FROM FODEN STEAMERS 0 A SPECIALIZED FLEET
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Ir is fairly sale to say that, during the war, road transport has met every demand made upon it, no matter how difficult the project has been. Sometimes the loads have been of outsize dimensions, calling for great care in loading, and even more in the transporting.
Then again, there has been traffic comprising indivisible loads of enormous weight, calling for the development of special low-loading trailers capable of standing up to the unusual strains and stresses imposed.
That the industry has come through with flying colours is amply demonstrated by the stories which are slowly being unfolded by the operators concerned.
Praise from our American friends for a transportation feat may, indeed, be taken as a compliment, for, as we know, they have tittle to learn when it comes to handling outsize jobs. An American concern, however, paid a spontaneous tribute to a British heavy-haulage firm for the speed and efficiency with which it completed the haulage of an outsize in loads.
The firm in question was Thomas Nield and Son, Park House, Gatley, near Manchester, one of the pioneers in the employment of steamers for road transport. The job they had to tackle was the transportation of a mining machine from the docks, at Salford, to an opencast coal site near I3arnsley. This piece of equipment—a Bucyrus-Monighan dragline machine—weighed no less than 385 tons.
Took Only Six Days
When the job was put to Mr. Fred Nield, the principal of the firm, he said " I have yet to see the load for road transport that my vehicles cannot tackle." With their experience in the handling of such huge consignments, Thomas Nield and Son completed the job in six days, a performance which prompted the general manager of the consignee's company in this country to write a _letter of commendation to the Port Transport Officer of the M.O.T. in Manchester, who, when acquainting the operators of the tribute,: added his own.
The wide experience gained, as the result of war-time demands, of all forms of heavy haulage, has, says Mr. Nield, given the firm the answers to all questions and tasks of moving any type of load. Three of the accompanying pictures serve to substantiate what Mr. Nield claims with regard to the ability of his special-purpose' fleet.
He considers that his business is a most interesting one simply because of the different and varied nature of the traffic which he is called upon to carry. He has
been repeatedly faced with what would ordinarily be abnormal haulage problems, but to-day they are taken in the firm's stride and treated as a part of its usual routine.
Mr. Nield was in the Merchant Service during the 1914-18 war, and, following his discharge, he joined his father in the haulage business. At that time the firm was operating two Foden 5-ton, screw-gear, tipping steam wagons with trailers, and an agricultural-type tractor. It will be appreciated from this that, from the early days, the firm made a feature of heavy haulage, and it was from these small beginnings that the present extensive business has been built up.
To-day, the firm possesses a fine fleet of low-loading vehicles capable of dealing with every form of traffic. Mr. T. Nield, father of the present principal of the firm, was so satisfied with his Foden steamers that he has standardized on this make of. machine, the present fleet being, of course, Foden oilers.
We understand that, despite the nature and urgency of many of the haulage jobs which the firm have been called upon to perform during the past six years, they have never once been let down by their vehicles or their staff.
Nield saw the possibilities offered by large contemplated construction schemes, and he acted accordingly. It was not surprising, therefore, that by the time the schemes materialized he was already in the field of public-works contracting, and the strength of his fleet and equipment had been built up to meet anticipated business.
Excavators, bulldozers and scrapers, dumpers, con6rete-mixing machinery, compressors and rollers had been added to the firm's stock-in-trade. On the publicworks side, contracts are regularly undertaken in Lanca shire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. A speciality has also been made of conveying plant and equipment for other public-works contractors.
Another section of the business is in connection with the supplying of builders' material. The firm owns a sand pit at Alderley Edge, and no doubt, when the building drive begins, sand haulage will represent another active side in the business.
The main depot of Thomas Nield and Son is laid out on modern lines, and occupies an area of between four and five acres. It is fitted out with cranes and other up-to-date tackle and is manned by a full staff of mechanics.
Employees Well Treated
Vehicle overhauls are thus carried out in the operator's well-equipped workshops. Where the conditions of a contract require the location of plant on a site for considerable periods, a qualified mechanic and service van are allocated in connection with maintenance work.
Mr. Nield has always insisted on good and regular wages for his workpeople, and since the start of the business no man has been allowed to lose an hour through shortage of work. When weather and other considerations have made a job temporarily impracticable, work of a non-urgent, but nevertheless essential, nature has been provided.
• A number of the driving staff is housed in cottages owned by the firm,. and these dwellings are conveniently situated in proximity to the headquarters of the establishment.
One of the photographs accompanying this article shows Mr. Nield's office, and is reproduced because of its unusual furnishings. It has the type of atmosphere which one would associate with a man of enterprise.