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LOGG 1 NG Otti The halcyon days of International Harvester
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are long gone, but the legendary name still reigns supreme in Tasmanian logging
haulier Tony Bardenhagen's fleet. Steve Brooks reports. Thirty minutes' drive north of Launceston in the top end of Tasmania is the quiet little town of Lilydale. It's one of those places that looks like it's always been part of the landscape. Cast your eyes over the neat shops and old buildings, however, and you'll soon notice how often the name Bardenhagen crops up. Indeed, the Teutonicsounding moniker seems as much a part of the country as the town itself Thirty minutes' drive north of Launceston in the top end of Tasmania is the quiet little town of Lilydale. It's one of those places that looks like it's always been part of the landscape. Cast your eyes over the neat shops and old buildings, however, and you'll soon notice how often the name Bardenhagen crops up. Indeed, the Teutonicsounding moniker seems as much a part of the country as the town itself Thirty minutes' drive north of Launceston in the top end of Tasmania is the quiet little town of Lilydale. It's one of those places that looks like it's always been part of the landscape. Cast your eyes over the neat shops and old buildings, however, and you'll soon notice how often the name Bardenhagen crops up. Indeed, the Teutonicsounding moniker seems as much a part of the country as the town itself "Yeah, it's a German name," confirms local timber haulier Tony Bardenhagen."I think the first of them came to the area in the 1880s, or maybe earlier. Anyway, it's too long ago to remember!" At a mere 71 years old, Bardenhagen clearly sees history as the measurement of personal experience rather than vague
attachments to unacquainted and long-gone forebears.
The sprawling company compound sits just outside the town and includes various scattered sheds and buildings as well as the family home, the office, sawmill and chip mill, workshop plus sundry other structures erected over the course of time.
For Bardenhagen, it's a place where he likes to wander with his own thoughts in the quiet hours after the workers have gone and the machines stand still. It's also where his father Harvey started the family logging and haulage business "In the '20s, I think," he recalls.
For Bardenhagen, it's a place where he likes to wander with his own thoughts in the quiet hours after the workers have gone and the machines stand still. It's also where his father Harvey started the family logging and haulage business "In the '20s, I think," he recalls.
Tony was born at Lilydale in 1933, the same year his father lost a leg in a loading accident. "But that didn't stop him," Bardenhagen says with respect."He kept driving and working right up until he died in 1967." With a hint of pride displaying a similarly formidable work ethic, Bardenhagen declares he's now been driving trucks for 53 years and is still content at the wheel of a logging truck.
So how long does Bardenhagen intend staying at the helm before handing over to the next generation? "I'll keep going while the health and interest are there," he says matterof-factly. "Besides, I'm driving a new truck now, and that's given me a new burst to keep at it. People ask me why I bother to keep driving but that's easy. I just like it!"
If Bardenhagen's contentment with trucks and timber is clearly undiminished so, too, is his allegiance to the famous International truck marque."We've had 'Inters' since before I was born," he says fondly, outlining a company history interwoven with the brand which for years ruled the Australian truck market.
"I drove them for decades before I ever got around to buying my first new truck, a petrol AB184," he recalls. "We always ran Internationals and they always did what we asked of 'em.And sometimes we asked a lot, so I suppose that's why we stuck with 'em!"
Fond recollections of milestone models such as the KS5,KS7,AB184 and LoadStar roll easily off Bardenhagen's tongue. One of his prized possessions is a fully restored 1945 International KS5 presented by family and friends on his 70th birthday. "They were great trucks in their day and this thing," he says warmly, leaning against the old truck,"could still do a good day's work if it
needed to."A broad smile develops as he adds: "But why would ya?"
Alongside the favoured old warhorse are further modern (and not-so-modern) descendants of the International line, each epitomising a defining period in the brand's Australian — and sometimes troubled — existence over the past 30 years.
At the end of the row there's a work-worn ACCO 3070 with its original 350hp Cummins VT-903 underneath. Bought new in 1976 at a time when International Harvester was still enjoying absolute leadership of the Australian truck market — and before the catastrophe that would beset it within the next five years — Bardenhagen drove it until last December.
That's when he stepped, initially with some stubbornness, into the truck now parked alongside, an Iveco PowerStar.This unique home-grown,bonneted machine is built by Iveco at the old International Harvester plant in Dandenong,Victonia. International rescue
Parked alongside the PowerStar though are two International 9900 Eagles, and it's these models that have helped to rekindle Bardenhagen's love of the brand.
There are now two PowerStars in the fleet and while Bardenhagen appreciates the hybrid Iveco's virtues, he doesn't hide his disappointment over the circumstances that ultimately saw the demise of the International name and the subsequent birth of Iveco Trucks Australia (ITA) in its place. "That's howl felt and, if I think about it for too long, that's how it still feels," he insists. Iveco certainly didn't win any points with Bardenhagen by withdrawing the popular S-Line International model from the market. "A very under-rated truck and probably the best International ever built," he reckons. As a result of that corporate decision, for many years he simply refused to buy new trucks. "I
was filthy on the whole thing," he says succinctly, "so if we needed another truck we'd buy a secondhand one And if it didn't have a Cummins, we'd put one in." However, Bardenhagen concedes his tough stance had its drawbacks. "We kept some trucks for far too long," he admits.
Ironically, it was the purchase of a new International 9200 model in 2001 that had the greatest impact on his new-truck philosophy. This was one of a small number imported from the US in right-hand-drive configuration to test Australian market acceptance, and the 9200 was put to work hauling woodchips. It demonstrated enough stamina and strength to convince the company that trucks with the International name might yet re-emerge as a potential fleet flagship.
