English Plant Man in Canada (Part Five)

In this the final part of this mini series we report on Tom March’s latest jobs and his decision to leave Canada and return home to the UK.

Tom has been as busy as ever ploughing through some major repair jobs on the fleet of scrapers that he has been looking after, the first photo shows the rear wheel removed to enable him to remove a jammed S-Cam. In addition, Tom says he has also been training up a young mechanic who will be taking over the maintenance of the scraper fleet, but more on that later.

Talking about the recent weeks Tom said, “We have had a few brake issues of late and engine troubles. Rear diff failure as well as a front diff. Engine and transmission over-heating issues have also plagued us too, as we have seen a spell of 30 degrees weather the last few weeks”.

Photo: Rear diff shrapnel from a bearing failure

In this shot a front diff is being put back together after another major failure.

In this very artistic shot we see a John Deere 750K sitting pretty after a hydraulic line replaced. Tom said, “As much as this is a handy great machine it’s not too handy for the mechanic as space is very limited!”

Tom went on to tell me about his decision to come home. “My wife and I have decided to finally make the move home to the UK. We have been on the fence for some time and the Covid-19 situation has made things more complicated, but also reinforced to us how family time is so very important.

Long days and working away all the time has unfortunately been part of my job description, but is by no means easy.

I have very much enjoyed the 8 years in Canada and 4 years spent running my own business. It has been very challenging, but has seen me travel all over western Canada. Long days and lots of different beds.

The whole experience has been life changing and will definitely stand me in good stead for my return to the UK. I have work lined up with a large family run mining company in the North of England in their customer maintenance division.I will relish the opportunity to re-connect with old friends and clients and meet new ones along the way”.

That last photo Tom sent me really sums up the sentiment expressed in this post, so as the sun sets on Tom and his wife Sarah’s time in Canada, I would personally like to wish them all the very best for the future, welcome home, and I hope we will hear more in the future about your adventures on the new job Tom.