It's a nice reminder of how advanced civil engineering was back then. Those of us under 60 don't always appreciate the skills of our fathers and grandfathers. This kind of historic recording gives me even more respect for them.
Awesome video. Obviously had some slackers back then to but back then real men worked and gave it all they had. Not like the sissy's of today wearing their skinny jean's and playing sick when the job gets hard.
@@harleyhartley3168 any other brain dead sheep millennial cliches you can come up with and still think you’re an individual? I bet you do not even know what period boomer encompasses - I’m guessing you think it goes up to the 1980’s.
Wow amazing love all the vintage trucks, diggers, bulldozers etc... Those bullnose dump trucks are just beautiful what a feat of civil engineering very enjoyable watch 👍
It’s hard to comprehend the scale of this project. Having lived in Uddingston for almost 40 years, it was good to see the clips of the construction and how these guy’s overcame their massive problems, considering the lack of fancy equipment.Thank you for posting this gem.
Well if you have the horsepower, anything can be accomplished. Doesn't really matter on the scale of the equipment, if the equipment is smaller then you need a lot of them.
I myself recently were part of the works last summer 2021. Renewing the tarmac and bridge decks as over 50, almost 60 years there had been failures in the structure and concrete due to water damage. We addressed all these repairs, new layer of water proofing and drainage systems under the 200mm layer of tar. All new bridge joints and drainage to hopefully withstand the next 50 years or so.
I guess labour costs were much cheaper in those days, NHS and benefit systems not a strain on the public purse but most of all it needed to be done at that time due to the cut in railservices and the car buying population going sky high. Still a remarkable engineeering project.
There is a lot of economic bloat and bureaucratic delays these days; environmental investigations and many people employed mainly to stand around holding stop/slow signs; basically job creation.
I did 150 pages of co-ordinate geometry calculations for M90 Craigend Interchange (1968). Used 8 figure logarithms and a fairly crude Friden calculator. I worked before that a bit on M74 and M73, for Mr Paton, mentioned at the end. M74 and M73 were designed in imperial units, and M90 in metric - the change happened on 1 January 1968.
@@greenpedal370 Sliderules are all right for structural design, where you use approximations for strength of materials, and build in factors of safety after that. Highway design, in my day, involved sometimes working with huge numbers and many decimal places to ensure the necessary accuracy. E.g., the intersection of two curves each of a few kilometres radius.
Well in those days they had draughtsmen at large lanterns using rulers an squares etc in offices , A2 an A3 diagrams in site cabins an people like me out on job using dumpy levels to record measurements . This at the start of electrification of the U.K. west main line , by the way going on at same time as motorway building , all this went on till 1979 but was seriously affected by the 70s oil crisis . Like near all it stopped with a bump much like 2010 , the 5 th richest country on earth but we can’t afford anything they said both times . If you all want to argue with me go to your library an ask to see a Rd map of 1980 U.K. with 2019 map , and guess what with a few exceptions like the m40 ALL. The major motorway network was built by then . Check out rail ,I think you will find the west an east coast an Bristol are the only electric lines in U.K. , Ok a lot of third rail around London built before then The Tory gov and Tory blair Tory light gov done f#### all but talk , we have as a nation sat on our Arses letting it all go to pot . Our Rd’s and rails are crap totally overloaded an what do we do lol BLAME THE EU As individuals we are ok people but as a nation we are a bunch of tossers sad to say lol
They were a big company. Used to see their sign everywhere. I see from Google they are still going after being taken over. Good to think your Dad was a part of it when you use the motorways he built
Thanks for the post, very interesting, shame they didn’t make it 3 lanes, but they probably could never of imagined the shear volume of traffic on today’s roads.
I was laughing at the comptometer and slide rule, in the drawing office. Not to mention the French curves in the Planning Dept. Not a computer in sight!
I worked in engineering, draughting using pens, draughting machine on A0 board, scale rules and compasses. What's the future in 20 years as all universities have dumped their drawing boards, now 100% reliant on computers Imagine if all data clouds and software fail. and many cannot draw manually? architecture, civil & marine engineering, mechanical & electrical, landscapes architecture, interior design, product design and finally fashion are all done by computer (all. Pattern cutting on CAD). Fine art has not escaped.
