2,000 ft, Up With a Fordson
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MECHANICAL transport recently came to the assistance J.V1of one of the oldest known methods of sending news. Beacon fires have always been lit on Lagleborough mountain, in Yorkshire. The name of the mountain means " the hill of fire." Mr. Reg. Hainsworth, of the Moorgarth Garage, Ingleton, offered to organize the Coronation beacon on Ingleborough's 2,373-ft. summit
When he organized the Jubilee beacon there, he found that the most difficult part was the taking of the fuel for the fire across the four miles of rough moorland. This year he arranged to secure mechanical haulage. Two bogs lay in the track, and the final steep and narrow path was capable of use only by human helpers. A Fordson tractor, normally employed for work on the North Ribblesdale farms, was secured, and Mr. Hainsworth converted a 1929 Buick car into 'a small lorry.
The tractor hauled all the material as far as the first bog, and then sleepers were laid down for it to cross. It towed the car across. As the weather kept dry, the Fordson continued to take loads across the swamp, and actually hauled them up to a height of 2,000 ft. The lorry worked to within 100 ft. of the summit. This is the first time that two motors have reached such a height, and the experience has confounded those who thought that horsed transport was the only method.
The Fordson hauled over 20 tons of motor tyres, huge baulks of timber and 1,200 gallons of motor oil.
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