Örjan tests the new DPD plough: “I’ll be happy to keep it!”
It’s a well-known fact that as we get older tend to be less willing to try out new things. With age comes experience; we know what works best and we’re comfortably settled in our ways. So in other words, Örjan Olsson, 51 years old and with 30 years as a snow plough driver, is an extremely critical test driver of Mählers new DPD plough.
“No doubt about it, I’ll be happy to keep it! It’s stable, sits on the road well and throws the snow extremely well.”
It was back in 1987 when Örjan Olsson began driving snow ploughs in a used Volvo N10 in Liden, a few miles north of Sundsvall.
“I used Mählers equipment back then too, a DP12. It was good for its time, but of course we used fixed blades back then and we couldn’t pivot the plough. It was a bit jerky and awkward and you needed to be a bit of a daredevil, but it worked,” laughs Örjan. Today, 30 years on, Örjan drives a five-year-old Scania R560 for Huldtmans Transport. Ploughing and gritting in winter, road maintenance for Peab in the summer. Just after Christmas, he took delivery of Mählers new DPD plough (Diagonal Plough Double, which can throw snow both left and right). Or more precisely, a pre-production DPD plough for final testing by customers in winter, before series production begins in the autumn.
Throws snow well
After several days of heavy snowfall, Örjan says’ that the plough is ready for production right now.
“I plough Highway 320 between the Jämtland county line and Timrå. That’s around 40 miles. I also plough a number of back roads in Timrå.”
“The spring-loaded blade holders trip both upwards and backwards. It feels good, and the plough sits on the road well. The plough design is still the best,” according to Örjan. It throws the snow really well, both to the left and right.” Because it ejects the snow so effectively, there’s not much snow remaining for the side wing and the end result is very good. The plough’s ability to be reset in seconds to throw the snow to the left is something Örjan has not had much benefit of yet.
“On my stretch of road I plough to the right all the time. But all the same, I’ve made good use of it when I tidy up road junctions, for example.