The platform looks much the same today (2009), only difference being new cranes and more rust..........
Added by B Shift Loyal on 23 June 2009.
I'm sitting on here (nightshift) bored out of my brains wondering what the hell I'm still doing here after spending all of my 20s on this dump! HELP..............
I worked on the Tartan in 1989 and had a couple of accidents. I think it was the rust that was holding the thing together. I'll never forget that eery noise the flareboom used to make. It used to sream when it was going. It was so hot sometimes you could feel the heat from the boom on the back of your neck when working on the pipedeck. I remember opening a container once, and somebody had written inside " The Texaco Timebomb " 3 years later the same container ended up on the Brae A !!
I remember that's where I started my offshore stint as a rousty for global Santa Fe. Big John Powell had us painting the derrick in a basket and the pipe deck. Happy days. Still remember Sunday lunch; roast beef, deep fried ice cream where are you now John Cheese Beanies?
Ahh the same old and tired comments regards the Tartan but lest we forget the Tartan gave a good livelihood to many and I had worked in worse places the Tartan gave a good grounding to many who then further their career (pastures new) based on solid foundations gained from their time spent on Tartan Alpha.
I for one arrived on Tartan Alpha in 1981 as a Gas Plant Operator (a grand title indeed) but soon discovered that indeed was all that it was a grand title as them in charge knew as much about a Gas Plant and it#s ancilliary equipment as I did but did that deter me no when I took early retirement in 1999 (FOR PERSONAL REASONS) I was OIM AND I can honestly say without fear of contridiction that everyone who worked with me received a fair crack of the whip so the Tartan does not deserve the tarnished reputation it receives in many quarters.
Added by B Shift Loyal on 23 June 2009.