Tohr 987S Harvester in Bennachie Forest

Date Added: 22 February 2015 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1990 Picture No: 2898

Images courtesy of Tom Dunn, Forestry Commission Operations Supervisor based at Huntly.

Tom does not remember this machine but believes it was on trial as a thinning machine at Bennachie for a short period. It was about this time that a variety of harvesting machines were trialled for thinning in the Forestry Commission areas of Aberdeenshire due to the increasing difficulties in retaining felling contractors due to the rise of the better paid jobs in the oil, gas and related industries.

The PDF shows more views of the felling head which looks large in comparison with the base machine. Note the Jonsered crane assembly with a short extension boom housed in the end segment. The felling head appears to have had a stump spraying facility for covering the felled stump with a urea water mixture as a protection against a butt rot fungus.

Can anyone remember this machine, its origins, the owner and where it was based?

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Northeast Scotland , Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes

6 Comments

The Tohr machines were promoted by an agent near Perth, and one went to Aberdeenshire contractor Alf Roberts and worked for some time near Aberfoyle. They had the ability to self-level both fore and aft, and side to side, as each wheel assembly was mounted on a pivoting arm moved up or down by a hydraulic ram - the hoses for the wheel nearest the camera can be seen in the yellow hose wrap. Comment left on 22 May 2015 at 00:04 by David Shearer

This machine was build the first time of a man from Sweden in 1987. His name was Tor Helge Rodstrøm. In 1989 a company in Norway (Forest Machine Technology in Oslo) buy it from Sunne Machine Tecnick in Sweden. The F.M.T was bankrupt in 1995, and all the spareparts was sold to Company Norske Skog. After that, I don't know anything more. I was working at F.M.T from 1989 to the end of the Company in 1995. Sorry for my bad English. Comment left on 06 October 2015 at 23:36 by J.A.

Thank you JA for your very welcome information on the origin of the Tohr machines. The history of the early timber harvesting machines is a very interesting one and little is written on them. Comment left on 07 October 2015 at 08:10 by Norman Davidson

We did some work on a Tohr harvester for Sir Robert McAlpine in 1996, pumps, flow dividers and wheel motors were overhauled in a shed in Manchester Comment left on 16 May 2017 at 09:39 by D McCutcheon

The latest info about Tohr 987s and SMT/FMT harvest heads. The leftovers (patents, drawings and some spare parts) now owned by private person in middle of southern Norway. He still has complete more or less orginal Tohr 987s and all 3 sizes of harvest heads made. The machine hasn't been working for several years but still in working condition - I think!! Comment left on 30 April 2018 at 08:00 by

There were 2 I know of in Scotland, one as previous person said was owned by Alf Roberts (which I operated for a while). These were great little machines for thinnings, and the levelling was amazing, as could level front to back and side to side. Well ahead of its time. Comment left on 05 July 2022 at 11:24 by P Johnston

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