Log truck

[nzcarnerd]

This photo was posted on a New Zealand facebook page today with a few other historical photos from the Havelock area of the South Island but I have my doubts it was taken in NZ. Maybe more likely the US?

 

 

[Xander Wildeisen]

You have to wonder how good the brakes would be on that rig. A lot of weight rolling down hill.

[auburnseeker]

Note the OSEA approved cab guard.  If an inspector walked onto that jobsite today he would have a massive coronary. 

[dictator27]

Truck is a Garford (the name is partially visible below the radiator). Mid/late teens vintage.

That could easily be a scene in British Columbia.  The area I live in was logged off about the time that truck would have been new.

[joe_padavano]

1 hour ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

You have to wonder how good the brakes would be on that rig. A lot of weight rolling down hill.

 

How do you know it's going downhill? The fact that the photo is taken at an angle does not mean that the roadbed is angled.  It looks more like a bridge over a gorge.

[Lebowski]

1 hour ago, Xander Wildeisen said:

You have to wonder how good the brakes would be on that rig. A lot of weight rolling down hill.

 

With no cab, doors or seat belts it would be easy to bail out of if the brakes did go out.... 

[billorn]

I doubt its going very fast. Even if it was downhill. A little engine braking would probly keep it under control.

[Xander Wildeisen]

Two, too, to, who funny.

[Bhigdog]

Two different size front wheels? Yes? No?.......................Bob.

[capngrog]

3 hours ago, joe_padavano said:

 

How do you know it's going downhill? The fact that the photo is taken at an angle does not mean that the roadbed is angled.  It looks more like a bridge over a gorge.

 

Well, sooner or later that rig will be going downhill (literally and/or figuratively) somewhere, sometime, somehow.  Where ever that photo was taken, there are probably some hills around ... unless it's Florida.  Oh, wait, there're hills here too.

 

Cruising around the ol' "Net", I found the same photo on a Model T Ford forum:

https://www.google.com/search?q=garford+truck&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=BYBZdhzA--m63M%3A%2Crt0zyuKSDKdyIM%2C_&usg=AFrqEzcDQD2qArFFZVPPc8yyWmKC3xy-bQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO0rfaysLdAhWR7lMKHW01BnsQ9QEwBXoECAUQDA#imgrc=BYBZdhzA--m63M:&spf=1537206282225

 

The photo was described:

"I was searching for some more old T truck pictures and ran across this one that I thought was really slick. Very clear picture of a T touring at the pump with a Garford tanker sitting to the side. I thought some of my old truck buddies here might appreciate the Garford tidbits and a couple other pictures I found. The old logger was taken in Washington state and that is a cedar log on the back. One ugly little truck but I think I could make room for such an interesting rig."

 

That's one story, but there may be more.

 

Cheers,

Grog

[nzcarnerd]

4 hours ago, Bhigdog said:

Two different size front wheels? Yes? No?.......................Bob.

 

Optical illusion?

[nzcarnerd]

1 hour ago, capngrog said:

 

Well, sooner or later that rig will be going downhill (literally and/or figuratively) somewhere, sometime, somehow.  Where ever that photo was taken, there are probably some hills around ... unless it's Florida.  Oh, wait, there're hills here too.

 

Cruising around the ol' "Net", I found the same photo on a Model T Ford forum:

https://www.google.com/search?q=garford+truck&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=BYBZdhzA--m63M%3A%2Crt0zyuKSDKdyIM%2C_&usg=AFrqEzcDQD2qArFFZVPPc8yyWmKC3xy-bQ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjO0rfaysLdAhWR7lMKHW01BnsQ9QEwBXoECAUQDA#imgrc=BYBZdhzA--m63M:&spf=1537206282225

 

The photo was described:

"I was searching for some more old T truck pictures and ran across this one that I thought was really slick. Very clear picture of a T touring at the pump with a Garford tanker sitting to the side. I thought some of my old truck buddies here might appreciate the Garford tidbits and a couple other pictures I found. The old logger was taken in Washington state and that is a cedar log on the back. One ugly little truck but I think I could make room for such an interesting rig."

 

That's one story, but there may be more.

 

Cheers,

Grog

 

I did a quick look round the net myself and found it was on a pinterest page - which I am not hooked up to so didn't find the source.

 

A cedar tree in BC sounds more logical to me.

 

Here in NZ I have not seen reference to those log roads. Most of the early logging was done with bullocks and then with small steam railways.

[1937hd45]

Do you really need a steering wheel on a Roller Coaster? 

[Bhigdog]

17 minutes ago, nzcarnerd said:

Optical illusion?

 

Yuengling Lager???

[Spinneyhill]

This from Pinterest.com. Looks like the same place with a fleet of these trucks. The first one even has a rain shelter on it. North America I think...

Title is Logging in Washington State and there are eight images under that title.

[ply33]

13 minutes ago, Spinneyhill said:

This from Pinterest.com. Looks like the same place with a fleet of these trucks. The first one even has a rain shelter on it. North America I think...

