Cablecrane course Glengarry Forest

Date Added: 24 January 2013 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1977 Picture No: 1456

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.

A view of the 19mm skyline wire cable being supported on its way to the top of the extraction rack. The skyline was a fixed wire cable which ran from the top of the tractor tower to a spar tree at the top of the rack, kept taught and held above the ground at high points along the rackway by supports as shown. The supports were held up by a nylon rope slung between suitable trees either side of the rack way. There was a small pulley at the top of the support and normally the support assembly centred its self on the nylon rope between the two trees. It is possible there was only a very low tree on the hidden side of this photograph and they have had to improvise by lashing the support in a more fixed position.

Note that the skyline support structure is so designed that the carriage which runs on the skyline cable and carries the load of timber can run uninterrupted over the support. The cable sits in a grove in the support blade and is held in by two top lips around which the cable can be threaded when slack.

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, George Dey Forestry Collection, Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes

2 Comments

The skyline cable would have been 13mm, the earlier ones were 11 mm and were held onto the support blade by jubilee clips. Comment left on 11 September 2016 at 21:14 by Robert hannah

Judging by the angle of the support bracket, it is also possible that it was being used at a point where there was a slight bend in the rack. As long as the bend was not too bad, the support could hold the skyline at a slight angle.
Another use for them was in thinnings if the spar tree had blown down or had been felled. If you set it up as a normal support but put it on the wrong way round, the carriage could not go past it. Comment left on 17 September 2016 at 20:45 by Andy MacNicol

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