DEAS PLANT 666 Scraper info

[Gavin84w]

Deas, wondering if you have any info on a bunch of 660/666 scrapers that were parked in a row of about 7 of them with paintjobs that were supposed to be in QLD somewhere from a couple of years back.

[Deas Plant.]

Hi, Gavin84W.
I do know that Hunter Valley Earthmoving had a fleet of Cat 660's which I believe were all 'A' series. I don't know of any 666's being imported into Australia. That doesn't mean that there weren't any imported, just that I don't know of any. And, strange as it may seem, none of the companies who would have been likely to import them have asked for my permission to do so. LOL.

To the best of my knowledge, which I confess is not encyclopaedic, there were only ever 6 x 660B's imported NEW into the country, all for Thiess Contractors as one order. One of these was written off many years ago and the remaining 5 were purchased by Oxley Plant Hire of Brisbane or some group affiliated with them in about 1995 for a job lot price of, I'm told, around $200,000. A small/medium contractor in Brisbane finished up with all 5 of them, cannabalised one for parts, sold 2 and still has 2 running.

I have no idea where the 2 that this contractor sold went or who bought them. I also don't know of the status of the Hunter fleet.

Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

[djcat]

This may be just a piece of useless information but.....I had a mate who used to maintain around half a dozen of these old 660 down around Singleton in NSW.
They were eventually sold and 2 of them ended up at Rockhampton doing some work at the airport. Not sure what hapened to the rest of them.
If YOU really need more info Gavin I might be able to catch up with this guy ( I haven't seen him for several years ) and see if he knows there whereabouts.

cheers djcat

[RolyD8k]

Hi Gavin84W,there cant be many no 7 666,s parked in a row
with new paint jobs, i,ve found some pictures i saved about
2 years ago,theres a chance someone on the board may
identify where they were taken,i hope this helps.
Regards Roly

[alan627b]

These units wound up in California, owned by a company named Tubor (Tudor?) Saliba. When I was in California last year, I was told they were sold to some outfit in Mexico. Can't confirm or deny that....I was also told that a contractor still has some euclid SS40's in mothballs, if a job big enough came along.
I originally posted these pics, I'll dig them up next week and repost them after I get done with pipelining class.
Be patient....
alan627b

[Gavin84w]

Thanks for the replies gents, the series of pics you have shown Roly is the set i have and prompted the post, they sure look like they are parked in Australia somewhere to me, appears to be A & B models in that lot, you can tell by the bowl lift cylinders where they mount. When i worked for Waugh & Josephson there was a large book with all the models and serial numbers of all equipment sold and to whom, these were all hand written entries before the puter age and was up to about 1980 from memory. The book was floating around in the Gough & Gilmour offices around 97 but i would think with all that has gone on with the Cat dealerships in this state in the last few years somebody would have just tossed it in a bin in a cleanup.

The 5 HVE 660/666 machines are in a rather sad state at Rixs creek last time i saw them, all repairable though. I reckon a Cat museum downunder has plenty of candidates just laying around like these,just need some D9G,992,777 etc. I am sure the passion for it is there and the iron, just need the funds!!!!!

[catsilver]

those pics bring back some memories, I worked with a fleet of 660 and 660B tractors between 1969 and 1971, 72 of them all pulling bottom dump wagons, I'll try and attch a picture.

[kjohn]

Thanks for posting this stuff. Gotta love those big old machines.

[fourdee]

Here are some pics of the 660 b's. Thiess's 5 and HVE's 3 at loy yang. [1st ] Next 2 pics are Thiess b's at Berrima by-pass about 1986. The story on THiess's 660's as i know it is this. Bought 8 660's about 1964 and put em to work in the Black Rock open-cut at Mt. ISA. One was totalled there .Acouple worked on Geehi Dam in the Snowy briefly. 1968 saw four of them at Talbingo Dam. After that the 7 of them worked up north on Beef roads and at Blackwater . Recall they were parked up at Archerfield depot mid 70's. The 5 660b's came to Tarong Power Station early 1980 from Phosphate Hill. They had 3 ft.hungry boards on them which were soon cut off. The four 666's of Hunter Valley Earthmoving I saw at Leppington Coal mine easter 1976. Fairly new then. Remember seeing some around '85 with back motors out of them.The old 660's had 650 bowls as I recall. Dicko Dickson bought a couple off Thiess and worked them in the Hunter mines in the late 70's. The cabs on the Thiess b's were put on in 1982 at Moranbah -Blair Athol rail job. Remember the trailer wheel bearings giving a lot of trouble. The larger rear wheels were fitted about that era. Last time I saw them working was at Ulan mine 1990.[North pit job]. Hope this info helps in the story of those great old scoops. Cheers 4D.

[fourdee]

try pics again