LANCASHIRE HAULIER'S K THROUGH TWO WARS
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Established in 1910, George Smith and Co. (Eccles), Ltd., has Passed Through Many Phases Until it Now Ranks Amongst the Leading Operators Linking Manchester and.
the Midlands
Fleet of 18 Vehicles with an Aggregate Pay-load Capacity of 135 Tons Being Kept Actively Employed on Vital Haulage Work for a Number of Government
Departments
IT was in 1910 that Mr. George Rouse left his native Yorkshire to commence business as a haulage contractor in Manchester, and in this way the concern of George Smith and Co. (Eccles), Ltd., was founded. Several years ago Mr. R. W. Rouse, his son, took over control of the business, and he has successfully guided the company's fortunes until to-day it is one of the foremost contractors operating between Manchester and the Midlands.
Before leaving Yorkshire, Mr. George Rouse was a threshing-machine proprietor, corn miller and heavy-haulage contractor, using in those early days traction engines and trailers. It was only natural, therefore, that, arriving in Manchester, his plans should be centred upon haulage with steam vehicles, and he commenced operations with a Mann lorry and trailer carrying 10-ton loads.
For the first two years only local carrying was undertaken, but in 1912 journeys to Liverpool were commenced, and until 1930 work in this direction was the main feature of the company's business. In those early years, when the machines were equipped with steel tyres, the comparatively short run to Liverpool took nearly eight hours, and the journeys were made at night so as to enable the vehicles to arrive in the docks at 8 a.m, the following morning. Until 1919 there were only three or four operators waking this journey regularly, and the chief traffic carried
was cotton goods for export, loads of raw cotton being brought back to the mills.
During the 1914-18 war, a journey was actually made to Birmingham. This was the forerunner of many such trips made in those far-away days, and a daily service was commenced in 1930, because of the serious decline in the Liverpool business, which Icad placed the company in an impoverished position.
After a hard but successful struggle. the carrying capacity of the fleet rose
from 35 tons in 1930 to 135 tons in 1943 and 18 vehicles are now operated. These include four-wheelers, sixwheelers and -eight-wheelers of Albion, E.R.F., Foden, Leyland and MortisCommercial manufacture, all of • hem being platform lorries and some being employed with trailers. The Albion shown in the picture above, was put into service in Jan,uary, 1942, and has given extremely good results. The chassis-maker's six-cylindered o i I engine, with -which it is equipped, has proved to be an unusually powerful.
unit, and its performance on hills when prime-mover and trailer are carrying a big tonnage is, the company tells us, "a revelation." The two E.R.F.s, equipped with Gardner 5 LW oil engines, were delivered in the middle of 1942, and have given every satisfaction.
To-day, the loads carried are mainly products for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, the Ministry of Supply, the Ministry of Food, the Royal Ordnance Factories and the Ministry of 'War Transport, but before the war the transport of practically every class of commodity was undertaken, although provisions predominated.
Delivery on the day following collection has doubtless been of considerable satisfaction to traders using the company's facilities, and from the moment a consignment has been collected it nas always been possible to keep in touch with the vehicle carrying it in such a way as to estimate delivery tithe within the hour. Constant telephonis communication is maintained with the company's Midlands depot at Binning
ham so that the movement of every vehicle may be closely followed, and records are kept of the times of arrival and departure of every machine, including details of where it may be contacted while parked for the night. The average annual mileage is 30,000 per vehicle, and 10 m.p.g. is the average fuel return in respect of the fleet. Empty mileage never exceeds 8 per cent, on all tourneys. Each machine does five journeys per fortnight to the Midlands, and a minimum of one half-day per week allowed for greasing and cleaning, this job being the direct responsibility of the driver, who, in the main, has charge of the same vehicle all the time.
The company appreciates the importance of giving regular attention to tyre equipment and pressures are checked after every two journeys, whilst a small number of fitted wheels is kept in stock in readiness for a speedy change when necessary. Before the war Dunlops were standardized, and the careful attention bestowed upon tyre maintenance enabled unusually high mileages to lie obtained, 80,000100,000 miles being not uncommon. It is the company's experience that tyres su.pplied to-day are not up to prewar standard, and to counteract this factor a reduced load is carried wherever possible.
Sump oils are religiously changed every 2,000 miles on the oilers and every 4,000 miles on the petrol vehicles. This attention has been well rewarded, ,for apart from the obvious reduction in engine wear, there has not been a single case of bearing trouble recorded during the past 10 years. All .other maintenance work is placed in the hands of the manufacturers of the vehicles concerned, and the company readily acknowledges that excellent facilities have been provided in spite of war-time difficulties. The body of each vehicle is overhauled every two years, when it is also repainted.
Records are kept of the earnings of each vehicle, and a costing sYstem enables the profit or loss to be ascertained every month. A daily total is compiled of tonnages to various destinations, together with the turnover, and such details are eventually transferred to a chart which gives the monthly totals of tonnages on the company's vehicles as well as similar figures in respect of hired lorries, with of course, the appropriate statistics relating to earnings.
The company enjoys active co-operation with more than 150 other contractors situated in Manchester, Birmingham, the Potteries, Yorkshire, Liverpool, London, Bristol, Hull, the North-east coasts, Wales and Scotland, and approximately 40,000 tons per year are passed to other operators, in nearly every case to carriers who regalirly operate on the route concerned. Consignments from 5 cwt. upwards are regularly accepted for transport, and inclivisible loads are quite frequently carried, including lifts up to 50 tons, special vehicles being hired for these jobs. The company is now a controlled undertaking under the M.O.W.T.'s road haulage organization.