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Digger Man

Digger Man Blog

by Nick Drew  |  Sun 16 Jun 2013

Digger Man does the Royal Cornwall Show (Part Two)

I’m continuing my look back at the Royal Cornwall Show, and in particular the various items of plant and machinery which can be seen on the trade stands. This year’s event was blessed with three days of glorious sunny weather, which prompted near record breaking crowds to the famous Wadebridge show ground.

Digger Man does the Royal Cornwall Show (Part Two)
Our friends at Plant & Engineering Services, were once again encamped in their usual prime spot on one of the main thoroughfares. The stand was jam packed with products from the company’s portfolio, including models from the Volvo Compact range, Cormidi tracked dumpers, Ausa dumpers and telehandlers, and attachments from Atlas Copco. Our South West regional salesman for the Volvo Construction and Heavy Equipment ranges, Richard Shelbourne, always takes the opportunity to display models from his range of products on the PES stand, which this year included a Volvo EC140DL hydraulic excavator, which has been sold to rapidly expanding Welsh based business, Dawnus Construction, who now operate nationally and indeed internationally, with contracts as far away as Sierra Leone in West Africa. Jim Prior, Mike Murphy and the rest of the team from PES, had assembled an impressive stand display, with the focal point being two newly sold Volvo ECR28’s which formed an arch welcoming visitors to the stand, and were displayed with the new owners sign writing; Crediton based RJ Brooks & Son Ltd, who already have a number of Volvo mini excavators, and Callington based GB Plant Hire. Two models from the Cormidi Ammann compact tracked dumper range were on display, including the C6.50 500kg Twin Speed model, which is powered by a 6.5hp Honda GX200 petrol engine, and the larger C6.60 600kg High Tip/Twin Speed model, which is powered by a 7.5hp Yanmar L70 diesel engine. Dominating the far front corner of the stand, were products from Atlas Copco, including the HB 3100 hydraulic breaker, which is suitable for excavators in the 32 – 52 ton class bracket. Also displayed was the MG 1500 rotary selector grab, which is ideally matched to 20 ton class excavators, and the hand held PB 110 breaker. Next port of call was the Kelland’s Plant Sales stand, where a good display of Terex, Doosan and Bobcat machinery was assembled. The Terex TC75 looked striking on the stand; this machine weighs in at 7,500kgs when fitted with a monobloc boom. Power comes from a 4 cylinder Deutz Tier III engine, which offers 54kw (73hp). These German built machines are rated for their powerful digging forces and reliability. The Digger Man Blog has been offered a test drive on this machines big brother, the TC125, so lookout for a report on that in the future. Terex’s all new backhoe loader, the TLB890, was also displayed on the stand, with walk-around demos throughout the day. The TLB890 features a Perkins stage IIIB compliant engine and a whole host of upgrades from the previous model. This new Doosan DX140LC Series II machine was one of the latest machines to be delivered to Steve Hoskins Construction. Its operator is going to be regular blog reader and operating colleague, Joe Foster Eaton, who has spent the last 3 years operating a Case CX130B, the delivery of which we covered at my blogs previous host. I think it will be interesting to see what Joe makes of the latest Doosan models, and hopefully we will get some feedback from him for the blog. A number of Bobcat products were displayed, including this S510 skid steer loader, and the E26 mini excavator. With so much new kit on display, it was nice to head back in time down at the vintage equipment display area, where a whole host of old kit was proudly being displayed by its owners, including static engines, steam traction engines, vintage tractors, cars and lorries. In amongst all this activity, a group of enthusiasts were putting on a demonstration of old road building equipment, in a scenario not to dissimilar to what I witnessed in Sweden, during my visit to the MaskinExpo show last month. Once again rocks were being crushed via a belt driven crushing machine, with power coming from a vintage steam traction engine. Once crushed, the small material was being distributed by traditional wheel barrow, to form a road surface. Also of note in this next photo, is a nice restoration of an old Holman compressor. These machines, which were latterly branded as Compair Holman, were manufactured in Cambourne, Cornwall for many years. In fact, the Holman company had a 200 year history in the manufacture of portable compressors and hand tools, with many of its products used in the county’s famous tin mines over the years. Also of interest was this old dozer which I believe was a Track Marshall model. And finally, I can’t round this feature up without a shot of one of the most iconic machines of all time! Admittedly it’s not a digger or earthmoving machine, but I think you will all agree that the Spitfire is such a thing of beauty it would be a tragedy not to include it in this report. This wonderful privately owned example is not airworthy, but it is a work in progress from the owner’s base in Cornwall. Another great show from the team involved in this premier event in the Cornish calendar, we look forward to attending again next year.  

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