Title is Logging in Washington State and there are eight images under that title.

 

And the bottom of this photo has "Seattle" written on it along with the photographer ("Darius Kinsey" if I make it out correctly).

[Laughing Coyote]

That's just nuts.    I guess to them it's like another day at work.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Real men! No panseys' allowed.

 

  Ben

[intimeold]

The pic in post # 16 , shows a different truck from the first pic; and the left front wheel in pic# 16 appears to be smaller too.  Appears to be, is the key here.  I just believe it is an optical illusion.

[Guest]

These pictures appear in several of the Pacific Northwest logging books that I have.  More than a few logging companies built the railway style roads to help prevent rollovers. 

 Any work in the woods is dangerous, these trucks are probably as safe as the bigger faster ones used today.  That Garford is probably worm drive which acts more like a brake than bevel or hypoid gears when coasting.  It is probably something like 10 or 12 to one ratio and the maximum speed on those solid rubber tires is likely less than 15 mph.

[zipdang]

Hey, why don't we put all our trucks on the bridge at once and see if she holds?!

[auburnseeker]

That bridge looks pretty stout to me.   

How do we know them are men in those photos .  Could be some of them tought turn of the Century (last Century) Women, like they talk about on Prairie Home Companion.  Maybe the men are back at camp cooking for them.  

[ply33]

1 hour ago, Tinindian said:

These pictures appear in several of the Pacific Northwest logging books that I have.  More than a few logging companies built the railway style roads to help prevent rollovers. 

 Any work in the woods is dangerous, these trucks are probably as safe as the bigger faster ones used today.  That Garford is probably worm drive which acts more like a brake than bevel or hypoid gears when coasting.  It is probably something like 10 or 12 to one ratio and the maximum speed on those solid rubber tires is likely less than 15 mph.

 

Were it in California, even today, they could be fined for speeding if they exceeded 15 MPH or, more likely looking at the load, 12 MPH. See: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=22409.

[Xander Wildeisen]

This picture was taken about twenty years ago. We did work on his log cabin in Smiley Creek Idaho. His hobby was logging, and this was his toy he had built. If I remember correctly, it was a 1953 Baby Mac? It was all done with modern running gear, Cummins engine, custom step side bed. It was done very nice, he said it was a fun truck to take up in the mountains. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by Xander Wildeisen (see edit history)

[auburnseeker]

6 minutes ago, ply33 said:

 

Were it in California, even today, they could be fined for speeding if they exceeded 15 MPH or, more likely looking at the load, 12 MPH. See: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH&sectionNum=22409.

I'm surprise anyone wants to live in CA.  If it wasn't for the climate and Ocean I don't think any normal person would.  If it's good clean fun or involves cars it either causes cancer , can cause cancer, or is just plain illegal.   Seems to be a twisted sense of perception especially in the Urban areas. 

[nzcarnerd]

8 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

I'm surprise anyone wants to live in CA.  If it wasn't for the climate and Ocean I don't think any normal person would.  If it's good clean fun or involves cars it either causes cancer , can cause cancer, or is just plain illegal.   Seems to be a twisted sense of perception especially in the Urban areas. 

 

Re the speed, I think that truck in the original picture is being operated on a private road, but knowing how bad the brakes were - nothing on the front axle and no power assistance,  12 mph is plenty fast enough. The ride on solids is not that good either.

 

I have driven a solid tyred fire engine, and was surprised how well it rode - on a good surface. Probably not so good on less than perfect roads.

 

Remember also that even for pneumatic tyred vehicles the speed limit pre WW2 was only 20 mph in many places.

 

Those early trucks only had about 50 bhp to play with so their performance would be limited by that too.

 

 

 

 

[nzcarnerd]

3 hours ago, ply33 said:

 

And the bottom of this photo has "Seattle" written on it along with the photographer ("Darius Kinsey" if I make it out correctly).

 

 

A Google image search of Darius Kinsey logging photos produces good results.

 

More here -  https://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/page/244

 

And here - https://formfollowsfunctionjournal.tumblr.com/post/30048464162/i-found-this-1896-picture-of-some-seattle

 

Fairly obviously the log truck photo dates from alter than 1896.

[Bhigdog]

Out of all those lumber jacks not one fat guy.........bob

[1937hd45]

28 minutes ago, auburnseeker said:

I'm surprise anyone wants to live in CA.  If it wasn't for the climate and Ocean I don't think any normal person would.  If it's good clean fun or involves cars it either causes cancer , can cause cancer, or is just plain illegal.   Seems to be a twisted sense of perception especially in the Urban areas. 

A week in Carmel may change your mind. Bob 

[Spinneyhill]

3 hours ago, intimeold said:

The pic in post # 16 , shows a different truck from the first pic; and the left front wheel in pic# 16 appears to be smaller too.  Appears to be, is the key here.  I just believe it is an optical illusion.

The second truck in Post #15 appears to be the truck in the OP.

