The West Somerset Railway on the Web

 Douglas the Useful Truck

In 1997 the recently formed Friends of Minehead Station(FOMS) were presented with a rare Douglas Series10 Industrial Truck and 5 stillage units which had worked in the Bristol Fruit Market. The truck has a low loading elevating body which can be driven under the stillage units which are then lifted for transporting. Douglas were, of course, famous for their motor cycles with two cylinder horizontally opposed engines and it is one of these engines which power the truck. There is a similar machine in Bristol Industrial Museum. The truck stood on Minehead platform until Arthur Prince, a FOMS member with a particular interest in engineering, spent the winter of 1999 restoring it to working order. Apart from requiring the purchase of a new magneto the work was fairly straightforward and the machine soon burst into life, following which Arthur gave it a thorough check over which included the hydraulic lifting mechanism. It now awaits painting. Around this time FOMS were offered a Ransomes Battery Electric Industrial Truck which had a virtually new set of batteries and this was obtained from a farm near Bridgwater, having been originally with British Cellophane at Bridgwater. This is tiller steered, reminiscent of the famous Dinky model, and has the advantage of being silent in operation whereas the Douglas is fairly noisy under the Minehead canopy. The Ransomes also has a lifting platform and is plated as being capable of carrying 2.5 tons. As space is always at a premium at Minehead it has been decided the Douglas Truck is surplus to requirements and must go. It is an unusual machine now in working order, small enough to fit the average garage and certainly deserving of preservation. It would be a shame to have to scrap it so is anyone interested in taking it off our hands or do you know anyone who is involved in the preservation of Vintage Commercial Machinery who might be interested. A price of £250 would enable us to recover the cost of the new magneto and for that price you could soon be showing this unusual machine at a rally near you!. Contact FOMS Chairman Alan Grieve by EMAIL or at Minehead Station - 01643 704996 - where a message can be left for him.

All images are © Alan Grieve

This page is not from the official West Somerset Railway Web Site