The London Brick Company
John Tailby shares his collection of commercial vehicles that proudly wear a famous livery.
Fleet focus on the well-known manufacturer, by John Tailby.
As I write this, the country and – indeed the whole world – has concerns about whether there will be a resurgence of the coronavirus as various strains emerge.The Government have likened the situation to being at war with a hidden enemy, and we are experiencing restrictions not known since World War II. It now looks as if victory over the virus is in sight, with the use of various new treatments and the extensive rollout of vaccines for the whole population.As restrictions are lifted, lots of rebuilding will need to be done with all our lives as well as business and commerce.
This was the case at the end of World War II, but with a difference because then, in the 1940s, most of our infrastructure had to be repaired or rebuilt as well. High-quality bricks were needed in large quantities for the purpose and these were supplied by the London Brick Company and this brings me to the subject of my article.
The London Brick Company (LBC) was so called because, as far back as the 18th Century, speculative builders used bricks from the Peterborough area for developments in London.This was made possible by the advent of the Great Northern Railway which ran through Peterborough to London and also to the industrial towns ofYorkshire and the Midlands.
One of the early brickmaking sites was at Fletton Lodge, bought by Hemsteads in 1878.They had house building interests in London, and bricks made from the ‘Lower Oxford Clay’, made from the ‘soke of Peterborough’, became known as ‘Flettons’.This
particular clay possessed special qualities that reduced firing costs. It was excavated to a depth of about 100 feet and it was found that the clay contained 5% seaweed from 150 million years ago when all the land was at the bottom of the sea.When the excavated sites were exhausted, they were eventually used for landfill.
The brickmaking industry experienced many highs and lows in demand due to Government policy with housebuilding, but in the early 20th Century, one of the highs came from the demand for bricks from the Great Central Railway company. It needed to build new stations and tunnels, and needed bricks for all of the engineering work. These were supplied from a new brickworks in Buckinghamshire.
In 1936, many small firms amalgamated to form a larger London Brick Company and production centralised at Wooton Pillinge, in Bedfordshire.The site expanded and became known as Stewartby, respecting the leadership given to the industry by the Stewart family over a long period.They provided housing for the workers and improved working conditions.Their policies were well ahead of social thinking at the time. The village of Stewartby grew around the brickworks. The trademark Phorpres Bricks evolved from the method of production that involved four separate pressings of the moulded clay bricks.
Transport and distribution was as important as production. Bricks were loaded on to railway wagons at Stewartby, bound for the railheads, where lorries would take them to various building sites as required.
Before Stewartby, many small firms would use the railways to transport bricks because most towns would have a railway station. Most of the road network had not been developed and some were little more than dirt tracks. Before motor lorries were available, horses and carts and steam traction engines would take the bricks from the railway wagons to their final destination.
From 1928, the LBC bought a variety of road vehicles and, with the ending of the depression in the early 1930s, the company considered setting up its own transport fleet to supplement and improve upon the delivery service offered by the railways and hired vehicles.The fleet grew in proportion to the brick sales during the late 1930s and, by 1939, there were approximately 60 Leyland Cubs or Lynxs, 240 AECs, 40 Morris Equiloads and Loaders, plus a small number of Bedfords and Thornycrofts in operation.
The London Brick Company (LBC) was so called because, as far back as the 18th Century, speculative builders used bricks from the Peterborough area for developments in London. This was made possible by the advent of the Great Northern Railway...
Of this fleet, the Morris trucks had been chosen because they were British and considered relatively heavy duty.The Leylands offered a high-quality hand built vehicle able to travel at 30mph due to their low unladen weight.The AECs, although heavier and restricted to 20mph, were totally satisfactory in every way.
By 1939, the company was manufacturing bricks at a total of 27 works, but the vehicle fleet was maintained at just five depots, namely Peterborough, Bletchley,Arlesey, Stewartby and Calvert.The main offices and works had been established at Stewartby, where a brand new heated workshop was built to replace an earlier open air maintenance facility.
There was a decline in brick sales in early 1939, when war was expected, and by the summer of 1940, the Government restrictions on anything but the movement of essential goods had curtailed further sales of bricks. Despite a decline in general sales, huge orders came from the Ministry of Works for the supply of bricks for airfields office blocks and war factories.The engineering works, with their highly developed skills in building and maintaining brick making machinery, were busy making components for the war effort.
