AS WIND TURBINES HAVE GROWN IN SIZE AND NUMBER, SPECIALIST EQUIPMENT SUCH AS SCHEUERLE'S BLADELIFTER HAS BECOME CENTRAL TO FIRMS LIKE COLLETT & SONS TO GET THEM INTO POSITION. HEAVYTORQUE REPORTS.
Wind turbine technology has advanced dramatically in recent decades. Once a small part of overall electricity generation, it is now an important means of producing power with reduced carbon emissions in many countries. Between on-shore and off-shore wind farms, the amount of power generated by such turbines has risen massively. In the UK, for instance, something like 25% of the total electricity produced now comes from wind.
Almost all of the on-shore wind farms built in the UK in recent years have been in Scotland, as the ending of subsidies and the introduction of stricter planning regulations elsewhere have meant most other developments grinding to a halt. Although off-shore wind farms have been regarded as more acceptable politically to date (as fish and other sea creatures don’t vote in general elections), recent changes to planning laws and the rising cost of building off-shore may well reverse this trend. And it’s clear that our growing demand for power will require both on-shore and off-shore wind farms to be in place, if we want to generate it ourselves.
CHRIS ATKINS HAS BEEN MAKING MODEL TRUCKS FOR 50 YEARS AND HIS CREATIONS ARE AS CLOSE TO THE REAL THING AS AN AMATEUR CAN GET. YET AMAZINGLY, HE CREATES THESE MODELS JUST BY FOLLOWING PICTURES OF THE REAL THINGS. MODEL FAN DAN PARTON FINDS OUT MORE.
Chris Atkins reckons he has made hundreds of truck models in the past 50 years, having started when he was 16 and recently turned 65. “It’s always been a hobby of mine,” he says. “The first model I ever made was the GMC General, a bonneted one from America. I didn’t paint that one; I just stuck the decals on it. But by then Chris had been bitten by the modelling bug and was hooked. “I’ve just been doing them ever since,” he says.
Over the years, he has built models to a variety of scales. He has albums full of pictures of trucks he made in the 1970s – a range of US and UK models from the time. And he has no plans to stop yet. Indeed his builds are getting more ambitious. Chris’ love for trucks and all things automotive goes back to his childhood. Growing up, he spent time in his dad’s motorcycle business.
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MV COMMERCIAL HAS FORGED ITS WAY AS A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR COMPLETE VEHICLES, INCLUDING QUITE A FEW SPECIALIST OPTIONS. HEAVYTORQUE MEETS ITS FOUNDER.
Many readers will be familiar with MV Commercial, and quite a few will be customers of the company, given its prominence as a builder and supplier of crane-equipped rigids and tractor units, as well as a wide range of other vehicles and equipment.
It’s a company that covers many sectors, growing from a regional Scottish operation into a national concern with multiple sites across the country. And it has a strong history in vehicle sales, rentals, contract hire, and finance, offering a complete service that includes designing and building all types of specialist kit.
MV Commercial has led the way in providing a complete package for specialist operators. Previously, anyone looking to source a truck with a crane and bespoke bodywork, and maybe even a trailer to go behind it, had to deal with multiple suppliers and try to co-ordinate a complex process that could take 12 months or so.
150 YEAR-OLD AE YATES GROUP HAS GROWN FROM A HUMBLE FAMILY-RUN OPERATION INTO A SIGNIFICANT PLAYER IN SEVERAL CIVIL CONSTRUCTION SECTORS THAT WORKS ITS PRIME MOVER FLEET OF FOUR VOLVO FH16S TO THE MAX, AS HEAVYTORQUE DISCOVERS.
Every year that passes sees a slew of logistics companies celebrating notable anniversaries, but not too many can trace their roots back much further than the mass adoption of the internal combustion engine. Bolton’s AE Yates Group, however, is an exception, going back over 150 years to 1870.
Today, AE Yates is a multi-division business comprised of six separate entities, which offer a diverse range of services including civil engineering, soil stabilisation, steel piling, and more. It is quite a transformation for what was a family-founded operation that started out as a small local public works and transport contractor in its home town.
“We wear plenty of hats here across the whole group, and we wear them confidently,” states Glen Kilroy, group plant director at the firm. “Wherever you look, there is always something interesting going on.”
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WITH AROUND 500 ITEMS OF PLANT FOR HIRE, HATHER PLANT HIRE RUNS A FLEET OF FIVE 150-TONNE TRACTORS AND SIX TRAILERS TO MOVE ITS BIGGEST AND HEAVIEST MACHINES AROUND. HEAVYTORQUE GETS THE LOWDOWN.
The phrase ‘plant hire’ covers a multitude of sins, applied as it is to everything from one-man bands with a single machine and trailer to multi-depot nationwide concerns. While they all need transport to get their machinery to and from their customers, it’s only a minority that find themselves running heavy vehicles – although you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise, looking at the number of high-powered tractor units on our motorways with lowloaders on the back.
One company that doesn’t mess about is Rotherham’s Hather Plant Hire. Started in the late 1980s by Gary Hather and his wife Karen with a single machine, it now occupies an 11-acre site with around 500 items of plant available for hire and its own full workshop to maintain them. Providing kit from 1-tonne diggers and small site rollers up to full-scale dump trucks, 45-tonne excavators and 21-tonne ’dozers, Hather has built a small but specialised haulage fleet over the years.
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