Road Haulage Archive #5 - 'On The Dust'
Road Haulage Archive
Issue #5 - Municipal Vehicles 'On the Dust'
Due to popular demand this 100-pa....
Issue #5 - Municipal Vehicles 'On the Dust'
Due to popular demand this 100-page publication has been reprinted in perfect bound format. A high-quality finish, measuring 275mm by 220mm.
This superb publication has 16 fascinating chapters...
INTRODUCTION - How and why - mechanisation took over from the horse-drawn ‘Dust Cart’. And why it was such a tough job.
THE EARLY YEARS - Motorisation. And getting the ‘Low Down’. The Horse Meets it’s Match.
ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRAILBLAZERS - Electric? Zero Emissions? There’s nothing new under the sun.
THE 1930s Evolution of the Species - At last we’re getting somewhere.
INCREASING CAPACITY - Rear Loading Barrier Loaders and Walking Floor types.
ASHES TO ASHES - The rise of the ‘Dustless Loader’, Wartime & Other Developments.
THE POSTWAR BOOM - Into a Brave New World - but with Old Equipment.
HYDRAULIC HELP - Getting Technical. Compaction-type Refuse Collection Vehicles.
GETTING TOUGH, GOING DIESEL - The Municipal sector embraces Perkins engines.
THEY ALSO SERVE - Liquid Waste Tankers - ‘Honeywagons’ to you.
SWEEPING STATEMENTS - Keeping the Roads Clean. And how ‘Mechanical’ gave way to ‘Vacuum’.
THE CONSUMER SOCIETY - Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCVs) evolve to meet a new challenge.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE - Commercial Waste Contractors. Not a new concept, either.
DOWN AT THE TIP - When the Going Gets Tough... The transition from ‘Tip’, to ‘Landfill Site’
ODDS & ENDS - Not every ‘Municipal Vehicle’ is a binwagon.
PRESERVATION & PERIOD REVIEWS - Restore an old binwagon? Seriously?
Peter Simpson, Classic & Vintage Commercials Magazine Editor, reviewed this publication...
This publication subtitled “A pictorial history of municipal vehicle development, refuse collectors, road sweepers and liquid waste tankers”. Author/compiler Malcolm Bates is certainly qualified for the job, as he spent many years as an illustrator/graphic designer at Shelvoke & Drewry, followed by as stint as Editor of trade title “Local Authority Plant & Vehicles”, and currently produces “Municipal Vehicle Operator & Plant Review” for the Chartered Institute of Waste Management.
As you’d expect then, the book is extremely comprehensive, starting with the earliest days when internal combustion engines replaced horses, and then covering evolution to side loaders and the arrival of ‘dust less’ loaders and, from the early 1960s, the arrival of compactor-type collectors. Particularly impressive are the various well-illustrated accounts of how the latter work; there’s an awful lot more to these than might be imagined. Separate, dedicated chapters also cover road cleaning/sweeping and bulk transport of waste material, and there’s also a chapter entitled “Some Great Ideas and Some Less So” which doesn’t really need any further explanation! There’s also a section on present-day preservation.
Clearly, refuse collection and street cleaning aren’t especially glamorous aspects of commercial vehicle operation, but they certainly aren’t without interest, and anyone who invests £8.99 in this publication is guaranteed to find plenty of fascinating stuff inside.