They started out as Chapman Motor and Machine Shop, and built a lot of rock drills, etc. Later became Chapman Industries. I believe the 1800 was built using Lorain components, and I think they put together two or three as grade shovels, too. Later, they started selling Hitachi backhoes and built log loaders using Hitachi components. They were bought out by Cypress in the late 80's, they continued selling some of the Chapman machines under their own name. I have some pics here of their Drilmobile and Roc-Champ drills, but I'll have to scan them.
Reply to Page 1, Post #5
That's Hope division, Interfor's 1800 pictured in that brochure shown in the original post, and it was operated by Warren Rigby. When it was brand new (77?-78?) it came with a little mosquito spray sized can of Chapman blue touch up paint! I remember that a bunch of bigwigs from Chapman were coming to take pictures of it one day and in the hours before, Rigby was out painting up the rub marks where the counterweight had rubbed the pile.
All of the then Whonnock Lumber Company equipment to that time was the company green, so I had the idea that it was the aquiring of this machine they were so proud of that led the company to change colour schemes to the blue and white seen to this day in the rebadged Interfor. I don't know this, it just seemed that way at the time. (can anyone confirm or refute this?)
Interfor ran their 1800 until about 2004 by which time it was such a leaky heavy worn out old anachronism that I believe it was scrapped. It had a Jimmy that ran full bore all day and ate fuel like the Queen Mary and it traveled slow as a glacier. The expando track that Chapman was so proud of, turned out to be pretty much useless. Anything the machine couldn't swing with the track base the way it was when inboard, you had no business hanging out over the bank anyway. After the first few times climbing down and expanding the tracks, Rigby never bothered to use it and eventually they just welded a cover over the expando levers.
I have that brochure shown, found at the truck loggers convention by my buddy Drew. Though you can't see in the scanned version, it shows me in the background, filing my saw. That picture was taken up Flat Creek, Jones Lake.
