For Canberra based tow-truck operator Trai Hildebrand, putting ‘Thor’, his Scania heavy wrecker unit on display at the Cooma Motorfest late last year gave him both the chance to both show off his impressive rig and enjoy a rare day off.
Trai works for Aplus Towing and has been behind the wheel of the big Swede which has been kitted out with an Ekebol underlift recovery unit and a swag of associated gear since it was put into service in early 2023.
“It’s one of those things; no one really wants to see us, that’s why the truck shows are good as you can get out and see people when they are not broken down or have had an accident – you can have a chat to them and it’s not the worst day of their life,” Trai said.
With the Snowy 2.0 Hydro project in full swing, and a lot of extra vehicle movements in the region, Trai and the Scania have tackled a variety of towing and recovery jobs in the rugged terrain of the New South Wales Snowy Mountains.
“A-Plus is the recovery provider for Future Generation (who are managing the Snowy 2.0 Project) which keeps us on our toes,” Trai said.
Along the Snowy Mountains Highway there has been a few incidents so we have a very high presence in this area – we can run down here every day and its convenient to Canberra – we are virtually local to it.”
Given the variable alpine weather and the winding mountain roads throughout the area, the call for help to retrieve a stuck vehicle can come at any time, with Trai and Thor ready to roll at short notice.
“One of the biggest jobs we did was 12 trucks which got stuck at a place called Powerline Hill in the snow, we ended up being out there for 16 hours,” explained Trai.
“The weather can vary so much too – a couple of years ago I was doing recoveries in the snow in November with lots of trucks sliding off the road or getting stuck for traction.”
Getting the big Scania on the road was a two-year process with the truck being built and then fitted out with the recovery unit.
The back end is packed with every sort of tool required including around 150 metres of chain, ladders, power tools, a bus lift, snow chains and blocks.
“There is another heavy recovery unit at Goulburn but if it’s away the next truck is either Sydney or Wagga – we are on our own a fair bit, so we have set it up to do everything from a small job up to a B-double or B-triple,” said Trai.
Originally white in colour, the Scania has had approximately 44 metres of vinyl wrap applied by Capital Signs in Canberra to give it its distinct appearance in the A-Plus colours.
With the 16.3-litre V8 punching out 620 horses and 3000nM of torque, the Scania is not short of get-up and go and Trai reckons it is a good bit of kit to drive.
“The V8 has so much torque and the hub reduction on the back helps a helluva lot.
“She will scoot up the hills but obviously in this region a good retarder is a big thing – it will hold back 100 tonne B-doubles going down hills.
“It has a great stopping capacity without having to jump on the brakes.”
The recovery unit has 108 tonne capacity and the most I have moved is 92 tonnes from Mt Selwyn, so it was around 118 tonne all up and it did really well – I haven’t had anything on it that it hasn’t been able to do yet.”
Needless to say, the back end of the truck is where all the work happens with the Ekebol recovery unit proving its worth out in the field.
“It’s all Australian made and built by Ekebol on the Sunshine Coast. They have been building this type of body for 20 years and have kept updating it as they go along and their after sales support has been great.
“The Scania is a really good platform for this type of unit – a company in Sydney has been taking measurements and so forth off this one as they are looking at making an exact copy of this type of unit.”
Since hitting the road, the Scania had clocked up around 90,000 kilometres and around 2500 operating hours.
Generally, Trai works within 450km of the Canberra base, but has made trips to Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and the NSW South Coast, working with other operators as the need arises.
“We have friends in different companies such as Wagga Towing and GRS Towing, so we spread the work, just getting it done for the customer is the biggest thing.
“Our distances on jobs can vary – I have done over 3000 k’s this week, but you could go to a job 5 k’s from the depot and be there for 12 hours,” he said.
Originally working as a plumber, Trai made the switch to trucks and joined Aplus six years ago.
“I climbed the rope; I had my MC licence and had been driving B-doubles here and there and started out with Aplus on a supertilt.
“The company bought a Freightliner with an underlift from Queanbeyan which been in the local area for 20 odd years and I took it on.
“They always planned to buy this as there was a couple of year wait for it and we hit the ground running with it – it was built how we wanted, a lot of things added and changed for the ease of use.”
The Cooma Motorfest was one of many Thor has had a presence at in recent times, with Trai taking in shows at Bathurst, Bredbo and Casino along with other events such as the Goulburn Convoy for Kids.
But with towing and accident recovery being an on-call 24/7 type of operation, Trai was ready to fire up the big V8 and head off on the next assignment.
“It’s just a matter of waiting for the phone to ring – the next recovery job could be locally, Sydney, Melbourne or anywhere.
“We have a very important role to play in the industry.”