Owner/Driver #339

“This truck also came fitted with one
of the first Cummins EGR motors.”
over 20 trucks, as well as several custom-made loaders. There
is also a constant circulation of around 15 machines and
several crews out in the bush at any one time, helping fell and
organise the logs. Then, the company trucks swing by and
haul them off to any number of local, or state-wide sawmills.
Leeson’s has planted itself in every aspect of the logging
industry, making it very much a one-stop shop for plantation
logging.
Stars to Kenworths
The ‘Big Pete’ that I’ve come down to see is the lone wolf of the
fleet. Well, the lone Peterbilt wolf I should say, as there is a fair
bit of variety in the fleet these days. When I asked Rick about
the early days and what trucks they used to run, his honest
answer was “old ones”. After a laugh, he elaborated: “We’ve
been a bit everywhere, we ran a lot of Western Stars.”
The old photos on the walls testify to that too; there’s plenty
of photos of some big-bonneted ’Stars in the early company
colours.
“We moved to the Volvos, the FH16s and those type of
things,” Rick continues.
“Slowly we’ve moved to the Kenworth brand.”
That decision was influenced by the arrival of a Kenworth
dealer to their local area.
Top: Dan ‘Deppo’ Glover is a young
man who’s worked hard and reaps
the rewards with the stunning Pete
as his workhorse
Opposite above: Hard to tell there’s
almost two million kilometres
behind the Peterbilt’s immaculate
interior
Opposite below: ‘Deppo’ loads out of
Flynn and pulls the Peterbilt up for
me to grab some photos
The company’s first Kenworth, which hit the road in 1994,
was a T950, ironically named ‘Western Invader’, a subtle dig at
the change in bonnet badges for Leeson’s. From that one the
fleet progressed to almost entirely red-badged Kenworths for
several years. During its time, the company has had several
K200s as well as almost the entire range of Paccar’s bonneted
options, including T610s, T909s and the always cool T659.
“The 950 was the ideal truck for what we do really,” Rick
testifies.
So it’s no surprise that, when the 950 Legend Series came
out, there was an order placed for one. It’s still working its
butt off.
Moving forward again, the current fleet is made up of a
real mixture. Still heavily dominated by the sturdy Kenworth
badge, you can also find a few Western Stars as well as a
couple of Scanias and the recent addition of a big Merc as well.
So where did the Pete come into it?
ownerdriver.com.au
APRIL 2021 43