ONE OF THE "OVERSEAS" CONTINGENT TO APPEAR AT THE REUNION IN NORTHAMPTON LAST SEPTEMBER (YES IT HAS BEEN A YEAR ALREADY !) WAS A NORTHERN IRISH FELLOW CALLED JIMMY CAHILL, WHO WORKED FOR SEVERAL PARTS OF THE COMPANY DURING HIS 8 YEARS OF SERVICE, WHICH IN HIS OWN WORDS IS LAID OUT AS FOLLOWS, ALONG WITH SOME GREAT IMAGES SHOT BY JIMMY DURING HIS MANY OVERSEAS SOJOURNS FOR THE COMPANY.
Now Jimmy lists a few of the people he remembers from that era……
…..and followed by Jim`s selection of photos, mostly from his travels abroad, all in nostalgic black & white, as they should be.Jimmy also provided the sub-title and comments for this part of his contribution.
The Travels of Jim Cahill on behalf of Hunsbury Machinery during the Sixties.
Circa 1965…..it does snow in the Libyan Desert. Overhauled B1`s purchased by C.I.C., an Italian civil engineering company…..address Vatican City !! And on
the same job, something that The Company would market in the 1970`s, the 6×6 Magirus Deutz on/off highway truck, the opposition back then which had many axle problems.
Circa 1965, Decazville near Toulouse, France….our H.M.L. "Little Hero", Hamish Foley……..Eddie Beesley had other phraseology regarding "Our Hamish", nevertheless, the little man was always selected by Eddie for many activities. The machine is an ex Wimpey B10LD, on which some of you older chaps will notice the older style curved top cab, as against the later squared up job.
Late 1960`s, Wimpey`s O.C.C.S. at Maesgwyn. I enjoyed my visits to Wimpey`s with Eddie & Fred Head. These two shots show one row of R45`s, there were 3 rows in total on that site, all to become H.M.L. trade-ins. It was a big job to "recycle" this lot, but H.M.L. succeeded !!
Circa 1966/70…..AIT AADEL Dam, near Marrakesh, Morrocco, run by giant German combine, Philip Holzman. First shot shows the tunnels cut into the mountain to re-route the river providing the hydro electricity….another B1 from H.M.L. exiting the tunnel…..
Now something you dont see every day…..a massive mobile drilling platform, built around another B1, great innovation. Rear……
….and front view.
The site power house, supplied by 4 big Cummins powered generators…
….followed by the most important building on the site, the bar & shop !!
Next most important was the living accomodation….at least it wasn`t a tent !!
The workshops…..B1 plus a tractor we just cant identify….anybody ??
One of the German gaffers reading the riot act to the greaser….(not quite what Jimmy called him, but for the sake of continued good European relations, we`ll stick to gaffer ! Ed.). Interesting tractor conversion….. any ideas ?
Lastly from this site, an image of the lake bed, prior to flooding…….
Jimmy & his wife Irene revisited the site in 2007, but unfortunately, the bugs got into Jimmy`s camera, so we have no updated shot.
Circa 1968……WADI JIZAN, Saudi Arabia, another German venture, Holzmann/Strabag dam & irrigation project, prime movers….15 x Euclid R15`s with quarry bodies (sloping side version for them that dont know !! Ed)
977H loading, who needs excavators…followed by 3 of the Fatherland`s finest..
….and the 1RB Brigade…..and if you dont know what a 1RB is, ask your Dad !!
The Cooler, as Jimmy terms it, quite a necessity he says…..
S*** happens as we say nowadays, and this would certainly have qualified for that statement…..
….and from t`other side, the boss is inspecting the damage.Jimmy subtitled this pair of images as "So much for my driving instruction !!" Its a different way to change a driveline anyway !!
This was the site accomodation on the job…..you can see it is a German design !! Seems a bit familiar…………
The following 2 images show the site & river basin prior to flooding.
"The Heavy Squad" as Jimmy describes, locals working on the project…
….and their site accomodation, with "dinner on the hoof" in the foreground.
Great interest in a six inch drill hole…."how many men does it take to……"
Finally, two shots from what Jimmy reckons must have been a Friday….first the workshop….deserted !!
And then the man himself, out for his end of week constitutional…."Nothing else to do."
Many thanks to Jimmy for his descriptions and images relating back to the 1960`s & early 1970`s.It is what we tune in for. Ed.
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