A civil engineering company in Ireland has taken delivery of the country's first 552hp Fendt 1052, a 14-tonne tractor that its new owner plans to use for heavy stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation work.
Mick English, owner of Shannon Valley Group, bought the machine from Farmworks Machinery. The Dublin-based dealer said the 1052 is the largest Fendt in Ireland. The tractor is powered by a 12.4-litre, six-cylinder MAN engine that produces 2,650Nm of torque.
English said the company was satisfied with the 1050 and chose the newer model. Shannon Valley has used Fendt tractors for seven or eight years, he added.
In its working configuration, the 1052 will carry a 3.5-tonne weight on the front and a 9-tonne hybrid stone-crushing and soil-stabilisation machine on the rear. English said he takes guidance from the manufacturers of such attachments when buying tractors, and that they consistently recommend Fendt. He described the brand as the Rolls-Royce of tractors, while attributing that view to the equipment makers rather than to himself.
He rejected the idea that a large tractor of this type is only for show. According to English, the machine reaches its limit when working in the ground to mill limestone boulders and hard clays, with the whole tractor being pulled down. In his view, more power makes the work easier on the tractor.
English, who is from Co Leitrim, has 35 years of earthmoving experience. His family's involvement with tractors began with a Massey 35 and later a Massey 165, machines his father started with in 1976. He recalled that the family did not have the luxury of a cab at that time.
He said that in the 1970s a Massey 165 was the equivalent of today's Fendt 1052 in Co Leitrim. His father's 165 was a mark one model with round axles and a small Perkins 203 engine. English remembered climbing onto the tractor at three years of age when it arrived in the yard, then jumping off crying because of the noise when the throttle was pulled. He said the family still has those tractors.
The purchase also reflects a longer family record of buying new equipment. English said his father started the business in London in 1966, where he bought new JCB 3C diggers, and moved it back to Leitrim in 1970 with the JCBs and other machinery. English said his father was one of the first in Ireland to have JCB machines.
Shannon Valley now operates more than 200 diggers, including a 75-tonne Hitachi Zaxis 690-7 bought in 2020. At the time, it was the first of its kind sold in Europe, according to English.
He said the company will probably buy another Fendt 1052 next year as well.