Operating costs of using Powered Ropeways
Two files containing about 65 Head Quarters Mechanical Development Committee Reports from 1950 to 1958 were saved from destruction by Jim Christie former Forestry Commission HQ, Plant Engineer. Jim, from Crook of Devon, has kindly made the reports available for scanning and entry onto this website. Please open the PDF to see this full report.
Report No 36 returns again to the powered ropeway to try and ascertain some operational costs. Note the problem that they had in Waterloo Wood near Dolgelley in that a public road ran along the bottom and there was concern that the loaded carriage could at some point break loose from its winch rope and hurtle down the skyline onto the roadway. The solution appears to have been to place a bend in the rackway and using the skyline supports to take the fixed skyline around in stages until its alignment at the terminus was more parallel to the road. A remarkable feat and must have proved quite an obstacle to the smooth descent of the timber loaded carriage.
Note the use of a horse to bring some of the trees from the stump to the rackway and the length of the rack at 500 yards. Of interest also are the hourly wages of the time and the unit costs for felling and extracting!
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Groups: Forestry Mechanical Engineering Reports , Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes