First new D9L in UK

[Rolyd8k]

C A Blackwell from Earles Colne Essex ,in 1980 they run a fleet of 40 motor-scrapers and 12 push tractors to load the scrapers in the cut, 15 of these scrapers were 657 and 641s and needed tandem pushing,but in there words tandem combinations are " expensive and uneconomic "so a heavier and more powerful push tractor was needed,the new D9L with cushion blade and rear push block was ordered in january 1981 and arrived on site late july,
at section A12 to A13 on the M25,i wonder if they changed the push block for a ripper.
RB

[d4c24a]

hi roly me and my dad went to see this machine with my cousin who had heard of its delivery through his haulage work ,the date on the photo is 8/ 81 i can remember it looked massive to a 12 yearold

[nick lamb]

Great pics again.These D9Ls were huge beasts.I worked along side one of these for 9 months on the M74 Crawford rock cut.It belonged to RJ Levack.He also had a D10L.I pushed a few scrapers with that.The M74 Crawford rock cut had the largest amount of ripper tractors I had ever worked on.The tractors consisted of(if my memory serves me right)1xD10N Fentons,1xD9L Levacks,1xD9L Banks,1xD9N Levacks,1x D9N Stokeys,1xD9H Levacks,1xD9G Geddes,1xD8N cant remember,1xD8L Banks,1xD8L cert rebuild Stokeys, and some more poss.Other blades on the site included 1xD8K and box Cairness,1x8240B pusher Turnbulls,1xD8H and box mine,2x D8H dozers mine,1xD6D TractorShovelss,1xD6H Wards and a couple of Morrisons own D65Es.These were the only Komatsu machines on the site.There were various scrapers and rigid dumpers on site too.Will post pics soon

[Greenmachine]

Love the photos and stories about the old days guys, keep em coming.

I notice that they only needed a two axle lowloader trailer back then for a D9L.

The link below is to some photos recently posted from NZ showing a D9L on a float. Quite a difference in the number of tyres required in the last 30yrs !

http://forums.dhsdiecast.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=110107

Regards

Greenmachine