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"Operation Enterprise" Continues

11th February 1949
Page 13
Page 13, 11th February 1949 — "Operation Enterprise" Continues
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

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By Arthur R. Wilson, M.I.R.T.E.

SINCE on September (3. 1946.. "Thc Commercial Motor" published the story of "Operation Enterprise "— the use of large vans in eonjunction with landing craft for the removal of household effects from one of the inaccessible island off the Scottish coast —progress has been made in this highly specialized form of transport. The original removal of 13 vanloads of furniture was from the island of Shuna to Arduaine, Argyffshire, to laverurie., Aberdeenshire, a journey of three miles by sea and 210. miles by road. The operation, was complicated by the fact that a swift tide flows through Clan Sound and between Shuna and the mainland.

This might have been considered a successful stunt and many people might have been content to live in its reflected glory: The state of transport facilities al the Western Highlands and islands,. however,. prompted further thought on a subject that urgently requiredconsideration.

Reduced to a Formula

Much experimental work has since been carried out by John McIntosh and Son, Ltd, Glasgow, led by its enthusiastic managing director, Mr. George McIntosh, It was realized that whilst conditions on the Minna job were perfect,, they would not always be so, and that teething. troubles, would

arise. Come they did in plenty, but trial and error is a. good tutor, and a job of this nature given reasonable sea conditions, is now little more than a mathematical formula.

The first landing craft has been replaced by one. slightly, larger and mare powerfully engine& It carries two sixcylindered engines running on petrol-. Fuels consumption averages 6 to 7 gallons per hour and is an expensive item,. but preparations are being made for conversion, of the vessel: to run on. vaporizing oilL.

A bulldozer weighing some 20 tons was carried from EasdaIe, on the. mainr land, across Cuan Sound to the island of Wag, on one engine, the other being immokritized through a fault in the cooling system. The reserve of

power was well justified, because there was no alternative method .of transport, and failure of the bulldozer to arrive would probably have involved reversion, to the use of pick and shovel.

One removal was carried out last summer to the island of Righ, in Loahr Craigaish, when the landing craft sailed from the Clyde via the Kyles of Bute and the Crinan Canal with the rough effects stowed on deck, the actual steam ing time being 15 hours. The vans containing the furniture and other household articles went by road and embarked at Ardfern, in Argyllshire.

The road from the beach to the house on the island was not practicable for ordinary lorries and stilt less for vans, so a 15-cwt. Jeep was used to move everything. "Everything" included a. number of skips of bees. Some 20or 30 of the bees had worked out of one of the skips' during the' journey (perhaps because of their livers having been. shaken) and the' were not in a pleasant fraMe of mimh as was quickly discovered when the doors were opened.

To have attempted a job, two years ago, outside the summer months, would have been unthinkable, but the latest removal from Braichlie, near BallOter, Aberdeenshire, to Calgary Castle, Island of Mull,involving a sea crossing of about four miles, was completed just before Christmas. High tides occurred during the hours of darkness, and some skilful work by the crew of the landing craft was required: .

2'0 Sea Crossings Because of the. condition of the beaches on the .mainland, the craft was floated in on the high tide and. left high and dry on the •ebb tide, when the landed vans were embarked with dry "feet." The craft floated off on the next high tide. There were 20' sea crossings of the channel.; 10 out and 10 back.

The route included' the climb of the Devil's Elbow, between Spittal of Glenshee and Braemar, and the famous hill. road from Balloter to Tomintoul under icy conditions, whilst no private Motorist would willingly tackle in winter the stretch between Strontian and Lochaline.

Several. other removals have . been carried out by landing craft, although no attempt has been made or will be made to compete with existing facilities by the shipping companies whereby lift vans can be handled.

Twei yea:r of carefully conducted ',experiments . (to be continued) have shownthe following extract from "The Commercial Motor,' of September 6, 1946, to be even more true to-day than it

was then:—

" From. these wartime landing craft our shipbuilders could evolve a vessel with all the advantages and a. few. of the disadvantages of the former. What this would mean in. many undeveloped: parts of the world cannot be estimated The key to, development is transport and: if road transport can, become waterborne, on rivers, lakes and. inland., seas, the amenities of civilization can be produced much faster than by existing methods."

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Locations: Glasgow

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