Trackhoe over the bank

[s219]

Saw this when coming back into my creek from fishing the other day. When we went out earlier in the day I saw a young guy running the machine and knocking down trees, then getting out to cut the rootball with a saw, all by himself, and was impressed. Hope he didn't get in trouble with the boss after this. I haven't had a chance to go back and see if they got it out yet, but I'm thinking they may have an easier time getting a barge in there and driving down! All very soft sand, and of course we have been getting hammered with rain starting that night.

 

[GAFarmer2]

Now that is NOT good. Hopefully everyone was OK. I've seen that kind of thing happen way too many times before. You never put heavy equipment near a bank...period. I'm sorry, it's just too dangerous!

 

[RSKY]

I grew up on a farm that had a small river as the west boundary. One of the worst meltdowns my Dad ever had was when I got too close to the 5-10' drop-off down to the river bed while mowing around the edge of the field. I can still hear him today, "Boy, you NEVER put any machinery ANYWHERE near a river or creek bank! Are you wanting to mess the tractor up when it falls in?"

The fact that it would have probably killed me was never mentioned.

Strange how fifty year ago memories can pop into your mind. Guess I'm getting old.

RSKY

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I don't get too close to my little creek, because the creek undermines the bank in some areas.

 

[3930dave]

It happens, even on large supervised sites.

This one was a subway excavation in Toronto, a few years back:

Drilling rig collapse kills 1 at Toronto's York University - Toronto - CBC News

Pic doesn't really give you the scale, IIRC the machine that fell over was a large Liebherr (sp?); modern enough that all the operating data was analyzed almost immediately in Germany via telemetry. The fatality was a bobcat operator; its roll-cage is obviously not designed to withstand that much weight landing on it.

A fencing contractor I know had been on that site working not long before that accident. After driving posts, he felt the soil conditions were pretty sketchy, but didn't say anything - he figured the white-hats wouldn't spend much time listening to someone with calloused hands....

Rgds, D.

 

[3930dave]

Saw this when coming back into my creek from fishing the other day. When we went out earlier in the day I saw a young guy running the machine and knocking down trees, then getting out to cut the rootball with a saw, all by himself, and was impressed. Hope he didn't get in trouble with the boss after this. I haven't had a chance to go back and see if they got it out yet, but I'm thinking they may have an easier time getting a barge in there and driving down! All very soft sand, and of course we have been getting hammered with rain starting that night.

View attachment 518320 View attachment 518319

^ another vote for the barge option.

Rgds, D.

 

[LD1]

Looks like the trees that "we're" there played a vital role in bank integrity. But someone was greedy and wanted a better view of the river.

 

[lexluther]

Seems like he can dig himself out easy, what am i missing?

 

[oosik]

I was just wondering what he was doing that far over the bank. Being devious of mind, my first thought - do you have public sewer there. I wonder if he was trenching a sewerage discharge line out into the little creek. Whatever he was doing - he was surely doing it bass-ackwards.

 

[Wagtail]

Looks like the trees that "we're" there played a vital role in bank integrity. But someone was greedy and wanted a better view of the river.

My thoughts exactly (although , I would have used "were" instead of the "we are" contraction). He, or the significant other, wanted a better view and decided to eliminate those pesky trees. 'Sucks to be him' comes to mind.

On the upside, once the trackhoe is extricated, he'll have a gentler slope to reach his soon-to-be built boathouse/dock/sundeck.