Heavyweights in the Harbour

An incredible batch of photos from the early 1980’s have been doing the rounds on the various social media groups for some time now and I thought it would be a great idea to feature them here on the blog.

It seems like a crazy idea in theory, but in 1983 it was decided that they would use a Cat D9H dozer and a Terex TS24 motor scraper to clear the deep mud out of Padstow harbour.

Western Excavating (ECC) Ltd who were usually working in the China Clay pits in Cornwall were the contractors tasked with undertaking this tricky job.

To start with, getting heavy equipment like this down the narrow lanes into Padstow was challenging in itself and that was before the job even got underway. Anyone who has visited the iconic village on holiday would have experienced the twisty roads and pinch points which would have made the access extremely difficult.

For anyone watching from the harbour walls, they would have imagined the worst was about to happen as the giant earthmovers descended into the quagmire below. It had never been done before so it was all very much a trial-and-error exercise, but by all accounts, it all went so well that the Padstow Harbour Commissioners asked them to comeback again the next time.

Men were made of sterner stuff back in those days, and very skilled operators with a “can do” approach were common place.

These days with the modern equipment available such as pontoon mounted long reach excavators, we would never see anything like this happen again, so its great that such photographic memories exist, preserved for future generations to see.

Let’s face it, if someone told you a tale like this in the pub one night, you would more than likely not believe it!

We would like to credit Richard Higman and Norman Constance for the photos used in this blog post.