Classic Machines in a Sticky Situation

I came across these photos recently and was keen to share them with our readers, as I still constantly receive messages about the famous old Hymac brand of excavators and old operator’s memories of them.

Back in December 2008 a fellow member of the Classic Machinery Network forum, Steve Rush aka Neversweat, started a new thread simply entitled Classic Pictures Updated, which sees Steve post scanned classic photos of plant and trucks on a weekly basis.

That thread has since amassed a massive 3,717 posts, covering some 372 pages, a real credit to Steve who continues to find rare and interesting photos to post, many of which are sourced from truck forums where Steve is also a member.

But it was these photos featuring a Hymac 580C and a 580D that caught my eye most recently.

The Hymac 580C was a relatively light machine in its day and was well liked by those contractors who worked on soft underfoot conditions. In fact, I understand that there are still examples working on peat extraction operations on the Somerset levels to this day.

In this series of photographs, it would appear that the 580C has come to grief in a veritable quagmire with no chance of getting out without assistance.

The services of a newer Hymac 580D from the IBH period of production, had been called upon, but that machine soon fell victim to the pit of peril!

I spent 9 years of my operating life on a 580D and its fair to say they were never the most powerful of things in the tracking department, so care was needed in such situations. I recall sinking to a similar fate on a couple of occasions on an old tip I used to work on at weekends with the 580D, not great when I was due back on the regular site on the Monday, but it was all sent to try us!

For those interested in this kind of stuff, you can check out Steve’s thread by clicking on this link.