Forestry Memories

Debogging a County Tractor

The photograph is courtesy of the family of George Dey. George took many forestry photographs in his forestry career and many are now shown on this web site. Check under ‘Groups’ and George Dey Collection.

The location of this photograph is unknown but one possibility is somewhere up in Glenorchy Forest.

The tractor with its relatively narrow tracks has cut through the softer peat and ‘bellied’ losing all grip on its tracks. Two large posts or fence strainers have been dropped into the front of the tracks. The driver is very gingerly trying to catch them on his grousers, drag them down a bit and hopefully gain some traction so that the machine will ride up over them and get going again. No doubt the plough will have been unhitched and the winch rope hooked close to the drawbar to enable plough recovery should the tractor get out. The second man possibly a forester is using his foot to press the end of the strainer down into the peat.

This photograph captures the very eloquently the problems and conditions that the ploughmen worked under in the early days. Can anyone name either of the men, the location and the tractor model?

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Groups: Forestry in Action, George Dey Forestry Collection, Tractors Ploughs and Drainage Machines

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