Holder Tractor skidding — Unknown Location
Photograph is courtesy of Inverness, Ross and Skye Forest District and staff at their Fort Augustus office.
No information with this photograph which could have been part of the display in the Farigaig Forest Visitor Centre at one time. The Holder tractors were used by the Forestry Commission in the 1960s in some of the early thinning work as the early planted forests matured and the demand for timber increased for example with the building of the pulp mill at Corpach, Fort William.
The tractors were not very robust and easily bogged in softer wet conditions. Note the route has been corduroyed at this point with small logs laid side by side at right angles to the direction of traffic. The area of clearfell shown may have been to provide material for this crossing with the thinning areas behind? Note the single drum winch with short tower to give the load a bit of a lift when hauling in and to hold it against the skidding plate at the rear. There is some type of shed in the back ground with open door.
Does anyone know the driver, the details of this machine type, the winch and where manufactured?
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Groups: Forestry in Action, Mystery and unknown, Timber harvesters, processors, forwarders and cable cranes