 | |
| Industry | Construction |
|---|---|
| Founded | 10 October 1923 [1] |
| Defunct | 2006 |
| Fate | Merged into Aggregate Industries |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Aggregate Asphalt |
| Website | www.foster-yeoman.co.uk |
Foster Yeoman Limited, based near Frome, Somerset, England, was one of Europe's largest independent quarrying and asphalt companies. It was sold to Aggregate Industries in 2006.
The company was founded by Foster Yeoman, from Hartlepool, at Dulcote, near Wells, in 1923. He was a former ship owner and had worked in the iron and steel business. [2]
After the conflict, with Foster Yeoman ailing, business declined and the company came full circle, returning to a £20,000 turnover it had enjoyed in 1923. During 1949, Foster died and his son, John Foster Yeoman, became a managing director at the age of 21. [2] Educated at Monkton Combe School, [3] [4] Millfield and the University of Bristol, he set about turning the company around, despite his youth and inexperience. John employed Ron Torr to redevelop the plant and, within four years, the company had returned to profit. [2]
Dulcote was not the best location and, with an eye to rising costs, competition and the need for future expansion, John Yeoman bought the under-exploited Merehead Quarry at East Cranmore in Somerset in 1958. Significant development of the site was undertaken; at John Yeoman's behest, the branch line between Merehead and Westbury was re-opened to permit trains to serve the quarry. [4] The use of rail transport to deliver materials proved to be effective, permitting annual production to be raised as high as five million tonnes during the early 1970s. [4] By the 1980s, around eight million tonnes of material was being extracted each year from Merehead alone. [2]
The stone had been carried to its destination by lorry since 1949, but now Foster Yeoman reverted to rail transport. The Merehead Stone Terminal was established in 1970 to handle the transfer of aggregate onto high capacity freight trains. [5] This development was followed by the building of the railhead depot and coating plant at Botley, Hampshire, in 1973. On its 75th anniversary, the company published a colorful pictorial history of the company with a focus on its use of railway transport to move the aggregate. [6]
The 1980s proved to be a time of substantial change and growth for the company; between 1982 and 1989, sales more than doubled to reach £87.1 million while the business' net assets trebled in valued to £28.3 million. [4] During 1984, Foster Yeoman bought the derelict Marston House, a Grade II* listed building near Frome. [7]
When John Foster Yeoman suddenly died in 1987 he was succeeded by his widow, Angela Yeoman, who decided against selling the company despite numerous parties indicating their interest in purchasing Foster Yeoman. [4] [8]
Foster Yeoman was responsible for the supply of aggregate in the construction of multiple landmark civil engineering schemes, including the Thames Barrier, M25 motorway and the Channel Tunnel. [9] [4] The company was a major supplier of coated stone products used for projects as diverse as motorways, airports and tennis courts. [10]
Having built up its substantial interests in Northern Europe, Foster Yeoman ran a locomotive on German railways from 1997 to 1999. Its other interests include civil engineering and recycling. During 1997, it acquired RJ Maxwell, an operator of a London-based asphalt works and wharves. [11] Continuation of waterborne transport of aggregates on the Thames Tideway was also ensured by the acquisition of Bennetts Barges, which also carried major components of the London Eye and a decommissioned Concorde aircraft. [12]
In the early 21st century, the company's direction became muddled by protracted family disagreements. During 2006, Foster Yeoman was wholly acquired by the Holcim Group and was subsequently integrated into its Aggregate Industries subsidiary. [9] [13]
John Yeoman bought the under-exploited Merehead Quarry in 1958. [4] The site, located not far from a limestone deposit, covers an area of some 205 hectares, including 60 hectares which have been landscaped to blend with the surrounding countryside. [14] Torr Works' output was six million tonnes per year by 1992. [4]
John Yeoman had long been captivated by the idea of the super-quarry to be situated in a remote location from which stone could be exported by sea, which had also been declared as preferred government policy. To this end, and always looking ahead, he bought the Glensanda estate near Oban in Argyll in 1982, which was projected to be capable of producing up to 15 million tonnes of granite per year. [4] A pilot plant was installed (extended in 1996) which extracts granite by the "glory hole" and conveyor belt method, a pioneering development in alternative quarrying technology. [15] [16]
Glensanda went into operation in 1986 when the first shipload of granite left for Houston, Texas, US. [2] During the early 1990s, the production director at Glensanda was Kurt Larson, John and Angela Yeoman's son-in-law. [4] By 1992, production at Glensanda had reached five million tonnes per year; however, there was still plenty of untapped capacity, the site having an estimated one billion tonnes of material available. [4]
During the early 1990s, Foster Yeoman took delivery of three large self-discharging ships with a combined annual carrying capacity of 8 million tonnes for exporting material from Glensanda in bulk to destinations as far away as North America. [4] By 2011, Glensanda had developed into Europe’s largest quarry, routinely supplying the largest gravity-fed self-discharging ships in the world. [2] [17]
Foster Yeoman transported the majority of its stone product from Merehead to various distribution points across the UK by train. [4] The company purchased its own fleet of 140 12-ton wagons in 1923 to take advantage of the fact that the Great Western Railway line ran adjacent to Dulcote Quarry. When the Torr Works opened in the 1960s, a rail terminal – named Merehead after the old quarry – was constructed to support the new quarry and was opened in August 1970, served by a spur from the East Somerset branch line which joins the main line at Witham. Further expansion was soon needed, with a chord being added between the terminal and the branch line in 1973. [18] [4]
Throughout much of the British Rail era, both shunting and mainline locomotives were provided by the national railway operator. However, in 1972, Foster Yeoman bought the first of several Class 08 shunting locomotive; the company also purchased a General Motors EMD SW1001 switching locomotive in 1980. [19] Foster Yeoman was dissatisfied with the poor reliability achieved by the various locomotives used by British Rail to haul stone trains from the West Country (with availability of the Class 56 locomotives from May 1984 as low as 30%, and only 60% of trains running on time), [20] leading to the firm negotiating with British Rail to improve service. Having already supplied its own wagons (with a reliability level of 96%) Foster Yeoman suggested to British Rail that it could operate its own locomotives, which would be the first privately-owned engines to run on British rail tracks. British Rail's problem was the hard tie-in and control of the rail unions, but nevertheless it accepted the principle. [21] [22]
