New Doosan DX300SLR-5 Excavator Helps Save Castle
In the UK, a new Doosan DX300SLR-5 crawler excavator that was part of a fleet of machines hired from Fraserburgh-based David Smith Contractors Ltd has played a vital role in helping to save the historic Abergeldie Castle following huge storms in Scotland.
Set right beside the River Dee, Abergeldie Castle, an A-listed 16th-century tower house, teetered on the brink of collapse when unprecedented heavy rainfall caused the river to burst its banks, sweeping away around 20 m of the banking and leaving the historic building in a precarious position.
Teetering on the Brink
Supplied by Balgownie Ltd, based at Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, the local Authorised Doosan and Bobcat dealer, the long-reach capability of the DX300SLR-5 excavator was pivotal in shoring up the banks of the river and saving the castle, before work was immediately commenced to further repair and strengthen the river bank to ensure the future survival of the property.
David Smith, Managing Director of David Smith Contractors, said: “We were pleased to be of help in the works to save Abergeldie Castle. As soon as it was delivered by Balgownie, the new Doosan machine was off to site to work on the river bank next to the castle. Long-reach excavators like the Doosan DX300SLR-5 model are a speciality of ours and are popular in Scotland.”
In the face of the storms, the 76-year-old Baron of Abergeldie, John Gordon, and his wife had to flee their castle and seek refuge with neighbours until the castle could be secured to prevent it from toppling into the raging river. This historic A-listed castle is located at Crathie, just a stone’s throw away from the Queen’s Balmoral Estate.
Having secured £100,000 funding and with support from Aberdeenshire Council, teams worked tirelessly through the night for five days to build up the banks by the castle using tonnes of rocks to effectively prop the castle up and prevent further erosion of the banks. Thankfully, the castle is now no longer deemed at risk.
The new Stage IV compliant Doosan DX300SLR-5 was deployed to place hundreds of tonnes of stone along the river bank adjacent to the castle to reclaim the river bank. The placing of the stone was then followed by a large rock armour which should go some way to securing the future of this historic building. With a large enough working platform in front of the building, underpinning works are to be carried out to further strengthen the foundations.
As well as plant hire, David Smith Contractors provides a complete range of civil engineering services including bulk earthworks and GPS remodelling, demolition, drainage, retail construction, decommissioning, petrochemical maintenance, road construction and piling.
The company also offers a complete crushing and screening service in Scotland and all over the UK. This is particularly useful on civil engineering projects which are geographically remote from quarries, where material purchase and haulage can be a significant project cost. The deployment of crusher and screen combinations from David Smith Contractors provides a viable alternative to hauling aggregate by road from distant quarries.
As well as the full range of Doosan crawler and wheeled excavator models, Balgownie is responsible for sales and servicing of the Doosan wheel loader and articulated dump truck ranges in Aberdeenshire, Morayshire, Angus and for much of the Highlands. The company is also the Authorised Bobcat dealer for the same areas.
Balgownie Ltd started trading as an engineering company in 1907 in sheet metal work and tank manufacturing, supplying to shipyards, farmers and the food industry before diversifying into the manufacture and supply of dairy equipment. Today, Balgownie is one of the leading specialists in Construction, Tractor, Trailer, Agriculture and Groundcare Machinery sales in Scotland.
Greater Power and Torque
The new DX300SLR-5 is powered by the Scania DC9 5-cylinder diesel engine, with an output of 202 kW of power at 1800 rpm, providing a huge 27% increase in engine power and a massive 30% boost in torque over the LC-3 model. The engine meets Stage IV emission regulations without the need of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), through the use of cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and selective catalyst reduction (SCR) after-treatment technologies.
To help meet Stage IV regulations, Doosan has added a mass airflow sensor and exhaust brake to the engine. The mass airflow sensor allows the electronic control unit to improve the management of airflow provided by the variable geometry turbocharger and to optimise fuel delivery to the combustion chamber based on air intake volume and rpm.
As well as the Scania engine, new innovative and exclusive features have been introduced, leading to huge reductions in fuel consumption amounting to an average of 10% compared to the previous Stage IIIB machine.
For more information about Doosan construction equipment, visit www.doosanequipment.eu