The Time of the Machines exhibition explores the mechanization of timber harvesting, as well as the development of forestry and the forest industry. From early experimentations to today’s most modern harvesting technology and visions for the future. The exhibition displays a unique collection of large forestry machines; for example, you can see the walking Plusjack machine which represents state-of-the-art forestry technology. There are 120 different models of chainsaws displayed in the chainsaw tower, and you can even put your manoeuvring skills to the test with the forestry machine simulators!

It is the 11th of February, 1980, Monday evening. Voitto and Teuvo have returned from the forest. Voitto is sleeping and Teuvo is about to have his dinner. The forest radio tells of the training for lumberjacks and forestry machine operators at the Forestry machine operator school in Valtimo, where Mrs. Terttu Lehmuskoski, Mr. Pentti Hintikka and Mr. Seppo Sihvonen were interviewing the students and teachers at the school. These transportable cabins have been in worksite use and partially also in recreational use, for example, by the lumberjacks of Puulaaki Oy and UPM-Kymmene, from the 1960s to the 1990s.

The walking forestry machine Plusjack was developed in 1999 by Plustech, and nowadays the research and development unit Timberjack that is a part of the John Deere group. The forestry machine Plusjack was ahead of its time in the beginning of the 1990s, however, it never made it to production. The prototype clearly demonstrates the benefits of wheelless operation: the eco-friendly forestry machine can operate in steep and uneven terrain, move in any direction and turn on the spot. In addition, the machine does not leave any tracks on the forest floor. While the forestry machine Plusjack does not leave any tracks on the forest floor, it has left a lasting imprint on the forest economy’s history.

The amphibian plane called Republic RC-3 Seabee, with the registration number OH-EGA, purchased by the forestry department of Enso-Gutzeit in the 1940s, was the first civil aeroplane purchased in Finland after the Second World War. The company used the plane from 1947 to 1958 for monitoring the timber floating and transporting spare parts to the tug boats and other vessels all over the Saimaa lake district. And naturally it sometimes gave rides to both the company management and other gentlemen, even President Urho Kekkonen.