Nadeem Anwar Hi I am an engineering student, started in 2018. The first piece of work done in the first semester of the first year is a series of technical drawing with a series of lectures on how to draw to BS8888. It is true that from then on virtually everything is done on CAD but the skill of technical drawing is still viewed as important enough to teach students. I think it a very important skill and needs to be maintained because sometimes there is no alternative to it.
cant believe with the workforce of Scottish and Irish labour and engineer skills we have to bring a workforce from Portugal with low wage to construct bridges on the awpr Aberdeen new road the construction industry in the country has went backwards
Many of the basic building principles haven't changed since, and the processes are impressive still today. Seeing how these structures come together makes them appreciable in the first place.
My father drove Blaw Knox PF 90s for Roads Reconstruction, back in 1969, have never been able to find much out about that company so nice to see them in this film.I went to operate PF 90s along with other models from Blaw Knox,Bittelli and Hoes Dynapac myself as I followed him into the industry. For me Blaw Knox couldn't be beaten but no doubt the paver operators of today would look on in horror at the machines and conditions of the recent past,I would go back to them in a heartbeat!
Proper graft. No messing about. Very little H+S. Job got done in good time. Compare this to modern times where virtually every large scale engineering project runs over by months. Even the operators and labourers were on better money then, comparatively speaking. Good workers were also looked after by both companies and the government. Nowadays full time workers are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and getting on the property ladder is nigh on impossible for the majority. What an absolute shambles this nation has becomr.
Great video but @ 0:18. Geez even for a dual carriageway that’s poor planning with those bends. They should have shaved the hill of and straightened it.
1964-1966. Two years. It's taken about 10 years to open the hard-shoulder of the M5 as a running lane and put up a couple of signs. What has gone wrong with the British civil engineering industry?
Work ethics and paid to much today as well, why do they need to be bothered slug their guts out for a comfortable wage. Down to privatisation that's why, they make more money the longer the job takes and the hours they do. I was speaking to a cone watcher, he was getting £120000 a year to sitting in his van or night ok he have to lay some comes out and pick them up again. That's where the taxpayers money is going
Privatisation , sub contracting , middle management , extra strict planning consultation processes , and the high risk of Legal sueing cases with building in the wrong areas and accidents etc sadly .Fun fact to re open a much needed English 25 mile local railway line near me between Oxford and Milton keynes (much of the original trackbed is still in place) has taken equal or more time than it took in the 1830s/1840s to build the GWML from London to bristol !
Millions of pounds spent on this as Beeching swung his axe. Motorway built due to increased traffic and population. 8000 miles of railway closed... minister of transport thanked them for completing on time on budget and kickbacks...?
I know guys in trades earning the same just now as they did in 2001, 2002. Utterly criminal. Can't have the working man with a pound in their pocket, oh no.
That generation were looked after social housing for hard working people they even owned there own home real men back then no health safety shit like now
@@Le_Petit_Lapin My mistake (which I've corrected) should be 150 a week, which equates to around £2500 per week now, given inflation. Worth noting if you were lucky enough to have 1 million in 1971 in a/c you would now need 14 million for same purchasing power. Think why in many respects pension pots for the young are not transparent, in my opinion you could be paying more for less in the future. £150 today would only be worth £152.70 next year at current rate of inflation.
Visited the Blaw Knox factory in Medway Kent during the eighties on a sales and practical training course on machine laid surfaces, sadly new technology caught up with these type of businesses, but the principle of road building hasn't changed.
When the construction was pretty well done I worked for a time with the LCC and Scottish development dept. landscaping the embankments with trees on the M74 and M8 and the Hamilton Interchange, great memories. Thanks for posting.
I didn't see any hard hats or high viz, this must have been before elf&safety was invented and it got finished on time. thanks for posting very enjoyable.
At that era it was Mega Builders Donkey Jackets n proper steel toe-capped boots on show, these jackets withstood the harshest of weathers. Give me an old Donkey jacket anyday.
Brings back great memories , worked for Dick Hampton on 8 & box , those days you worked & if you stopped your pay was docked . Health & Safety didnt really exist in those day . Good Old days
Interesting to compare this project with the 2003-2004 building of the M77 north of Kilmarnock. Similar issues with digging out peat and replacing it with more solid infill.
One can only imagine what those builders and engineers would make of today's WOKE generation. Great work and much of today's comforts are owed to those very people who worked in harsh conditions!
"those very people who worked in harsh conditions!" Until the 70s came, out of work and on the dole and singing songs about how "I Don't Like Mondays".
