James Loader, from Ringwood in Hampshire, is the proud owner and restorer of this fine timber carriage, made by Taskers of Andover, in 1932. Only a handful of these survive and anyone who knows anything of timber work will be amazed that, given the conditions and harsh working environment of their working lives in woodlands, any survived at all. This particular trailer is the telescopic model of which even fewer have survived to the present day. The project is an example of a fairly simple but now very rare trailer used for bringing felled trees out from their original site. It is telescopic, the chassis being capable of being extended in order to permit the carrying of longer trunks. The front axle and draw bar slews on a circular base without the use of bearings. It is a niche agricultural/forestry product which might easily be overlooked but which had extensive use in rural parts of the country. Trunks to be loaded onto the trailer have to be rolled using a crane device up onto the chassis, utilising timber sections, butting onto channelled sockets above each axle, as rails. As ever with something like this, the original to do list was lengthy - chassis framework, axles, brakes, leaf springs and even nuts, bolts and fasteners have all required considerable attention. But clearly James is a bit of a stickler for detail; new old-stock British standard nuts and bolts have been sourced and used in the restoration throughout, an increasingly difficult and expensive task. This has enabled details such as the direction of bolts to be fitted in the same orientation. All parts have been cleaned and painted in the original colour scheme of Deep Bronze green. While this is a relatively simple and utilitarian piece of equipment, the care which has gone into preparing this relic of a now lost rural heritage for public viewing is very deserving of a restoration award.
