WITH THE COLLAPSE OF THE HEWDEN STUART GROUP, LEEDS-BASED RYDAM UNIVERSAL, TACKLED THE COLOSSAL LOGISTICS CHALLENGE OF GETTING THE GROUP’S ENORMOUS CRANE FLEET, ALONG WITH A MASS OF OTHER EQUIPMENT, TO THE SITE OF THE AUCTION. IN DOING SO RYDAM SCOOPED PROJECT OF THE YEAR AT THE HEAVIES. THE SHEER SCALE AND COMPLEXITY OF THE TASK, COMBINED WITH THE UNIQUE NATURE OF THE PROJECT MADE IT A WORTHY WINNER. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS.
One of the major events in the construction plant and crane hire sector in 2016, was the financial collapse and subsequent closure of the Hewden Stuart Group, a major player with a huge fleet of equipment operating from a nationwide network of depots. The company had grown over the previous decades, by both organic expansion and the acquisition of other companies, for a period of time the group had been owned by the Finning Group, one of the world’s major franchised Caterpillar equipment dealers. The group was sold to Sun Capital Partners, an investment company based offshore and had been struggling under a mountain of debt, owing in the region of £190 million to various banks.
BACK IN THE LATE 1970S, UK HEAVY HAULAGE DID NOT GET ANY MORE GLAMOROUS THAN AN AMERICAN-BUILT MACK TRUCK HAULING A LOW-LOADER TRAILER. COATBRIDGE-BASED WEST OF SCOTLAND WAS BRITAIN’S BIGGEST USER OF THESE ALL-STATESIDE SENSATIONS, WITH THE COMPANY EVENTUALLY BECOMING AN APPOINTED MACK DEALERSHIP. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS FROM WEST OF SCOTLAND BOSS, JIMMY CAMPBELL’S, MACK DRIVERS’ REUNION LATE LAST YEAR.
Legend has it that Mack’s links to Great Britain hail back to the muddy battlefields of World War 1. There, a British officer trying to free a piece of artillery mired in mud, coined the term ‘bulldog’ when he shouted to the driver of a nearby Mack AC model, “bring that bulldog over here!” Just like the mud, that nickname stuck and the story eventually reached America, where Mack’s management duly adopted the impromptu moniker. West of Scotland Excavation’s first Mack truck arrived in 1958 when company founders, Jimmy and Alex Campbell, father and uncle of the current Jimmy Campbell Senior, bought an ex-US Army 6×6 N model to haul a single axle, four-in-line low-loader. The outstanding performance of this truck made the Mack name a legend for the Campbell family.
Issue Ten: with 172 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
THERE IS A 38-YEAR TRADITION OF ABNORMAL ROAD TRANSPORTATIONS IN THE EXTREME NORTH OF SCOTLAND BETWEEN TWO RATHER UNLIKELY LOCATIONS. SINCE THE LATE 1970S, OVER 160 LARGE SUBSEA TOWHEADS HAVE NEGOTIATED A PARTICULARLY CHALLENGING ROUTE, ATTRACTING WIDESPREAD MEDIA ATTENTION. HEAVYTORQUE TRACKED THE LATEST TRANSIT.
Wick is a quiet coastal town with a historic harbour which has witnessed some spectacular sights down through the years. Developed in the 1800s to berth the huge local fishing fleet of over 1,100 vessels, harbour traffic peaked with a record landing of over 50 million fish in two busy days in 1900. The fishing fleet has long gone, and today the harbour is mainly used by leisure and light cargo vessels.
Six miles north of Wick along the A99 lies Wester, located on Sinclair Bay, whose beach has been voted one of the world’s 10 best. It’s a picturesque setting more suited to tourist marketing than heavy industry operations, but, several times a year, this short stretch of road accommodates one of the UK’s most challenging abnormally large transportations.
