Van De Hey transporters, anyone know where they are now?

[Cornilsn]

Back in the 70's, my Grandpa built these tracked transport things that were used world wide, in oil fields in alaska, Russia, and the middle east, moving nuclear reactors, buildings, on and on. Some of the fab shops were here in my home town, and some were in Portland, OR. At any rate, Its been a life-long dream of mine to see one of these things in person. Noone in my family knows where they ended up.
I figured with all the oil-field people on this forum, maybe one has seen one of these, or heck, maybe one of you guys worked for VDHTT, or knows where I could see one of these.

Here's a link to some pictures:
http://nickpc.brinkster.net/vdhtt/p1/index.html

thanks!

 

[SouthBendModel34]

Have you tried looking at aerial photos of Prudhoe Bay ? If they are stored outdoors, they ought to be visible.

 

[WizardOfBoz]

Cornilsn,

We (Fluor Constructors) used these things to move the huge modules we built for the Alyeska Pipeline, I think. The modules were about 200 feed by 120 feet and were about 3 stories high, filled with pumps and filters and piping and instrumentation, all connected up and working. A little bigger than the 1400 ton modules in your pictures. They'd run these transporters underneath four corners of the module when it was done (they were built on blocks), raise the support hydraulically, then the four transporters would move synchronously out onto a barge where the modules were let down on blocks, and the transporters would back off off the barge (I guess at least four of them remained on one barge, as they needed the same setup to get the modules OFF the barges in Alaska.)

The modules were built in Oakland, CA, and I think every guy in the yard was pretty impressed and proud to see three or four of these huge things we built, being towed out on barges underneath the Golden Gate bridge. Very cool.

A little history that may be of interest, anyway. 1985 or so. The pics took me back, thanks!

Best,

Jim

 

[Cornilsn]

I've got a pamphlet with the 1400 ton modules you're talking about, I'll scan them up real quick

 

[Cornilsn]

I think these are the 1400 ton modules you were talking about...

 

[Dave A]

What happened to the company and does anyone make transporters like this today?

 

[Cornilsn]

The company went under in the early 80's when the workers tried to unionize and went on strike. the strike cost a couple of big contracts, and things weren't going to well anyway, so he shut down. I was still a twinkle in dad's eye back then, so this is what i've gathered.

Most modern heavy transport things are rubber-tire equipped. I don't know if they approach the capacity these things did... 800 tons is alot of wieght!

 

[Stanium]

This is the tracked transporter company VDHTT?
(USSR, 1980s)




https://i.imgur.com/cNc6zfm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5Wp1YIU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kWEWA2q.jpg

 

[Cornilsn]

This is the tracked transporter company VDHTT?
(USSR, 1980s)


View attachment 259481View attachment 259482View attachment 259483

https://imgur.com/cNc6zfm

https://imgur.com/5Wp1YIU

https://imgur.com/kWEWA2q

Yep, those are his, and I know he did some work in Russia in that era.