Ducking and diving in the forest

Wed 22 Feb 2017

Ducking and diving in the forest

It’s fair to say that Mo Locke has been involved in the plant and civil engineering game for some considerable time. In actual fact he has been operating machines for well over 40 years now and during that time has built up a wealth of knowledge and experience of what is required from the man in the seat right down to the man on the ground with the shovel. Mo Locke and his wife Liz trade as GG Locke Ltd from their base in Wilmington, near Honiton, in Devon. In actual fact Mo’s real name is Graham George Locke, but as a child he was always known as Mo and the nickname has stuck with him ever since. The business like so many is another family affair with Mo’s wife of 42 years, often coming out on site operating mini excavators, that’s when she is not in the office doing paperwork with their two daughters Georgina & Kelly of course! Mo’s son Barry also works for the firm operating a wide range of equipment, having been taught in the “old school” way by Mo from a young age. According to Mo the team adopt a work hard play hard approach usually working 7 days a week until it’s time to head off for a well-earned holiday.

These days a vast majority of their work is for the Forestry Commission whom they have worked with for the past 16 years, but they also work for local councils and operate a 24 hour emergency call out service for South West Water in addition to general plant hire work. Mo’s journey in the plant game began back in the late 1960’s when he took a job working for Lyme Regis based Morris Douglas operating a JCB Hydra digger, he later moved on to a Massey Ferguson 50B with a 4 in 1 bucket which Mo described as the “bees knees”.

Like so many Mo always wanted to have his own machine and in 1987 he managed to purchase his first backhoe loader, a second hand Case 580F, which he ran for around 18 months before trading it in for a slightly newer model, he continued to do this until he was in a position to purchase a brand new machine outright, as he had always said he didn’t want to have any finance hanging around his neck, this continues to this day with all machines on the fleet being owned outright by the business. These days the fleet is very much dominated by Takeuchi machines which Mo has high praise for, models include TB016, TB125, TB153 and TB260, these are also joined by a 2 tonne offering from Volvo and a BL71 backhoe loader, on the larger side of things there are also 2 x 13 tonne Hitachi’s for larger jobs. But the undisputed star of the fleet is the TB295W, this 9.5 tonne class wheeled excavator was delivered by local dealer CBL Plant Sales, with Mo’s existing TB175W being traded in as he does every two years.

The wheeled excavator is only ever operated by Mo and it’s clear to see the passion he has for this versatile machine which features a two piece boom and is fitted with a PowerTilt bucket. Talking about his love of the Japanese wheelie Mo said, “A lot of my competitors often ask me why I have a wheelie, I always say because it offers me greater flexibility, for example when I’m finished on a job, I can simply just pack up and trundle on so long as it’s within a 15 mile radius, whereas with a tracked machine you are reliant on transport to move you about, so it works well for our type of work”.

Mo continued, “Admittedly you have to approach jobs differently, if for example I have to go off-road, I might have to pull myself in and pull myself out, as such you have to weigh things up and consider that if I do get stuck, will I be able to get out, or is there a way someone else can get to me to pull me out if needed, so it makes you use the grey matter a bit more”. The new model which was first launched at Bauma in 2013 continues to impress Mo who said, “I love the smoothness and reliability of the Takeuchi machines, the old TB175W was brilliant piece of kit, but now this machine has taken the quality to a another level, although all the modern technology in these new machines can be a bit daunting and when it goes through its regen period it really worries me! Having said that the cab is well appointed and a fantastic place to spend your days and I especially like the new rear view camera that is fitted on these machines now, which is a big help when working in the forests as you never know who might appear behind you”.

Much of Mo’s work is involved with repairing and maintaining all the bridleways and footpaths through the various forests in the West Country and Earthmovers caught up with him in Puddletown Forest in Dorset where he was reshaping and stoning up footpaths. Incredibly Mo explained that the work they do is now tracked by satellite using a system that was originally set up by the Forestry Commission to monitor fly tipping activity and for safety reasons when members of staff are working alone in these often remote locations.

Mo always specifies a tilting bucket on his ducks and this PowerTilt unit had previously been mounted on his old TB175 talking about the thinking behind it Mo said, “To be perfectly honest a duck without a tilting bucket would be a complete waste of time for our kind of work or for that matter any kind of work where you need to form cambers, with a tracked machine you would just chuck a bit of stone under the track to get the angle, but it’s not that easy with a duck. One of these machines with a standard bucket set up and no jacks can only really dig level so for us a “tilty” is essential”.

Mo always specifies the two piece boom option saying, “For me personally the two piece boom is just magic, it offers me so much more scope and flexibility when working in the forests which can often be tight places to work and enables me to negotiate any overhanging branches that I might encounter, it also allows me to work right in close to the machine if needed and is brilliant when cleaning up to the dozer blade, I also find it makes the machine far more balanced overall so it’s the only way for me”. The TB295W is powered by a 4 cylinder Isuzu engine which meets Stage IIIB emissions regulations and offers a power rating of 70.6kw which is a significant increase on the old TB175 model with its 53kw Yanmar lump.

Mo is a proper old school operator but in business terms he knows exactly what he wants from his machines and what his customers expect too. He is notorious for driving a hard bargain and the banter with his area salesman Dean Edwards was great to hear, as Mo put it, “The dealer has to make his pound and so do I, so the price has to be right”! But it was clear to see he holds CBL Plant Sales in high regard and explained that having a great dealer to work with and who offers great back up, is half the battle.

In the traditional way Mo has passed on his skills to many younger people over the years and was keen to explain his approach to educating operators on the skills required to be a top class operator, Mo said, “Back in the old days on the JCB’s you just couldn’t do the jobs with such finesse as you can today with the modern machines, so you had to get out and do a bit with the shovel to finish off, these days lads don’t know how to use a shovel and are more than happy to just sit on their backsides in the cab all day, which in all honesty can wind up the lads on the ground. If I had my way anyone wanting to be a machine operator should serve the first two years on the deck with a shovel, that way they learn to appreciate how much hard work is involved and how they as a machine operator can make the groundworkers life a lot easier in the future”.

Mo has a couple of young lads working on the firm who have learnt all the tricks of the trade from him, talking about how he passes on his knowledge Mo said, “I always tell them that the machine has to become an extension of your own arm, so you have to remember that you wouldn’t over stretch yourself so don’t do it to the machine, treat the machine like a living thing and respect it as such and it will look after you”.

The magazine for owners + operators

News

Digging deep into construction machinery news

Ducking and diving in the forest

Loads more

New Komatsu electric mini-excavators

Yanmar electric range at Intermat

New Michelin tyres for loaders and dump trucks

Subscribe to Earthmovers