FOREST MACHINE MAGAZINE CUTTINGS FROM THE FOREST FLOOR DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR JUNE 2021 + ISSUE 29
WOODCRACKER
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320
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ESTABLISHMENT
A BYGONE ERA
I
t was just after Christmas that Ian Lawson, a neighbour of mine from my time living in Aberfoyle, sent me some fascinating old photos of his dad with his Caterpillar ploughing for the Forestry Commission (FC). This ignited a wave of nostalgia as my father worked for the same establishment but in Loch Doon. Growing up I loved listening to the recollections of my dad – Adam Easton – regarding his work with the FC establishing new forests at Loch Doon in Ayrshire. Every day sounded like an exciting adventure to a five year old and after school I would wait patiently for the forestry van to drop him off so I could Page 28
hear what he had been up to that day. Loch Doon was a fantastic place to grow up as there was very little traffic, we were surrounded by farms, and our house overlooked the Loch. We were also within walking distance of Loch Doon Castle, a 13th century castle which stood on an island in the Loch and was originally owned by the Earl of Carrick during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Prior to 1935 the world’s first all river hydro electric scheme was scheduled to be built at Loch Doon. This would have raised the level of the Loch and submerged the castle which would have caused a public www.forestmachinemagazine.com
BY RAB EASTON outcry from the local community. To maintain public order the castle was dismantled stone by stone and re-assembled by the side of the Loch. My dad was a ganger (foreman) and the main area of his squads work was establishing and managing newly planted forests in the surrounding areas. The two world wars had devastated the UK’s timber reserves and the Forestry Commission was tasked with restocking forests that had been felled and purchasing or leasing land to create more new forests to increase our ravaged timber resource The surrounding areas of Loch June 2021
Ian Lawson’s photos that brought back fond memories.
Loch Doon (as with much of the west coast of the UK) were typically peat bogs which were unsuitable and too acidic for Arable or Pastoral farming but ideal for growing Sitka Spruce. My dad had some great recollections of ploughing on the upland peat bogs. One story he told was of when they were used County Swamp Model tracked crawlers, without cabs, often in tandem roped together just in case one broke the ground surface. This particular day, the second County with the plough started sinking so the operator grabbed his piece bag and stepped up onto the ground as it was submerging. Another County was brought in and the two County’s started pulling the submerged one. Only the exhaust was showing and my dad went in front of the exhaust and opened a channel with his spade as it was being pulled underground. After about 50 yards the exhaust went over at June 2021
an angle, the submerged County had hit a rock on one side underground and went on to its side still fully submerged. The decision was made to unhook the rope and abandon it. There was another similar incident at a later time. It would be interesting to find out just how many sunken County’s there are in peat bogs around the UK. Another recollection was in a heavy morning Thunderstorm. My dad’s squad were weeding around young trees and set off for the van at finishing time. They were all in the van except for the tractor man who was ploughing further on to where they were weeding. My dad set off to find the tractor man, as he approached the County he saw the operator sat unmoving on the seat. Fearing the worse he approached only for the operator to shout for him not to come near. My dad wasn’t sure what was www.forestmachinemagazine.com
happening and the operator said that lightening had struck right in front of the County and killed the engine. He wasn’t sure whether the ground was still live with electricity and had sat there without moving for over six hours. My dad approached him to show it was safe and they all finally got home. When the squad had been weeding my mum used to dread opening his piece box, it always contained a few dead adders. Loch Doon was alive with them and he used to put his foot on their heads, pick them up by their tails and crack them like a whip to kill them. He brought them home and would skin them to make attractive watch straps and belts. CLARK ENGINEERING Clark Engineering manufactured many of the ploughs that were used in the UK and beyond. William Clark worked in a shipyard and in 1924 he bought the site where Clark Engineering Page 29