Historic construction site at the Brecht gravel works near Philippsburg 2024

Construction machinery, dump trucks, light rail and models in action - a family festival

For the 17th time, a special kind of classic vehicle festival took place on the site of a southern German gravel works between Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Participants were able to let off steam with their historic vehicles and construction machinery to their heart's content and spectators were invited to marvel at the colorful goings-on without barriers and fluttering ribbons. In addition, the meeting was, as always, characterized by a variety that could hardly be surpassed. Andreas Fehsenmeier and his son Linus from Heidelberg were there for truckinfocus.com and sent us an interesting report with great photos.

On July 7, 2024, the time had come again and the active “Interest group historical construction machinery“ invited visitors to the former Brecht gravel pit near Philipsburg in southern Germany in perfect weather, after it had rained heavily the day before.

Idyllically situated in the floodplains of the Old Rhine, the extensive grounds offered plenty of space for the participants' and visitors' strong play instinct. In a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere and without any strict regulations, they could dig, excavate, tilt, push, load and unload, pump and even swim in the adjacent Lake Brecht to their heart's content. But even those who hadn't brought any suitable play equipment with them and had only come to watch as visitors got their money's worth.

Hustle and bustle at the gravel pit festival: In the foreground, a Johannes Fuchs type F 301 cable excavator, one of the most frequently built excavators in the world according to Wikipedia. Around 15,000 of them were built from 1957.
Front tippers also known as dumpers, were everywhere at the festival in the gravel pit, transporting sand from here to there and vice versa, depending on where it was "needed"

No matter how many laps you made of the grounds, there was always something new to discover. A new construction site was guaranteed to be opened somewhere or a fleet of new vehicles rolled up to get involved in the action. The numerous cable and chain excavators were busy shoveling away mounds of sand, which were then piled up again elsewhere. Either the large tippers or the light railroad, which ran through the middle of the site with its wagons on specially laid tracks, took care of the transportation. Numerous small dumpers were also in use as means of transportation, busily doing their rounds.

Not only the busy dumpers, but also heavy tippers were busy transporting sand all day in the gravel pit, as was the Orenstein & Koppel light rail diesel locomotive, which pulled five tipper trucks.
The tracks for the light railroad were laid in the gravel pit by members of the Historic Construction Machinery Interest Group especially for the festival
There was action everywhere at the same time: dredgers, wheel loaders and tippers worked tirelessly in the glorious summer weather.

But things could be even smaller, because opposite the catering area, a historical construction site was recreated with numerous models, some of them remote-controlled, on a scale of 1:160 to 1:10. With several piles of sand and a loading facility, a perfect diorama had been created for the models, in which excavating, tipping, loading and unloading was constantly taking place. It was not only the attention to detail of the models that was impressive, but also how deceptively real they looked when the professional model builders steered them through the site by radio remote control. 

Model builders also helped to cope with the workload. They had set up a system for loading and unloading the miniature construction vehicles, some of which were remote-controlled.
Deceptively real: heavy dump trucks from Faun and Kaelble from times long gone on a scale of 1:24

As in previous years, not only active construction vehicles and machines were on display. All historic trucks were welcome, even if they could not tilt, had a box body or even a fire ladder body. A Metz turntable ladder with its telescopic platform was a popular platform for the brave who wanted to observe or photograph the action from lofty heights.

If you're afraid of heights, don't be: if you wanted though, you could take a turntable ladder up to get a bird's eye view of the gravel pit and the goings-on inside.

Overall, the pleasantly colorful mix of truck brands from Saurer to Scania, Kramer, Büssing, Borgward, Magirus, Henschel, Volvo and Robur provided variety. 

Not all of the construction trucks at the meeting were restored. Some, like the Borgward at the top right of this quartet, had a sympathetic patina that suited them very well.
A Robur from GDR production had also found its way to southern Germany. The type LO 1800 A dates from the early 1960s.
Not only construction vehicles were welcome in the gravel pit. Some heavy long-distance trucks had also arrived and found space next to a Büssing tipper.
The Swiss Saurer D 290 B from the late 1970s was and still is a rare sight in Germany.
The Mercedes-Benz, type L 1418, was built from 1963 to 1976. The beautifully shaped tipper presented in the gravel pit is therefore around 50 years old.
Büssing trucks with vertical engines were the exception rather than the rule, as the Braunschweig-based truck manufacturer mainly relied on underfloor engines. The BS 15 AK all-wheel drive tipper appeared in 1968, three years before Büssing was taken over by MAN.

