Building the Alaska Highway!! - Page 2

Snowtractor · #31 11-02-05, 06:59

not quite as imprssive as seeing those huge international crawlers sitting in the water at Contact creek with hard dirty men standing around shaking hands and smiling.

Snowtractor · #32 11-02-05, 07:02

another beautiful scene, its almost too much for a regular camera.

Snowtractor · #33 11-02-05, 07:06

The full res pics really blow your mind compared to these 1/10 scale pics. I put them up on the 35 inch tv and its almost like being there. These pics are just a fraction of all the ones I have and I should have taken even more but I was by myself and had to drive 1000km a day in order to get home so there wasn't always time to stop and gawk.Especially driving through the tight canyons Between Watson lake ,YK and Fort St.John ,BC
Sean

JD Baillie · #34 11-02-05, 08:36

Sean,

Awsome thanks for sharing. If anyone is considering going up through BC to this area and are leaving from Vancouver, consider the 'sea to sky' hwy. It's a bit rough in sections but very scenic too. There is a wonderful and very quick transition from rainforrest to sage brush as you transit over the mountains into the nothern Fraser Canyon. Another transition poiint is at Clinton where the road enters the interior plateau area.

Cheers all and thanks Sean.

JD

Norm Cromie (RIP) · #35 11-02-05, 20:14

Hi JD:
I cannot find your personal e-mail address. I have a few more Alaskan Highway photos I can send you if you want them contact me. Do not like to tie Geoff up anymore than we have.
Norm

Snowtractor · #36 11-02-05, 20:19

You talking highway 97 north or the highway up to Whistler then crosses over to Lilliouet ? Both are very beautiful. The Columbia Icefields highway has the ALCAN highway beat hands down for awe inspiring views.
If a person does take the Whistler route it is only open in summer and subject to snow at anytime at the peak and the start of the road, just after Whistler, there is a mile high switch back climb that you had better have a good vehicle for. I was in second gear reving in my F-150 4X4 300 I .
Sean

JD Baillie · #37 12-02-05, 03:29

Sean,

I was talking mostly about the Whistler/ Lilooet section. That switchback you talked about is just deadly. Had a whole convoy of 6 LSVW rad trucks loaded for three weeks in the Chilcotin, penthouses, trailers, LINE TRUCKS and all, stalled out on that section due to overheated 4cyl diesel engines. We tied up that whole road. Had to provide traffic control with infantry radios (77 sets) as there was only one lane available for any traffic until we cleared. Took three goes. Chose not to run the engines anytime the yellow overheating idiot light came on. Good truck concept apart from build though.

Always wanted to take a Sigs section way north bit by bit to see where the HF radio propogation fun began. Couldn't get approval for such a long trip due to Admin dithers over possible veh recovery. I suppose it would have cost good money ... but it would have been good experience too. Oh well. Got to do it myself now. Hence our plan. Can't wait.

Cheers
JD

#38 06-05-06, 23:34

Hi Guys,

I have seen a few pics taken several years ago of an area along the Alcan with the hulks of several US Chev's and Studebaker US6's still surviving,are they still there? I'm afraid I don't know the location but I will attempt to find out.

Is there much to see in the way of surviving equipment along the highway?

Cheers,

Gary.

Snowtractor · #39 07-05-06, 06:20

Hey Garry,
not much in the way of machinery or buildings left, just signs to mark special places. However, stunning scenery that will overload your visual cortex. Its a long haul but very worth it at least once.
Sean

Norm Cromie (RIP) · #40 08-05-06, 02:00

Hi Gary:

I think you will find as my wife and I did, much beauty and many points of interest during our trips in that area. Be sure and take any old bypasses of the highway if possible, as that is where you will find the military skeletons of vehicles that were abandoned during the construction of this Highway during WW2. It has been some time since we have been there and I am sure some of the old roads have since overgrown but if you ask some of the natives they may tell you the locations of some of the old military dumps. Just remember one thing Bears have a keen sense of smell especially for human foods. Be sure and take your camera.

Norm.

Hanno Spoelstra · #41 08-05-06, 17:03

Quote:

Originally posted by GarryOwen
I have seen a few pics taken several years ago of an area along the Alcan with the hulks of several US Chev's and Studebaker US6's still surviving,are they still there? I'm afraid I don't know the location but I will attempt to find out.

Hi Gary, do you mean these pics? Reportedly, "Johnson's Crossing - where the CANOL (Canada Alaska Oil Line) meets the ALCAN highway - is a ghostly graveyard of many damaged vehicles that were used on the highway". These pics were taken on a tour in 1992, I do not know if the wrecks are still there. Probably the place was cleaned up in an effort to attract more tourists or diminish the "littering"...

H.

Source: http://www.milweb.net/News/alaska/page2.htm

Snowtractor · #42 09-05-06, 10:32

They are still there. However, the government hauled all wrecks to that one site from up and down the highway. There isn't much there except those very stripped and rusted cabs. The highway has been improved so much that many of the old segments have been cut from the highway by deep ditches, if you are not in a 4x4 you aren't driving them. And even then if the ditch is wet, be prepared for axle deep clay or gumbo. The road up to the start of the canol hiking trail is still there and very representative of the old Alcan highway if you want the experience. I drove it for 50km and sure had a new appreciation for the guys who drove the 1500mile highway, and the gravel road I was on was very improved over their gravel roads.
Sean

Lang · #43 22-12-11, 23:54

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnsEwPJFLM

This is a really outstanding 35 minute, full colour, movie of the construction of the Alaska Highway - one of the great feats of WW2. Apart from wonderful close shots of engineers' machinery working, there is an endless parade of "spot that truck"

Lang

Phil Waterman · #44 23-12-11, 19:24

Hi Lang

That is a really good find, it amazes me that film particularly color film keeps turning up. This one will drive some of the guys in our MV club crazy.

Cheers Phil

Little Jo · #45 23-12-11, 23:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljnsEwPJFLM

This is a really outstanding 35 minute, full colour, movie of the construction of the Alaska Highway - one of the great feats of WW2. Apart from wonderful close shots of engineers' machinery working, there is an endless parade of "spot that truck"

Lang

Hi Lang

That film was worth posting, another piece of history, I really enjoyed the film. I wonder if there is a similar film made of the construction of the road from Alice Springs to Darwin by USA troops during WW2.

Cheers

Tony

Richard Farrant · #46 23-12-11, 23:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little Jo

I wonder if there is a similar film made of the construction of the road from Alice Springs to Darwin by USA troops during WW2.

Hi Tony,

The track from Alice to Darwin was constructed before the US entered the war, I was on the Back to the Track re-enactment in 1995 and learnt a lot about this. There are couple of good books covering the army convoys, one being The Long Road North, by Alex Tanner.

Lang · #47 24-12-11, 00:48

Tony,

As Richard says, the Alice Springs road was commenced prior to the war and upgraded constantly during the early years (it was nearly all sealed by the end of the war). The construction was carried out under contract to the Federal Government by various State works departments.

On the other hand the US Army Engineers were responsible for the east west Barkly Highway from Mount Isa to Tennant Creek where it joined the Alice Springs to Darwin Road.

Lang

Little Jo · #48 24-12-11, 08:20

Richard - Lang

Thanks for the correct information. Funny how you go through life listening to people who tell you a story and it seems to stick. I have always been told the yanks built the road and it just stuck. I think I will now take my foot out of my mouth.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Tony