robin craig Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 I was talking to an acquaintance a few years ago who worked in the North East in the oil rig fabrication yards. He distinctly remembers ex army turretless tanks being used to move oil rigs around on site. I would guess that they might have been either Centurions by the era that he allleged this to have taken place in. Can anyone expand on this? Robin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Hi robin By North East do you mean Newfoundland & Labrador or North East England. In England as far as I've seen, places like Amec use standard crane and dolly equipment to move stuff around yards- most of the fabrication yards were redundant Ship yards. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fesm_ndt Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 In Kazaksthan they use a lot of military stuff. I saw BMP's safety vehicle but not a tank. Also this Lada :shocked: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 :shocked: Give it it's due the old Ladas Mud was a good little vehicle off road in it's own right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin craig Posted December 11, 2009 Author Share Posted December 11, 2009 Gents, yes I am talking about North Eastern UK. And we are straying way off topic with Ladas IMHO R Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stone Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Don't know about moving oil rigs but there's a civilian T-55 with two jet engines (from a MiG-15?) mounted on the turret - the engines are spooled up and water fed into the jet exhaust to blow fires out with! :shocked: Stone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyFowler Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 I was talking to an acquaintance a few years ago who worked in the North East in the oil rig fabrication yards. He distinctly remembers ex army turretless tanks being used to move oil rigs around on site. I would guess that they might have been either Centurions by the era that he allleged this to have taken place in. Can anyone expand on this? Robin Have you seen the Sherman hull still being used as a base for the winching rig on Axemen ?:-D Something went wrong... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveo578 Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 Robin Craig Gents, yes I am talking about North Eastern UK. And we are straying way off topic It seems to be a bit of a confusing story, the rig equipment built in North Eastern England fabrication yards are really big, because except in the inital exploration period (early 1960s) most exploration was done in deep exposed seaway, not much less exposed than on the Grand Banks, so everything was really heavy and bulky. In the UK there has been very little land based explorative drilling for oil, as far as I am aware on the east coast from Durham south to Nolfolk and some work around the Dorset coast where oil is still extracted from low pressure pockets. By the nature of the terrrain involved is comparatively flat it would not really require tracked oil rigs either SP or skidders, but I would be delighted to be proven wrong. The only stuff I know of that was tank based probably Shermans used in the 1950s to extend the electricity grid in the Scottish Highlands,but I've never seen any photographic or scrapyard proof. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowtracdave Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 There is also the cut down Sherman in the Crawford collection which was used for ploughing and is still frequently demonstrated at shows . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Farrant Posted December 11, 2009 Share Posted December 11, 2009 When the Centurions were disposed from the Australian Army, they were bought in one lot by Tim Vibert. A few were sold as platforms for drilling rigs, I recollect seeing a photo of one and believe it was towed around by crawler tractors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pzkpfw-e Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 There is also the cut down Sherman in the Crawford collection which was used for ploughing and is still frequently demonstrated at shows . Ta-da! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Barrell Posted October 25, 2010 Share Posted October 25, 2010 I love the sign 'Fought at El Alamein', their own display board correctly states it was built in 1943! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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