Scope and Content
(00 mins)
Family road haulage business started 1947 – one vehicle from ex-military sources – after father left RAF in 1946. “R.K.Browning” – grey livery – initially transporting bricks from Bletchley, Stewartby and Calvert, plus small amounts of cement – serving the building industry.
Started transporting sand – around 1949/50 – approached by sand quarry owner, Joseph Arnold and Sons – after they had been let down by a previous haulier. Business increased over the year – from six vehicles in early 1950s to thirty-eight in mid-1960s.
(05 mins)
Initial yard in Ashwell Street, off Church Street, Leighton Buzzard – later to premises in North Street, Leighton Buzzard about 1955 (area now part of inner ring road system).
Interviewee’s childhood – born and bred in Leighton Buzzard – Pulford Church School and private preparatory school,
North Dean, Leighton Buzzard – then to secondary modern school at Brooklands around 1960. Grew up in lorry-oriented world – riding out with drivers during school holidays – early visits to sand quarries, getting to know workers there.
Remembers ‘character’ such as Mr Green at Double Arches quarry – foreman who ruled workers with ‘a rod of iron’ – strict but respected. ‘Dusty Clayton’ – worked in very dusty environment of the drying sheds, but on Sundays, the very smart member of the Salvation Army Band, carrying the flag during parades in Leighton Buzzard.
Sand transported from Grovebury Road – transported by narrow gauge railway from quarries – transferred to British Railway goods trains in Leighton Buzzard and from there to around the country – Grovebury Road Crossing at Wing Road.
(10 mins)
Long trains from Dunstable, carrying chalk from the quarries to the rear of Dunstable Downs – cement from Rugby Cement – Joseph Arnold and Sons sand from Leighton Buzzard – carried onward to north of England. Sand was used in metal foundries such as those at Ford Motor Company.
Road haulage began to compete with the run-down post-war nationalised rail system – road vehicles could deliver door-to-door, with faster delivery times – late 1950s, early 1960s. onward. Arnold’s looked more to using road transport.
Average vehicle in 1960s – four-wheel tipper truck – capacity around nine tons. Then multi-wheeler trucks, still in rigid form – around fifteen tons
David left school aged fifteen – joined father’s business as junior office boy at North Street premises – writing delivery tickets, checking driver’s times sheets, filing, answering customers on the telephone. Other hauliers called in for fuel.
(15 mins)
Family lived on the premises – sometimes when he fancied going out to play football in the evening – had to drop things and attend a visiting vehicle.
Elder brother (seven years older) came into the business as a driver – after apprenticeship with Rootes Group in Dunstable – took over the mechanical side of the business.
David worked in office for about four years – occasionally drove vehicles to customers, when short-handed, having learned to move them around in the yard, under supervision. When he was twenty-one years old, he was asked to take his first load of sand to the Anchor Tiles factory in Heath and Reach. Unlike today, when heavy goods vehicle drivers have to have a full medical and pass various tests to get a special licence, he just built up experience. Liked getting out of the office and getting to know new places and people.
By 1970s – worked 50-50 in office or driving. Occasional sand deliveries to Letchworth – night drives to Exeter or South Wales. Hauliers had to deliver when sand was needed.
(20 mins)
Pressurised environment – many competing hauliers in Leighton Buzzard – family-oriented businesses. All drivers knew each other – hauliers poached drivers, offering more pay. Sometimes firm had full staff – sometimes short-staffed, then brothers helped out with driving. By 1970s – haulage was a round-the-clock operation.
During 1960s – R.K.Browning worked exclusively for Joseph Arnold and Sons – delivering around the UK – mostly to iron and steel firms in the Midlands. Horticultural side of Arnold’s business started to increase – for example, golf courses around London, Surrey, Hampshire, Kent – open tipper work. With certain sands – when dried out – vehicles had to be covered with sheets before commencement of journey.
Occasional theft of the firm’s vehicles – no central locking or anti-theft devices in those days. One man – worse the wear for drinking alcohol – left the pub, stole a lorry and drove it to between Aylesbury and Thame where he ran off the road. Another stole a vehicle from North Street premises – hit the parapet bridge by Cedar’s School and ended up in the River Ouse.
(25 mins)
Creation of inner ring road in Leighton Buzzard in 1974 led to operational difficulties for the firm – new rear access to their premises was needed, from Lammas Walk through the Beaudesert housing estate – one way in and another out, via North Street.