I hope those builders and engineers would be glad to see their grandchildren working to higher standards of health and safety. I'm an engineer from the "WOKE" generation and I'm very proud of the work we do in the modern age. I'm also glad companies are compelled to give me steel-toe-capped boots, safety specs, a high-vis vest and a hard hat. Respect to our predecessors though, they worked a tough and dangerous job for corporations that often didn't give a damn for their safety.
@@RogueAkai yeah but...yeah but.....yeah but.....i bet you let WOMEN ONTO YOUR SITES DONT YOU and something something health and * throaty cough * safety. not like in my * wincing in pain as i move slightly in my armchair * day
@Rogue Akai Of course you're proud of your shittier work in comparison to this that now takes over a decade to complete, and isn't even _built to last_ for even an entire decade without showing cracks and decay, at that.
My late father, who died when I was aged 4 in 1974, was one of the many concrete foremen who worked on the M74. I doubt there is much left of the original parts he worked on, but it's good to see what he would have actually been working on.
i see a humber super snipe and humber hawk. my mate had a humber super snipe and i had a humber hawk. my mate is a pommy and im a australia driving a pommy car but i did love my car in the 1980s
Thank you for this wonderful trip down memory lane. I grew up as small boy in Douglas in the 60's and would travel from there to Burnbank (Hamilton) to visit grandparent on the 'old' road, including the dual carriageway section to Lesmahagow, and remember seeing all the 'big' trucks and diggers at work. Brilliant. Seem to remember that the section between Lesmahagow and the far end of Blackwood was a missing link for a while.
The bit between Lesmahagow and Douglas was done first, back in the 80s, which is why it is only two-lane, as opposed to three further South. I remember them doing a bit on Blue Peter about it when they were building the bridge over the Nethan. The old road is still there through the town and it's in a bit of a state. Worth a drive though.
An alarm going off while your sleeping is been disturbed, not having your house bulldozed. "Oh I'm sorry to disturb you but you don't mind if we knock your house down".
The trouble with ANY road building nowadays, - (or any construction for that matter), is there are far too many people watching it being done, - (THE H & S CROWD). Get rid of those stupid idiots and everything would get done a lot quicker. You could also add these so called (upstart) solicitors who want to sue everybody if you so much as trip over a paving stone.
no 90 ton cats or gps no helmets in those days an i noticed steam was also still in use one thing for sure a day workin the lorry, diggers etc youd be like Arnold Schwarzenegger
Interesting to see how much they used tractor hauled winch operated drag box scrapers, you don't even see later motor scrapers, such as CAT 637s, on muck shifting jobs these days. Its still possible to have a CPCS card category for them but don't know of anyone who actually has.
D8 & Box was the word in the pubs along motorway routs and the poor diesel bowser driver could be smelt a mile off. I worked in many types of construction from 1960 until 2016 and this film did bring back memories of my time with Mac Alpines. The fitters would help you repair the 1st cable snap, you would fix the 2nd and if there was a 3rd well you grabbed your bag and headed home. After the muck shift I drove a JCB putting the road gully's in, that was better paid than the muck shift so we went like hell.
Mick, if you want to see scrapers at work try the socalearthmovers channel. This one ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-dYbrYGyf0CI.html is particularly good with loads of 57s all push pull working and the occasional 51. Several D11s as well but not pushing.
Fantastic. I live at the side of the M62 J22, the vid on building that bit of Motorway and the Scammonden bridge is incredible. I was 6 at the time, the project Manager was 26years old!,.....would that work today?...dont think so...in fact no, it wouldn't LOL.
I wish I had taken photos of them building the M62. I used to spend hours watching the work a few junctions away from where you are towards Leeds. Back then we just seemed to get things done. A young project manager indeed Building the by pass near me in later years the foreman was a lot older. I did get photos and video of that work
LOL Yea One for the job and 29 for the paperwork before anything begins. Each having a different idea about how to build it so endless meetings huge expense and delayed progress
@@michelebeck4311 half truth in that ! They were just starting to be shipped over to UK then in mass in 1960 and most of them did a job aswell as this above .
Great film!! Pity the UK can't be like this again. It takes them longer to get a job done with the technology we have now!! And the quality of the materials used is of a poor quality too!
It was the Irish who built the majority of UK roads and rail. Today the UK is done for, too many foreign nationals migrating there to receive benefits and work privately for "cash in hand" has ruined it for you guys.
