-country jriculture
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The South Devon and Cornwall Group, 24-26, Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot, managed by Mr. L. J. Rix, is, like the Taunton and North Devon Group,
widely scattered and has 137 vehicles, of which 25 are employed mainly on agricultural transport work. It extends from a point on the east coast of Devon, south of Exeter, to the North Cornish coast south of Rude, and is 125 miles long from east to west and 35 miles from north to south.
Operational depots are at Newton Abbot, Kingsbridge, Plymouth, St. Austell, Bodmin and Tavistock. The principal maintenance depot is at Newton Abbot, with a secondary unit at Bothnia and others at St. Austell and Plymouth. Bodmin depot, at which " foreign-based " vehicles are serviced., is particularly interesting in that it is located in the old gaol. This was bought by a haulier who, in 1946, set up a club there, but the population of Bodmin was not responsive and the gaol became a haulage depot.
The depots handling predominantly agricultural traffic are at Tavistock and Kingsbridge. Newton Abbot, however, carries cattle food from Bristol for delivery mainly to merchants and last year the group handled 5,600 tons of this traffic. Tippers based on Newton Abbot collect lime fertilizer from Berry Head, on the south coast of Devon, for distribution to farmers within a.50-mile radius. Some lime traffic is also handled by the R.H E. in Plymouth, but there most of it passes by other agencies.
Lime, of which the group carried 6,240 tons in 1951, may be tipped or shovelled on to the farm for spreading or dumped directly into a spreader. This work is keenly susceptible to the weather, for if it is wet or windy, a farmer will not accept a load and it has to be returned to the depot for delivery on a more favourable occasion.
Cattle Traffic
Tavistock depot, on the western edge of the Dartmoor grazing land, is concerned mainly with cattle and horses. Last year, the group carried 65.272 animals (18,016 cattle, 2,872 calves, 25,772 sheep, 18,113 pigs and 499 horses),. and Tavistock was responsible for much of the traffic. As well as serving the local market, its vehicles attend Plympton, bridge, , Kingsbridge, Newton Abbot, Exeter, Okehampton and Liskeard cattle markets. As an indication of a desire to keep abreast of modern technique in handling animals, the cattle-truck drivers use electric prodders to urge reluctant pigs, instead of the • time-honoured methods of beating them with sticks or pulling their tails.
Agricultural machinery is an important traffic (40 tractors were brought from the Midlands in 1951) and .Tavistock uses a Bedford articulated semi-low-loader.
Kingsbridge is situated in the rich grain-producing district of South Hams, and the locally based vehicles carried much of the 4,000 tons of grain handled in 1951 by the group. They also deal with the bulk of the slag and fertilizers distributed by the group from railhead to merchants and farmers.
St. Austell depot, although concerned, mainly with industrial products, also handles 72m. eggs a year. It collects from 20 packing stations all over Cornwall, but particularly from Wadebridge, Truro, Helston, Launceston and Camelford. During five months of the year, an average of 7,000 cases a week is carried and over a full 12 months, more than 200,000 cases pass through the depot. St. Austell also carries some homegrown brocoli and potatoes, but because of the distances involved, most of these traffics go by rail.
Handling New Potatoes
New potatoes are imported at Plymouth and have to be dealt with expeditiously to preserve their condition. In this work, the R.H.E. co-operates with members of the Road Haulage Association, who, a few years ago, developed a special pooling scheme to deal with it.
Somerset and Devon are, of course, famons for cider. Apples are transported to the factories mainly in farmers' and hauliers' vehicles, but cider in tanks and casks is conveyed by the R.H.E. from Paignton, Newton Abbot and Whimple to all parts of the country.
Farmers in North Somerset and North Devon are served by the Taunton and North Devon Group, which has modest premises at 27, High Street, Taunton, and is managed by Mr. D. G. Bowerman. In an area measuring about 70 miles from east to west and about 40 miles
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from north to south are 11 depots (an exceptionally large number for a group), with 216 vehicles, of which 50 are engaged predominantly on agricultural work.
Highbridge, Bridgwater, Cullompton and Barnstaple are mainly industrial depots, but at Watchet traffic is divided equally between industry and agriculture. Wellington is a milk-haulage unit and Wheddon Cross, on Exmoor, is devoted to livestock. Wiveliscombe deals with cattle, animal feeding stuffs, grain and general goods Appledore (which controls Barnstaple), Chumleigh and South Molton depots are wholly agricultural.
72,000 Tons of Farm Goods
The principal agricultural traffics handled by the group are milk, livestock, eggs, lime, other fertilizers, feeding stuffs, potatoes, swedes and farm implements, which laSt year totalled 72,000 tons. Mr. Bowerman told me that fertilizers were not moving so freely this year, on account of the withdrawal of the Ministry of Agriculture subsidy. Normally, a great deal of lime is delivered on the poor land in the Exmoor area. Appledore depot has a lime spreader which was taken over with a free haulier's business—the only vehicle of its kind in the R.H.E.'s South Western Division.
Traffic is exchanged freely between depots to avoid empty mileage, and vehicles are transferred quickly from depot to depot to meet local emergencies, such as a potato shortage," Mr. Bowerman said.
Milk Collection Milk transport is an exacting operation on which 22 vehicles, on the average, are engaged in Wellington. hi 1951, these lorries carried over 6fin. gallons and travelled 428,000 miles. Collections are made over a radius of 30 miles and deliveries to the factory at Wellington are continuous throughout the day.
Like the South Devon and Cornwall Group, the Taunton Group handles heavy egg traffic, dealing with packing stations at South Molton, Taunton, Wiveliscombe and Bideford. There is an egg-box distributing centre at Tiverton Junction and another has been set up at Berrington, conveniently close to the Chulmleigh depot, so that the whole of the egg-transport operation can be closely knit.
As I pointed out last week, North Somerset and North Devon are extensive grazing lands and the Taunton Group's cattle traffic is heavy. Last year, it amounted to 150,000 head of livestock.
Mr. Bowerman observed that over the past 15 years, there had been a tendency for farmers to concentrate on certain large cattle markets. Efficient road transport had, he said, encouraged this development and had created new traffic. Hauls tended to be longer than in rile past. In his group, animals were carried by road over leads of up to 50 miles, but went by rail on longer journeys.
Because of rationing, meat-distribution centres are also fewer than in the past. There are big slaughter houses at Taunton, Minehead, Tiverton Junction and Barnstaple, each serving a wide area. Taunton Market, one of the biggest in the West Country, is held on ciaturday, and the collecting centre for the sale of animals to the Ministry of Food also operates on that day, involving a good deal of overtime work for cattle. truck dpivers, which increases the cost of transport. Pigs are frequently collected on Sunday to give the bacon factories a flying start on Monday morning— another expensive operation. Mr. Bowerman told me that livestock-vehicle driver were selected with the utmost care and he insisted that they had a farming background. They must know the district intimately and be thoroughly conversant with the fields owned by each individual farmer. He acknowledged the goodwill which an expert cattle-truck driver earns for his employer when he said that farmers often asked for drivers by name.
Special care is given to the cleansing of cattle trucks and a container is set aside for the transport of attested herds.
Serving farmers in the West Country is arduous work for men and vehicles. Many of the roads are badly surfaced and narrow, and hills are steep. The farms are small and scattered, their addresses are often vague in the extreme and access is frequently difficult. Carries may be long and as often as dot, the driver has no assist
ance in unloading. These are conditions which try, tempers and test initiative, but patience and resource oyercome difficulties.