Points of collection from Arnold’s sand quarries: Double Arches Quarry, at the end of Vandyke Road; Nine Acres Quarry, now Redlands Tiles, Vandyke Road; Chamberlain’s Barn Quarry, Heath Road; Stone Lane Quarry. The light railway was processing sand from Double Arches to Billington Road for washing purposes.
Joseph Arnold and Sons also had a quarry for white sand beyond Aylesbury that Browning’s collected from and delivered to the Britannia Iron and Steel Works in Bedford (now the site of a housing estate) for foundry castings.
(29 mins)
Browning’s also collected from Arnold’s rivals, George Garside Sands, opposite them in Eastern Way. In the early days – also collected from Inns and Company, from a quarry at the back of Stockgrove Park in Heath and Reach. Sand was another family-oriented firm – quarries in Mentmore Road off A5 – “Watling Street Quarry” (where Battlesden sub-station now is).
Leighton Buzzard Silica Sand Company, Heath and Reach – became Beds Silica Sand Co – later taken over by Buckland Sand Company from Reigate, Surrey – sold on to Amalgamated Roadstone Corporation (ABC), owned by Mr. Walpole.
Jones’s sand quarry in Ledburn Road – part is now the Tiddenfoot Waterside Park –two quarries either side of the road. Sand from there delivered to RAF runways and airfields for re-tarmaccing main runways and aprons.
(35 mins)
Browning’s firm relocated in 1978 to Grovebury Road, Leighton Buzzard – vehicles had got larger and were difficult to operate from centre of town – quicker access to main trunk routes from new premises – old railway sidings off Grovebury Road, at the corner of Chartmoor Road. Vehicle weights had increased – up to twenty-six tons (one twenty-two ton vehicle replaced two ten-ton vehicles) – therefore fewer needed.
They transported the old railway tracks to Thomas Ward and Co, Sheffield for disposal. The quicker turn-round of road vehicles caused the demise of light railway system – much less difficult than having to stop traffic when trains crossed roads.
Changes in sand industry affected the road haulage business over time – sand in wet form used to be sent to foundries which would have their own drying equipment – around 1963/64 they were asked to transport sand in dry form using a pressurised vehicle – sand was dried at source, loaded into the new vehicles and discharged at the other end into silos. This led to a quicker turnaround on castings since the sand could be injected straight into the castings in a dry form.
(41 mins)
Less need for manual labour in sand quarries in 1970s – formerly one-hundredweight bags were used and ladders – later tankers were employed – sand was discharged through hoses and spread as the customer wanted. – quicker and less labour-intensive. Sand was in demand for large water filtration plants in Cumbria providing water for Manchester – requiring a large amount of sand – also for Welsh Water, Trent Vale, etc.
Large amounts of Leighton Buzzard sand also supplied to the Ravenscraig Steelworks in Scotland for casting and water cooling operations.
Recession in the 1980s led to the contraction of the British foundry industry –competition in castings from Eastern Europe, ready machined for various operations – failure of British firms to update equipment which was pre-war. Knock-on effect to the sand industry and road hauliers.
(45 mins)
Browning’s diversified into the powder industry – haulage firms to carry different products. Health and Safety legislation increased as pressurised vehicles posed more potential dangers – drivers required to wear hard hats, high visibility clothing, and so on – customer’s premises subject to site rules. Browning’s supplied Sellafield nuclear plant for cooling processes in 1990s.
R.K. Browning, which became a limited business in late-1960s, was taken over in1999 by Cyril Knowles. Main customers were looking for larger haulage firms and family firms disappeared through amalgamations and takeovers.
Tremendous changes in working conditions in the sand industry observed by David – when young, low pay and long hours by sand ‘dobbers’ - hard, manual work – plus cycling from the town to the outlying sand quarries at Eastern Way and Heath and Reach.
(50 mins)
Mechanisation was introduced and increased – less labour intensive – automation. Wheelbarrows and tying sacks up with string – gave way to forklift trucks and automation. Operations speeded up considerably.
Family haulage business was possible because of being in the right place at the right time – local industries needed servicing – tiles, bricks, cement, sand – all for construction and building. His father dealt in a gentlemanly way with Mr. Arnold and others – rapport and trust – now there are corporate institutions and the family relationships have gone.
Leighton Buzzard sands competed with sand from Kent or Cheshire but had some sand which was uniquely good for water and other filtration. Leighton Buzzard sand was exported to the Middle East, because of its particular texture properties – very different from desert sand or sea sand.
(56 mins)
End of interview
Summarised by Stuart Antrobus (12 February 2009)