Old Taskers traction engine trailer

crazy_bull · Nov 18, 2020

Hiya,

I have a couple of old 4 wheel trailers that I have thrown on eBay....

I have been sent a message that one could be a ‘taskers’ that was possibly an old traction engine trailer..... I have tried to join a traction engine forum to find out but having no luck. Any of you guys know if it is a taskers? I can’t find a name plate or anything....

crazy_bull · Nov 18, 2020

Also any idea what this is for? There is another somewhere in one of the barns. Has a metal strip/skid the length, and a hooked end with a tapered end, feel like it should make a ramp or something off a machine

Barleycorn · Nov 18, 2020

Watching with interest, Taskers factory was 4 miles from me.

renewablejohn · Nov 18, 2020

crazy_bull said:
Also any idea what this is for? There is another somewhere in one of the barns. Has a metal strip/skid the length, and a hooked end with a tapered end, feel like it should make a ramp or something off a machine

View attachment 921744

should be at least a pair of these to hook onto the side of the trailer to make a ramp. You would then roll timber up the ramp to load the trailer.

two-cylinder · Nov 18, 2020

It's a trailer made out of a WW2 air craft tank bowser chassis.

two-cylinder · Nov 18, 2020

They were an easy conversion due to the strong construction.
We have one.
Not entirely sure on make - I think it was Brockenhurst or similar.
Father says rated at about 5 tonnes but he's had more on ours!

Exfarmer · Nov 19, 2020

two-cylinder said:
It's a trailer made out of a WW2 air craft tank bowser chassis.

My thoughts too, I think they churned out thousands for military work
We had one but it was heavier and were lead to believe it had been used for transporting heavy bombs in a former life.
I would put money that the grease nipples on the turn table, are the type which slide on. It was a big trailer and were common on farms in the 60’s as the military downsized and old stocks were sold off. As lads it was always a challenge to get the biggest loads on several times we had over 300 small bales. Then the challenge was getting it home when the biggest tractor was a DB 990. First to get it moving, then near the farm there was first a slope down hill, where the trailer was pushing you. It was essential to be in a high gear so you could hold it enough , but not to let it push you into an overspeeding skid, then there was a slope up to the dairy Perpetually covered in a layer of cow muck. If all the gates were open you were laughing, let the tractor go as fast as you could then half way up a quich double clutch change down and you were past the dairy on the flat And into the rickyard. However if you had to stop at any point , there was a good chance as you were grinding in low gear up the slope , the tractor would start to lose grip and snake, when you be ame very aware the proximity of the Slurry pit and would those steel rails keep you out. Thankfully that never happened, but often had to get a second tractor on the front. This would always earn a telling off from Dad for overloading!
There was though one other problem with these trailers, the suspension, we had ridge and furrow in several fields and trying to keep a load on crossing this was a nightmare. As you crossed the trailer would rock from side to side And even the best stacked small load cane off sometimes!
sorry to be off topic.

two-cylinder · Nov 19, 2020

Raided the archives and found this picture of ours loaded with about Eight tonnes of Chicory ready for delivery to the St.Ives factory in Dec 1956.
Grandad bought the trailer- already converted from Cambridge market in 1953 and the John Deere A and this trailer delivered hundreds of tonnes of Chicory to St Ives for the next 11 years. Manually thrown on and off by father and and his brothers!
We still have both the trailer and tractor.

Hawkes · Nov 22, 2020

This is a 1940's trailer as everyone suggests. Taskers built lots of trailers for traction engines, the older ones were wooden chassis and steel wheels in a variety of configurations. They made some three way tippers, timber trailers, heavy haulage etc, a whole range of different types. We just found the original frame and running gear from a three way tipper with a big water tank fitted to make a tanker. Whilst researching that we found some catalogues and here is a typical traction
trailer.

Sonoftheheir · Feb 16, 2022

Barleycorn said:
Watching with interest, Taskers factory was 4 miles from me.

What happened to Taskers?

Netherfield · Feb 16, 2022

Could be that they were made to a Government specification by a few different manufacturers.

robbie · Feb 17, 2022

two-cylinder said:
Raided the archives and found this picture of ours loaded with about Eight tonnes of Chicory ready for delivery to the St.Ives factory in Dec 1956.
Grandad bought the trailer- already converted from Cambridge market in 1953 and the John Deere A and this trailer delivered hundreds of tonnes of Chicory to St Ives for the next 11 years. Manually thrown on and off by father and and his brothers!
We still have both the trailer and tractor.

