Playing In The Dirt

Best Practices for Playing In The Dirt

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I still do bothI started running a loader when I was 8 in the summer when I wasn't in school.

sure did, just couldn't give it up.

Cat is All, when palying in the dirt with toys do you make the associated engine noises, my brother and I always did. LOL

backhoe1 said:sure did, just couldn't give it up.Click to expand...Excellent, following the boyhood dream nothing better!Airedale

haha even made the sound of the engine lugging away with a heavy bucket. Good times haha.

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I started off in the backyard sand pit, allways had to make the right sounds, me dad and uncle were both into earthmoving so used to go to work with them on Saturdays and school holidays, started operating as soon as I could reach the pedals and pull the levers. Left school when I was 15 only went there to eat my lunch, went to work for my uncle on a TD 9-90, HD14 and a D8-8r been doing it ever since and still loving it.

i was the largest 1/50th scale earth moving contractor in illinois.i had a fleet that would put kiewit to shame. mostly big road and pond jobs, with the occasional under ground utility project to keep the boys busy in slow times.all my iron was parked in neat rows at night so the fuel man could hit them, and so the lawn mower wouldn't.during the occasional work slow down, i would hop in my trusty service truck, er...um, bike and ride around looking for dirt or road projects to watch. once found, i made myself foreman. usually, i could get a little seat time from a friendly operator.

qball said:i was the largest 1/50th scale earth moving contractor in illinois.i had a fleet that would put kiewit to shame. mostly big road and pond jobs, with the occasional under ground utility project to keep the boys busy in slow times.all my iron was parked in neat rows at night so the fuel man could hit them, and so the lawn mower wouldn't.during the occasional work slow down, i would hop in my trusty service truck, er...um, bike and ride around looking for dirt or road projects to watch. once found, i made myself foreman. usually, i could get a little seat time from a friendly operator.Click to expand...lol .........sounds just like my childhood .......

Airedale said:Just curious how many of you spent countless hours playing in the dirt with toy trucks, tractors, bulldozers, as a child then transitioned the apprenticeship over to a real dirt job?AiredaleClick to expand...My Dad was a Land Leveler in Eastern Colorado & every time he broke down he went to Denver to get parts. I was only 4 when I started going with him & almost every dealer we went to would give me some kind of construction toy. One of the first I remember was a Turnadozer from the LeTeurno, it was a rubber tired dozer & it would really move the dirt. Like all of the other guys posting here, I had a complete spread. All the neighborhood boys would come over almost everyday & we built roads, bridges,& most fun of all was water channels, with moms garden hose supplying the river water. Great memories. Of course the summer I turned 14 Dad put me on a D8 & Wooldridge Scraper. Man it was hot, noisy, dusty & really long days & no going to swimming pool. It's a wonder I followed Dad's footsteps, but I can't imagine doing anything else now. Ha, at 63 I guess it's probably too late to learn anything else. Besides, like Mom used to say about Dad: "If he isn't fartin', dust he isn't happy." Kinda fits me too. Great way to make a living if you like working outdoors. No office job for me ever.C Ya, Patrol Man (Dan) goodearth13 :usa

Guilty as charged! Used to walk to jobs all over the place, and when I got a bike, rode all over the place. The guys used to wonder how I always found the jobs...I kept a sharp eye out on the school bus, and used my ears the rest of the time! Equipment was louder, and my ears were better back then!When I first moved to Omaha, I lived in an apartment complex behind a shopping center. They had dumped a truckload of dirt in back to fill a low spot, so the other kids and I took my dirt fleet and leveled it for them, I kid you not. We did such a good job, they dumped a second load and we leveled that one too. Probably close to 30 yards worth of dirt!We didn't get paid....the low spot was behind the garden center, people shopping in there always used to stop and watch us.You could say the future was set even then...Thinking about it, you hardly ever see kids watching a job anymore. Gotta love the Nintendo generation....Alan

We didn't have much compared to kids today. But I did have a white dumptruck with a red box, a bulldozer that threw sparks, and a JD row crop tractor. They all ended up as high hours machines. Thanks to my mother who never threw anything out, we still have them.Did anyone else dig holes with a shovel, just for fun? I used to dig trenches and underground forts with nothing but a shovel. One was so good that my dad used it for a root cellar after I left home.

