Extracting pulpwood by cable crane
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. This photograph was dated as Jun 1969 and had an Inverness photographer address on the back which was mainly unreadable. The Massey Ferguson tractor has a FC registration number 25/35/66 which may be the Conservancy or Forest number, numerical sequence number and the year of purchase in this case 1966. Perhaps someone could confirm if the 25 stands for North Scotland Conservancy? The tractor and tower look in very good condition and would not be surprised if the photograph was taken a year or so earlier than 1969.
This is very much the FC manufactured Isachsen winch /Massey Ferguson tractor combination as in the early days of the 1960s with the familiar four long levers working the two brakes and two clutches of the double drum winch. By this time the rig had been modified to run a skyline system with the addition of a 19mm cable which was rigged under permanent tension from a tail spar tree up at the top of the rackway back over the central pulley on the tower to an anchor tree in line behind. This skyline cable carried the main weight to the hauled loads of timber.
There is no tear webbing on the haul back line, no loud speaker system for the radio but the throttle system has graduated from a long stick tied to the tractor throttle to a foot pedal system seen hear. The operator appears to have a radio ear piece in his right ear and the cables on his back suggest that he may be carrying a pocket radio on his front. The load being hauled in is remarkably compact and even and suggests that it has had an easy haul to roadside. The pulp length timber also looks beautifully prepared, very even lengths, well sned by axe and being added to a roadside stock which is equally impressive in neatness.
Can anyone name the operator or add any comments about the machines?
Does anyone recognise the saw in bottom left of picture?