What may in retrospect be viewed as the harbinger of private rail operation in Britain occurred in 1985 when Foster Yeoman opted to purchase a number of powerful freight locomotives from the American conglomerate General Motors' Electro-Motive Diesel division (GM-EMD), designated Class 59. These were procured to be exclusively used on its mineral trains. [4] [23] [24] Although owned and maintained by Foster Yeoman, the Class 59s were manned by British Rail staff. During acceptance trials, on 16 February 1986, locomotive 59001 hauled a train weighing 4639 tonnes – the heaviest load ever hauled by a single non-articulated traction unit. Foster Yeoman's Class 59s proved to be extremely reliable, promptly encouraging other firms, such as the rival quarry company ARC and privatised power generator National Power to also purchase their own fleets of Class 59s to haul their own trains. [25] [26]
Foster Yeoman and ARC agreed in 1993 to create Mendip Rail. This was a joint venture company which combined their locomotives and rolling stock in one streamlined operation and was the third largest freight company in the UK. [27] It was particularly active in the southern region, where the former Foster Yeoman terminals at Eastleigh and Botley are present, as well as delivering aggregates for construction work on various major projects, including the Thames Barrier, Second Severn Crossing, Channel Tunnel, and Heathrow Terminal 5. [28] [29]
The British Rail Class 08 is a class of diesel-electric shunting locomotives built by British Railways (BR). As the standard BR general-purpose diesel shunter, the class became a familiar sight at major stations and freight yards. Since their introduction in 1952, however, the nature of rail traffic in Britain has changed considerably. Freight trains are now mostly fixed rakes of wagons, and passenger trains are mostly multiple units or have Driving Van Trailers, neither requiring the attention of a shunting locomotive. Consequently, a large proportion of the class has been withdrawn from mainline use and stored, scrapped, exported or sold to industrial or heritage railways.
DB Cargo UK, is a British rail freight company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Doncaster, England.
Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was in part motivated by the enactment of EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient railway network by creating greater competition.
The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel-electric freight locomotive developed in part from the Class 59, for use on UK railways. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway companies. In Continental Europe it is marketed as the EMD Class 66 (JT42CWR).
The East Somerset Railway is a 1 mi 63 ch (2.9 km) heritage railway in Somerset, running between Cranmore and Mendip Vale. The railway was once part of the former Cheddar Valley line that ran from Witham to Yatton, meeting the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway at Wells but was considered for closure even before the publication of 'The Reshaping of British Railways' by Dr Richard Beeching in March 1963.
The EMD SW1001 is a 1,000-horsepower (750 kW) diesel switcher locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division between September 1968 and June 1986. A total of 230 were constructed, mainly for North American railroads and industrial operations.
The British Rail Class 59 is a fleet of Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives built between 1985 and 1995 by the Electro-Motive Division of General Motors for use in Great Britain. A total of 15 locomotives were built for three different operators.
Mendip Rail Ltd is an independent freight operating railway company in Great Britain. It is a joint venture composed of the rail-operation divisions of Aggregate Industries and Hanson Aggregates.
St Cuthbert Out, sometimes Wells St Cuthbert Out, is a civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England. It entirely surrounds the city and parish of Wells. According to the 2011 census it had a population of 3,749.
Cranmore is a village and civil parish east of Shepton Mallet, in Somerset, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Waterlip, East Cranmore and Dean. In 2011 the parish had a population of 667.
Gurney Slade quarry, grid reference ST626497 is a limestone quarry near Gurney Slade between Binegar and Holcombe, on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England.
Dulcote Quarry is a disused limestone quarry at Dulcote, near Wells on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry measures around 600 metres (2,000 ft) from West to East and around 350 metres (1,150 ft) from North to South, with an area of 18 acres (7.3 ha), which is surrounded by 80 acres (32 ha) of woodland.
The Mendip Hills, (Mendips) in northern Somerset, are the most southerly Carboniferous Limestone uplands in Britain.
Torr Works quarry, grid reference ST695446 is a limestone quarry at East Cranmore, near Shepton Mallet on the Mendip Hills, Somerset, England. The quarry was formerly known as Merehead, a name which has been retained for its rail depot on the opposite side of the A361 road.
GB Railfreight (GBRf) is a rail freight company in the United Kingdom. As of 2022, it is owned by the global investment company Infracapital, itself a subsidiary of M&G plc, a UK investment group.
Somerset is a county in the south west of England. It is a rural county and transport infrastructure has been significant in industrial development. There is some heavy industry particularly related to the defence technologies and the county has several centres for stone quarrying, although the coalfield is now closed.
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The railway network in Great Britain has been used to transport goods of various types and in varying volumes since the early 19th century. Network Rail, which owns and maintains the network, aims to increase the amount of goods carried by rail. In 2015–16 Britain's railways moved 17.8 billion net tonne kilometres, a 20% fall compared to 2014–15. Coal accounted for 13.1% of goods transport in Britain, down considerably from previous years. There are no goods transported by railway in Northern Ireland.
...Foster Yeoman when it acquired the RJ Maxwell business in 1997.
Bennett's Barges, which operates the tug Steven B. Now, 10 years after the Concorde job, Eddie C...