South West Young Gun goes Solo

Looking back at one of my articles previously published in Earthmovers Magazine, unedited and with alternative photos. 

The South West and Cornwall in particular seems to be a hot bed for ambitious young lads and girls who have a strong desire to become heavy plant owner/operators. We have reported on a good number of these over the years and I was delighted when the opportunity arose recently to visit another one who has taken the plunge and gone solo.

In an all too familiar tale, Kyle Gallacher (24) who hails from the historical china clay producing area of St Austell, Cornwall, was another lad who had always had a passion for machines from a very young age and apparently used to spend many long hours sat behind the seat of a 3 tonne Hitachi ZX30 mini excavator which was being operated by a local builder on a plot of land his parents had sold to him. Kyle takes up the story, “I was involved in an apprenticeship scheme during my last 2 years of school, which 1 day a week of work experience. I did this with another local groundworks firm, K&D Gilbert, working with them ignited my passion for the diggers even further and I knew from that experience just where I wanted to go with it all”.

Kyle left school in 2011 and undertook a plant-based course at the Duchy Agricultural College in Stoke Climsland where he managed to gain all his relevant tickets while still being employed by Gilbert’s. Kyle continued, “While working with Gilbert’s I was hoping in and out of some smaller machines and still doing a bit on the ground, then at the age of 18 they entrusted me with 13 tonne class Case CX130B which I was then on full time and seriously living the dream! A while later I met up with Tony Wagner through another operator as I was interested in buying a Fordson Major tractor he was selling. He offered me a job there and then, but I declined as I was happy enough where I was.”

Photo courtesy of Kyle Gallacher: Kyle on the CX130B he used to operate for K & D Gilbert. 

“A few months later and the company was having a few issues, so I messaged Tony to see what was on offer, he got back to me offering me a start on a new Caterpillar 312E with a new van plus more money than I was on at the time, so it was a bit of a no brainer really and a week after my 20^th birthday I started with Wagner Plant on hire to Cormac working on the Park and Ride scheme in Truro”. From that job Kyle was then put on a Volvo EC140D L this time on hire to Steve Hoskins Construction and that machine was later upgraded to a Volvo EC140E L, which was the first of the then new E Series Volvo excavators to join the Wagner fleet. As is often the case, operators see moving up the excavator weight classes as a form of promotion and so it wasn’t long before Kyle was offered the drive on Wagner Plant’s new 22 tonne class EC220E and found himself on hire to the other civil engineering big player in the South West Champion Groundworks.

Kyle said, “While I was on hire to Champion’s I was offered the chance to go on direct with them, but to be fair, I was happy enough with the situation as it was, but eventually I said that I would come on with them if I could be hired in on my own machine, to cut a long story short, Shaun Champion said yes and at 23 years old, I purchased my first machine, a second hand Case CX210C which had previously been owned and operated by Champion’s from new”. Kyle continued, “I had been on hire for about 18 months and things had been going well, but the Case was starting to get high hours on her, nudging the 8,000-hour mark on the meter and the tracks were starting to wear very quickly, so I decided a change was due. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I had been going on non-stop about the new JCB 220X since it was released so I decided to look into it further by contacting my local dealer Holt JCB”. Holt JCB’s Territory Manager for Devon & Cornwall Paul Butcher takes up the story, “Kyle showed an interest in our new excavators at this year’s Royal Cornwall Show and a demonstration was arranged so he could try out the new features and compare them to other manufacturers he might also be considering. Kyle informed me that this would be his first brand new excavator purchase and that he was very impressed with the 220X in terms of performance and cab comfort. Kyle was so pleased with the demo he decided to put his money where his mouth was and purchase a JCB. Kyle also commented that with Brexit looming he was delighted to be flying the British flag and to back British products”.

Following the successful demonstration period Kyle bartered out a very good deal with Holt JCB and a few days after delivery Earthmovers caught up with man and machine on a Wainhomes development on Duchy of Cornwall land at Nansledan near Newquay where Champion Groundworks are the principal contractor. On the day of our visit Kyle was busy loading topsoil onto one of Champion’s Volvo A30G’s which was tipping in an area that was being re-instated as a “green open area”. Looking 100% the proud new owner Kyle was keen to give us his initial thoughts on his new 220XLC “I absolutely love it and, in my opinion, JCB have really pulled it out for the bag with this one! It’s a brilliant all-round machine, good for lifting and superb for grading, its so smooth and quick”.

“Tracking is nice and smooth with no jerkiness like some other makes, its powerful and digs really well in my opinion. I especially like the cab which is spot on, its well laid out and the design team had clearly listened to operators and had them in mind when designing it, ensuring everything is close to hand just where you need things to be, its superbly put together and well appointed”. Kyle reported that he had only had one minor issue with the machine so far, a faulty solenoid that wasn’t allowing a valve to open properly, which was restricting hydraulic oil flow, but according to Kyle “Holt JCB were all over it like a rash and got it sorted in record time! I was very impressed with the level of service; they have been brilliant all the way through and I can’t recommend them enough really”.

The British designed and built excavator is powered by JCB’s in-house built and well proven 173hp (129kw) Ecomax Stage 4 emissions compliant 4-cylinder, 4.8 litre powerpack which now features a number of tweaks which the manufacturer suggests, improves fuel consumption by up to 15%. The very latest Japanese Kawasaki hydraulic pumps provide a much-improved high flow of hydraulic oil though the larger 25mm pipe lines. From the heart of the hydraulic system the oil is distributed via the Kayaba valve block for that all-important Japanese hydraulic feel of precision, power and finesse.

Kyle was also keen to heap praise on the new range of JCB excavators too, “I read a lot of comments on social media and I’m often left gobsmacked at what I’m seeing. People need to realise that these X Series models are totally new machines, you simply cannot compare them to the old JS range, these have been totally re-designed and re-built from the ground up to make them a world class machine, the trouble is people knock things before they have even tried them which is just crazy”.

“From my experience it doesn’t matter what make you opt for they will all breakdown at some point, they are not bullet proof. I often relate to the 22 tonne Volvo I was on previously, we had loads of problems in the early days with it, but it was sorted and that’s what matters, having the back up there when its needed, something I am enjoying with Holt JCB”.

Since taking delivery of his new machine Kyle has been busy putting his own stamp on it, with the addition of some unofficial “trucker style” JCB stickers in the windows, additional UK flag badges and as yet another proud Cornishman on the offside rear door panel he has had the Cornish coat of arms put on, which features the chough, a bird which is native to the Cornish coast and whose name in the native Kernow language is Palores, which funnily enough translates to digger, a reference to its habit of frantically digging away at the soil to find invertebrates to eat!

Kyle is already looking to the future and expanding his business and has already been in discussions with Holt JCB about potentially adding a 14-tonne class 140X sometime next year. No doubt we will be visiting him again in the not too distant future.