Construction Plant News reports on a hirer that has developed a life-long attachment to the rail industry
Sandhurst has been the leading name in attachment rental for many years and, with a comprehensive selection of multi-discipline tools for use in a wide range of sectors, finds its strength in an extensive and expanding product range.
What a contractor is always looking for is a stress-free hire service, and a nationwide coverage from five sites supplying more than 30 different types of attachment, together with the company’s 40 years rental experience, provides just that.
In its earlier days Sandhurst focused on both the sale and rental of attachments, but with the recession of 2008 the decision was taken to concentrate on the latter.
It was later decided to leverage existing rental expertise by opening an access platform division, in 2013. Access now represents around a third of the hirer’s turnover, with Haulotte, Skyjack and Nifty units all featuring on its books.
In 2014, a dedicated engineering operation was opened alongside its rental base in Oldbury, West Midlands. Sandhurst onTrack, the name of the new company, originally provided an attachment repair and refurbishment service to the rail industry, but the cost-effective service quickly expanded to cover all industries where excavator attachments are in use.
Sandhurst onTrack’s message to plant owners with defunct attachments lying idle is ‘Don’t Scrap it – Repair it’.
The increasingly pressing demands of upgrading our ageing infrastructure has seen the rail sector record significant growth in recent years, and with the promise of further expansion in the years to come this is a trend that is likely to continue apace.
The hirer already sits in the privileged position of being the sole distributor for the Thomson Rail portfolio of equipment, which is complemented by a full range of Sandhurst approved equipment for other projects.
Universal Rail Thimbles
These robust units support and manipulate into position lengths of welded rail using four rollers running under the rails head. The Thimble design allows it to be used with flat bottom running rail without any adjustments being required.
Hydraulically operated, Sandhurst Thimbles enable the threading of rail into position or for removing rail from sleepers and may be used without the need for rails sections being first lifted onto blocks.
Universal Lifting Beams
The industry standard solution for tandem lifting of track panels and single lengths of welded rails, each end of the beam has hydraulic rail jaws mounted in turntable mounts. These allow the jaws to rotate and change from track panel lift mode to single rail handling mode.
A 10,000kg Safe Working Load means the beams have plenty of capacity for the task and a load sensing valve prevents the jaws from opening when the beam is in full carry load.
Manipulators
Sandhurst Manipulators have vertical and horizontal attachment rotation, so used in conjunction with the bucket ram, posts can be rotated and safely tilted to the angle required. Clamping is totally secure, with each clamp working independently.
In use each clamp stop when meeting resistance, enabling uneven shapes to be handled. Posts are gripped securely and held firm by nylon pads fitted to the clamps, preventing load slip and providing protection.
Digging (Clamshells) Grabs
These powerful excavating tools have become an industry standard in rail maintenance, where a digging grab is the preferred choice for excavating post and gantry foundations and rehandling. Sandhurst’s 360° Clamshells feature optional shell sizes, whilst extensions are available to increase digging profile and depth.
Rehandling (Clamshells) Grabs
It’s the low operating height of the Sandhurst Clamshell Grabs that makes the units perfect for use in low headroom conditions, such as in tunnels and under bridges. These attachments, produced exclusively for Sandhurst, feature a fixed 15° angled base plate providing valuable articulation when extra lead in is required.
360° 5 Tine Grapples
Again, developed for Sandhurst, this product-speciality features in its rental fleet but is also available for sale. These 360° Rotating Grapples with two over three tines, are the optimum attachment for handling rail, railway sleepers, posts poles and timber.
Profiled tines are shaped to efficiently pick up sleepers and other objects with minimum surface disturbance – particularly to ballast.
Both compact rehandling grabs and these compact low headroom grapples feature a close coupled design making them ideal for working under bridges and for tunnel work. Pendulum rotators are also available.
It seems when thinking about excavator attachments, be it to rent short term for a job or for outright purchase, Sandhurst is one company you can safely add to your potential supplier list.
For more information visit www.sandhurst-rent.com
