PETER LOVE visited his good mate Ian Gibson Plant Contractor to see his excellent new premises near Upminster, Essex, and his superbly presented working equipment
I an Gibson’s immaculate fleet is used all over the UK on various contracts, including a 1996 Caterpillar 953B being used on the tidying up of the nearly completed ‘dreaded’ A21 Pembury by-pass. The editor is tortured travelling through this area of Kent a number of times a week. In fact, this by-pass should have been completed in 1973, but has got somewhat delayed!
However, I have seen the immaculate 953B working as I have driven by. It was previously a one owner/driver machine and features a new undercarriage and tracks replaced by Ian, who keeps everything tiptop. Incidentally, the 953B has also worked on the A14 recently.
Ian recently purchased Bush Farm on the edges of Upminster and this former Ford of Dagenham apprentice maintains his ever-expanding fleet to a very high standard indeed.
However, do you remember this former RMC site where some 300 acres were dredged from the 1950s to the late 1980s?
Today Ian has a March 3 1980 NCK Rapier 305B 35248 in his fleet with its Dorman of Stafford six-cylinder 6D 6.23 litre power unit keeping the machine honest. It came from Buckbricks Co Ltd of Martells Quarry, Slough Lane, Farleigh, Colchester, Essex, and had been little used in various places including St Albans. However, it needed much cab glass, a service and a total repaint and it looks superb indeed. While I was on site the mighty machine was put to action and goes as well as it looks.
It would be really good to hear from you, the reader, about what operated on this site - from draglines to bulldozers and lorries. The site was very active indeed for some 30 years, basically supplying ballast to many major road construction projects, including the M25.
Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Classic Plant & Machinery.
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Denne historien er fra October 2017-utgaven av Classic Plant & Machinery.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
HYMAC 580BT Restoration
Having started restoration work on his Hymac 580BT, Jeremy Rowland now looks at the next hurdles to get over as he begins to make progress
The Bigger The Better
The Ariño coal mine is not only one of largest operations in Spain today, but also relies on the services of some of the country’s largest earthmovers, writes Steven Vale
Men At Work!
The MF Hanomag dozer ripping up the earth; the Hanomag company dates back to 1835, building steam engines from which it progressed to making many other types of machinery. The construction division was sold to Massey Fergusson in 1974 and was taken over by the IBH Group in 1980: after the collapse of IBH it became part of Komatsu
Into A New Era Ian Gibson Earthmoving Into A New Era
PETER LOVE visited his good mate Ian Gibson Plant Contractor to see his excellent new premises near Upminster, Essex, and his superbly presented working equipment
GFX gets the works
Martyn Williams completes the story of his restoration of an Aveling Barford G series FX roller
Viva Las Cruces
Coal is important for Spain’s economy, but it is not the country’s only indigenous raw material.
This Was The Place To Be
If you were looking to buy some plant at auction, you couldn’t do better than check out the Euro Auction Sale, held near Selby on January 25, 26 and 27.
Inching back to life
Chris McCullough finds an extremely rare excavator restoration
Eiger Replaces Andes
Tom Pattle, owner of P&S Marine, tells the tale of moving an Eiger to his yard to replace a faithful Andes
Crawlers Star!
Although they are not seen in a plant background, enjoying classic and vintage crawlers, the backbone of the plant working scenario these days, is mostly seen at agricultural events like the National Crawler Championship. It was part of the National Ploughing Championships, which took place on Sunday October 15 near Bishops Lydeard, Somerset, and was well supported by CPM readers. The editor was there to see it happen
