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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Wed 16 Oct 2019

Cornish Ducking & Diving

Bringing another of my Earthmovers articles to life here on the internet unedited, with alternative photos and video. 

Cornish Ducking & Diving

Time flies when you are building a plant hire business from scratch and for 33-year-old Tony Wagner that is certainly the case. In January next year he will have been trading for 12 years, a period during which time the company has experienced rapid expansion across the board.

The business kicked off with a solitary Volvo BL71 backhoe loader in 2008 with Tony operating the machine himself as an owner-operator. The last time we caught up with a Wagner Plant backhoe loader was in 2014, when well known and long serving operator Graham Centini had returned to his operating roots taking on the “drive” on a new Volvo BL71B, that machine alongside another identical model remains on the fleet to this day, still going strong with over 7000 working hours on the meter.

Backhoe loaders were always Graham Centini’s first love, but back in the 1990’s he had spent some time on a 14 tonne Atlas “rubber duck” working for Alfred McAlpine’s on a number of sewage treatment schemes across Cornwall and it was during this time that he developed a liking for the wheeled excavator’s that in his eyes offered the best of both worlds, a speedy 360 degree excavator with the flexibility and mobility of a backhoe loader, it was these aspects that would stick in Graham’s mind in the future.

The work with McAlpine’s eventually dried up and as such Graham returned to operating backhoe loaders. The following 10 years saw him operating a variety of backhoes from the likes of Caterpillar, New Holland and Case. Graham’s career took another turn when he decided to move away from civils work to join, as he describes it, the “house bashing” game, which saw him take up a job with Liskeard based Steve Hoskin’s Construction, one of the big three groundworks company’s in the South West, this move resulted in yet another change of machine as he took on the drive on a 21 tonne Case CX210 tracked excavator, which was later replaced by a then brand new CX210B model.

After a six-year period on tracks, the lure of the backhoe loader struck again, Graham takes up the story, “By this time I really fancied a change and was offered a start with Tony Wagner on the brand-new Volvo BL71B, although a bit sceptical at first being a Case man I went on to love the machine and spent the next year on it. It was while operating the backhoe, that I spotted a gap in the market for a rubber duck down here in Cornwall, being a fan of 180’s and 360’s I felt that the duck would be the ideal machine combining the attributes of the two machines into one package, so I discussed getting one with Tony”. Talking about the acquisition of the first wheeled excavator Tony Wagner said, “Our first duck was something of a massive gamble really. At the tail end of 2014 the Truro Park and Ride development was going on and I knew that there could be some significant hire on the job, ducks are few and far between down here, especially with decent operators, so after talking it over with Graham, I decided to purchase a Volvo EW140D and we’ve never really looked back”.

The 64 plate EW140D proved to be an excellent investment and Graham, like all the best duck drivers, had put his stamp on the machine by encouraging Tony to invest in a number of work tool attachments for his arsenal including hydraulic compaction plate, forks, ripper tooth, tarmac cutter, hydraulic block grab, a full range of buckets and of course the Scandinavian style grader bucket and a grading beam, completing the ensemble was a Rototilt R6 tiltrotator. Graham said, “The old 140D was a fantastic piece of kit to operate and I amassed nearly 7,000 hours on her before she was sold privately to another end user. Following on from the success of this machine, Tony Wagner, myself and the directors of our main hirers Martin and John Nicholls of WBM Groundworks put our heads together too come up with a machine that would suit both our tight rural road systems and which would fit easily in single lane closures on the dual carriageways across Cornwall and Devon which is where most of our work takes place these days”.

“Graham continued, “It was a bit of a no brainer to opt for the Volvo EWR150E really, the machine is the ideal solution for the type of work we do with WBM, compact, sturdy and reliable. To add additional flexibility this time Tony opted for the two-piece (TAB) boom, as opposed to the mono boom on the previous machine, which once again gives you vastly improved geometry options throughout the working envelope”. “We all agreed that this time with the amount of deep drainage we are doing, we should opt for a tiltrotator fitted with grapples and a top hitch which enables us to remove the “tilty” for any tight trench work, this has already proved invaluable time and time again. Working with SMT GB, this time we specified a Steelwrist X18 tiltrotator which was fitted prior to delivery, I saw this as a big move for me personally, moving from Rototilt as the product had been first class and never gave me any hassle”.

“The grapple on the back of the tilty has been a real gamechanger already, it’s a fantastic bit of kit to have at your disposal and dramatically cuts down on the amount of manual input required by the ground crew, its just like having a giant hand on the end of your dipper and everyday you find new things you can do with it” concludes Graham. As a lot of the work that the machine is involved in is being undertaken a night they decided to specify the 360 degree camera system and in addition include the extra LED working light package making the machine safer to work around for both the personnel on the ground and for peace of mind for Graham in the seat, enabling him to see all around the machine via the monitor screen. As part of the Steelwrist package, the joystick steering option has also been included which Graham says offers him more overall control as you never have to take your hands off the joysticks to adjust direction. All the attachments that were accrued for the previous machine have been adjusted to fit the new model and the trailer for moving them around has also been adjusted to suit.

The additions don’t stop there either, as they have also had deceptively cavernous pull out storage drawers fitted on both on both sides of the machine which are great for storing lifting chains, strops, top up fluids, grease and any other tools that might be needed. Graham reports that with the TAB boom and tiltrotator combination you can easily remove and replace the lifting kit into the drawers with out the need to do it manually ensuring no damage to the paintwork occurs.

The German built duck is sitting on its standard MITAS 10.00-20 EM Dual Tyres but Tony reports that they also have a set of Alliance 600/40 – 22.5 flotation tyres or as Graham refers to them his “winter boots!” Talking about the two businesses Graham said, “Tony Wagner and WBM Groundworks have established a great working relationship, something of which I’m very happy to be a part of and having worked closely with them we now have a machine that is ideal for both parties needs and it certainly makes life a lot easier for all concerned”.

The EWR150E tips the scales at 15,400kgs – 17,900kgs depending on specification and is powered by a 4-cylinder Stage IV emissions compliant Volvo D4J diesel engine which offers a power output of 105kw (145hp) @2000rpm. In this two-piece boom configuration, the maximum reach at ground level is 8.670mm while maximum digging depth is 5,100mm, slightly more in reality with the Steelwrist fitted, while that all-important tailswing radius is just 1,720mm.

Wagner Plant are keen to bring on the younger generation of operators and actively encourage them to get involved. On the day of our site visit one of their “young guns” Harry McKay (18) was gaining some invaluable experience on the EWR150E. Harry is currently operating one of Wagner’s 8-tonne Cat 308E’s but he was keen to try out a wheeled excavator for the first time, not only that but it was also his first time using a tiltrotator, but I think its fair to say he took to it like a duck to water (forgive the pun).

Talking about the youth element Tony Wagner said, “We pride ourselves on bringing on the young blood and its something we really try to help with, its so important for the future of the business and has been that way ever since we started, we have some great lads on our books now, many of whom started as youngsters and are now well established and highly skilled operators, our investment in them pays dividends in the long run and its something we will continue to do”.

 

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