HERE WE HAVE THE LATEST OF OUR YEARLY REPORTS, SUPPLIED BY ROB BROWN, 1956.
The format is very similar…..painted simulation on the front cover, yet another variation of the "world wide " theme, and of course the slightly "un-PC" advert at the back !!
The cover this time features a machine that we dont think ever made it across the Pond, and it is probably (according to Mr Orlemann) a 40 ton capacity 9FFD (R-40), part of the "twin-power" concept that Euclid were so keen on, this one having two turbocharged GM 6-71T`s, rated at 470hp combined, linked to twin Allison Torqumatic converters and 3 speed full power-shift transmissions made up the rest of the powertrain.
This truck saw daylight originally in 1957, and carried around 26 cu yds….big animal for those days.
The everpresent reminder of the Company`s world wide penetration, in yet another guise.
One of the many aerial views we have seen, from 1956, when Northampton was still in transition from the old ironworks, but was looking far more familiar to all of us who followed later in the 60`s & 70`s than the great photo that follows at the bottom of the next page…..even KL & JJ would not have seen it like this, in 1946 !!
No prizes for guessing where this was taken, although some of the younger types would scratch their heads a little we think !! Well to put you out of your misery, the "garden" in the left hand corner is just outside of "The Bungalow", although in later years it had a retaining wall around it….the building on the immediate right is the original reception, a building left over from the ironworks days (we think), and where those steps are, is almost certainly where the "electric doors" of the "new" reception block were located, and just behind where the station wagon is standing, would have been where Eddie Beesley parked his many Jaguars in later years.
The Water Tower is well known to anyone who joined prior to 1974/5, but the large building in the right background, with the five airvents in the roof……..anybody recognise it ?? Look back to the aerial shot above, and you will see the same roof arrangement in the middle of the workshop area…..one of the original ironworks buildings, it is what eventually became the Works Office, Miscellaneous Bay, the small Stores under the offices, and this end of that building eventually butted upto the later Service Dept block.
The other images are of Tynemouth & Cardiff, which were new-build in this year, of 1956. Still to come into commission when this report was produced, they extened BH`s influence into what was very important muckshifting areas for the Company.
Overseas now, and the planned new office in Port Arthur, Quebec. This office & works facility allowed the Company to be at the centre of the area where the new St Lawrence Seaway was being constructed, which was to open up central Canada to sea-going vessels.
Now something for the "TOGGS" if they are looking in. Expansion at Newhouse. The 4th major expansion (100,000 sq ft) since its initial start date in 1950, the factory now covered some 380,000 sq ft of production area. The circular photo is the original set-up, and below, some of Euclid`s own machines preparing the ground for the extra workspace…….
…….and one of the main production lines, building the ever present FD, the R-15.
Another of the Company`s close allies, Cummins Engine Company Ltd, as it was known then, and their brand new set-up at Shotts, in Lanarkshire. A subsidiary of the original USA based company, they spent £1.5M on this impressive modern plant, which would be a big outlay even today, albeit would buy a much smaller complex !!
Now a couple of pages of the current and new products that were around that year. We take specific interest in the S7 Rear-Dump Wagon in the bottom right photo…….do we not see there an extremely early articulated dumptruck ?? Shawnee-Poole were reputed as being the first with 4wd agri tractors & the "goose-neck" pivot, soon after followed by that Swedish person who professes now to be the biggest seller of such items in the world !!
Perhaps some of our brethren, once BH, but for sometime have been taking the King of Sweden`s shilling, could advise as to the date of that company`s first artic ?? We await developements.
The C6 had started production in 1955….we have heard it said that this machine put Euclid`s tractor potential back 20 years, or was it because it was marketed wrongly against the Cat D8, whereas it really was only a D7 equivalent ?? You also see the two types of scraper alongside each other as well now, of nearly equal size…the overhung twin & single engined machines now gaining the upper hand in market penetration over the tractor pulled versions, except of course, at the heavyweight end.
Lastly we have another of the wonderful ads…..not too bad this time, but still a reference to "making fruitful the barren & underdeveloped lands " !
1957 coming up in a few days.
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