Riddoch's Lorry and Loader rig - Bin Forest
Photograph courtesy of Roy Neish.
Riddochs timber lorry (new loader?) driven by Robbie Angus loaded with pole length timber at Piries Road in the Bin forest next to the Portsoy public road. The Norway and Sitka spruce were planted in 1926 and the clearfelling can just be seen starting up along the forest road.
Please write in if you know the lorry and Hiab loader type.
Download Large Version (883kB)
Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Northeast Scotland , Timber lorries and loaders
Group: Forestry Areas - 3222 pictures
2 Comments
Truck is an ex military AEC Militant 6x6
Comment left on 20 March 2009 at 10:12 by
Great photo.I remember this lorry well - my Dad (Bill MacAskill, ex MD of Riddochs) went down to England and bought it, plus another similar 6x6 Militant from an ex military vehicle seller in Bedfordshire c 1980/81.They were driven home to Mosstodloch (at max speed of 23mph!) and then fitted with 5th wheels/HIAB loaders and put straight to work, picking up empty trailers at the forest rooad end, taking them in, loading and returning the loaded trailer for haulage by the road going trucks to the mills at Mosstodloch and Kinnoir (Huntly).Robbie was the driver of this one, and he worked all over the north east, Moray and Inverness-shire - the other Militant was based over in the west, at Riddochs Kilmallie mill (F. William). This truck was nicknamed "Hissing Sid", because of the constant hissing from the air brake system.I only drove it once, around the sawmill yard at Mosstodloch - it wasn't for the faint hearted...I remember Jock Copeland (Mosstodloch mill manager) showing me the original Army log book for the truck, which showed that it had seen service at Aden (the African desert) in the mid 1950s! This truck was retired and bought by Johnny Bichan, Findhorn, Moray, farmer and military vehicle collector.I believe he restored it to military spec.
Comment left on 19 February 2014 at 14:35 by Lewis MacAskill
Form Goes Here