Earth and Tree Moving in War and Peace: 60 golden years

Journal of Transport History, The, Mar 2001 by Storey, Richard

Maurice H. Sanders, Earth and Tree Moving in War and Peace: 60 golden years, Volume I, Cortney Publications, Ashwell (1999), 90pp., 9.95.

It is always a pleasure to open a new book by Maurice Sanders, whose enthusiasm and flair for locating fresh and original photographs of his favourite subjects are evident on every page. In the title under review the author adds earthmoving (pre-- viously dealt with in his Muck Shifting for King George - the Bulldozer goes to War) to his primary interest in timber-felling and haulage to produce a publication of interest not only to the technical and transport historian, but also to the social historian. Saunders is deeply interested in the lives and personalities of those whose hard work, ingenuity and skill are dedicated to the machines by which they make their living and perform essential tasks and whose enthusiasm carries work into `leisure time' activity. From a position on the very fringe of the enthusiast/preservation movement, this reviewer can only admire such skill and dedication and their tangible results.

As the author points out in his introduction, earthmoving and timber-felling are often linked activities, to provide access to large trees and their spreading roots and to back-fill. Much of the earthmoving coverage in this book relates to the 1939-45 war and points to the significance of US technology for the mechanisation of the United Kingdom in these spheres, especially for airfield construction and the extension of cultivation. This influence, and much of the equipment, remained to assist post-war redevelopment, and some machinery survives in preservation.

For the business historian, chapter nine, on Jack Olding & Co. Ltd of Hatfield, will be of particular interest. An archetype of the self-made man, Olding made a major contribution to the war effort through his agency for the Caterpillar tractor and other US machinery. After the war he made an ultimately unsuccessful gamble, relinquishing the Caterpillar agency for what proved to be the less successful Vickers VR tractor. On his sudden death the company passed to Scottish Land Development and SLD Olding have substantially co-operated in the production of this book, including the provision of Cuneo paintings of the Vickers tractor which adorn its covers. The transport historian will also appreciate the reproduction of a 1933 Latil timber tractor advertisement on page 89, which lists customers and so gives some idea of major players in the timber trade at that period (and incidentally serves as a reminder of the kind of information which the trade press may yield when the archive with its order books is not acces-- sible). The Latil is clearly a specialised vehicle, but probably the most unusual machine illustrated is the American Buckeye Tractor Ditcher, and the most popular the ex-service AEC Matador, which is regarded by those in the trade as having revolutionised timber work post-war. Overall, the standard of illustration reproduction is excellent and the editing is reasonably acute, although some place names, including Detmold, Willingale and Ouistreham, have escaped correction.

Richard Storey, Kenilworth