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ANSPORT OWES ROYAL"
By H. Scott Hall, M.I.A.E., M.I.T.A.
IT is a fact beyond question that the Royal Agricultural Show is the finest exhibition of its kind in the ,world. It is just , as true that much of its present excellence is due to the aid of road transport. . The Show, too,, it has to be admitted, provides an extensive opportunity for the employment of road transport and is a prolific sourc,e of business for road hauliers. Consider the figures for tonnage—and livestock—involved in a single show.
This year there are being exhibited 620 horses, 1,245 .cattle; 57 goats, 566 sheep and .703 pigs, a total of 3,191 anintals. Then there are 627 head of poultry and 339 exhibits of produce. Implement and machinery stands total 409. Transport is needed not only for the exhibits themselves, but for the stands and the settings for the exhibits, for the removal of empty cases, for the provision of fodder for the animals and a host of other sundries. .
The employment of road transport in connection with the Show begins the week after the previous exhibition is finished and the period of its use is the whole of the year. It commences with the removal of the Royal Agricultural Society's buildings, the woodwork and canvas of the stands, the catalogue and other kiosks, and so. on, from the site of one show to that of the next ; it continues with varying intensity until the Show is _complete and fully prepared for the reception of visitors on the opening day.
Next Monday (July 12), as this year's event closes B32
to-morrow (July 10), an army of' workmen will begin to take away the exhibits, to dismantle the stands and buildings, preparing them for transport to Cardiff, where they will be erected in preparation for the Royal Show of 1938.
What that work alone means was mentioned as incidental to,, road-transport opportunities in Wolverhampton, in an article published in last week's issue. A local haulier told me that he brought 3,000 tons of show material from Bristol to Wolverhampton, With the transport of cattle and livestock I dealt at length last year, in connection with the show held at Bristol. On this occasion, I propose to ignore that side of the event and to deal chiefly with road transport in relation to the stands on which are displayed implements and machinery in motion.
There are, as has• been said, 409 of these stands and, assuming an average of 20 tons per stand, a gross tonnage in the neighbourhood of 8,000 has to be moved— and this of exhibits alone. There is quite a large number of special stands, some of them complicated and undoubtedly involving the conveyance of a considerable weight of material for each.
These stagings, it should be noted, are additional to the 3,000 tons of buildings belonging to the R.A.S.E. I have in mind such, stands as those of Boots, Ltd., the Olympia Cake Co., the British Electrical Development Association and so on, each of which must require a great amount of transport.
Not all Of this material comes to the " Royal " by road, but I was positively advised by M Jackson, the implement steward, that a much bigger proportion has come by road this year than ever before. All the work, of course, is not done by haulage contractors. Many of the exhibitors use their own transport, and some of them, as is exemplified in this article, in a special and most interesting way.
So far as hauliers are concerned, as well as exhibitor ancillary users, many of them find sufficient of this class of work to keep them engaged upon it from year's end to year's end. The season for agricultural shows in the open air begins in May and coritinues practically without cessation until the end of September.
When they cease, the indoor exhibitions begin, such as the Dairy Show, the fat cattle shows and horse shows. Even the Brewers' Exhibtion is closely connected with agriculture. Actually, I found, in conversation with more than ,one haulage contractor, this year; that they have found it impossible to cope with the work offered and have had to confine themselves to a, few principal exhibitors.
To set out in figures the road-transport value of the Show, as I have done, does not in actual fact convey much to the reader. A better idea can be gathered from some of the stories of work done.
Some of the work is simple enough. For example, Mr. Burton, of Croydon, is concerned with the conveyance of a straw and hay baler from show to show, whilst Mr. Holiday, of Martley, is in the habit of hauling materials for a local manufacturer of fruit-grading machines and includes the transport of exhibits to agricultural shows as part of his normal years' work. Again, there is the case of Messrs. W. Sutcliffe and Sons, of Hebden Bridge, who do a steady business in conveying timber and portable buildings to exhibitions.
Considerable use is made of furniture vans. Local cabinet makers and furniture dealers in the town where the show is for the time being held find plenty to do in hiring their products to stand-holders. Mr. Clarkson, of Wolverhampton, has been busy for five days, carry ing four or five loads per day on this account alone. Waring and Gillow (1932), Ltd., using a Bedford 3-ton Luton van, conveys the exhibits of Mappin and • Webb, Ltd., to the principal shows. Another London firm of furniture removers, Messrs. Fuller and Sons, of Walworth Road, are employed in conveying the stand and equipment exhibits of the Milk Marketing Board.
On examination, it becomes apparent that the Luton type furniture van is particularly well adapted for this purpose. It has stifficient length to carry the boards which form part of the stand signs, it has bulk and can accommodate furniture and similar equipment, and has the ability to carry the weight involved in the lighter kinds of exhibit.
The most outstanding example of the use of the furniture van is a special case to which reference was made above. Gascoignes (Reading), Ltd., manufacturer of milking machinery, uses a Bedford 3-ton furniture van, which is constantly at work throughout the year. This company has put together two complete sets E34 of exhibits, alike in every detail. There are two milking machines in one set and, at a casual glance, it would seem that these would fill the van. Actually, they are moved into the vehicle and out of it on pneurnatic-tyred wheels and once they are in .place, room. in and about them suffices for the smaller exhibits, whilst the name-boards and so bn are strapped to the inside of the van. • This vehicle picks up an exhibit from one show, takes it to. another and leaves it there, then going to another event to collet the second exhibit and transfer that. When not in use for this purpose, the van serves as a habitation for the •driver and his mate, being fully equipped with a bunk and all essentials to that end.
In contrast with this example, take The case of a Thornycroft Taurus and trailer which I-: saw delivering the Show • catalogues—,,and, incidentally, there are 71 tons of them. This outfit does only this day's
work in the year in connection with agricultural shows.
Again, for another contrast, I may cite the GarnerCarrimore special articulated six-wheeler used by Cattermoles Transport, Ltd., for the conveyance of onepiece loads, such as the Neal drainage trench digger, a huge machine on crawler-type tracks and weighing in the neighbourhood of 6-7 tons. This vehicle was described in The Commercial Motor towards the close of last year.
A local firm concerned in the supply of gardening materials have been busy since shortly before Christmas and have brought in altogether nearly 300 loads of essential requirements for the Show. The commodities handled include several types of material for hard courts, paving stones, fertilizers, summer houses, sand, gravel and earth. for gardens, and, towards the last, flowers and trees with which the stands are decorated. The vehicle used is a Commer Centaur.