Digger looks east again

by Nick Drew | Tue 01 Aug 2017

Digger looks east again

I have a number of people to visit on the East and South East of the country for potential articles in Earthmovers Magazine among them is James Hulk Covell who is certainly making a name for himself recently with his skills on his JCB kit. In this post I thought I would take a look back at some highlights from recent tours on the “East Side” with Facebook group legend Lionel Whitnell.

Whichever way you look at it Lionel has become a pivotal figure on the Digger Man Blog Facebook group. The much respected “old school” muckshifting man who started out with one machine and now runs an extremely impressive business, has become a very active member who is always on hand to offer expert advice to others in the industry who ask him for it.

Lionel is a long term Caterpillar man but more recently is also probably more well-known for his affection for the Case branded Sumitomo excavators which Lionel in his down to earth way describes as a “no tool box required” machine, a reference to the originally Japanese built machines undisputed reliability. Lionel runs a few of them, including this 210C model at his quarrying operation and joint venture with well-known local land owner and businessman Josh Bates, Buffalo Crow Ltd.

Caterpillar kit still dominates the fleet though with one of the most recent additions the D6N LGP which is the regular mount of Lionel’s son Matthew Whitnell. Talking about his latest mount, Matt said, “I really think this D6N is the best tractor I have had so far, to be honest I was not too keen on the model before this new one, as I thought it lacked power but this one is spot on. This new model is so smooth and nimble with great power, it’s the perfect tool for our kind of work”.

Matt continued “The placing of the Trimble gear in this D6N, which is now built into the dashboard, is great, it saves a lot of room in the cab and is neat and tidy, just the way I like things. I’ve had Komatsu, Liebherr and other Cat dozers over the years and enjoyed operating them all, but this machine really is special, it’s just a great all round dozer!”

Lionel’s friendly down to earth character and love of the craic and banter has really brought something to our select group and despite new groups popping up every day I for one hope he sticks around for the long haul on the original Digger Man Blog.

The magazine for owners + operators

Digger Man Blog

Digger looks east again

Loads more

Family Business with a Twist

Remu Goes Where Others Fear to Tread

Liebherr’s R 9400 E Impresses Fortescue Mining

Subscribe to Earthmovers