Road Transport of Great Help to the brewery trade
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How the Need for Quick Transit Between Minster and Brewery is Met by Road Transport Vehicles
THE brewery business of Magee, Marshall and Co., Ltd., of Bolton, was started some 60 years ago; and at that time horse-drawn vehicles were, of course, used for transporting the company's products by road. The • first. mechanical -velficle to be acquired . was a Thornycroft steamer. This was , followed by a number of. reconstructed buses which had "seen. service in London, and still /ater by 12 Forlen steamwagOns.r.
in 108, Karrier machines were in.. uSe. and, to-day, the fleet, ceinprises eight .Leyland 0-tonne& and a trailer, and one each Of the ,Albion (50-cut.j; . Morris-Commercial(10-cwt.); Austin (10-cwt.) and a Guy which has been in use for the past 18 years. The company also hires' six vehicles each day and, for local trade, 14 horse-drawn vehicles give the necessary service.
Washing of the vehicles is cartied out daily, and greasing once a -week. Each machine is subjected to a general , inSpection. each day, and drivers are relied upon to report any faults they may find, particularly in connection with the brakes. Two naechanics are always in attendance when the vehicles come in off the roads after the day's work,.
For tyre-inflation purposes, there is an 'air -line with paints suitably .distributed for convenient use in any
part of the garage, and fuel tanks canbe replenished from a. central fuel-. distributing arm, As this arm is designed to reach all the vehicles, refuelling can be carried -out without the need for lining up at a pump.
Forming part of the up-to-date maintenanceequipment available, there are means for carrying out welding-, operations, and a vulcanizer for tyre repair work.
_It is interesting to note that the vehicles at present operated are all petrol-engined. We understand that whilst oilers have been used by the company, they were not found ideally suited to the evade of the concerns' particular business Don brake facings, we were told, have always proved satisfactory, whilst Dunlop tyreS are mostly used. Records kept of fuel-consumption returns show
that the Leyland pfachines aVerage the equivalent of 7 m.p.g., and the lighter types of vehicle between 12 and 15 m.p.g.
To anyone who knows little or nothing about the breWery trade, the importance of .the type of transport used can have little significance, and to appreciate why road transport takes precedence over rail some knowledge cif' the business-is essential.
The company's maltster is situated at Castleton, which is 14 miles from Bolton, and it is to this point that theharley is-hroUght by canal.
Following a special heat process the grain sends out small shoots which are removed by mechanical means, the :esidue becoming a by-product used in the manufacture of cattle food.
The one-time barley becomes malt and while in its crisp, fresh state it must be conveyed as quickly as possible to the brewery. It is put into bags and carried in a special van having a sliding roof, the outfit being made for mounting on one of the Leyland vehicles.
It can be weTh uaderstood that any &Lay in transporting the malt from the maltster to the brewery would have a detrimental effect on the final product. Four journeys per day are made to the miltster.
At the present time the concern covers a 40--mile radius delivering to 500 licensed houses in Bolton, Wigan, Atherton, Leigh, Blackpool, Southport, Knott End and Bury. •The biggest deliveries are made in Blackpool, and, du.ring the holiday -season, loads must leave the brewery at such a time that the houses are served before the roads become traffic congested.
In this matter, the brewer secures the co-operation of . the innkeepers to the extent that the empties are ready and placed for convenient collection, so that 'the vehicle 'making the delivery can getaway in a minimum of time..
The 5-ton machines usually take 24 barrels or, when mixing a load, 10 doz. pint bottles are taken ti> equal one barrel. \ Some people have the impression that it is a pure fallacy to assume that the water from Burtoni-on-Trent makes better beer, nevertheless the fact remains that Burton water is brought every day by rail tanker to• the com pany's brewery. _ " • From start to finish in the makidg and transporting of beer, speed and cleanliness are two vital "considerations. Bottle washing is, of course, ,carried out by machines, hut the barrels are hand scrubbed before being sterilized and dried • " The company has its own cooperage and the making of casks is one of the oldest crafts. Actually the technique, to-day, is substantially what it was when these were 'first made. When making a cask, the cooper usually makes at the , same time a skeleton barrel of similar size, hooping only the top and the bottom'. When the original cask needs repairing the operative just takes from the skeleton barrel the required stave, which is, of course, .a perfect fit. .
On our visit to the premises, we were impressed by the obvious cleanliness of everythir g and, incidentally, this re/nark applies also to the company's transport vehicles.