825 M D Series is equipped with a hydraulic cab and a 47” magnet, which allows the operator to see the inside of the trailer.

CHICAGO HEIGHTS, IL – Rail car derailments can happen any place, anytime, and when they do, they require an immediate response. Damaged and/or destroyed rail cars and their contents need to be cleared off the tracks quickly and efficiently so regular rail traffic can resume as soon as possible.

As someone interested in stepping up his company’s derailment clean-up operations, Steve Happ, Owner and Manager of Happ’s Inc., knows he must have the ability to get his equipment to the scene of a derailment quickly 24/7. His rubber-tired SENNEBOGEN 825 M gives him both the transportability and power to respond promptly when derailments occur.

Happ says, “When a call comes in, I have to respond in a heart-beat. My SENNEBOGEN 825 M is small enough to transport to the derailment site on a low-boy trailer and large and powerful enough to do the job properly once I get there. It offers me the best of both worlds.”

Happ’s Inc. 825 M is no one-trick pony
Happ’s SENNEBOGEN 825 M is no one-trick pony, however. When it is not cleaning up messy derailments, it is busy unloading discarded rail ties from trailers and railcars and feeding them into the firm’s portable wood grinder. For this application, the machine uses a 4/3 grapple. In addition, it may be seeing general scrap yard duty at the 43 acre site Happ shares with his brother Tom, the Owner and Manager of T.H. Cropping Inc. For this application, the 825 M is fitted with a 47” magnet. All of these applications require versatility, reliability and mobility – all qualities that initially attracted Happ to SENNEBOGEN.

“I became familiar with the SENNEBOGEN product line when I was spec’ing a machine for a scrap yard I used to run in Kansas City a few years back,” says Happ. “When that yard closed, I held off until I moved to Chicago and joined my brother at our present site. He already had a SENNEBOGEN 830 M in operation so when it came time to acquire my machine, I was pretty familiar with what I was getting into.”

Because he knew that he would be transporting his SENNEBOGEN machine to different jobsites, Happ went with the smaller 825 M model.

”I’m on the road quite a bit with my 825 M,” says Steve. “Tom’s 830 M stays and handles the scrap application. In order to increase the overall versatility of our SENNEBOGEN machines, we’re in the process of fitting both with a Quick-Disconnect system so the grapple and magnet attachments we use will be interchangeable with both machines. I’m also presently spec’ing a clamshell bucket for the derailment application.”

Visibility is the key to our operations
Happ praises the visibility afforded by the elevating cabs on his SENNEBOGEN 825 M and that of his brother’s machine. “We’re around gondolas and I spend a lot of time in railway yards. To be quite frank, if these machines didn’t have the elevating cabs, they wouldn’t be in our yard. In our working environment, the operator has to be able to see what he’s loading and off-loading.”

Happ also speaks highly of the elevating cab’s comfort and user-friendly design. “Not only does the elevating cab make the operator’s job a lot less stressful, it's operator friendly and comfortable,” he says.

When not loading trucks, or railcars, Steve Happ switches to a grapple to handle either rail ties or scrap metal.

SENNEBOGEN features maximize Happ’s uptime
The Happ brothers’ yard is a busy place and they need their equipment up and running daily to maximize their uptime. Availability of parts and ease of maintenance are major factors – as is the absence of on-board computers on the SENNEBOGEN machines.

“On-board computers can be a pain in the behind when a machine goes down,” says Happ.  “We can’t afford costly downtime and it’s not like I have a spare machine in my back pocket. So I’m really glad these machines don’t have any on-board computers.”

The Happ brothers bought both of their SENNEBOGEN machines from Phil Linoski, Sales Representative at Howell Tractor and Equipment. Steve says that Phil and Howell Tractor have been attentive to their needs and were extremely helpful in getting both machines set up and in operation.

“I am impressed with the integrity of the SENNEBOGEN product,” says Happ. “Our machines have been a good fit for our operations here.”

About SENNEBOGEN
SENNEBOGEN has been a leading name in the global material handling industry for more than 50 years. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SENNEBOGEN LLC offers a complete range of purpose-built machines to suit virtually any material handling application. A growing network of distributors supports SENNEBOGEN sales and service across the Americas, ensuring the highest standard of professional machine support and parts availability.