Parting of the ways
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USED TRUCKS
SM&T WIGHAM
How did a used Daf perform?
During 2007 and 2008 we followed Tim Wigham and his new Daf CF85 drawbar through its first year in operation. Four years later the boss of the Penrith-based operator has said goodbye to the bespoke wagon and drag
Words: Kevin Swallow / Images: Tom Cunningham
In the summer of 2007, CM began following the progress of seven new trucks as they started work with seven operators. Over the next 12 months we received regular feedback, most of it centred on fuel returns.
The participants included Manchester-based Kerry Logistics with a new Stralis; Grangemouth-based Smiths of Denny, a new MAN TGA 18.400 tractor; Ringway Group, a 6x4 Mercedes-Benz Actros 26-tonner; Taunton-based chilled food transport company Langdon’s Transport, a new Renault Premium tractor; 3663, an 18-tonne Scania P230; and Thompsons of Prudoe in the North East, a Volvo FL240 18-tonne skip wagon.
Perhaps the most memorable truck was a bespoke Daf CF85 drawbar combination speciied by Penrith-based operator SM&T Wigham. Boss Tim Wigham had speciied the Euro-5 FAS CF85.410 drawbar to haul pallets of animal feed for BOC.
The combination consisted of a 6x2 curtainsider prime mover with a Don-Bur tri-axle trailer and Manitou forklift itted to the rear. The tri-axle combination was positioned as far down the chassis as possible, to within millimetres of its legal boundaries. Volume and versatililty were the reasons behind the speciication. “It’s a mobile warehouse. We load it up from Monday and the driver will park up the trailer and use the prime mover to run to delivery sites, and reload using the Manitou,” Wigham explained when the truck took to the road.
Roy Johnson, Don-Bur engineer and national account manager, drew up the plans. “There isn’t a millimetre of space left on the trailer,” he said. “The biggest challenge was to make sure it was stable when it was running empty. Load stability with a two-tonne Manitou itted to the rear-end wasn’t an issue, but to make it stable when it was empty meant moving the axles as far back as possible. We were able to make the front axle of the trailer a lift-axle to put more weight through the two rear axles.” Through late 2007 and early 2008 Wigham reported a dodgy battery that stopped the vehicle at the M11 services near Bishop’s Stortford, and teething problems when the VBG coupling seized its pin. Daf breakdown sorted the battery and little lubrication sorted the pin. Apart from a turbo going at 250,000km the truck handled the rigours of long-distance work and rural deliveries well, but during 2011 the cattle feed work for which it was designed started to dry up as BOC amalgamated its operations in Newcastle and Selby and relocated it to Preston.
With the vehicle’s regular driver retiring at Christmas 2011, Wigham parked up the truck between Christmas and new year, and there were reload problems when the truck was switched from its BOC work to general haulage.
“It was perfect for the work it was designed to do, but when it went onto general haulage we started to get problems getting it reloaded,” says Wigham.
At some sites he was told it was too long for the weighbridge or too long for the loading bays and not to send it; while the type of general haulage he was doing involved trailer swaps, which couldn’t use the drawbar.
Wigham felt there would be a downturn through January and February 2012, so decided to trade in the combination for a new Daf XF 105.460 Space Cab 6x2 tractor with Carlisle-based dealer Solway Daf. The drawbar wound up at Wye Commercials, based at Ross-on-Wye, where it was spotted by Paul Bradford (see box).
Thankfully, the downturn didn’t kick in at the start of the year and Wigham slightly regrets selling the Daf.
“It was too good to sell,” he says. “I intended to keep it for ive years. Even now I get jobs that it would have been ideal for, like split loads.” ■
NEW LEASE OF LIFE
Paul Bradford, co-owner with his son Michael of Kelso-based Border Aggregates & Landscaping Supplies, bought the Daf CF85 drawbar (PX07 DDZ) in February 2012.
As soon as he saw the truck, he recognised it. “I knew the previous owner and knew how well it had been looked after by Daf and by Tim Wigham,” he says. “I spoke to Solway Daf at Carlisle, and I spoke to Tim before I bought it.” The company operates nine vehicles from two sites, one in Kelso, the other in Penrith. The fleet includes three drawbar trucks – two of them brick carriers and the third PX07 DDZ – three six-wheelers, two 7.5-tonners and a tractor unit pulling a tipper trailer.The company delivers and collects aggregates and landscaping materials across the length and breadth of the British mainland.
Bradford likes drawbar combinations because they offer versatility. “We do specialist home delivery with the six-wheelers, I like the wagon-and-drag combination because you can drop the trailer and do home deliveries with the wagon. It can do split loads and bulk deliveries. You get more for your money because it has a forklift as well,” he says.
Before he saw the truck advertised, Bradford was undecided what type of vehicle to bring into the fleet and was considering whether to buy another brick carrier or artic.
By adding a curtainsided drawbar with the Manitou forklift to the fleet, he says he has a bigger choice of transport option for deliveries and collections. “For example, in the run up to Christmas, when the work for brick carriers drops off, we can use it for ambient loads to the supermarkets,” he says.