This two-hour programme kicks off in Sweden where the CP Productions team spends a day in the company of Michael Kvarforth and his stunning Scania R620 truck-trailer combination. Many of Sweden's logging trucks are well turned out but the Kvarforth Scania is simply stunning to look at and listen to!
The transport of long logs in Sweden is not a common event but we see just such an operation in the north of the country during the coldest part of winter. Lots of snow and some spectacular winter scenery act as a backdrop to this unique logging process.
Hayes trucks are legendary for their rugged longevity and are popular with log truck operators in the forests of British Columbia. So a twin-steer Hayes with a self-loader working in the Port Alberni area of Vancouver Island is obviously something very special. Join owner-driver Trevor Bennett on a typical day out in his 1975 Mack-powered Hayes HD four-axle tractor and extendable trailer.
Only a dozen or so Challenger trucks were built with most entering service in the 1990s with Canadian logging companies located in the Pacific North-West. Pete Connock and Martin Phippard found one working example driven by a young and enthusiastic company driver who considers his 600hp Challenger to be 'the best log truck ever built.'
Finland, like Sweden, has long, snow-filled winters. But that doesn't stop log truck operators facing up to the challenges presented by rough roads, steep gradients and big loads. The film-makers found a Sisu powered by an 18-litre Caterpillar rated at 630hp and marvelled as its driver overcame all the obstacles nature could throw at him.
Although Sweden allows some of the biggest trucks in Europe, operators and shippers alike are always seeking new ways in which to improve productivity. One combination doing just that is a unique 30-metre-long truck plus B-train combination working in northern Sweden at weights of 90-tonnes gross.
Mention the name Steve Drybrough or the Hayes truck known as H17 and you can be assured that these will be instantly recognised anywhere in the world. A log truck driver all his life, Steve is acknowledged as 'the authority' in the heavy-duty log truck business. And H17, the Hayes HDX Steve has driven since 1975, is no less famous having featured on a postage stamp and in several trucking publications. In the spring of 2011 CPP captured this inseparable team still hauling gigantic loads of timber from the mountains to the Sarita sort on Vancouver Island.
Some logs are sawn into planks for building material and some go to pulp-mills where they eventually become paper. Inevitable by-products of these processes are sawdust and wood chips but these materials are not wasted. Known as wood residuals, the bulky products are transported in carefully engineered, high-capacity bodies. In this DVD we see a superbly crafted Scania discharging a load at a mill in southern Sweden.
The companion to this programme, Looking at Logging Part 1, has been enthusiastically received: 'It is an absolute belter filled with great moving images of logging lorries from around the world and there are some real treats in it too … logging truck videos don't come much better.' BigLorryBlog.
Pete Connock and Martin Phippard have been making trucking programmes for nearly twenty years. Their DVDs are fully researched and narrated and aimed squarely at fellow trucking enthusiasts.
DVD Info
Region: 2
Running Time: 120 minutes
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