Road work in Forestry Commission forests on Island of Mull
The video was made by the late Ian Knox, Black Isle, who was an excavator operator working for the Forestry Commission Road Squad. The video tapes are courtesy of Martin Mackenzie, Balloch, who was given them by Ian’s wife Isobel.
This video (possibly filmed about 1993) has very little commentary from Ian and the first clue on location is a title on the actual VHS tape cover ‘Torran Mull’ which could be the area Tioran on the Island of Mull. Can this be confirmed?
Much of the first part of the video features the FC road team working in a quarry. A Komatsu excavator is digging out broken rock from a bench level in the quarry and dropping it over the side to a lower level where a tracked shovel loader is filling up large tipper lorries.
Can anyone give the machine types and models, say whether they are Forestry Commission owned and who are the operators?
The quarry material is very typical of well eroded basalt rock found in parts of Mull and in Morvern and Ardnamurchan. In this condition it is easy to quarry and breaks down to form a good base for the running surface of a forest road. The actual location is not certain but could be the Forestry Commission Forest near Tioran on the north side of Loch Scridain.
The second location scene is a view from a tipper lorry as it heads with its load to the new road surfacing site where a JCB is working to run the tipped material from the lorries out into a reasonable running surface.
The third scene appears to be a clear fell near the quarry where it is assumed contactors are manually felling the trees and logs extracted by an elderly BM Volvo/Kockums type machine. Timber lorries are loading logs. Again who are these contractors, machine types and names?
Possibly the best action is back at the first location where the shovel loader has a tussle with big solid rock almost as big as the machine and probably much heavier.
Ian Black Civil Engineering Works Supervisor on Mull has provide the following information "The first part was filmed at Lettermore forest, where the quarrying and roadbuilding took place and the last bit was Tiroran forest on Mull. Ian Knox was on the Komatsu digger driver, Ian Black was operating the CAT 955 drott loading his tipper with rock and the second site operator was Davie Crighton loading his tipper and I was driving the JCB 3CX, spreading base rock on the road"
Any more information comments very welcome indeed.
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Groups: Forestry Areas, Forestry in Action, Other Vehicles and Machines, Road and Bridge Engineers and Works, Video