yep,ya can get the dirt out from under the fingernails but not from in the blood

Late 50's to Early 60's outside play times.I wonder how much radioactivity was in that dirt back then (a-bomb test era).Wish we all had pics to post of our stuff from back then. Kind of was a way to find out who we were.Will always remember a friend's Tonka overhead sand loader.Watched the moving of several whole blocks of new ranch houses (ours included) in SCS Mich (path or I-94) late 50's.The new blue Ford single axle dump 330/auto hauling dirt loads there. The smell of greased wood in the air.Started the dirt hobby thing in the new neighborhood. Big stuff, like my prize Tonka mobile clam,neverwent outside.Used Popsicle sticks for fencing, the wrappers for cement bags.Sifted dirt to get different grades for the 'yard'. Dirt roads with tire tracks.Everyone dug 'forts'. One so big and camouflaged, a tractor mowing the field half dropped into it.So much for that activity.The concrete mixer that backed up too far and fell into the basement excavation while pouring footings.A jeep with winches pulled it out..Bicycles allowed roaming all day to watch those slow moving monster batch mixers pouring I-94.The smell of fresh curing compound= summertime. Almost as good as purple inked school mimeographs..:dizzyAlways enjoyed watching a new basement excavation. One contractor dug many around town.That new red American cable hoe with the hyd bucket looked pretty wore out a few years later.No job transition resulted here from the field sandbox or by standing. Learned a lot of..something:beatsme.Thus my interest in this website.

went from shovel to a old dragline but only for a pond

swampdog said:We didn't have much compared to kids today. But I did have a white dumptruck with a red box, a bulldozer that threw sparks, and a JD row crop tractor. They all ended up as high hours machines. Thanks to my mother who never threw anything out, we still have them.Did anyone else dig holes with a shovel, just for fun? I used to dig trenches and underground forts with nothing but a shovel. One was so good that my dad used it for a root cellar after I left home.Click to expand...Swampdog;My brother and I dug down to a pipeline behind our house one day with shovels! Scared my mom good. When my dad got home we found out it was an abandon line. But he did think it was funny either. They made us fill the hole back in.We could of had a real blast digging it.

Airedale said:Swampdog;My brother and I dug down to a pipeline behind our house one day with shovels! Scared my mom good. When my dad got home we found out it was an abandon line. But he did think it was funny either. They made us fill the hole back in.We could of had a real blast digging it.Click to expand...Yeah, digging by hand was so easy then! Somehow the urge to dig by hand is gone. Isn't it nice to have an excavator?

qball said:i was the largest 1/50th scale earth moving contractor in illinois.i had a fleet that would put kiewit to shame. mostly big road and pond jobs, with the occasional under ground utility project to keep the boys busy in slow times.all my iron was parked in neat rows at night so the fuel man could hit them, and so the lawn mower wouldn't.during the occasional work slow down, i would hop in my trusty service truck, er...um, bike and ride around looking for dirt or road projects to watch. once found, i made myself foreman. usually, i could get a little seat time from a friendly operator.Click to expand...Sooo long ago, you can remember that far back old man?

alan627b said:Guilty as charged! Used to walk to jobs all over the place, and when I got a bike, rode all over the place. The guys used to wonder how I always found the jobs...I kept a sharp eye out on the school bus, and used my ears the rest of the time! Equipment was louder, and my ears were better back then!AlanClick to expand...Thatshow i was too. I used to have 2 or 3 of every tonka toy scattered all over the back yard. As i grew i started graduating up to 1/50 scale. Now my old lady says i have too many. I told that every time she says something, Im gonna buy another model. She still says it........

When I was a kid?Heck, I'm still a kid!Every room in my house is loaded with toys and when no one is watching I get them out and start the night shift...My garage looks like 1/50 scale heavy equipment repair shop.When I was younger I think I moved about a thousand yards with my Tonka Scraper and wore out 10 pairs of Levis crawling around on my knees. Some people never change...Regards, Randy

Beautiful collection Randy, ya still wearing out your knees?

