Getting the Kit Moved Old School Style #ThrowbackThursday

I came across a great old photo on Instagram last week, which reminded me about how things used to be done on sites long before the health & safety regulations became so strict.

The amazing old image (NMP) featured a large Caterpillar dumptruck with what appears to be a Cat D9G dozer perched up in the dump body. Its such an iconic photo, even more so with the VW Beatle parked in front for scale.

Once again, it brought back memories for me as a young lad going to work with my father during the construction of the M27 motorway between Southampton and Portsmouth, M.C Peirce Earthmoving used to move either a Cat 941 or 951 in the back of an old AEC Mammoth Major tipper.

I used to watch spellbound as they backed the tipper up to a topsoil heap and the track shovel would simply drive into the butt. There was no strapping down or anything, just pull away and head off down the site at speed, saving time and track wear. I also recall a Southampton based firm Rogers Demolition used to move around an International B100 Drott in the back of a tipper too, it was quite a common occurence to see this practice back in those days.

I have no pictures of that from those days, but it did remind me of some images I was sent many years ago from a guy in Greece, who was still moving machines around in that way. In this instance it’s a Cat 955L in the back of a Mercedes 3535 8-wheeler truck.

Times were much simpler in those days and a different breed of individuals who just got the job done no matter what, all credit to them.