Machine recovery from Weston beach

[J1nx]

Thought some of you might find this interesting...

Post with plenty of pics on the FB page..
https://www.facebook.com/460862870721176/posts/1835615043245945/

 

[Pete.]

I don't see anyone mopping up the oil spill

 

[Wozzaaah]

Oops!
Would have been interesting to watch the recovery.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Our old fella was a wagon driver/machine driver/fitter/whatever else was needed at a spot. The company owner had his dad working for him (well past retirement but couldn’t sit in the house) and he was a liability.

dad rocks up home one night about 3hrs late, absolutely sodden. Turned out they’d been doing a job down the docks and owners dad was on a 20t machine, and had in his infinite wisdom decided to track into the soft edge and promptly sunk the machine up to halfway up the cab door. It took some pulling out

 

[Barking Mat]

Nice Foden.

 

[maz0]

Our old fella was a wagon driver/machine driver/fitter/whatever else was needed at a spot. The company owner had his dad working for him (well past retirement but couldn’t sit in the house) and he was a liability.

dad rocks up home one night about 3hrs late, absolutely sodden. Turned out they’d been doing a job down the docks and owners dad was on a 20t machine, and had in his infinite wisdom decided to track into the soft edge and promptly sunk the machine up to halfway up the cab door. It took some pulling out

Always wondered how they went about it. Mate of mine has some old kodak photographs of machines sunk in bog so only the dipper arm was sticking out. Apparently his grandad was the local specialist in debogging, but these machines were in the middle of fields, so they must have moved a fair amount of mud to get to them.

 

[Migmac]

It happens, operators get to bold.

 

[m_c]

Always wondered how they went about it. Mate of mine has some old kodak photographs of machines sunk in bog so only the dipper arm was sticking out. Apparently his grandad was the local specialist in debogging, but these machines were in the middle of fields, so they must have moved a fair amount of mud to get to them.

Big winch.
I knew somebody who done a fair bit of work with machinery in the 60s/70s, and he watched an old guy recover a machine sunk in a bog.
The guy had an old grey Fergy with a big winch on it, that ran that slow you could hardly tell it was moving, even with the engine at full revs. He hooked the cable on, anchored the tractor/winch, set it running, then went away and made a cup of tea, drank it, and had a chat, before returning, by which time the machine was only starting to makes it's way out the hole.

 

[premmington]

Snatch blocks - double/treble the cable.

I like the loaded full size dumpers in the photos.

 

[northwest]

Snatch blocks - double/treble the cable.

I like the loaded full size dumpers in the photos.

I read a very good book once about ballasted tractor units and heavy haulage back in the 60's.
I know, I need to get out more.

 

[Turbo]

Big winch.
I knew somebody who done a fair bit of work with machinery in the 60s/70s, and he watched an old guy recover a machine sunk in a bog.
The guy had an old grey Fergy with a big winch on it, that ran that slow you could hardly tell it was moving, even with the engine at full revs. He hooked the cable on, anchored the tractor/winch, set it running, then went away and made a cup of tea, drank it, and had a chat, before returning, by which time the machine was only starting to makes it's way out the hole.

Around here they used to clean the rivers running into the lakes annually to stop them silting up. It used to be done by a local man in a light case rubber tyred digger. When he came to a side drain running into the river he was able to cross it using the front bucket & back actor to 'walk' across without getting his tyres wet. It was a great thing to witness.

Roll forward a few years they decided to use a tracked digger, was quicker but when they got to a side drain they just drove across it, using the boom to keep them level. Unfortunately when they got to one drain he made a pigs ear of it, broke the skin on top of the reclaimed bog & down it went!

It was down far enough that you could walk off the field onto the engine cover! They tried to use another digger to pull it out but it nearly got stuck too! Next up rolls a guy in a battered ford tractor towing a winch. He anchored himself to the spare digger, hooked up the winch to the stuck digger & set it running. Very slowly it inched out of the hole, to the amazement of all the local farmers, who had gathered to watch the show!

Now they don't clean the rivers at all for 'environmental reasons', they are all silting up & overgrown, the land is becoming wetter because water from the land drains can't get away & they are wondering why everywhere is suddenly flooding! It's not all about global warming!

 

[Melvyn Best]

Now they don't clean the rivers at all for 'environmental reasons', they are all silting up & overgrown, the land is becoming wetter because water from the land drains can't get away & they are wondering why everywhere is suddenly flooding! It's not all about global warming!

Doesn’t help they keep building on flood plains either
They don’t clean the drains around here and wonder why roads are flooded, probably 50% of them are blocked in our village

 

[Tangledfeet]

Interesting stuff, thanks for posting the Facebook link @J1nx

In one of the earlier photos they unload a generator on the beach and now my tiny mind is tormented in wanting to know what it was used for...

 

[Wildefalcon]

Generator? Brews! And lights.

 

[4String.]

I read a very good book once about ballasted tractor units and heavy haulage back in the 60's.
I know, I need to get out more.

One of my favourite photos which annoyingly I've lost is from the turn of the 1900's and shows 3 Pickfords traction engines triple heading a 100 ton drop hammer bottom anvil casting over the A628 Woodhead Pass from Sheffield to Manchester, probably to the Massey works at Openshaw.

My Daf would easily handle that on a 5 axle trailer with a dolly under the front so those guys must have had nuts of solid steel doing what they did in open cabs and trailers with solid tyres .

 

[pressbrake1]

The fat one doing nothing and just staring at his phone reminds me of my old apprentice, might even be him!

 

[johnik]

i live 5 mins from there, i saw the top of the boom poking through the crystal clear waters of Weston beach, thought about going back when the tide had receded, then decided it was a bit too cold and stayed home , i assume this isnt the first time it,s happened, they pull cars out every week in the summer.

 

[Agroshield]

A good book is 'Mammoth Trucks' by Bob Tuck.

Which is worse, going up the hill or down the other side?

Pickfords steam: https://www.search.staffspasttrack....5&ExhibitionID=31986&SearchType=2&ThemeID=752

Pickfords, manual gearboxes, heavy clutch pedal, not a lot of BHP, flat caps and ingenuity:

The Weston one is now on YT:

 

[Tangledfeet]

Aha! That YouTube video posted by @Agroshield has eased my tiny, tormented mind - it was a pump.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Also, years back a cocklers tractor got similarly bogged on the beach, every man and his dog had a go with all sorts of fancy gear and couldnt move it. Old boy rocked up with a diamond t with a big winch pack on the back And dragged it out without breaking a sweat. Real old machine