Randy.... that collection.....:notworthy

Long live Tonka!!!

hydmech said:Long live Tonka!!!Click to expand...I agree!

tonkas still around ,it just aint the same:beatsme......i dont know how many times pushing my tonka dump truck around i would hit a stray stone in my haul road ( dam grader must have been in the shop) and id end up smashing my face on the cab protector on the truck and getting a fat lip:Banghead, now thats makes a man of u , atleast i tried not crying about it .......love it how the only soft thing on it was the rubber stack, now everythings plastic

I had several ERTL models they made for the Deere dealerships. Way back when, they used to (some still may, haven't been to a Deere dealer in a long time) have these models for sale behind the parts counter. I had a 544 or 644 wheel loader, paddle scraper and a 310 or 410 hoe. I also had a Tonka dump truck, the real metal ones and a wheel loader. There was also a tandem, cab over dump that was made out of metal and the same scale, don't remember who made it.Scale was very important in my dirt works. I had some friends that would want to use a Matchbox with a Tonka and it pissed me off to no end. Eventually they were not allowed on my project anymore.My dad was a framing contractor and sometimes I would get to go with him to work during holidays and summer. I would try to get as much "materials" as I could from the houses under construction. Cement, sand, cut-off pieces of pvc pipe ect, for my project back home. I made concrete culverts with the pvc pieces as pipe and paved many FT of roads. I had a landfill, borrow pit and downtown constructed behind the shop. I really enjoyed spring time when the weeds would sprout out in patches in the back yard. I logged many a loads of weeds and cleared a couple of SF, had to beg my dad not to mow them until I could get the project done.Wearing the knees out of jeans was a regular thing for me as well. I actually wore the knees out of Toughskins! Mom was always ready with a fresh iron on patch to make me presentable at school.

Had a fleet of Tonkas as a kid, there just wasn't enough daylight on most Saturdays. Started buying 1/50 scale at some point and am still collecting, my girlfriend tells me I'm nuts. Used to ride my bike around to jobs here and there, I grew up in a small town and most guys knew who I was when I showed up. Couple guys let me run their iron a few times, I couldn't have been more than 10 or 11 the first time I ran a 200 size hoe. Still playing in the dirt every day, only difference is that these days it comes with a little more responsibility and a paycheck.

I am new here and have been lurking in the shadows for about 6 months. I even think this is my first post. Anyhow to the OP, I didn't really grow up in a sandbox. I was able to experiance the real thing. My dad was an operator and I grew up from 5 years old on the side of a D6C in the oilfield in the northeast. And that was all she wrote. From there I got around equipment as much as I could and by the time I hit 12, I was helping my dad build a 2 acre lake for a customer. At age 14 he had me out by myself on (small) jobs. Any ways, I have been doing it ever since, now working for larger contractors running specialty equipment mostly on highway projects. And yes, my dad and I both collect "toys". However he has more, about 230 at last count.

jimmyjack said:tonkas still aroundClick to expand...yup i'm right here.... how do you think i got the name TONKA... and i'm still playin in the dirt!

EVERY Time my father would bring home a new machine my mother made sure he had one for my brother and I, we still have them all too, paint missing and scratched up but other thatn that still good. alot of little 50 scale stuff is missing pistons and tires but we loved em. still do my "grown up" collection is nowhere near as impressive as most of your guys but i still have about 15 to 20 pieces.

I used to push my tonka trucks but I would always make the sounds shifting gears, it seems like I never ran out of gears to shift. I also always liked to make a "yard" and put piles of dirt and stuff around and park all my trucks.

Don't really do it for a living, but would probably be content doing it. My twin brother and I had (and still have) quite a collection of ERTL toys of mostly farm equipment and implements which we played with inside discing and planting our fields - carpet in each room. We also had tonka toys and a few pieces of ERTL construction equipment which we wore out outside in the dirt pile behind dad's little shop. We'd make roads, dig ditches and of course make the noises associated with a full bucket or a heavy push.We lived in a neighborhood and had a ditch running on the border of our property. Occasionally the city would come and clean out the ditch with a Case extendahoe backhoe and a single axle dump truck. We'd watch them for hours cleaning the ditches in the neighborhood. If they left their equipment parked in the yard for the evening we'd get on it and push and pull the right levers hoping we'd get some sort of movement from the hydraulics. We'd usually let the outriggers down. Fun stuff!