THE ABNORMAL LOAD INDUSTRY’S HEAVY, AND SUPER-HEAVY HAULERS, NEED HORSEPOWER AND TORQUE. SITTING IN THE TOP BRANCHES OF THIS BEEFY TREE ARE SCANIA WITH THEIR R730 8X4 TRACTORS. ALTHOUGH ITS NEW HEAVY HAULAGE SPECIALIST CHASSIS WILL BE A LITTLE WHILE COMING ALONG, HEAVYTORQUE TAKES A LOOK AT THE NEW R AND S SERIES FROM SCANIA, TO SEE WHAT’S IN STORE.
New truck introduction programmes inevitably start with the regular tractors that make up the bulk of the sales volumes. Towards the end of a new model phase-in, the niche vehicles finally appear. In Scania’s case, the replacement for the current R-series heavy hauler tractors, the R730 8×4 for example, is expected to be about 12 months away. This is worth bearing in mind if you are going to be replacing fleet at that time, and might be considering a Scania.
There is not expected to be a ‘break in service’, so the current model will still be on the line until then, but the new model will certainly be worth waiting for. HeavyTorque has been to the glitzy launch in Paris, driven the first right-hand-drive specimens in the UK, and taken some winter driving tuition in Norway which raised a few eyebrows.
Issue Ten: with 172 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
ONE OF THE INNOVATIONS THAT REALLY CAUGHT THE EYE AT THE HEAVIES 2017 WAS THE TILTING TRAILER DESIGNED AND DEVELOPED BY LAWSONS HAULAGE FOR ITS WORK IN THE RAIL SECTOR. THE TRAILER FEATURES A PLATFORM THAT CAN BE TILTED UP TO 41°, ENABLING MODULAR RAIL PANELS, THAT MAY BE 5M WIDE WHEN FLAT, TO BE TRANSPORTED FAR MORE EASILY ON UK ROADS. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS.
Lawsons developed the trailer in response to Network Rail’s increasing demand for modular sections of track, particularly switches and crossings. In the past, these have been moved by specially adapted rail wagons, but any particularly wide sections had to be dismantled so they would fit within the rail envelope, and then reassembled on site, effectively negating some of the benefits of modular fabrication. Also, it’s not always possible to get from factory to site by rail, so some form of road transport is required. Lawsons’ new tilting trailer simplifies this entire process.
“You can put a 4.5m wide panel on the trailer, and when you tilt it to 45° the width is less than 3.5m, which makes abnormal load notification and escort much simpler.” explains Lawsons director Raymond Lawson, who worked with Danish bodywork specialist Platz and German trailer manufacturer DOLL to come up with a trailer that would match his own specification.
HEAVYTORQUE VISITS HALLETT SILBERMANN TO FIND OUT HOW THE COMPANY IS INSPIRING ITS YOUNG RECRUITS AND MEETS 25-YEAR-OLD KIMBERLY WHO PILOTS A 150-TONNE VOLVO FH 6X4
As with many industries, road transport faces a demographic problem due to the lack of young people entering the business, it seems that few school leavers see the industry as an attractive prospect and many look to other sectors when considering a future career. There is no simple answer to this problem, in many developed countries society has fostered the belief that any job that involves getting your hands dirty should be left to the less academically gifted.
In Britain, we have taken this process further than many other countries and to a certain extent it has backfired, previous governments promoted university education and the obtaining a degree as the only possible way ahead for young people, other forms of training and education were almost eradicated. A generation were led to believe that any other career path would be seen as failure, now we have scores of people with degree qualifications, (sometimes in the most pointless of subjects).
Issue Ten: with 172 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
BUCKINGHAM PLANT, ALONG WITH ITS SISTER COMPANY BUCKINGHAM GROUP CONTRACTING, HAS TAKEN DELIVERY OF A NEW VOLVO FH16-750 TRIDEM 8X4. THE STGO CAT 3-RATED TRACTOR UNIT, WHICH IS EQUIPPED WITH A MID-MOUNTED STEERING PUSHER AXLE, IS THE FLAGSHIP OF THE GROUP’S LOGISTICS OPERATION WHICH INVOLVES MOVING UPWARDS OF 200 CONSTRUCTION MACHINES TO SITES AND CUSTOMERS ALL OVER THE UK. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS.
