Quarry Haulage Calls for s Sturdy Machines
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WHEN Barlow, Phillips and Co., of VV Yeovil. set up as a haulage concern the western stretch of the main LondonExeter highway was little more than a glorified country lane. This was in 1908, when the company bought its first steam tractor and used it for the
transport of road materials. At that *time a journey of 32 miles was con
sidered a sound day's work. Soon after the 1914-18 war started the concern began hauling road materials for the improvement schemes of Dorset County Council. Included in these were certain sections of the Exeter Road which hall, by then, been to some extent modernized as the result of the war. Similar contracts from the same council are htld to-day by the company.
By 1920 Barlow, Phillips and Co. which three years later opened its own quarries near Yeovil, was transporting over 100 tons of sand daily, as well as a large quantity of gravel. The company bought its first A.E.C., a reconditioned Mammoth Major, in 1937. This was followed, in 1938, by another reconditioned six-wheeler and, in 1939., a four-wheeled Mercury and a Matador were added to the fleet. In 1940 a reconditioned four-wheeled Monarch was acquired. The most recent A.E.C. placed in service is another Matador, obtained under Ministry of War Transport licence.
Two of the six A.E.C. machines— which' with nine smaller-tppe vehicles noF make up the complete fleet—have been fitted with direct-injection heads and the remainder are scheduled for conversion at an early date. All the A.E.C.s have shown that they can undertake, with equal facility, either long runs or short hauls over stiffly graded local roads. Those engaged in sand, gravel and stone haulage have to contend with a good deal of " rough going," not only in the actual quarries but also on the building sites where loads are delivered.
Barlow, Phillips and Co. was a-meng the pioneers of motor char-a-bancs travel and was almost if not actually the first concern to take a vehicle of this , type into Bournemouth, That was in 1913. Short evening trt3s to places of interest near Yeovil sere gradually supplanted by more ambitious runs and until recent months frequent excursions to Bournemouth, Bristol and Torquay, among other towns, were being run.
Before the present war it was the company's practice always to have at least one vehicle on the pits for overhaul. This routine arrangement has had to be abandoned owing to present-day difficulties and maintenance and overhaul work can now he carried out only when circumstances permit. Nevertheless, regular attention is still given to such matters as greasing and tyre testing and all vehicles are brought in at intervals for overhaul.