WE ARRIVE AT 1959, AT THE END OF THE DECADE OF AUSTERITY FOLLOWING ON FROM WW2, NOT KNOWING THAT AROUND THE CORNER LIES THE SWINGING SIXTIES……WELL FOR SOME IT DID……..SOME OF US WERE STILL AT SCHOOL !!
We continue the "new" design of front page photos, this time with what we are pretty sure is an S-12, pushed by a C6, and looking at the drivers` hats, and the sunshine, almost certainly in the U.S.A…….
…and then the "List ", which had now replaced the "Map" for good it seems…..
…….and now the updates from around the world we are so used to, starting in England, right up Uncle Ted`s alley, C.E.G.B., Northfleet Power Station, and a TC-12 with a small mountain of coal in front of it….
…..and then a Cummins powered C6, pulling an Onions box most probably….Ken Kirkpatrick, and probably Ken Lansley were both on the Doncaster By-Pass……
….quite amusing really the comment at the top, about the "chaos & congestion" ….little did they know back then that such roads would be full within 20 years, needing more than ever to be built to cope. See what we mean about knowing which country the image is from by the driver`s cap……thats a reet good British one the drivers wearing, never mistake that.
Marion……from what Bill Cross once said, this was the machine that "Sledgehammer" earned his nickname on…….perhaps one day he will confirm it !! News that Marion shovels were now to be made in Scotland, at Dalmuir, by Babcock & Wilcox, was announced. Some factory that in its day, bigger than Newhouse at that time we would imagine.
Now abroad, to East Africa…..to a place not mentioned so far in this series, Uganda, on the Bukonti-Jinjas railway re-location scheme…46 miles long, big job for S7`s !! (Wonder where the "Last King of Scotland " was at this time ??)……
…..across to the west, to Ghana, where R-15`s are working on a hydro-electric scheme, S-12`s on Accra International Airport extension……(were you there Mike ??)
….off to the Sub-Continent, where some of the 120 Euc trucks sold are heading for the National Coal Development Corporation`s open-cast coal mines. From the tyre size, they will have to be R-22 or R-24`s, still big trucks in 1959……
…….back to Africa, but down south this time….. the TC-12 was subjected to a 4 week test before being purchased by the `Boks in their hunt for diamonds in South West Africa…with a shot of the local top B.H. guy receiving an award…..
…and on to Canada, where we come across several different agencies that B.H. held that we were not familiar with here….Dominion shovels, Michigan loaders, Cedarapids crushing & screening, Lima shovels, as well as the ubiquitous Eucs…we were doing almost everything in these quarries…………..
….over to "Whingers Isle" now, much larger units than we were building at the time, so obviously straight from North America. Arriving in Oz, we have probably Euc R-40`s, the twin axled 10FFD, powered by two Cummins NT-6-BI, rated at 500bhp, with twin Allison transmissions, one driving each rear axle, carrying around 26 cu yd….whilst the scraper is possibly one of the first TS-24`s shipped Downunder, it being developed fully the year before..
…and finally, back to Europe, to Portugal, where B.H. had succeeded in almost filling the country up with Eucs, both scrapers & trucks, many for the extension of Lisbon Airport ….also shown is the then Portuguese El Presidente`, with the great and the good from B.H.Portugal, appearing to really know what they are looking at !!
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