BLAW KNOX

G'day 56,
My collector neighbour has a Blaw Knox grader which is a goer and he has used it a bit, but it needs some work on the gearbox. He says it is a direct copy of a Caterpillar 12, but built in the UK with a Leyland 680 motor. (maybe there was some arrangement between the two companies) It weighs around 11 tonne. The original radiator and bonnet are missing. Here's a couple of pics. If you want to talk to my neighbour then send me a message.
Cheers Geoff

...that's a nice old grader Tacho ....first one of them i reckon i've seen....thanks for the pics

...also Geoff, i noticed the map of Australia on the side and couldn't help but wonder if she may be an old Woomera veteran from when the Poms ran the show ??....

...does your friend have any history?...she's a rare survivor....cheers mate

Its definitely Pommy Built. I see it has the Prince of Darkness electrics.

That's awesome Tacho thanks for the pics. I just hope mine is in as good a nic as that one. I might get that number off you. Be good to talk to a bloke that has one.

Detective Phil, your reply re a possible Woomera connection got me thinking that that was how the Blaw Knox graders got to Oz. I got a couple more pics of the Oz map, and phoned the previous owner, but he couldn't tell me any more about it.
Here's the only evidence I could come up with, photo's from both sides. Cheers

.....thanks Tacho for the enquiry to your neighbour....

...well she was S33 before she was 7900....(whatever all that means?) but with that old Aussie map i can't help but think of Army surveyor Len Beadell and his ''Gunbarrel Highway Road Construction Party" that had the job of making "roads" through the outback of South Australia to the North West coast, to follow the trajectories of the numerous rocket trials emanating from the Woomera experimental establishment in the early 1950's ....

....either that or possibly something to do with the Snowy Mountains Scheme??

....i've got a sneaking suspicion i've seen that logo down the front of a grader somewhere in the past!!.....

i1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag306/trent...2253_zpsg8pza9tk.jpg

Finally got a pic of my grader still haven't had time to get out and get it running yet.