Thunderbird Yarders, Loaders, and Etc from the Murray's in Eugene Oregon

[NZLOG]

Without talking to the operator it would be hard to assume why they had seven guys up on a TMY40 pulling small wood. But the likely scenario would be they could only get the deadmen in shallow so added support guys!! We often did this on a small landing if we encounted hard rock at a shallow depth or our guy angles where too steep!!You also mentioned they had no lift, this would create snags which will in turn put extra pressure on your guylines. A stich in time saves nine!!

 

[csquared]

View attachment 85624View attachment 85625View attachment 85626View attachment 85627View attachment 85628 here r my pic they are of a tmy 40 running a shotgun carriage and note that they are user the tail rope and another guy line off to the left also there is very little lift so the scabbed the last off it

cdc? where speirs left off?

 

[morepork tree's]

close csquared speirs was on the other side one side is doc and one side is cdc speirs was pulling bigger wood and they were working for a different forestry manger. the tmy 40 was down there for three months the doc side is really small wood nothing but chopstick so pf olsen sent them down there becuse the wood price dropped and pf olsen didnt want to harvest the wood up north mt **** is really bad wood

 

[nzloggaar]

Some old Pics of Kiwi's Tsy6355bc and TTY70

Thunderbird TSY6355BC and Thunderbird TTY70

 

[Idaho Logger]

Can anyone give me a quick over view of the differences between a TSY50 and TSY255 and a 6255???? I have know that the 50 was the one that set the pace for all of them but what was the difference???? Thanks

 

[Rusty Grapple]

Can anyone give me a quick over view of the differences between a TSY50 and TSY255 and a 6255???? I have know that the 50 was the one that set the pace for all of them but what was the difference???? Thanks

Skagit built the first GT-5's in 1965, and then followed with a smaller GT-4 in 1971. In 1973 the smaller-yet GT-3 was introduced, and that's where your story starts. These 2 bigger Skagit machines are a whole different deal and don't have that much in common with the smaller machines that followed....

It really started in 1972 with the Skagit GT-3, then the Skagit SY-717, then the Pierce/Thunderbird PSY-200, then TSY-50, TSY-255, and TSY-6255. Several of the same engineers worked progressively through this evolution from start to finish and on all these yarders. After Madill bought Ross Corp they built 1 more standard (Orange) TSY-6255, then made several design changes to the TSY-6255 (hyd-tilt service access, updated cab, horsehead 6280-style boom with all swivel-fairleads) and called these machines the Madill 255B. Only 2 255B's were built.

Each was an improved version of the previous yarder and the run went from 1973 to 2003 (last 255B built).

I'll gather up these brochures and make a comparison chart showing power/transmission and line capacities for each.

The biggest single design change was the abandonment of the side-by-side mains of the earlier yarders in favor of the SL '3 drums-in-a-row' design of the TSY-50, introducd in 1984. The earliest TSY-50 brochures I have are 1982/83 'preliminary announcements' and actually show the TSY-50 being tank-mounted, rather than hyd tracks. The first TSY-50 was Serial Number S-5042 and was delivered to Pete Dancer Logging Inc at Camas Valley, Oregon on 8-31-1984. I have many pictures of this machine that I still need to scan for you folks.

There were a total of 12 TSY-50's sold. Which machine did your friend end up with??

For pictures of all these different models you can look at my link below- look at the 'Skagit' and 'Thunderbird' galleries.

 

[Redwood Climber]

Madill 255B

Thank you Mr. Grapple for taking us through the evolution of smaller swing yarders. Interesting enough I finally got to see in person.......and got to crawl all over the last 255B built. I know there were only two built, but it was soooo cool. I didn't want to leave. Yes, I got pictures, but the owners have not given me permission to post the pictures or there name YET.(I still do not know how to post pics anyway).

I do have to say, she is a sweet looking machine! I love the huge tilting hood, and the huge access doors, making maintence on this machine much easier. She has Cat power & a Twin Disc tranny.

The Hooktender says she will pull whatever you hook on her.

I did notice the drums were inline, not side by side as you mentioned.
I like the guyline location, with that huge hood & deck, it makes it easy to spool the drums. The drums were a little small in diameter, which always seems to lead to a flatened lower layer. The larger the drum the less line crush it seems.

I also though it was interesting.......she had 2 bar grousers on the undercarriage, I had never seen that before, usually 3 bar seems to be the standard. I know lots of shovels are 2 bar, but yarders? I learned something new, cool.



I like the individual swivel fairleads & the gooseneck boom.

They were running a msp carriage, they have also run grapples on her.

She sure was sweet.........I could go on and on.........

Man, the things a guy would give his eye teeth for......

 

[hoechucker]

You must be talking about green diamond's 255,it's pretty sweet,I've driven past it on more than one occasion.

 

[Roadswitcher]

TSY50/255's

An interesting feature of the TSY50/255/6255's, is their half interlock design, ie interlock only on the inhaul. Were Ross Corp the first to go with this concept.

 

[Rusty Grapple]

Skagit built the first GT-5's in 1965, and then followed with a smaller GT-4 in 1971. In 1973 the smaller-yet GT-3 was introduced, and that's where your story starts. These 2 bigger Skagit machines are a whole different deal and don't have that much in common with the smaller machines that followed....

