looks like what they ran for trucks but i don't ever recall the J-61. I will ask this weekend.

A very good friend of mine that ran log loader at Kelsey Bay for many many years just got back to me about J-61. Prior to his years running loader he pulled rigging on the J-61. Kelsey Bay bought the winch and pipe from Madill, they mounted it on an old kenworth. They bent the pipe right away and replaced it.

That was 1966.

A little before my time.

 

[dunwurken]

I do recall some of Kelsey Bays spars were removed from the old army surplus tank retrievers but that was much later, probably mid to late 70s. They were removed and mounted on the Kenworths. I mentioned earlier that the Kelsey Bay cabs had risers under them. The risers may only have been on the grapple spars not on spars that flew chokers. On a grapple spar the mainline drum was divided in two and ran two mainlines. The mainline size was reduced to 7/8" to get 1100 ft on the drum. One side had a line shortner activated by the strawline and a grapple was run rather than chokers. The grapples where the old scissor type that opened when the line shortner was activated. To grab a log the shortner was released and both mainlines pulled on the turn. The risers may have been an attempt to increase operator visibility in the grapple spars. If that was the case then the J-61 was a choker machine.

 

[wornout wrench]

I was doing my apprenticeship at Kelsey when we were converting the spar carriers to Kenworths so that was 76-80.
If I remember right we converted 2 of the old tank retriever's then sent one of the Kenworths down to madill and they put a new tower on it.
We had to lengthen the frame by a few feet and beef up the front end, bigger springs. A few other odds and ends
I don't remember if we sent one or two trucks to madill for new towers.

I do remember when we got one back and the first trip up blomindale hill and the quill shaft blew on the blower and there it sat. The air cleaners were just about plugged with what looked like paint, it was like the engine was running when it was painted, weird!

 

[donkey doctor]

We used to have them running to rotate the drums and gears for painting so it is possible it was paint. It was done all the time on every machine and don't recall ever hearing of problems but maybe it ran longer than usual. d.d.

 

[wornout wrench]

Hahaha
After 30plus years the mystery is solved.
Never even thought of that but yes that would be the easiest way to paint the drums.

 

[jackd]

photo response to the post 2 above.shared photo I recently received.This would be one of them there.

These are pics of two different machines, are they not? What's the story on the second yarder?

My time at Sproat Lake Div. saw the J-73 show up in 1977. Madill put a brand new yarder on top of one of our supplied HDX trucks. This was the last Madill tower purchased by the division, after purchasing several 009's in the early '70s. Was there a company effort to save money on new yarders by supplying the chassis to Madill, during this time? Did other divisions besides Port MacNeil & Sproat Lake try this strategy as well?

 

[dunwurken]

Hahaha
After 30plus years the mystery is solved.
Never even thought of that but yes that would be the easiest way to paint the drums.

Don't rest easy just yet!!! They probably would only have the upper yarder engine running to turn the drums. Your plugged filters where on the truck engine but you never know. Maybe they just started all the engines just to make sure LOL

 

[Vigilant]

Question: If Weyco had not taken M&B over and raped the snot out of them, realistically, do you think M&B would still be in business today, or were they already in a weakened state, and vulnerable?

 

[HD Mech]

There are other people on here who would know better than I would about the business of logging and how M&B fit in it. However I think if maybe we had a different CEO and the merger/ takeover had not happened, M&B could have survived as long as they had been cautious with how they managed there private lands and not gone crazy cutting timber off them like Weyerhaueser seemed to. They might have had to scale back some places some but I like to think so. I think there was some properties in other countries that became a drain on the company which put them in a tough spot that they couldn't unload. Come on all you long time M&B guys and gals! I'm sure you are more up on this stuff than I.