Im IBH (real name Tim) im in my early twenties and from the English Midlands.
I have been a fan of construction and earthmoving machinery since a very early age, I cant pinpoint when it started but Ive been interested in machinery for as long as I can remember.
I used to be captivated by machinery I saw and could easily sit and watch a JCB working all day.
Around the area where I grew up there were several scrap yards where I saw many Hymacs and Ruston Bucyrus machines and luckily a JCB dealership with lots of (at the time) shiney new yellow JCBs.
I think what really stoked the flames was finding Excavators by Peter Grimshaw in my local library and just becoming absorbed in the histories of various companies whos machines id seen but knew not a lot about at the time.
After growing tired of the Beano I started buying Construction News to keep abreast of all machinery related news before Classic plant and machinery and Earthmovers existed.
I have a modest collection of leaflets, models and photos ive built up over the years- models didnt come cheap on pocket money!
Im not involved in the industry and I dont operate any machinery but ive had a go
Im interested not only in the machines themselves but the engineering/technology behind them,the histories and business sides of manufacturers.
My main interest is in excavators (both cable and hydraulic) together with backhoe loaders, though all machinery is of interest to me.
Ive always been keen on British manufactures e.g JCB, Hymac, Whitlock, Priestman etc etc and smaller machines in general as these seem to be largely overlooked in favour of Caterpillar or bigger more glamourous kit.
But not on this forum
Ive been aware of other forums on the internet but always found it difficult to contribute to non-English forums but I now know what a Backhoe Loader is in 3 or 4 languages!
Unfortunately im seperated from most of my photo collection at the moment but fear not over the coming months ill have a root around and upload and scan where needed any good ones.
But women can never understand the lure of heavy equipment can they?? 