A.S.Fisher and Son: memories of a family business

 

A good load

I Fisher

 

A smart AEC Matador

I. Fisher

 

George Fensom measuring the load

I. Fisher

Timber haulage was not something we ever got involved in, but was carried out by specialist firms. These photographs, taken in the 1970’s, show one of the very best: Fensom & Sons. The type of equipment was fairly standard using converted ex-military vehicles for the loading

Although the timber we had felled here was fairly straight and therefore not too difficult to load, this was not always the case. Often timber was crooked and uneven and putting together a good load was rather like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. A great deal of skill was required to judge the balance of the trunk and to lift it in such a way that it would lie snug on the pole wagon.

At one time this work would have been done by teams of horses and, later, by traction engines. In these cases trunks would have been rolled onto the wagon using smaller trunks to provide a ramp; this was a difficult and sometimes time consuming operation which required constant adjustment of the wire ropes to ensure even loading.

The load would have been taken to one of the local mills then in existence perhaps to Bourne End or Brace and Sons of Ongar in Essex. The latter was quite unusual in that it used a large stationary steam engine to power much of the machinery, wood off cuts and sawdust being used for fuel.

Today, with the introduction of hydraulic loaders of various kinds, many of the old skills have gone and the work is much easier.