Large numbers of vehicles were requisitioned by the military authorities and only a few were actually returned to the company during the latter part of 1940. To replace the impressed trucks, the company had to resort to purchasing second hand trucks, a number of which entered service in 1941.Amongst these were some Leyland Octopus and Beaver types, also ERF eight-wheelers. Despite the shortages in the first post war year of 1946, the LBC was allowed to order some new lorries - over 30 Morris Equiloads and more than 40 AEC Monochs and Matadors.
AEC continued to supply a large number of vehicles, including Mammoth Major 8s, until 1950, but around this time,AEC began to fall behind with supplies, so the four-wheel fleet was supplemented by a large number of LAD-cabbed Albion Chieftain platform trucks and tippers.The tippers were loaded by hand, as was the usual practice in the 1950s, but could then be tipped at the destination.This was ok if some damage occurred to common bricks, but facing bricks had to be offloaded by hand.
As speed restrictions were lifted, from 20mph to 30mph, it became necessary to provide better security for the brick loads.Various methods were tried including tailboards and mesh side hinged at the bottoms.
Palletised loads allowed fork lift truck handling and a self stack system for offloading was adopted. This system lasted for approximately 25 years. It consisted of a lightweight gantry able to travel along the body sides.Attached to the gantry was a power driver hoist and grab that could lift and move the units of the 350 bricks and lower them to the offside of the lorry.The loads could then be further subdivided into smaller parcels for moving around the building sites.
A number of vehicles were fitted with hydraulic cranes during the 1980s and these had the ability to swing anywhere within a 360 degree radius, enabling bricks to be placed just where they were needed.
Cranes were eventually adopted throughout the fleet and bricks were shrink-wrapped to protect them from water damage.
When AEC became part of the Leyland Group problems arose with delivery delays, standard of build and service back up.This led to the firstVolvo F86 six-wheeler entering the fleet in 1971. Fitted with a luxurious continental style cab, lifting rear axle and a quiet, powerful, turbo charged engine, this type of vehicle delighted the drivers by making their job a little easier.They also had insulated and sound proofed cabs, a suspension seat and air assisted clutch. In spite of some teething problems with the Volvo fleet, the overall package was excellent and running costs were reduced.
A variety of different vehicles were acquired when other companies were taken over in the early 1970s. Lorries from Eastwoods, Redlands, Fletton Brick Co. and MarstonValley Bricks included ERFs and Commers, LAD cabbed Leyland Comets,AEC Mercury and Marshalls, Bedfords and Foden eightwheelers and some Volvo F86 articulated units. A large number of Redland Fodens dated back to 1961/62 and had originated from the Eastwoods Company.Their long life was attributed to the reliability of their Gardner engines.
The LBC became part of the Hanson Group in 1984 and went from strength to strength.The biggest step was the introduction of the Kempston brick in 1987 made by a totally modernised process. The new range of bricks met EC Standards and proved to be a great success for the company, with a wide range of specialist bricks and fittings. London Brick Co. became Hanson Brick and the familiar red-liveried lorries eventually disappeared apart from a few saved and preserved examples. Model makers have favoured the iconic red lorries from the 1950s including AECs, Leylands, Albions and Bedfords.
I have a number of these in my own
LBC and MarstonValley model fleet collection, they are accurate replicas based on preserved examples of the real trucks.
The largest model, at 1/42 scale, is the Spot-on example, made by Tri-ang from 1960.A heavy diecast model with plastic fuel tank and cab interior of the AEC Major 8 in red with a black roof, it is an eight-wheel flatbed truck, registration GTM 110.There are two holes in the flat load area to locate a brick load, but my brick load is missing and I am looking for a replacement.This is a rare and expensive model to find.
There are more to choose from in 1/50 scale. The most detailed I have is an AEC Mammoth Major eight-wheeler flat truck with tailboard, by British Transport Classics. It was distributed, as are the others in the range, by Digbys Miniature Automobiles. It is red and silver with a black cab roof and made mostly of resin with wing mirrors and full detailed cab interior, wearing the registration GTM 809.A lovely model with separate brick load, but fragile in places, namely wing mirrors and tailboard, if handled too much. It came in its own plastic display case and cardboard outer, purchased in 2013.
