Royal Cornwall Show 2024 Round Up (Part One)

Taking a look back at some of the construction machinery highlights of this year’s hugely successful Royal Cornwall Show.

MPS South West Ltd.

Without a doubt the ‘showstopper’ machine at the show this year was the Hidromek HMK 140LC on the MPS South West Ltd stand. 

The machine was ordered by rapidly expanding civil engineering company Porteous Groundworks. Emulating last year’s appearance on the stand with the HMK 220LC and looking to top it, Managing Director Ben Porteous requested that the machine be wrapped in black and have orange handrails as a contrast, and I think you would have to agree, it looks stunning!

The wrap work and signage was undertaken by Tavistock based Tavy Signs who have gained quite a reputation for this kind of work locally.

Ben Porteous, as regular readers will recall, is a very forward-thinking guy, and he has invested heavily in the Holp Rototop attachment rotation systems, and GPS machine control from Leica via local supplier One Point Survey.

Other machines on the MPS South West stand included the HMK 150 W R reduced tailswing wheeled excavator, HMK 62T compact tracked backhoe loader, and the HMK 102B K4 Series backhoe loader as featured recently in Earthmovers Magazine, and Gyru-Star screening buckets.

Checkout our walkaround video and chat with MPS Managing Director Jason McCullough.  

Machine Serve

Based near Winkleigh in Devon, Machine Serve are dealers for a wide range of machines and attachments.

Yanmar mini excavators in the lovely new red livery were represented on the stand, with the 1.5-tonne class Vio17 zero tailswing mini excavator sporting a Gyru-Star 2-50E screening bucket.

Another interesting machine on the stand was the German built Lumag MB-600 mini excavator, displayed next to the Lumag VH500 PROGX-HT a pedestrian high-tip tracked dumper which would be the perfect partner for the excavator, an ideal combination for the jobbing small builder or landscape contractors.

Another Yanmar mini excavator the Vio 17 VT model was displayed with a Italian built Ghedini flail mower, a very popular attachment for mini excavators these days.

Plant & Engineering Services

In what was set to be their last appearance at the Royal Cornwall Show, PES were in the usual prominent spot that they have occupied for the past 20 years, it was great to catch up with the friendly PES team including Mike Murphy, Laura Bool, and Richard Shelbourne of SMT GB as we reminisced over the many years, they have been attending the show, and talked about future plans going forward.

As ever the stand was rammed with kit and largely dominated by machines from the Volvo stable, including compact mini excavators, like the 6-tonne class ECR58, 8-tonne ECR88D Pro, 2.5-tonne class compact radius ECR25D and 1.8 tonne EC18E. 

Whilst at the other end of the scale and representing the SMT GB part of the stand, a brand-new Volvo 25-tonne class EC250E featuring the new all electric cab and Volvo engine. This machine was sporting the new logo design for Champion Groundworks, which was officially revealed at the show on machines on a variety of stands.

Other equipment from the PES portfolio of products on display included, AugerTorque attachments, Epiroc breakers, Thwaites dumpers, Husqvarna equipment.

Checkout my video clip tour of the stand.