Buckingham Group Contracting was responsible for the construction of The Silverstone Wing, the current Formula One pit complex and international media centre at the Silverstone motor racing circuit, located next door to the company’s headquarters in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. The project incorporates the podium on which Britain’s Lewis Hamilton took the top step on 10 July last year as well as in 2014 and 2015. “We have a long-standing relationship with Silverstone circuit,” says chairman of both Buckingham Plant and Buckingham Group Contracting, Paul Wheeler. “The Silverstone Wing project ideally highlights the success of Buckingham Group Contracting.”
HRVS IS A PRIVATE CAPITAL DERBYSHIRE-BASED MAN DEALERSHIP WHICH HAS EXPANDED ITS FRANCHISE PORTFOLIO TO STAY COMPETITIVE IN A FAST-CHANGING MARKETPLACE. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS.
There has been a considerable amount of consolidation in the dealer networks of almost every truck manufacturer. The bigger dealers have often absorbed neighbours in adjoining territories, or manufactures have consolidated the entire network and handed more territory to the larger companies. With some networks, many of the dealers have been purchased and are now subsidiary companies, which can be a mixed blessing. In the best instances, it creates an effective operation with first-rate facilities and the resources to invest in new depots throughout the region. Sadly, this can result in a huge organisation with centralised control and complicated lines of command with slow decision making processes and lack of accountability.
Often the best outcome is where the larger independently owned dealers have expanded, taken over other companies, invested in new facilities, taken on more staff and raised standards across the board.
Issue Ten: with 172 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
DORSET-BASED BUGLER TRANSPORT HAS LONG BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH THE MOVING OF ALL TYPES OF MARINE CRAFT THROUGHOUT THE UK AND EUROPE, BUT AS WINNER OF THE HEAVIES 2016 CAT2 JOB OF THE YEAR DEMONSTRATED, THEY ALSO MOVE ULTRA-LONG WIND TURBINE BLADES. HEAVYTORQUE CAUGHT UP WITH COMPANY HEAD CHRIS BUGLER, TO HEAR ABOUT THE COMPANY HISTORY, THE CURRENT OPERATION AND CAST AN EYE OVER THE LATEST IN A VERY LONG LINE OF WELL PRESENTED DAF TRACTOR UNITS TO ENTER THE FLEET.
It all began in 1968 with Reg Bugler, Chris’s father, delivering engineering parts daily to London in an old egg van bought for £15.00. The company was originally called R A Bugler and its first new truck, a Leyland Laird flat-bed rigid, took to the road in 1969, carrying bricks, machinery and other cargoes for local companies. Bugler senior, who was originally in partnership with his brother Francis, soon moved up the weight range into artics.
HEAVYTORQUE RECENTLY HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT THE KAMPEN HEADQUARTERS OF DUTCH TRAILER MANUFACTURER BROSHUIS TO WITNESS THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS AND LEARN HOW THESE ARE MEETING THE SPECIFIC NEEDS OF UK OPERATORS.
The company has a strong reputation for producing quality products, and although it never claims the lowest purchase price, it says that the overall cost of ownership of its products is low due to the very long service life. The slogan ‘Safety, Quality, Innovation’ is a key part the Broshuis marketing strategy, we wanted to see if this holds true for the customer.
The company was founded in 1885 and can quite legitimately claim to have over 130 years’ experience in engineering. Originally based in Muiden near, Amsterdam, it moved to Kampen some years later when it outgrew its original factory. Full time trailer production started in 1929 and the first low loader was built in 1958. The company has remained family owned over all this time and is currently headed by Pieter-Bas Broshuis.
Issue Ten: with 172 pages of first-class journalism and photography, what more can you wish for? HeavyTorque, Britain’s best loved specialist transport title! Click the appropriate link below to purchase your annual subscription, or individual copy.
