Royal Cornwall Show Machinery Highlights (Part One)

Starting our lookback at some of the highlights from around the construction machinery trade stands at the Royal Cornwall Show 2026.

For most people living in the South West the Royal Cornwall Show is the “go to” event of the year, held over 3 days the show attracts an average of 115,000 to 120,000 visitors annually, making it the county's largest yearly event.

This year the weather didn’t read the script and culminated in the last day (Saturday) being cancelled for safety reasons. On Thursday when I attended it was very much a mixed bag with frequent heavy showers and occasional sunshine the flavour of the day, Friday turned out to be the best day with long spells of sunshine.

However, we are a hardy bunch down here, and I was determined to duck and dive and get some nice shots and video of the equipment on display.

CBL PLANT SALES

First stop as ever was to our friends on the CBL Plant Sales stand, who are the local dealers for Takeuchi, Thwaites and Bomag.

Taking centre stage on the stunning was the latest pink edition Takeuchi purchased by B&J Locke Ltd, the 2-tonne class TB320 fitted with an Engcon EC102 tiltrotator, which is the smallest unit they make.

Keen readers of this blog and Earthmovers Magazine will recall that Barry Locke now has a number of pink Takeuchi machines aimed at supporting the breast cancer charity and raising awareness, not just for women but men too, which we feel is a fantastic initiative.

The largest piece of equipment on the stand was the Bomag BW219D self-propelled single drum vibratory roller which has been purchased by GSS (Ground Stabilisation Solutions) with its eye catching green and yellow livery.

Also, from the Bomag stable and at the other end of the scale in compaction equipment, was the latest trench compactor from the German based manufacturer, the BMP 8500 which has been purchased by Liskeard based Champion Groundworks Ltd.

Ducking into the tent to avoid the first of many showers, I was greeted by Lauren Harris who works for CBL at the Saltash depot in Cornwall. In her spare time Lauren is into here motor sport. To be specific, Lauren looks after a group of young girls that race mini-bikes in the FAB-Racing and British Mini Bikes championships.

Lauren is involved in an organisation called Haus of Moto which is dedicated to promoting and supporting females in motorsport across the UK & Ireland, two of the bikes were on display in the tent.

A quartet of Thwaites dumpers were also presented including a 3-tonne swivel skip, 6 & 9 tonne forward tipping models and a 1-tonne Hi-Tip model.

Another highlight on the stand was the Takeuchi TL12V-2 compact tracked loader, which is one of two that have been sold to LSL Groundworks and Plant Hire. I will be visiting these machines on site in the not-too-distant future for Earthmovers Magazine.

Checkout my CBL Stand walkaround video.