[auburnseeker]

51 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

A week in Carmel may change your mind. Bob 

Taxes less there? Regulations?  Higher common sense? 

Believe me NY has a long ways to go to be ideal as well.  We are just a few steps behind you.  Wouldn't be a bad state if we could Succeed from the city.  Like CA the big city / Cities comtrol the whole rest of the state. 

Edited September 18, 2018 by auburnseeker (see edit history)

[Guest]

Post #24, a real neat truck, probably powered by a "cummins" engine (no "G").  As in "Clessie Cummins" who with William Glanton Irwin and J. Irwin Miller founded the Company that bears his name.

[JFranklin]

Since we are on the subject here is a good anecdote on logging (true story) by my friend Bill M.

 

William Malpas

Pearl Harbor Piling

April, 2014

 

In 1975 or ‘76 Parker and I were thinking about logging. He had a cat to skid the logs, but we needed a way to load the trucks. I went down to a heavy equipment auction in South San Francisco to see what they might have in the way of a loading machine.

It was a three-hour drive down, and I’d left early, so there was time to kill before the auction started. I went into a coffee shop nearby and sat at the counter. A grizzly old guy next to me looked at my suspenders, “You a logger?”

“Yeah, I’m going to the auction next door to find a loader.”

“I drove truck up in Washington before the war.”

“Where?”

“Up east of Everett.”

“How did YOU load?”

“With a little hoist and a hay-rack boom mostly.”

“With end tongs?”

“Yeah sometimes. Sometimes we muscled them on with peavys, it took a lot of men to get a load on. I’ll tell you what the trickiest load was… piling for Pearl Harbor, must have been 1939 or so…”

And he was off, telling one of his good stories to a captive audience willing enough to suspend disbelief.

“We built a set of brow logs cross-wise to the road, see. The loading donkey was at one end, so we could yard the piling up parallel to the road. The front truck was no problem, it was a Mack or a Chevy, and had bunks and blocks.   But instead of a trailer, we used another truck in back and cribbed up with 8x8’s off the frame.”

“How’d you attach the cribbing to the frame?”

“I don’t remember, maybe we chained it, but I think we drilled and bolted it. It was tricky, because the cribbing wouldn’t pivot like a bunk. So turning tightened and loosened the chains. That was nice timber, no limbs, maybe thirty inches on the butt and eighteen inches at the top, a hundred and sixty feet long – the best logs we’d ever seen.

Anyway, we had those trucks positioned, then we got all the men on the show and rolled the piling up onto the trucks with peavys. Butt end forward, the trucks were about a hundred feet apart, so fifty or sixty feet were hanging past the back truck. We could put three on, and that over-loaded the trucks considerably.

I drove the front truck, and getting down that mountain was scary as hell. The piling rubbed the bank on the outside turns, like to swipe my truck right off the road, and the piling was way out over the canyon on the inside turns, like to twist the cribbing right off the back truck. The trucks would go, but there was no way they’d stop. And they’d get high-centered when either truck went down in a dip, the piling would drag on the road, so we had to pour on the coal. A big problem was crossing the railroad tracks in Everett. The grade was built up from street level, the first time across it broke the wrapper and hung up and we came to a complete stop – blocking traffic and blocking the train. I forget how we finally got loose, maybe the railroad crew had a Simplex jack and we jacked it, pulled forward till the jack tipped over, again and again. The railroad crew had to pound the track back so it didn’t de-rail the train in the middle of town. After that we learned to hit that track at a pretty good clip. It still peeled what was left of the bark off the bottoms of the logs though.

Anyway, we were feeling pretty cocky when we pulled into the Navy Yard with that first load, the first of many. Days of work, the limit of all that big steam logging machinery and just about all the men could handle. ‘Let’s see what you sea stiffs can do with this!’ I reported to the Officer of the Day and he told me where he wanted the trucks.

About an hour later, here came the biggest crane you ever saw. As big as a city block with steam hoists all roofed over, a hundred feet in the air, on steel lattice towers mounted on four flatcars, rolling down rails on the dock. It picked up all three of our piles at once like they were matchsticks…”

I’ve been telling, or re-telling this story ever since. Sort of tongue-in-cheek, a west coast Paul Bunyan tale. Not that I doubted that piling came out of the Washington woods and got driven into the coral sand at Pearl Harbor, it’s just that I know from personal experience that logging stories tend to get better over time, logs get longer, checks get bigger, wrecks get worse, and this was a good one. And then, almost forty years later, a re-print of an old photo came up on EBay – and there’s the old guy’s Chevy, there’s the cribbing, there he is sitting with his door open, looking at the camera. And there are the smooth bellies of the logs that he so carefully polished on the way down the mountain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2018 by JFranklin (see edit history)

[Joe in Canada]

6 hours ago, Ben Bruce aka First Born said:

Real men! No panseys' allowed.

 

  Ben

Sorry I seen that statement I could not resist.

Edited September 18, 2018 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)