TIMBER HAULAGE BY STEAM TRACTOR.
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A Trial in Yorkshire in which it is Proved that Timber can be Cleared, Loaded and Hauled at a Cost of is. 8d. per ton.
T UST recently—that is, during the last few days of May and the first fortnight of June—some ex
tremely interesting trials of steam wagons employed in timber clearing have been carried out at Otley, Yorkshire, the proceedings lasting altogether 16 working days.
The tractor employed in the trials was a Super-Sentinel rated at 75 b.h.p.
The job which the tractor was set to undertake was to clear felled timber from Lindley Wood, hauling it up a steep gradient which is described as being 1 in 1, the timber
then being hauled from the loading stage to the top of Lindley Bank, the gradient of this bill being 1 in 5, and afterwards some of the timber was hauled to the railway station.
_Half-days were worked on Saturdays, but on other days a full day's work was put in. During the sixteen days, 7,777 cu. ft. of timber were hauled up from the wood, 6,777 Cu. ft. were hauled to the top of Lindley Bank, and 185 cu. ft.
were hauled to the station, the daily averages of the first two figures being 486 cu. ft. hauled from the wood and 423 cu. ft. hauled up the bank. The average fuel consumption per day was 21 cwt. when steam coal was used, and when house coal was used (viz., on two days only) 6 cwt. The average performance per week was 2,673 cu. ft. cleared from the wood, and 2,326 cu. ft. loaded on carriages and hauled up Lindley Bank, the best week's performance being 3,400 cu. ft. cleared and 2,200 cu. ft. hauled. The clearing and the hauling throughout were regarded as separate jobs owing to the circumstances and the nature of the conditions, because, of course, the clearing was mainly done by means of the winding tackle.
The Cost of Operation, by Job, Year, Week, or Day. • The cost of operating the steam wagon, the items of depreciation, insurance, interest and licence fee being calculated on a basis of 50 weeks' work in a year at the rate of 5i. days per week, worked out as follows, the total giving the annual cost, whilst weekly cost and daily cost and the cost of the complete job covered by the trial:— Super-Sentinel double Again, admitting that the clearing and hauling are separate jobs— as indeed they were—the cost per cu. ft. for the total 14,730 cu. ft. handled worked out at 0.79d. per cu. ft., or, taking 25 Cu. ft. to the ton, the cost per ton was is. iid.
Certain marked advantages over timber clearing by means of horses were found during the trial, viz., rapidity of working, small relative amount paid out in wages, and the negligible effect of rainy weather.