That impression grew as a result of ITA's decision to import both 9200 and 9900 Eagle models from the US, converting the lightweight aluminium cab to a right-hooker at its factory. Indeed, there are even rumours that Iveco will once again build Internationals from the ground-up at the Dandenong plant.
For Bardenhagen, it's been good news and, with the durability being demonstrated by the fully imported 9200, he took delivery early in 2003 of two long-nosed 9900 Eagles converted to right hand-drive at Dandenong.
Both feature 15-litre 580hp Cummins Signature engines and importantly, after 60,000km the engines were fitted with the upgrade kit that has been highly successful at negating the problems suffered by so many of Cummins' early Signature engines. With more than 170,000km now under their belts, Bardenhagen confirmed the trucks and
the engines have "done everything right so far". Given his entrenched preference for International, and the greater availability of the Eagle models, however, what drove his purchase of the two PowerStars less than 12 months after the arrival of the Internationals?
"We needed a couple of new trucks," Bardenhagen explains, "but it was too early to get Eagles fully built at the Dandenong factory.The PowerStar was the next best thing with the spec we wanted. On top of that, the first lot of Eagles built at the factory have Cat engines.We only use Cummins."
While it's still early days for the PowerStars, he admits that ride quality, handling and overall performance have been "pretty good". But when we ask him if there are any more in the pipeline, the answer is immediate and definitive:"No.The Eagles are a better thing all round and besides, spec-for-spec, they're just on a tonne lighter than the PowerStar."
Bardenhagen believes the Eagles were also cheaper than the PowerStars, due to Iveco's desire to get the locally converted models into the market.That noted, he doesn't expect the price benefit to continue, now that the Eagles are being built locally. Cummins connection
Compared with the Bardenhagens' long association with International, the Cummins is a relative newcomer, arriving in the fleet with the purchase in the early '60s of an International LoadStar powered by a V-504 unit. According to Bardenhagen, the relationship with the engine maker largely developed from that point because Cummins was the engine International mostly used. Still, he's quick to
concede it's a relationship he has been more than happy to continue.
With the exception of the older models, all the fleet is powered by Signature engines. And with one exception — a PowerStar rated at 520hp —they're all set at 580hp. In the company's one B-double unit — hauled, somewhat surprisingly, by a late-model Kenworth T950 bought a year ago — average fuel consumption of 4.8mpg is more than acceptable to Bardenhagen, particularly considering the severity of the Tasmanian terrain and the high power output of the Signatures.
In durability terms, he says problems have been relatively few. "But when we have had an issue, Cummins has been quick to fix it," he adds. "That's the good thing about them." Although early-model Signatures suffered problems in Australia, the introduction of the current upgrade kit, along with the evolution of the Generation II series of engines, seemed to have sorted them. Indeed, it's widely
accepted that when a Signature is on song' it has a powerful tune, uphill and down.
Joining Bardenhagen driver Tom Tulloch in an Eagle for a 200km round-trip from Lilydale, there was certainly no shortage of tough terrain to test that theory "Out here, it's either all up or all down.There's not much in the middle,"Tulloch says seriously. Impressive Impressive
With the truck and tri-axle trailer loaded with 30.5 tonnes of timber, and hauling out of a greasy paddock with a fierce jump-up from a steep creek bed, the tenacity of the 15-litre Cummins was immensely impressive. Even so, Thlloch reckons it performed "just that bit better" before the upgrade kit was installed. "On some of these hills it was maybe half a gear better before the work was done on the engine," he comments. "But when you think about the size of some of the hills around here, I suppose there's not much to complain about." Indeed, the lugging ability of the Signature was at times astonishing as it held on
to high range over some wickedly sharp lips.
However, it was on the steep, snaking descents that the strength of the Signature's engine brake — all 600 braking horsepower of it — really impressed, and more than matched anything it delivers on the uphill side.As for the International Eagle,Tulloch agrees there's not much to dislike. However, his vast experience and a carefully honed respect for the long-term effects of hauling logs out of the bush led him to think that, with little more than 170,0001un on the dial, there's still plenty of work to be done before the Eagle can fully claim to have earned its stripes."So far, it's hanging together good," he admits.
However, it was on the steep, snaking descents that the strength of the Signature's engine brake — all 600 braking horsepower of it — really impressed, and more than matched anything it delivers on the uphill side.As for the International Eagle,Tulloch agrees there's not much to dislike. However, his vast experience and a carefully honed respect for the long-term effects of hauling logs out of the bush led him to think that, with little more than 170,0001un on the dial, there's still plenty of work to be done before the Eagle can fully claim to have earned its stripes."So far, it's hanging together good," he admits. Despite odd grumbles about its dash layout, in all other respects the Eagle with the big beak appears particularly at ease in the logging life. Handling and ride qualities are
certainly commendable, while the absence of any rattles, squeaks or cracks is at least bolstering confidence in the aluminium cab's ability to survive tough conditions.
Bardenhagen expects to run his Eagles for around seven years, notching up relatively modest annual mileages between 120,000 and 140,000km on single shifts. "In this business, particularly around here, mileage isn't a good measure of how hard the trucks are working," he asserts. So can we take it the Eagle is a good truck? "Can't see why it won't be," says Bardenhagen guardedly. And that is high praise indeed. • FAa FILE Aged 71, Tony Bardenhagen has seen trucks evolve from the simplicity of models such as the International KS5 to the modem muscle of an Eagle 9900 punched by a 580hp Cummins Signature. Throughout it all, though, his loyalty to International has not wavered