 | |
| 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] Yeoman had served in the First World War and went into quarrying to provide employment for ex-soldiers.
Across the interwar period, Foster Yeoman Limited supplied contractors and local authorities in the South of England, reaching an early peak of prosperity in the 1930s. During the Second World War, the firm supplied materials for the construction of airfields. The majority of the extracted stone was dispatched from its quarries by rail, which remained the preferred technique throughout most of the company's history.
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. In 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] 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; by the 1980s, around eight million tonnes of material was being extracted each year from Merehead alone. [2]
Since 1949, the stone had been carried to its destination by lorry, 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. [4] 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. [5]
During 1984, Foster Yeoman bought the derelict Marston House, a Grade II* listed building near Frome. [6] The mansion, which dates in part from the early 17th century and has 106 rooms, was restored over a seven-year period and served the company headquarters.
John Foster Yeoman died in 1987. He was succeeded by his widow, Angela Yeoman, OBE, DL. Their son, also named John Foster Yeoman, became managing director in 1994 and vice chairman in 2004.[ citation needed ]
Notable landmarks in the company history have included the supplying of aggregate for the Thames Barrier and the M25 motorway. [7] Foster Yeoman also supplied three million tonnes of rock used to make concrete segments for the English side of the Channel Tunnel.[ citation needed ]
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; it operated a very successful contracting division. 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.[ citation needed ]
Across multiple decades, Foster Yeoman was a major suppliers of coated stone products used for projects as diverse as motorways, airports and tennis courts. Amongst other uses, Glensanda granite was being exclusively used for replacement track ballast across the railways of the South of England at one point.[ citation needed ]
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. [7] [8]
John Yeoman bought the under-exploited Merehead Quarry in 1958. 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. [9] John successfully developed Merehead in association with his chief engineer, Ron Torr, after whom the new quarry was renamed. This second Foster Yeoman quarry became operational in 1964, and was completed with the installation of the Nordberg Primary Crusher in 1970.[ citation needed ]
In 1985, Torr Works quarry acquired the O & K Mobile Crusher, a five storey high plant which can walk to the current working location, instead of a conventional fixed building which needs to be fed by dumper trucks.[ citation needed ]
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. 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. [10] [11]
Glensanda went into operation in 1986 when the first shipload of granite left for Houston, Texas, US. [2] The production director at Glensanda is Kurt Larson, John and Angela Yeoman's son-in-law.[ when? ] Production at the Scottish quarry has reached six million tonnes per year.[ when? ][ citation needed ] By 2011, Glensanda had developed into Europe’s largest quarry, supplying the largest gravity-fed self-discharging ships in the world. [2]
Eighty per cent of Glensanda granite was being exported to Europe using Foster Yeoman vessels: the Yeoman Brook, Yeoman Bank, Yeoman Bridge and the Yeoman Bontrup.[ when? ][ citation needed ]
Foster Yeoman transported the majority of its stone product from Merehead to various distribution points across the UK by trains. During 1923, the company purchased its own fleet of 140 12-ton wagons 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. [12]
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. [13] 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), [14] 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. [15] [16]
During 1985, what may in retrospect be viewed as the harbinger of private rail operation in Britain occurred 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. [17] [18] 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. [19] [20] The Class 59 directly led to the Class 66 series of locomotives, which became the standard for freight haulage in the UK.
During 1993, Foster Yeoman and ARC agreed to create a joint venture company, Mendip Rail, under which they combined their locomotives and rolling stock in one streamlined operation and thus created the third largest freight company in the UK. [21] 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. [22] [23]
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