A bit off topic but what happened to growing chicory????? A elderly chap in the village often remenises about how they used to grow chicory and it all went to a factory out lakenheath way i believe.
I know it was used to make coffee but that's all. Did cheap imports of real coffee put pay to it???

TheTallGuy · Feb 17, 2022

robbie said:
A bit off topic but what happened to growing chicory????? A elderly chap in the village often remenises about how they used to grow chicory and it all went to a factory out lakenheath way i believe.
I know it was used to make coffee but that's all. Did cheap imports of real coffee put pay to it???

Yes, chicory coffee was pretty much killed off by the real thing - chicory was fudging awful stuff, second only to burnt crumb coffee. Some varieties are grown for culinary and salad purposes and quite popular around the Mediterranean, but it's never really caught on over here.

The English Chicory factory at St Ives met its fate being used as a film set for an episode of London's Burning & is now the site of some offices and an Aldi.

bluebell · Feb 17, 2022

we had a brockenhurst trailer, had a plate underneath saying that? still painted in RAF grey, their must have been thousands of these ex military trailers sold after the war and found onto farms still?

Netherfield · Feb 17, 2022

Local farmer to here used to make trailers as a sideline, from the British Railways trailers that were pulled by 3 wheel Scammell Scarabs.

two-cylinder · Feb 17, 2022

robbie said:
A bit off topic but what happened to growing chicory????? A elderly chap in the village often remenises about how they used to grow chicory and it all went to a factory out lakenheath way i believe.
I know it was used to make coffee but that's all. Did cheap imports of real coffee put pay to it???

Not totally sure what happened to the chicory companies, but do know St.Ives closed in March 1979 after finishing processing the 1978 crop.
For many years after we had some seed about here, (until some mice found it!) looked like beet seed but was grey in colour.
Father lifted it with a Standen Repide (not tanker) straight through beet harvester subject to some modifications, one day in the 1960s he was filmed by Anglia Television and appeared on the Farming Diary programme, I wonder if the footage survives?

two-cylinder · Feb 17, 2022

Netherfield said:
Local farmer to here used to make trailers as a sideline, from the British Railways trailers that were pulled by 3 wheel Scammell Scarabs.

Our neighbour had one with a flat body, we used to use it for bales.
Could be unstable with a tall load, due to narrow wheel track and softish springs

Netherfield · Feb 17, 2022

two-cylinder said:
Our neighbour had one with a flat body, we used to use it for bales.
Could be unstable with a tall load, due to narrow wheel track and softish springs

Exactly, so was ours.

Barleycorn · Feb 17, 2022

Sonoftheheir said:
What happened to Taskers?

One strike too many I'm afraid. The farming side was sold to Econ, but they had had enough. A friend of mine was involved in the demolition, and we got a cultivator, drill, and fertiliser spreader out of there, but they were development machines and not much good. Biggest regret was when they knocked down the gatehouse which was full of instruction manuals going back to year dot. I should have liberated some, but I think they got burnt. It is a housing estate now. Taskers trailers lived on as Andover trailers, who are still going.

Sonoftheheir · Feb 17, 2022

Barleycorn said:
One strike too many I'm afraid. The farming side was sold to Econ, but they had had enough. A friend of mine was involved in the demolition, and we got a cultivator, drill, and fertiliser spreader out of there, but they were development machines and not much good. Biggest regret was when they knocked down the gatehouse which was full of instruction manuals going back to year dot. I should have liberated some, but I think they got burnt. It is a housing estate now. Taskers trailers lived on as Andover trailers, who are still going.

Thanks for the info, farmer up the road said he bought a cultivator from an auction and said he thought we had one just like it. Which we have, he wanted to know what make it was, ours didn’t have a plate but I think my Grandad bought it in the early 80’s. I looked in my Grandads bought in machinery book and saw he bought it in 1984 for £162.50. Looked for Taskers info online but only found a similar cultivator for sale on eBay. It was the orange colour.

What year did they pack up?

Old Taskers traction engine trailer

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