Corgi Classics, in the year 2000, produced some really good LBC models including AEC, MM and MkV. No 26401 is a diecast AEC Mammoth Major, with plastic details, red and silver with black chassis, including moving prop shaft, with black cab seats and steering wheel. It is very well-packed, made in China, with separate brick load and wing mirrors. The information card states that in the '60s era, LBC ran a fleet of more than 900 vehicles and produced 3 billion bricks a year.
Another classic model by Corgi in the same scale was the LAD cabbed Albion Chieftain. Both rigid and articulated cabbed examples existed, but Corgi modelled the artic in LBC livery with brick load. Regretfully, I sold this one at a toy fair and haven't yet replaced it.
The same applies to the Thames Trader Tipper, another good model in the range.
Another Corgi that I did keep was the Leyland Octopus in LBC livery, with black detailed chassis including moving prop shaft. My model is unboxed and has an interesting detail on its fuel tank, it states “Speed 20mph”. It is loaded with 24 pallets instead of the usual brick load.
I bought three interesting models at a toy fair some time ago.Two of them use Dinky Supertoys Foden diecast chassis from the 1950s in 1/43 scale.The Foden cabs have been removed and replaced with white metal AEC MM cabs. One, an early pre-war type, and the other a MkV version. Painting and transfer work is excellent and brick loads on both have been made from balsa wood covered with brick paper.
The third model is much heavier and seems to be made from a complete white metal kit. It is in
the style of Dinky Toys, but with a completely plain base.The cab of this pre-war type AEC MM has red, black and silver paintwork with the correct transfers to cab and tailboard. Headboard is missing but I am planning to make a replacement.All three models are full of character and made, I guess, by an enthusiast or a retired employee.
I have Corgi Toys ERF 44C four wheel flat truck, No 457, made between 1958 and 1964 in the smaller scale of 1/56 at 4 ¾ inches long. Originally two-tone blue, it has been converted and repainted in LBC red, black and silver, with the addition of tailboard and cab headboard.The result is excellent with correct transfers and ‘Corgi Cargoes’ brick load.
More recent model releases are in 1/76 scale.The “Days Gone”Trackside LBC AEC Mammoth Ballast truck, with winch, from Lledo Collectibles in 2002 is an example. From the back of the box:“The Days Gone Trackside collection recaptures all the charm and nostalgia of the 1930s era.The realism, detail and scale of this superb range, perfectly complements OO scale railway layouts.”
This is also true of models in 1/76 scale by Exclusive First Editions (EFE) and Oxford Diecast. My own recently constructed OO gauge railway layout includes a model building site where bricks and other materials are being delivered by two EFE MarstonValley Brick Co lorries - one is an AEC MK III Mammoth Major with brick load and the other a Bedford TK Short Tipper.
Also present are 2020 releases from Oxford Diecast in London Brick colours, namely an AEC Matador J12 Wrecker and an Ergomatic-cabbed six-wheel tipper, Nos 76AEC004 and 76TIP005 respectively. Stewartby ceased making bricks in 2008 due to sulphur emissions not meeting UK standards. My latest information is that only two kilns and four chimneys remain on an otherwise derelict site, due to be developed. I remember seeing the chimneys from the train a few years ago, one of them displaying the word ‘Stewartby’ in large letters down its length.
One of the books I used for reference in writing this article was The London Brick Company Famous FleetsVolume Three, by Bill Aldridge in the Nostalgia Road Series, published by Trans-Pennine Publishing. I have two editions, the first from 1998 (a First Day - Cover Limited Edition #205 of 1,000) and the second is a later edition from 2003.
Impressive colour pictures of the vehicle fleet can be seen on the front and back covers of both books. Nearly 100 black and white pictures are displayed inside together with a wealth of information about the vehicles and the manufacturing process.
I shall continue to look for more examples of London Brick model vehicles now that shops, market stalls and toy fairs are opening once more. I think we have all been looking forward to this. DC