Classic kit uncovered on Australian road trip

by Nick Drew | Wed 09 Dec 2015

Classic kit uncovered on Australian road trip

In this post we re-join our intrepid duo down under on what was the final leg of their Western Australian plant and machinery road trip.

Michael and William left the Kalgoorlie area and headed for Westonia, where William had once worked operating machines. The guys headed “out bush” to a private gold mine to check out some classic old kit that was either working or stored there. In this first shot we see what Michael describes as their “hairdressers” car the trusty Toyota Rav 4 hire car which is dwarfed by an old Cat 773B rigid dumptruck which is one of a pair at this mine.

Close by there was an old but tidy example of a Demag H95. The lads would have been able to operate this machine apparently, but sadly on the day of their visit, the owners had decided to replace the exhaust system as the old one had rotted out. The replacement parts were on the shelf in Komatsu in Perth awaiting delivery.

Then William was reunited with an old mount that he had spent some time on in the past. The Cat D8H was used by William to clear ground for the mine owners. William joked about the machine being fitted with optional air conditioning as he recalled long hot summers days sat under the canopy of this ageing machine!

Next up was what is probably one of the most famous Caterpillar wheeled loading shovel models of all time the 988, on this occasion in its B series guise. The 988 was Caterpillars first articulated wheeled loader model when it was introduced in 1963. The B series model was launched in 1976 and remains a popular old machine in many parts of the world. In fact Michael said they had spotted at least 4 examples of this model during their road trip. The 988 still features in the Cat line up to this day now bearing both H and K series identification.

Finally at this old private mine the lads spotted a line-up of old Euclid R50 dumptrucks, it was believed that these machines had come to the end of their working lives and were probably set to become donor machines or having a date with the “gas axe” in the not too distant future.

The lads then headed off to another gold mine, this time in Coolgardie, sadly at this venue there was a lot of kit just parked up, mothballed until the price of gold goes up. Amongst these machines was this line up of classic big excavators which included a Komatsu PC1800, 2 x Komatsu PC1600’s, Hitachi EX1200, Hitachi EX1100 and another EX1200 out of shot.

A pair of Caterpillar D11N’s were basking in the sunshine surrounded by at least 25 Cat 777B dumptrucks all waiting for the work to kick off again.

Last but not least the lads headed on to yet another gold mine near Southern Cross, from the lookout point the lads could see a Hitachi EX1900 in backhoe configuration, loading a Caterpillar 777 in the distance, note the heat haze in this photo too.

In this last photo we see William checking out the undercarriage of the big Hitachi EX3600 from the time when he was working at this mine previously.

As ever the Digger Man Blog thanks Michael for these photos. It’s been some years now that we have been following Michael and his mates on their adventures down under and I hope we will be doing it for many more years to come.

The magazine for owners + operators

Digger Man Blog

Classic kit uncovered on Australian road trip

Loads more

Big Move for Xwatch at Intermat 2024

Komatsu on Full Charge at Intermat

DMS Grabbed my Attention

Subscribe to Earthmovers