The photos above and below show ZAB809, one of two Aktiv-Fischer ST4 Snow Trac vehicles used by Departmental radio technicians to service airways equipment in the high country between Sydney and Melbourne. The Aktiv-Fischer Snow Trac is a tracked vehicle which was manufactured from 1957 to 1981 in Sweden. It runs on two rubber tracks and is powered by a Volkswagen flat-4 engine.
It is thought that this vehicle may have been allocated to the Wagga Wagga technical base in the 1980s when these photos were taken. The site below is believed to be Mt Granite, a link in the airways communications system between Sydney and Melbourne that has subsequently been decommissioned.
By 2010 both vehicles had been relocated to the Canberra technical base. Among other things, the Snow Tracs are still used by Airservices Australia during the winter to take diesel fuel up to the important communications link at Mt Ginini, west of Canberra. The generators at Ginini require refuelling about every three weeks and during the winter snowfalls the Snow Tracs are the only way to get to the site.
The vehicle below is Department of Aviation Toyota Landcruiser ZAF205, which was used to tow the Snow Trac on a trailer to a suitable jumping off point for the final leg up the mountain.
(Photos: CAHS collection)
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