I have been in contact with Wheels of Time about making either this as a model, or at least offering the grapple as an attachment for the currently offered piggy packer. How many of you out there would purchase one of these (if the price was right) for their layouts. I know I would like at least 3. Ryan
Ken- I am not 100% sure, but I want to say these came out sometime around late 60s to early 70s and can still be found in log yards today. Maenke Lumber in Tacoma has a couple as well as Bussey Lumber in Everett. I know there are others in the area but these 2 have one for sure. Ryan
Ryan- I was just curious as to how far back those went. Have seen them many times. Also am recalling those made by LeTourneau.
I would love to have a LeTourneau. But reality, someone would have their hands full making the mechanism to tilt the boom forward and back. I doubt we will ever seen one made in a model. At least in N scale.
Bryan- I figured you would be up for at least one. Considering you probablly see these on a daily basis. Ryan
I don't have an industry that can use one of these, but I'm curious about the size. Is this a machine that could have been shipped on a flat car intact, or is it large enough that it would've had to have been broken down for transport? If it's not too large it would make a great flat car load!
NILMADIC made one in n scale. on railwire look at page 8 for the thread L90 log loader. HE did a great job.
Mark- You probablly could transport this via flatcar. However, to do so one would need to remove the wheels and tires at least. You would probablly also need to remove the boom and/or grapples too. Ryan
He probablly used the Nscale of Nevada piggy packer as his base starting point. I was planning on doing this as well and then WoT came out with this in the piggy packer version.
I might be intrested depending on price , eventually my logging op will grow into the era that LeTourneau started designing and building these. One of his designs can pick up a full 4000-5000 bf off the trailer in one shot , that's in the neighborhood of 45,000 lbs . He Designed and built nearly all the earth moving equipment the military used during WWII. But he was better known for preaching the gospel and starting the evangelical college named after him.
I remember watching the LeTourneau fleet at work in the Weyerhaeuser mill at Snoqualmie. Roaring backwards from unloading trucks, heading to the sort yard or pond. They'd hit the RR tracks and the rear end would bounce high up into the air, looking like it would go out of control, and they'd keep going without slowing even slightly.
LeTourneaus were a completely different loader. These are a Wagner body loader. The LeTourneaus looked completely different. I would love to have one. But it would be a P.I.T.A. to build the mechanism on a LeTourneau to tilt the boom forward and back, especially in N scale. Here is a link to some pics of a LeTournea loader for comparison. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...6.572.11.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.7.img.RT7txlhn-sU Ryan