And as varied as it is in the gravel pit, there was also room for a number of tractors from “Bulldog Friends Stutensee“, who paid the meeting an extensive visit with their tractors decorated for the European Football Championship.

The Bulldog Friends of Stutensee came by for a visit and added a number of tractors to the already rich panorama
A small Holder agricultural tractor, behind it a Lanz Bulldog driving across the gravel pit site. On the right of the picture is a special kind of cable excavator, whose manufacturer may be written on the sign at the rear of the vehicle, but is unfortunately completely unknown to us.
From the history of construction machinery: At the meeting in the gravel pit, many rarities came together to show once again what they were made of.
Even more construction machinery nostalgia: crawler loader from Orenstein & Koppel, mini excavator from Pel-Job, road roller from ABG and a cable excavator from Krupp-Dolberg

But that was by no means the end of the variety, even an old Speck water pump, powered by a Deutz evaporator, had found its place at the lake and tirelessly pumped water out and back into the lake with the fire engine. Next to it was a Ziegler fire pump with a sprayer, which the youngest visitors could use to practise being a fireman.

Participants and visitors find it particularly pleasant that they can move around the site completely freely. As everyone looks out for each other, there are no accidents and even children can watch the interesting goings-on at close quarters.

Incidentally, it is almost a trademark of the festival that there are no barriers, fluttering ribbons or visitor areas. So the photographers had free rein. Everything and everyone moved freely and completely relaxed on the site between vehicles, machines and construction sites.

Fun is a must, said the two jolly fellows, and were driven around the grounds in the small dumper time and time again. They took a long bath and fed on hops and malt in liquid form.

Want even more fun? Always possible in at the site: in the middle of the hustle and bustle, a small ride-on dumper tirelessly made its rounds, its load in the heat? water, of course! But with contents! Two cheerful fellows, who drove round and round the grounds, brrrr, in the end more than just the beer was well chilled - cheers!

A final view of part of the site, taken by Linus Fehsenmeier

It remains to mention the first-class catering provided by the club members in and around some of the garages and equipment sheds. Delicious food from the barbecue, home-made sausage salad and home-baked cakes ensured that everyone got their money's worth.

Conclusion: A super relaxed family festival for the entire vintage commercial vehicle community and all fans - we are already looking forward to next year!

You might also be interested in:

The omnibus trucks of the "Cuentapropistas"

Cuba Report: Private passenger transport with truck conversions

In Cuba, in addition to numerous cars, there are many commercial vehicles from the 1950’s on the road, built in the USA, the former Eastern Bloc, Asia and Europe. Our article is about vintage trucks built with unique bus bodies. All over Cuba they chug from place to place, often lovingly restored and lavishly painted. Alongside regular buses they play an important role in passenger transport on the approximately 777-mile-long Caribbean island.

Not only on the road for the potato harvest

British truck veterans in Cyprus

Cyprus, like Malta, was a British colony for almost a century. It is therefore not surprising that relics from this era are still present on the island. For truck enthusiasts, it is the old English trucks that arouse interest. It may be that there are not many of these veteran vehicles left in the meantime. But about twenty years ago, truck spotting on Cyprus was still quite worthwhile. Christoph Büch from Berlin had a look around Cyprus in 2003 and shows some of his finds in this article.

Cakes on wheels and rolling coffee pots

Commercial vehicles as advertising

Today they are rare, but in earlier times they used to enrich the street scene: vehicles that served solely as advertising. The advertising vehicles were on the road, for example, with a body in the form of a baby carriage, a rolling shop window, and moving bottles of various contents. Most of them were based on truck or bus chassis, but there were also smaller variants on passenger car chassis. Their time has long since passed, supplanted by television and the Internet.

The most beautiful didn't just come from the region

Pritzwalk Truck Meeting 2024

For the tenth time, the "Extraordinary Therapy Weekend" took place in Pritzwalk on the company premises of truck interior designer Andy Tägder, whose luxurious cab design can be admired on his Facebook page "AT Lkwpolsterung". Around 120 highly polished tractor units, most of them with expensive tuning parts and elaborate paintwork, attended the event from July 5 to 7, 2024. Matthias Herrfurth from Berlin was on site for truckinfocus.com and photographed some of the most beautiful trucks for us. Matthias has also made a name for himself on Facebook, he has almost 30,000 followers on his very successful page "Transport - Fotografie Matthias H. / Truckspotter".