It really started in 1972 with the Skagit GT-3, then the Skagit SY-717, then the Pierce/Thunderbird PSY-200, then TSY-50, TSY-255, and TSY-6255. Several of the same engineers worked progressively through this evolution from start to finish and on all these yarders. After Madill bought Ross Corp they built 1 more standard (Orange) TSY-6255, then made several design changes to the TSY-6255 (hyd-tilt service access, updated cab, horsehead 6280-style boom with all swivel-fairleads) and called these machines the Madill 255B. Only 2 255B's were built.

Each was an improved version of the previous yarder and the run went from 1973 to 2003 (last 255B built).

I'll gather up these brochures and make a comparison chart showing power/transmission and line capacities for each.

The biggest single design change was the abandonment of the side-by-side mains of the earlier yarders in favor of the SL '3 drums-in-a-row' design of the TSY-50, introducd in 1984. The earliest TSY-50 brochures I have are 1982/83 'preliminary announcements' and actually show the TSY-50 being tank-mounted, rather than hyd tracks. The first TSY-50 was Serial Number S-5042 and was delivered to Pete Dancer Logging Inc at Camas Valley, Oregon on 8-31-1984. I have many pictures of this machine that I still need to scan for you folks.

There were a total of 12 TSY-50's sold. Which machine did your friend end up with??

For pictures of all these different models you can look at my link below- look at the 'Skagit' and 'Thunderbird' galleries.

It took me a few days but I finally found the old pics. Here's Ross Murray (at left) congratulating Pete Dancer (right) on the purchase of the new TSY-50 at the Eugene Show in 84'. Great old picture and good times followed for both companies involved.

 

[RLB]

Just picked up a TMY 45 trailer mounted yarder. Looking for specs. for this machine. The spec. plate is missing. Any information is helpful. Also looking to pick up rigging if anyone knows of any laying around.

 

[log frog]

TSY 6255 Oregon to New Zealand

TSY 6255 SLR, serial no. S5214, believed to be the last built, ex Hopkes, then Brewer. Trucked back to Springfield/Eugene, it's town of manufacture, for cleaning and preparation for shipping.

 

[Scott S]

I climbed all over it when it was being cleaned and readied for shipping at Acme. What a beautiful machine in fantastic working order.

I bet my drool is still on it....

Scott S

 

[JeremyM70]

I got pictures of it a few years ago at Bruers on one of my first yarder scouting adventures.

 

[log frog]

I heard stories about a guy who got badly injured while the tower and gantry were being lowered. Does anyone know what happened?

 

[boatmaster]

machine was sold to Huffman Logging in 1990 when they bought out Mckenzie's Hayfork Co.

 

[Rusty Grapple]

TSY 6255 SLR, serial no. S5214, believed to be the last built, ex Hopkes, then Brewer. Trucked back to Springfield/Eugene, it's town of manufacture, for cleaning and preparation for shipping.

I last saw this yarder in 2004 up the Trask River (East of Tillamook) and one of the young Hopkes boys was running it, as the regular operator had a dentist appt. or something along those lines. This was a beautiful machine and I took a whole slug of pictures that day which have not surfaced yet. (I'm still sorting through photo-boxes that made the move to Alaska with me in 2005).

This was indeed the last TSY-6255! Madill built the 2 6255B's the following year. Interestingly, TSY-6255 S/N S-5213 was painted orange and sold new as a Madill rather than a Thunderbird, a few months before this machine was sold to Hopkes in the 'Thunderbird' vintage tan suit.

 

[log frog]

Here she is taking a bath at Acme. Wayne and the boys did a good job on her, and she had no problems with border control at this end.
Rusty, if you can dig out those old photos, it would be great to see her back in the day.
She has no top rollers on her undercarriage, were they all built this way?

Can you confirm year of manufacture?
Where is Roadswitcher when you need him?

 

[Rusty Grapple]

Here she is taking a bath at Acme. Wayne and the boys did a good job on her, and she had no problems with border control at this end.
Rusty, if you can dig out those old photos, it would be great to see her back in the day.
She has no top rollers on her undercarriage, were they all built this way?

Can you confirm year of manufacture?
Where is Roadswitcher when you need him?

View attachment 86320

The top-rollers/versus the slide-rails were optional. I don't know how this one left the factory. I still have alot of stuff in Washington State at my place there, and there's a chance those pictures are still at home in Washington- safe and sound to be sure, but roughly 1,000 miles to the South of my home here on the Island in Alaska. Next time I'm down there I'll grab another round of file-boxes and bring back North. I dont have the library space in Alaska like I do in Washington so I haven't been overly aggressive in packing things North with me. My plan was to split my time 50/50 between the 2 States, but there's just alot more enjoyment for me here in Alaska for now! Everything changes eventually so we'll see what happens moving forward.

TSY-6255 S-5214 shows to have been sold/delivered in January of 2001. I believe it rolled out of the shop doors earlier and sat unsold for a time at Eugene.

 

[TorkelH]

Last 6255

Here she is taking a bath at Acme. Wayne and the boys did a good job on her, and she had no problems with border control at this end.
Rusty, if you can dig out those old photos, it would be great to see her back in the day.
She has no top rollers on her undercarriage, were they all built this way?

Can you confirm year of manufacture?
Where is Roadswitcher when you need him?

View attachment 86320

View attachment 86319

Looks like such a nice machine!