"Tulips Upon Dunghills"
Page 61
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EVERY day, on the tide, about a dozen barges are towed up Vange Creek to three wharves near Pitsea, Essex, where the vessels' loads of refuse from various London boroughs are dumped on an expanse of marshland by a small but hard-working fleet of Perkins-engined vehicles.
Average tonnage of refuse dealt with each day by the contractors, the Land Reclamation Co., Ltd., 288 Pentonville Road, London, N.1,. is 1.500. Steadily an increasing acreage of wasteland is being converted into arable soil. Fifty acres of barley are now growing where. a dozen years ago there were only reeds.
The refuse takes about 10 years to break down and form ground suitable for ploughing, a period which is slightly longer than would be the case were it not compacted by the International bulldozers, of which there are five employed for levelling.
There are eight electric cranes at the wharves, each with a grab capacity of about 4 cu. yd. A railway system • was in use before vehicles were employed, and it has been found possible to speed up the work because of the greater flexibility of operation now possible. Of the 21 dumper vehicles, 13 are Austin ex-W.D. six-wheelers and the remainder Thames Sussex models. Their operating conditions could scarcely be more severe, chiefly because of the heavily dust-laden atmosphere. This took its toll of engine life but has been assuaged by the fitting of oil-bath air cleaners.
Rough, loose surfaces on the site are the reasons for 50 spring failures a month, twothirds of which are represented by front-spring breakages. Sharp objects—or even innocent-looking things like spoons —jag tyres, about 10 of which are scrapped every month. The Marsham Tyre Co., Ltd., provide a daily service. Crosscountry rear covers are -fitted.
There is a maintenance shop on the Site where four fitters are fully employed, and at any one time about half a dozen vehicles could be undergoing repair. Drivers are responsible for lubricating their vehicles, a task which is done daily. Church Road Motors (Southend-on-Sea), Ltd., Hadleigh, provide a spare-parts service. Equipment in the shop includes an overhead gantry for changing engines, electric and gas. welding plant, milling and drilling machines and a lathe.
The vehicles have timber bodies lined with steel and cap carry about 5 tons each, that is approximately three grabloads from a crane. Anthony Hoist tipping gear is standard. Shell oil fuel is drawn from a 4,000-gal, tank and each dumper consumes some 8 gal. daily. The longest run from wharf to tip is a mile long. The site foreman has a Land-Raver.
The amount of refuse dealt with each day is fairly constant, and only occasionally does oVertirne have to be worked_ so that barges can be turned round in time for the next tide. Density of refuse varies, that from Westminster, for example, being nearly all paper, whilst that from East London is heavier.