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Abandoned Vehicles in Alaska (many ex military)


RattlesnakeBob

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I noticed an old thread on here t'other day regarding the various uses found for Sherman chassis/running gear during the war and also post war ........and it reminded me to point folk in the direction of this website and thread...

Bewarned! :-D there are hundreds of photos to work through but.... I think a lot of you may find it interesting although it is not entirely 'ex-military' vehicles that feature........

Apparently big changes in the attitude and financial climate for Forestry and Logging in the Alaska region meant that many huge outfits simply closed down a few years ago and cleared out ..

.most of them simply abandoning all their gear as it was far to expensive to ship it back to anywhere that it could be sold and often then, the value of it either as a secondhand logging machine or as scrap wouldn't have come anywhere near the cost of moving it.......

...so...hundreds of dozers, trucks and huge 'Yarders' (often built on ex Sherman and other tank Chassis') and other machinery lie where they were left.....deep in the forests for the interested to find....

...Enjoy! but do bewarned ....because as I said...once you start on this thread you will be hooked for hours !

 

http://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/showthread.php?17042-Alaskan-Logging-Equipment-Left-to-Rust&

Edited by RattlesnakeBob
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Something to add to the ' To Do ' list for the next time we go to visit our friends in Canada ! :-D

..........that old plant is mouthwatering isn't it ?..mind you ....I did look on Google Maps to sort of 'check out' where a lot of the sites are but.... the SHEER SIZE of Alaska is rather daunting :nut:..where on earth would you start ? :-D:-D:-D:-D

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Having been in Alaska last year you basically just start somewhere and very quickly end up nowhere.

There were ex-mil and civvy stuff abandoned everywhere from pretty modern to almost as old as the hills.

The problem is not finding it but getting it out.

 

Mike

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And I've let the pasta cook dry! I have to ask what you were looking for on the www to find that site, or shouldn't we ask!?

 

No no!!! it's nothing weird Rick promise ! hahah! ..

.seriously:cool2:..... when I have an hour or so to spare I will often mooch in some strange areas on the WWW and a favourite one is usually 'abandoned' or 'disused' or 'ex-military' ...or some connotation of those manner of words.:D..

....I think I found this one when I was originally looking for 'abandoned ex military vehicles' .....I was originally searching for pictures of the hundreds of vehicles that were abandoned in the Aleutian Islands after WW2....

.I usually keep swapping from 'text' to 'images' every now and then ...and then...on finding one intriguing bit of text with a picture of a big old overgrown 'Yarder' with what looked suspiciously to me like Sherman running gear!! ...

.......I followed the url ( is that what it's called the 'source' address thing ???) to the original website and.....

.. away you go !

Glad you like it anyways !

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In a couple of generations time, legend will have made them all into Tigers and Spitfires...

 

Great link, thanks.

 

two years ago i drove up the alaska highway the ex wd vehs left behind can be found every where i was told if i stop any more to look at rusty things i would be left behind next time i will by self

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two years ago i drove up the alaska highway the ex wd vehs left behind can be found every where i was told if i stop any more to look at rusty things i would be left behind next time i will by self

 

:-D..there are a few websites out there with plenty of info and pictures on the Alaskan highway and yes I know what you mean!....stacks of abandoned trucks and excavators etc....I'd love to see it one day for myself and ....like you ........having taken (well....she didn't describe it like that ..I think the word she used was 'dragged'! :cool2:) a very disgruntled girlfriend all over Normandy a couple of times .....I'd do the same as you mate .....

....go on my own ! haha!

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Don't forget to pack a couple of batteries, Bob - a pair of red top Optima would be ideal :cool2:

heheh! does make you wonder though doesn't it?...a couple of them charged right up.....a few spanners to bleed her through and a 5 gallon tub of fresh gas oil........ but like someone said ...where you gonna drive to ?

ah well ! ..I honestly think I'd start to weep if I saw some of that kit 'in the flesh' .oh what a waste ! :(

mind you ..d'you reckon you could get those Sherman final drives on a couple of good wheelbarrows ????:-D

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Wow, what a stunning thread! Thanks for the link!

 

It also leads on to many other similar threads and sites, but how sad that the first thread itself seems to have resulted in the illegal scrapping and theft of some of the vehicles.

 

I think a Hayes HDX logging truck has just appeared on my "wants" list! Not sure how to get one from a roadless Alaskan wilderness back to blighty, though, and I suspect they are too wide for use on the UK roads.

 

I hadn't realised just how total had been the destruction of the Alaskan logging industry. Great for the bears though!

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