Forestry Memories

Unloading Bowater Pulp at Ellesmere Port

Unloading Bowater Pulp at Ellesmere Port

Date Added: 17 April 2019 Contributor: Norman Davidson Year of Photo: 1964 Picture No: 4424

Image is courtesy of Ruth Robertson, Peebles, and is of a load of pulpwood from the borders area being unloaded at Ellesmere Port.

This is a load of Border produced timber at Ellesmere Port in the early sixties being hand unloaded at the paper mill site. The lorry is cross loaded with two rows of spruce only pulp billets which measured about 1.1 -1.2m long but perhaps someone will confirm?

Almost certainly this lorry would also have been hand loaded by the driver and an assistant at the forest. Not certain if the driver is unloading on his own here or possibly taking off the chains. It appears that the pulp billets are dropped over the side and may then be elevated up to the top of the large pile by machine and conveyor. The piles look as though there was a bit of diameter separation being carried out as the pile on the left has much smaller billet sizes.

Can anyone confirm the types of lorries, the contractor (name may end in -------gall) and where they were based?

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Groups: Forestry Areas, Sawmills, pulp mills, chipboard mills, Timber lorries and loaders

4 Comments

The 1st lorry is a Dodge second is a Leyland.

The timber was half platform width to enable easy hand loading before hydraulic cranes were introduced.

In 1964 I would have been loading similar timber from Ae forest in Dumfriesshire for the same destination . Comment left on 30 April 2019 at 22:08 by Jimmy Thain
Ellesmere Port pulp for Bowater was 3ft 9in long. Hand loading a 35 foot trailer by hand was a job I always tried to avoid but unfortunately the driver (Matt Little - EFG) always chose me as I had the same idea as he did about where on the load each piece was to be placed. Everybody else got shouted at. Comment left on 01 May 2019 at 16:07 by Andy MacNicol
My dad drove for Bowaters at Northfleet. I had many fantastic journeys with him but never went to Earlsmere port with him. Do you have any old photos from there with Bowater lorry transport. I do have a few photos but not there. Thank you George Ventham. Comment left on 14 April 2021 at 16:08 by George Ventham
I went to Bowaters many times with my father in the late 50s though to mid-1960s. At that time he worked for S J Morris. Our lorry loaded by hand in the forests at Lake Vyrnwy, Aberangell and Corris. At Bowaters the load was dragged off the lorry by cranes with L shaped plates that sat over the load and down the far side of the load. A conveyor between the lorry and the cranes moved the timber to the timber pile like the one in the photo. I think the driver in the photo is just removing the ropes before moving to the unloading line. I remember my father always had me stand on the far side of the yard as he did not trust the cranes not hitting the cab. Comment left on 12 October 2022 at 01:46 by Granville Roberts
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