It would be fair to say the C509 is the king of the Kenworth model range, with the heavy-duty bonneted truck suited to a number of arduous off-highway and remote haulage roles.
But as with other Kenworth models, the C509 also lends itself to being customised and built to its owner’s requirements. Such is the case with the C509 owned by Joel White, with his particular example being the flagship of his small fleet of trucks.
Based at Rankins Springs in the northern Riverina district of New South Wales, Joel operates Farm Freight, specialising in bulk haulage of grain and fertiliser.
The C509 is complemented by two other Kenworths, with a K200 and a T409 working across a wide area from the Farm Freight depot.
But it is the four-year old C509 which stands tall in the Farm Freight line-up.
“She’s a hamburger with the lot; everything is big on it – it’s rated to 165 tonne. Most of the time it pulls an AB-triple belly dumper. We do grain and fertiliser with it and a lot of feedlot work locally, but we will take anything and go anywhere with it,” Joel said.
Purchased through Inland Truck Centre in Wagga, the C509 came about after Joel had a change of mind, with the truck taking 18 months to be built and fitted out before being put to work.
“I actually ordered an SAR Legend. I went and had a look at one and reckoned that everybody seemed to be getting one so I would just build my own C509 up – she’s got everything.”
With a Cummins X15 and an 18 speed Roadranger and heavy diffs, the Kenworth is well set up for trucking off the blacktop. Externally the Kenworth sports a King Bars bullbar, extra toolboxes and an AIR CTI tyre inflation system whilst on the inside TransAir & Electrics completed all of the fit-out with an inverter, fridge and microwave.
The striking blue paint scheme was formulated and carried out by Complete Body Craft in Rutherglen. “Chris Bourke has done an awesome job, its faultless,” said Joel.
When we went in, Chris had one of Dawson’s trucks there, so we used that as a bit of a guide, changed a few lines around and some different colours and that’s what we came up with. Our trucks have always been blue, and they are a bit mismatched, but all look good when they are together,” he explained.
The K200 and T409 also work hard in the Farm Freight fleet, with the T409 being added most recently.
Having previously been a log truck around the Bombala area, Joel believes the purchase of the T409 has been a good investment.
“All three trucks have the X15 Cummins. We have had the K200 here a couple of years and the T409 was a very sound truck when we got it. It had done 30,000 hours but it had been very well looked after, it was too good a truck not to buy, we were in the right place at the right time when we got that one,” he said.
The Farm Freight fleet today is a long way from its origins when Joel started out 25 years ago.
“I started out with a single-drive Ford LNT 9000 which I bought for $10,000. It had a 903 Cummins in it. I did 700,000 kilometres in it and sold it for $10,000,” he said.
“We have had a few International S-Lines and Transtars and a Scania before this one came along. The Scania was a pretty cool truck; everyone has been talking about us trying to buy it back! It was one of the last ‘Gumboots’ and had a 62-inch Truck Art sleeper so it really stood out.”
The C509 has now clocked just over 300,000 kilometres and been a reliable investment with an alternator failure being the only drama in that time.
It has been as far afield as Perth, Townsville and Port Augusta. Having been behind the wheel of it all that time, Joel has recently hopped out, with Josh Land moving across from the K200.
“They have been trying to get me back in the office but that’s not much fun. They’ve been making me do a few trips in the K200 so that’s not making me happy,” he said with a wry smile.
The fleet runs locally and further afield with a lot of work into the Melbourne ports, and naturally things ramp up in the grain harvest season. Along with the tipper sets, Joel has also recently added a set of flat-tops for machinery movements and general freight.
“We used to chase the work but there is plenty to keep us going around here. Like everyone else it is hard to get drivers, but we have a couple who are fairly well settled here. During harvest time we have a few subbies come on as well, so we run up to 16 trucks out of the yard.”
With a quarter-century of trucking behind him Joel has built his business into a well-respected and turned-out operation with the C509 looking likely to stay a part of the Farm Freight operation for a number of years ahead.
“We have got a good little set up here and three trucks will do us… or maybe just one more,” he said.