19 December 2012

Interesting tracked vehicles


Posted at English Russia back in 2010; there are additional photos (and an explanation of their purpose) at the link.

10 comments:

  1. I've subscribed to EnglishRussia for several years in my reader. I never commented until a few months ago; I used my "spare" Gmail addy I have for things like that and it wasn't an hour later when I got a notification that someone was trying to get into it - the IP number was from someone in Russia.

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  2. Crazy! Looks like an entry to some steampunk vehicle competition, or perhaps a Burning Man participant.

    I remember once seeing peat harvested in Northwest Ireland, but they sure didn't use anything like these contraptions. They were using tracked machines that cut bricks of peat sod, or "turf" as it's known locally, and stacked them in layer upon layer separated by planks. Known as "clamping turf", they told us this lets most of the water - and hence, most of the weight - drain out of the sod before removing it from the field, saving labour and money.

    Those were bricks for burning in a fireplace, however. The Russian machines appear to have been designed for a different purpose: judging by the sheer size of them - most of which is storage space - I'd say they were designed to collect loose peat, which is very bulky. I wonder what it was used for. Agriculture? Insulation? Fuel in power plants?

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    Replies
    1. Loose peat is widely used as fertilizer and acidity controller of soil.
      See for instance:
      http://www.laflora.lv/produkcija/kudras_substrati/eng

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  3. Here in Latvia we also do that (albeit with newer/different equipment):
    http://www.eko-siltums.lv/images/kudra.jpg

    Also sapropel is harvested/mined (I've not seen how, though):
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapropel

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    Replies
    1. "Sapropel" is a new word for me. Thanks.

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    2. That's why we all love your blog, Stan. You quite literally learn something new every day!

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    3. Yeah, I was kind of secretly hoping that you had not have come across "sapropel". :D

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  4. I dunno about my chances, but I'm adding one of these to my Xmas Wish List STAT. I want to--- no, NEED to, cover one of these babies in Christmas lights and run it down main street.

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  5. I found some more pretty pictures of these (use google to translate from Russian).
    Here is description (from "Great Soviet Encyclopedia" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Soviet_Encyclopedia):
    http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/71725/%D0%91%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F
    http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/bse/71726/%D0%91%D1%83%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9

    And here aree some more (rather surreal) pictures of abandoned harvesters and other harvesting equipment:
    http://nnm.ru/blogs/zavodskoy/postapokalipsis-kladbishe-tehniki-na-torfyanikah/page4/
    http://mobilochko.ru/blog/43840006478/Zabroshennyie-torforazrabotki?page=3

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