• Scarab has supplied three Multicars to keep the UK
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rail station at the Channel Tunnel free of snow and ice in winter.
The German-built 4.1-tonner is powered by a Volkswagen 1.9litre four-cylinder diesel engine producing 40kV4r (54hp) at 3,300rpm, and 120Nm (891bft) of torque at 1,800rpm. Each comes with interchangeable equipment allowing them to operate as a snow plough, gritter, brine sprayer or grass cutter.
"The French have got a lad from the village with one clapped-out old sweeper to do the lot at their end," says Rodger Hoadley,Scarab Sales managing director.
"We've also supplied eight to Network South Fast, and they're being used as road/rail vehicles for track maintenance," he continues. "They're equipped with rail wheels which are lowered to guide the vehicle along the track, while the rubber tyres grip the rails and provide the propulsion.
"A Multicar is a lot cheaper than a Mercedes-Benz Unimog, and it will carry a lot of equipment," he adds. "It's got a hydraulic pump, so the engineers don't have to take a compressor along with them."
Scarab sold 20 Multicars in the UK in 1993. They are available in shortand long-wheelbase 4x2 or 4x4 versions, and boast a payload of at least 2.6 tonnes.
The Multicar factory is at Waltershausen in what was once East Germany, and is no longer in state hands; it has just benefited from an investment of £ 3 million.