Is it me... Or has anyone else noticed the uncanny resemblance between a Wirtgen W150F tracked road planer, seen here above being carried in fine style on a rather special Andover plant trailer... And a Jawa sandcrawler as featured in the first episode of Star Wars?
Are they in anyway related? And, more importantly, does Andover Trailers make a transporter for plant hauliersd who regularly carry a Jawa sandcrawler? I think we should be told. And now click on here for more!
Meanwhile word reaches Biglorryblog that Andover has solved a major problem affecting construction and plant hire operators across the UK and Ireland (and I confess it was one worrying me too) after designing and building the industry's first lightweight, centre-balance, drawbar machinery trailer to overcome the increased weight of the latest generation of Wirtgen W150F tracked road planers. And the first example of the new trailer, which has an unladen weight of 4,460 kg, has entered operation with Dublin-based Streetsweep Ryan Road Planing Services which purchased it specifically to enable them to transport the new machine behind a 6x4 tipper. And in case you're wondering a W150F weighs 20.530 tonnes without the canopy, water and with a half full tank of diesel. The weight of a jawa Sandcrawler is unknown... In the meantime what was the full name of the first episode of Star Wars in which the Jawas appeared...?
On a recently improved road that I use regularly the contractors used a slipform machine, which looked very like the planer, also with four tracks, but with the bodywork moved about two metres higher and however carefully this was loaded onto its trailer it always looked very unstable.
Just like to correct you, it was episode 4 and not 1. It was the first film released, so you sort of had it right.
episode four - a new hope