New Life

What started out as a potential demolition job at an abandoned 14-acre rail yard ended up becoming a labor of love for Tom Bishop, a Virginia entrepreneur and self-proclaimed history buff.

Bishop, who is involved with a number of Virginia-based business interests, including Berry Iron & Metal and Berry Home Centers, recognized the economic potential of the former Virginian Railway (VGN) manufacturing and repair yard in Princeton, W.Va., when he visited it in the summer of 2006. Rather than bidding on its demolition, Bishop chose instead to purchase the historic site and to convert it into an indoor scrap yard.

“While I was walking through the grounds and buildings with the demolition contractor, I was picturing in my mind’s eye how the site was an indoor scrap yard already in place and I got interested in buying it,” he recalls. “We took possession of the property in 2007 and set about converting it to our application. In 2008 we opened our doors to the public as Recycle West Virginia, a state-of-the-art indoor recycling and metal-shredding operation that takes all kinds of scrap, including junk cars, copper, aluminum cans, radiators, brass, batteries and white goods.”

To feed the facility’s new mega-shredder and to move materials in and around the yard, Bishop acquired two Sennebogen material handlers—an 830 M D Series and 840 M—from Adam Sanders at Power Equipment Co., in Kingsport, Tenn.

ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
Before he opened Recycle West Virginia, Bishop was already familiar with Sennebogen’s reliability and durability. In 2003, Bishop acquired a Sennebogen 835 M C Series material handler fitted with a quick-attach for a magnet and 1.25-yard scrap grapple for use at Berry Iron & Metal, his scrap yard in Chilhowie, Va. Impressed with the machine’s quality and performance, he acquired two additional material handlers for the yard—an 825 M in 2006 and an 835 M in 2008.
“Sennebogen were the new kids on the block at that time. I was originally looking at a competitor’s machines, but availability became an issue,” Bishop says. “I’m always in search of the best equipment available and I’m not afraid to try new brands. Sennebogen had a machine available when I needed one, so I went with them.” He adds, “Prior to that, we had always used retro-fitted excavators. But once we had the Sennebogen machines, we realized the value in having purpose-built material handlers. They have cut our load-up time in half.”

KEEPING THINGS MOVING
To keep his new Princeton facility running smoothly, Bishop acquired two new rubber-tired machines from the Charlotte, N.C.-based manufacturer in 2008—an 830 M and an 840 M. Fitted with a 2-yard grapple, the 840 M is dedicated to feeding the yard’s 98115 shredder from Peachtree, Ga.-based Harris.  The shredder is equipped with a with a 4,500-horsepower motor. The shredder is housed in a 56,000-square-foot building, which is the largest on the site. The Harris shredder is capable of operating at up to 180 tons per hour.
“Having the shredder indoors is a little bit out of the ordinary, but it’s worked out really well for us,” Bishop says.
While the Sennebogen machines don’t actually operate inside the building, their versatility and ability to move around the yard, particularly the 830 M, is important to the staff at Recycle West Virginia, he says.
Fitted with a mag-grapple, the 830 M is used for general yard duty, unloading trailers and staging material for the 840 M to feed into the shredder. Both of Recycle West Virginia’s Sennebogen material handlers are in operation five days per week, eight hours per day.
Bishop says he selected rubber-tired machines because they provided the mobility and speed he required on the Princeton facility’s concrete base. He is pleased with the visibility the elevating cabs provide and says being able to see into the end of the trailers is a great benefit in terms of efficiency and safety.
According to Bishop, his operators love the material handlers and only use the yard’s older equipment by a different manufacturer as backup. In fact, one of the yard’s operators, Jeff Harris, has become so efficient with the machines that he can “literally lift a coffee cup with the grapple and flip it at another guy hitting him in the head with it,” Bishop says. “He’s the best I’ve seen—He’s really got a knack for it.”

POWER COUPLE
Bishop bought his first Sennebogen machines from Larry Shuck, the recently retired senior vice president of Bramco Inc., Power Equipment’s parent company. Recent acquisitions have been done through Power Equipment Sales Representative Adam Sanders. 
“The folks at Power Equipment have been super and have met our support and service needs in a timely manner,” Bishop says. “Any parts we have required have always arrived the very next day, maximizing our uptime.”
Bishop says he has considered acquiring a 305 C multi-handler from the company as well. “With its elevating cab, it would be perfect for cleaning out bins and general uploading duties.”
He adds that one of his goals as a business owner is to buy equipment that will make it easy for his operators to do their jobs. “We’re very pleased with the performance of our Sennebogen machines in meeting this goal. We’ve been successful with them and we’ve stuck with them.”

This feature was submitted on behalf of Sennebogen LLC, Charlotte, N.C. More information is available at www.sennebogen-na.com.