Cummins-powered Western Star 4900: Review

The chilling arctic winds that often pound the southern tip of Tasmania had subsided, the Derwent River shimmered in the morning sun as Lester Townsend guided his 4900 Western Star Constellation up the Southern Outlet southbound out of Hobart.

The easy-going scenic ride on the bitumen would be short lived, approximately 40 kilometres to the south at Huonville, Lester would take a right hand turn and head deep into the southern forests of the Florentine valley where the road deteriorates dramatically the deeper into the mountains we’d go.

Lester’s lived in the area all his life and been logging for most of it. This is his second Western Star and with a little over 12 months of bush work under its belt Lester admits he’s more than happy with the Star’s performance, ride and reliability.

The heart of this 4900 Western Star is a Cummins ‘Signature’ rated at 600 horsepower coupled to an Eaton (2050lb) 18-speed transmission that drives Meritor RT46-160 rear axles riding on an Airliner suspension.

“The engine braking on this Cummins is really magnificent, Lester said. “That’s pretty important in this country and it makes a considerable saving to the life of your service brakes,” he added.

The list of standard equipment on Lester’s 4900 reads like an optional extras list on other brands. It includes such items as leather-wrapped steering wheel, chrome finish door handles, dual Hadley air horns, dual six inch convex mirrors mounted below heated dual West Coast stainless steel door-mounted mirrors and twin stainless air cleaners.

“The trailer is a locally made Chivers jinker that was on my older trucks,” Lester explained. “I converted it from a steel spring suspension to airbags a while back and with the full rig on airbags, I average around 31-tonne payload, so it’s a pretty good set-up all round considering the unit is reasonably heavy-duty specced.”

The ride was smooth and quiet inside the wide Constellation cabin, and the muffled soothing hummin’ of the Cummins out under the bonnet barely noticeable, which made having a conversation easy.

Lester’s local knowledge is one of pride that encompasses his community, his job and its sustainability. He told us that logging in the Huon area commenced as early as the 1800s where the workers would set up temporary camps.

However, it is thought that the first white man to settle permanently in the area was a 'bolter', an escaped convict, who was found by timber getters in the early 1820s. The man, known only Martin, had built a primitive camp in the surrounding bush. The district began to develop in the 1840s and 1850s when both apples and hops were grown and still are to this day.

“In recent times the introduction of Atlantic salmon farms has bought new industry to the area and these fish are exported all over the world,” Lester added.

The airliner suspension was really getting a thorough workout as the corrugations in the road deepened the further up the mountains the Western Star travelled. From inside the cabin, the only indication the road had deteriorated was the odd rattle from the jinker’s chocks on the back.

“This Western Star certainly is a well put together unit,” Lester commented. “And performance wise I can’t fault this Cummins, it’s really got all its 600 horses working when I need it.”

Lester concedes the ride and handling of this 4900 Western Star is the best he’s ever had. The ease which Lester piloted the 4900 along the winding twisting logging road only reiterated his comments on the superior ride and handling of the Constellation.

The ever changing countryside transformed corner after corner till eventually either side of the road became lined with thick rows of tall trees. “They’re what they call swamp gums”, Lester enlightened. “They are one of the softer hardwoods and are mostly used for producing veneer panelling.”

“You can see here in this clearing where they have logged this small coupe and are ready to replant it,” Lester explained, pointing out the windscreen a few corners further on. That next patch of bush or coupe is left untouched which provides habitat for the native animals. Scenery wise it also means the mountains are not barren, like where they clear-fell pine forests.”

Over the next few kilometres, Lester was able to point out some examples of how sustainable forest harvesting works. “These coupes were harvested only five or so years back,” Lester pointed out. “Around the next bend, it was harvested ten years ago. The quick growth of these trees makes it extremely hard to tell where harvesting has taken place after only a decade of growth.”

“These gums that are planted here are fast growing eucalypt tree that the forestry has developed specifically for the industry. It is not a scene of destruction but a renewable resource we have here,” Lester emphasised.

Like many loggers down this way, Lester gets a little annoyed when the community is misled with reports about how logging is destroying the forests. He also has little time for small-minded, misinformed people that block the entrances to logging coupes and vandalise machinery claiming everything as the last tall stand of timber.

“This is the third time this area has been logged,” Lester pointed out. “There has been a real evolution in the way timber is harvested and forests managed over the last four to five decades.”

The evolution Lester spoke about is quickly evident when you walk around parts of the coupe and notice the old taller stumps with notches where axemen would cut shoe holes in the tree truck for their planks. The advent of motorised chainsaws certainly improved productivity and trees were cut at ground level which meant the height of the stumps lowered.

“Some of them can’t see the wood for the trees,” Lester mused, referring to the extremist minority.

The UHF radio in the overhead console crackled into life with a call from the bush crew checking on Lester’s progress. “I’ll start heading down to the landing,” came the reply after Lester informed of his position. “Just coming in around spur three”. Sure enough around a few more corners dust rose from the ridge as the excavator made its way down to the large stacks of logs neatly sorted on the side of the bank.

Lester eased off the throttle and nosed the Western Star into a small clearing, waited for the dust to clear, then selected reverse and backed alongside the log stacks. There were a couple of chains on the Jinker pole to be undone then it slowing rolled off, Lester selected low, eased out the clutch and stretched out the pole.

There was time for a quick chat with the excavator driver then the machine’s large arm with its mechanical beak began clasping logs and gently placing them between the poles of the jinker. Like most log trucks down this way, Lester’s truck is fitted with Elphinstone on-board scales, and the truck can be loaded accurately to the maximum weight.

Interestingly enough is how accurate they load the logs, as the load is near completion, Lester monitors his handheld readout and signals the excavator driver how much weight is over each axle group. The machine operator can grab a log and shift it forward or rearward to achieve the correct weight over each axle group. When everything goes to plan it takes approximately half an hour to load the logs onto the truck.

Lester admits that logging is a very good industry to be in although he cites it is a very hard industry at times.

A loud swoosh of air gushing from the Western Star’s spring brakes signalled it was time to get these logs on the road. The big-bore Cummins under the hood bit hard and the tyres gnawed through the dust searching for traction in the soft powdery dirt track, Lester, his 4900 Constellation Western Star and 31-tonnes of logs slowly moved out of the landing.

It would be another three and half hours before Lester would reach the mill, a journey that would take him right through the heart of Hobart and up the East Coast of the state, but that’s another story.