@@danielt8960 but back then they got the job done and the materials were of a high standard unlike the modern rubbish today, done on the cheap and slipshod. All you have to do is take a look around modern buildings and see the scaffolding rigged up around them, some only 3 months after they were completed. What you're saying is correct, and if we don't return to proper apprenticeships and time served electricians, plumbers, brickies etc instead of filling stupid pc target quotas, you're bang on the money.
Both of you gentlemen are correct here and I agree 100% with each. As a mere "yank" outside looking in immigration is a big problem over there and Derek you are correct on the materials used today is pretty poor. For instance the UK was world renowned for their Sheffield steel now China has control of the vast majority of the world steel markets.
@@clarkcuffymorris.5977 Thanks for the reply!! There's been a hastened decline in British manufacturing etc, a tiny fraction is market related, but the vast majority of it is all down to the UK government taking orders from its precursor to the eu masters. It is in order to decimate the UK manufacturing and other basics in order to help the rest of the eu sell its products. I can give you an example. I dated a girl whose father worked at the Ravenscraig steel mill here in Scotland. It was the most efficient and profitable steel mill in Europe, but Thyssen Krupp was losing the steel product contract to British Steel Ravenscraig for the German car industry specifically BMW. This had to stop, and under the new proposed eu rules drafted up, the sell off of British steel was forced on the tory government of the time. British steel was merged with the Dutch steel company Hoogovens to form the Corus group, and phase one was complete. It was then run into the ground deliberately and the Indian company Tata came to the rescue. They took over some of the steel operations and sold off the rest. This gave Thyssen Krupp what they wanted, but with cheap Chinese steel dumping, it's come back to bite them on the arse. Hopefully now that we're going to be leaving the eu, we will be able to rebuild the industrial bases we were forced to lose.
I Guess this M74 was built over where I used to live. That was Bothwell Hough. We moved to Doncaster in the early 60's. I still have great memories of living there.
Hi Joss, no the M74 just missed Bothwellhaugh. They built Strathclyde Park over it. The village was just to the side of Strathclyde Loch next to M&Ds theme park. M&Ds have a hotel on the site of where you used to live, the Alona hotel. You should book a night there! Tom
@@tomgallagher4949 Hi Tom. I used to travel up to Bellshill from Liverpool to work in the 80s. My company used to book me into the Bothwell Bridge Hotel. It was a really nice place and I used to love staying there. I wonder if it is still there? Happy days.
@@tomgallagher4949 Thanks Tom. It was a very nice Hotel,in a nice location. I really used to enjoy staying there. Hope to maybe have a revisit one day. It`s a long time since I have been that far North. I am from Liverpool myself. Cheers.
The box scrapers shown are all operated by the contractor “Dick Hampton”. I remember them building the earthworks for the Port Talbot bypass (now part of the M4) in the summer of 1964. Most of the drivers were New Zealander’s. As a 10 year old I would cadge rides on these machines and on one occasion the kindly driver allowed me to drive the rig! BTW, the name “Dick Hampton” sounds risqué. Was this an in joke by someone when they formed the company? On the other hand, maybe there really was a Mr Dick Hampton!
This is what Britain means to me...... a sense of self-sufficiency, building stuff, great minds all working together..... people knowing all over the world what we are good at
1:02 What makes the most anger today are those absurd and unreliable x/y math graph to justify anything . Today we are dealing with the opposite: what load of consumption can still tolerate this tormented earth
I can still remember coming to my granny's sister's house in Wanlockhead between 1961 and 1971. We saw the construction of the first by pass (now A702) from the original A74 (now B7076) then the dual carriageway at Crawford where we got off the X30 "Gay Hostess" Ribble bus. A company called M M Ltd provided the equipment. It was a very dangerous road due to traffic crossing the opposite carriageway. South of Abington the M74 is the A74(M)!
Even as a kid I thought that turning off the A74 across traffic was insane. Sitting in the middle waiting for a gap then flooring it. My Mum had a friend in Crawfordjohn and we would go up their quite often. I always hated the turn off the road.
Fantastic video to how hard everyone worked on this 15 miles? of motorway!!!! The coolest machine was the mini roller around the surfaceing machine and the tech of the heated section was fair ahead of its time🤔 and the plant men were fair skilled too!!! Is the same motorway still in use????
Those heated sections were installed in a few places across the country. Unfortunately their reliability was pretty abysmal and they're no longer in use. Instead they just chuck grit on. This particular stretch of the M74 is still pretty much as it was then, although it's been resurfaced a few times. It could do with widening though.