Awesome Earthmovers recently travelled to the south of England to see a very special JCB 150X HD. Aside from being one of JCB’s most capable excavators, it is also fitted with a few specialist extras, making it an extremely rare machine.
The new 150X HD joins an older model at Devon based forestry and environmental contractor, CD Forestry & Environmental Ltd (CDFE), which is headed up by experienced operator Callum Dyckes.
As someone who takes his time whilst speccing his machines, Callum saw the acquisition of the second excavator as an opportunity to build his perfect machine, Extremely happy with his first 150X HD Callum ordered another with a plethora of extras that make work more comfortable and efficient for all day operations.
“This machine has been on the cards for a long time as we already have one 150X HD, but due to the workload of this particular site, we needed the extra machine. It arrived just in time to start the project,” he says.
Beyond the Spec Sheet
The new acquisition touts a broad array of top-of-the-line options, from a factory bespoke undercarriage to the brand-new UX cab with 360° cameras feeding directly to the operator.
Adds Callum: “The new 150X HD came factory-fitted with 10mm belly plates, which are all uprated from the standard 140X undercarriage. This machine also has the full DCMart JCB factory guarding and it comes with the HD bumpers and side skirts.
“HAVING THE NEWER VERSION OF THE UX CAB IS A
BIG PLUS
WITH THE FULL 360° CAMERAS INTEGRATED INTO THE SCREEN.”
Callum Dyckes Owner CD Forestry & Environmental
“In addition, we’ve got the tab boom, which was an optional extra. The dipper came with full high-flow, low-flow and case drain K-String functions and the Advanced Tool Control that allows me to then pre-set all of the attachments. I can have up to 15 attachments, all with pre-set hydraulic flows and pressures.
“Both the new and old ones are equally great machines, but the new one is slightly smoother with the refined hydraulics. Having the newer version of the UX cab is a big plus with the full 360° cameras integrated into the screen. The new machine also reacts slightly differently and is slightly faster, but both are equally, comparably, great.”
This machine’s specification is currently one of a kind in the UK as the only UX cabbed JCB150X HD TAB.
CD Forestry’s Passion Projects
CD Forestry focuses their projects on peatland, heathland, and wetland restoration. These are little-known and often underappreciated biomes common in the UK.
Heathlands have for years been either planted on with dense blocks of softwood or have been overrun with re-gen trees, which means vital wildlife and natural resources go without sunlight and regularly lead to failing bogs and uninhabitable terrain for rare local fauna.
For a heathland restoration project, the team at CDFE use their JCB 150X HD to shear and fell the trees and place them into neat windrows to be forwarded on for processing. All trees to be removed have been inspected for habitat potential by a qualified ecologist and those that are identified to have potential remain as habitat. The removed product is then either chipped and turned into biomass fuel or sold as logs for firewood.
When it comes to peatlands, the job is more challenging. As peat is a carbon store, it’s vital that the material isn’t too disturbed. CDFE makes efforts to preserve the peat whilst creating pools of standing water to sit. This allows for the sphagnum moss to grow, ultimately leading to more peat deposits. Peatland restoration also requires removal of large trees, which dries the peat out and leads to it degrading - an often-challenging job with a substance like peat.
Awesome Earthmovers were privileged to be on-site again with CD Forestry at their latest peatland restoration project on heathland near Dorchester.
On this site, there are several silver birch, oak and pine trees hindering the expansion of the peatland. The new 150X HD was working to fell and remove the trees with minimal disturbance to the ground and was utilising a specialist attachment to take down the trees without them touching or disturbing the ground.
Field and Forest Attachments
Callum was also working with a GMT Equipment 050TTC (Total Tree Control) grapple saw, which proved to be the perfect piece of equipment for the job, allowing operators to lock both the gimbal pins for a solid and secure hold on the trees, while still offering flexibility and manoeuvrability amongst the tree canopy.
It can cut trees with a diameter of 55cm thanks to the grapple’s opening width of 122cm. The saw also only weighs 555kg, with a load-bearing weight of 2.5 tonnes.
It was supplied by Field and Forestry Machinery, a dealer specialising in forestry and firewood, construction demolition, ground care, and rail work machinery. The company, which offers a vast array of equipment, from GMT grapple saws to remote-control flailbots, are official suppliers to the north and south of England for many OEMs, and with a team of maintenance technicians who are adept in a wide range of repair tasks, the company’s aftercare support is extremely impressive.
Callum has also designed and built bespoke equipment himself including a seppi fixed tooth mulcher, A TMK300 shear and numerous brash rakes and buckets.
With the two JCB 150s performing well Callum has just invested in a Teletruck supplied by Holt JCB and if all goes to plan in future the older 150X will be updated to a fresher model outlining the continuing confidence of CD Forestry in JCB machines.