Grew up around excavating. Backhoes in particular seeing my dad did utility work till I was about 7. I had n still have all kinds of collectibles. My favorite and most valued one to me is the 1/16th 580E and 688 Case excavator my dad got me when I was probly 2. The 580 went every were with me as a kid and I mean every were.

My dad built me a sand box in the back yard early on. Put mortar sand in it because it would pack good when it was damp. Built many miles of roads with a piece of board for my grader. Had a toy grader, dump truck and loader eventuallyThey were building a freeway about 1.5 miles from my house when I was 10 -11. I would ride my bike over there every day during the summer and ride the grade both ways watching the construction. The DOT inspector would chase me off the grade so I resorted to going down the bank or up the bank when I would see him coming and "hideout" until he left and then back on the grade I would go.I told my dad I wanted to run heavy equipment for a living, he said, no, you want to go to college and be the engineer in charge. Ok, I asked how do you do that, where do you go to school. His answer, Michigan Tech, get a civil engineering degree. So at 12 years old, people would ask "what do you want to be when you grow up? My answer, without any hesitation, civil engineer with a degree from Michigan Tech. Got my BSCE from MTU in 1972 and went to work at the local county highway agencySo, 38 years later, I'm still getting paid to play in the dirt. Absolutely love my job (same employer for all those years) and look forward to going work every day :scoolNow that the daughter is thru college (MTU - a civil like her dad) house is paid for and I could retire if I want to: I bought a 15 ton P&H truck crane, a 1959 TD-6, Hough H-25b loader (for plowing the driveway) and a 1987 Ford LTL9000 w/ a lowboy trailer to play with

I had some construction toys, but most of my stuff was AG. I never got into it as much as some my chores kept me busy. But I did end up opening my own sand pit from a left over pile of masons sand from some brick work my dad did. I really wanted to be a framer, but would ride my bike to construction sites when we moved to town after we got out of farming. When I was a really little guy if I was asleep in the car. All anyone would have to say is "look at that tractor" and I would be up with my face against the glass.

My mom (if you knew her you would understand) wouldn't put a sandbox outside because "cats and dogs would poop in it". So instead, she had my dad put one in our basement and filled it with rice. My iron never rusted......

Great thread.I can't believe I missed it till now.I too had a whole fleet in the yard. Shops made from old milk crates with the end cut out so you could drive in, little houses, bridges, and a huge open pit dug down 3 or 4 feet deep with nothing but Tonka trucks. Used a pick for "blasting" to break the hardpan up, then hauled it in dump trucks, end dumps, and scrapers.I wore all the pins through on my Tonka loader, so I drilled them out and replace them with bolts. Wore out a couple sets of those too. I even wore the botttom of the bucket back about halfway. Had the tires wore clean through.Had lots of custom built stuff too. Couldn't get twin screw truck tractors, so I took the boxes off of the Nylint dumps and made fifth wheels for them so it looked better with the old end dumps.We were much better off outside doing that, staying in shape and learning mechanical things. The nintendo generation is missing out. We are raising a generation of couch potatoes.I have also moved up to the 50th scale models now, and have grown a nice fleet of about 400 or so.

what a collection randy

growing up my dad worked as a rancher so we were really into ag toys but the dump truck and dozer got lots of work building the roads my favorite toy was was the john deere tractor and baylor we would even make the kachunking sound as they put out bales. I would steel seeds to plant and build houses with the lincon logs. I spent most of my free time playing in my fake farm. we also biult tree forts and tunnels, if we wanted to make somthing we just did it ( as good as we could) I remember my cousins would come over and just want to sit inside all the time. I hated it, now they are all lackeys working in a crappy job, still inside.

GEEZ I must be getting old, All this talk about you guys and your Tonka Toys. Tonka is what I bought for my Kids to play with. I grew up in the Doepke,Nylint Structo and Marx Lumar days. I still have quite a few and have been restoring some of them the last couple of winters to pass the time. The 1950 to 1960's I think were the golden years of Construction Equipment Toys that were built to be played with. Still enjoy my toys after 50+ years of having them.

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