by Nick Drew | Tue 06 Jan 2015
Like a Cat that’s got the cream
Talking of Nick Beere yesterday, in today's blog I am going to post a few more photos that didn’t make it into the article in last month’s Earthmovers Magazine, when I went to meet Nick and his new Caterpillar backhoe loader.
Nick Beere had nothing but praise for his new Cat 432F backhoe loader, claiming that he simply could not fault it in anyway shape or form. Having swapped allegiance from a second hand New Holland machine, which in all fairness had served him well, to a shiny new Caterpillar model, the smile on his face said it all on the day.
This should really come as no surprise as Caterpillar do know a thing or two about producing backhoe loaders. The company has been producing these machines in Desford since 1985, with the introduction of the original A Series machines, since then they have passed many significant milestones including the 25th anniversary of backhoe loader production in 2010, followed two years later with the 250,000th machine rolling off the assembly line. The first 432 model, which was the D series, was first launched in March 2001. This year the company will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of BHL production at Desford.
These days it’s unusual to see a younger operator at the controls of a backhoe loader and it’s become something of a challenge for companies to find operators with the necessary skills and attitude to operate a backhoe loader, so it was a refreshing change to catch up with Nick and his 432F.
One of Nick’s first machines was actually from the Hitachi stable, in the form of a Zaxis 17U a 1.5 tonne class machine which is still in service with the family business and on the day of our visit was being operated by highly experienced owner/operator Dave Salter who was helping the Beere team out for a few days.
At the end of the day we had a good laugh reminiscing about the old ice hockey days. As reported in the magazine, it transpired that a young 11 year old Nick Beere used to come and watch me playing for his home town team Basingstoke Beavers back in the late 1980’s. I dug out a couple of my old team shirts and took along a stick for a fantastic photo opportunity and I thank Caterpillar’s Mark Perkes for taking a few snaps on the day.
It was a great site visit and I hope to catch up with Nick again in the future when he changes his mini excavator. With him being so impressed with the Cat BHL, who knows, he may decide to go for a Cat mini this time.