Heritage Commercials Magazine - capturing the spirit of vintage days

Guinness on the move

In 1759 Arthur Guinness travelled to Dublin with just a £100 inheritance in his pocket with the ambition of setting up his own brewery. His interest was caught by the disused brewery premises at St James’s Gate; although ill-equipped it was close to the city centre and near to two local rivers, the Dodder and Poddle, which would be a source of good pure water. Also, the site had stables for 12 horses and as the Grand Canal and River Liffey ran close by, he could see that these facilities would enable him to bring in raw ingredients and export his finished product.

A lease for a term of 9000 years was signed for the St James’s Gate site in 1759 at an annual rental of £45 and Arthur began to produce light ales and beers. During the 1770s drinking trends began to change, a new English dark ale called ‘porter’ was becoming increasingly popular so Arthur decided to concentrate on brewing his own porter, ceasing to brew the lighter ales in 1799.

Made with barley, hops, yeast and the purest water from the nearby Wicklow Mountains, the brewing process was perfected and very soon word began to spread across the world that Guinness porter was something very special. This international interest meant that the company would have to re-evaluate the methods of distributing its product.

The way ahead

When brewing first began at St James’s Gate the company’s market was limited to the Dublin area so the horse and cart was more than adequate as a means of distribution. As the demand for Guinness beer grew a link was opened between the brewery and the Grand Canal via St James’s Street Harbour enabling steam, then later mechanised, boats to bring in raw materials from the surrounding countryside. These vessels would then be loaded with beer to make a return journey to supply customers further afield.

As the company expanded and the brewery grew from its original four acre site, the internal transport of larger quantities of both materials and finished product also needed to be addressed. This was achieved by installing a 22 inch narrow-gauge railway using small locomotives which linked the brewery to both Victoria Quay on the River Liffey and the national rail network at Heuston Station. To enable the locomotives to cope with the 1 in 39 gradient inside the brewery, which has a rise of 25 feet, a special corkscrew-type tunnel had to be constructed.

The company’s market continued to expand worldwide and in 1913 it launched its own fleet of ships, the first of which was the WM Barkley, the last being the Miranda Guinness which was launched in 1976 and was the first ship to be built as a beer tanker.

However, even with all these alternative methods of distribution, road transport continued to play a vital role when it came to Guinness on the move. This importance was highlighted between 1933 and 1973 when high excise duties made it very costly for commercial vehicle operators to import new vehicles into the Republic of Ireland. To counteract this, larger fleet operators such as Guinness assembled bodies and cabs in their own coachworks and also designed and built their own trailers, offering a similar service to smaller companies which had imported vehicles in kit form but had no assembly facilities.

A worthy custodian

One man who is passionate about retaining the special history of the vehicles which have been used to transport Guinness over the years is Paddy Donovan from Swords, Co Dublin.

Paddy’s interest in Guinness vehicles began in 1979 when he went to work at St James’s Gate as a general assistant for a transport company. He soon worked his way up to become a driver then in 1986 became a self-employed owner-driver, delivering consignments of beer on a subcontract basis on behalf of a company contracted directly to Guinness. During 1988 he began to work directly on contract with Guinness still as an owner-driver.

“I formed my own limited company in 1989 and my involvement with the company is still strong today,” Paddy explained. “I continued to run delivery vehicles until mid-2005 but today my work involves operating a courier service at St James’s Gate. One of my vehicles works internally in the laboratory areas of the Dublin site while the other travels between different depots around Ireland and the UK.”

The Donovan fleet

Although now used as show exhibits, each of Paddy’s Guinness-liveried lorries has its own individual place in the history of the company.

Indeed, the livery in itself tells a tale, as he explained. “One of the first vehicle liveries used by the company in the early days featured a blue cab bearing a gold harp and lettering with a red chassis and wheels, which had a silver outline. During the 1980s black, white and cream with a narrow red stripe were chosen for cabs with a black harp on the cab door.”

“I believe that this livery lasted into the 1990s when an all black cab with a red and gold stripe was chosen. The lettering on the cab was in gold, while the chassis was also painted black. The fourth and present livery was introduced in the late 1990s when the company chose an all black chassis and cab, with a huge gold harp taking up the whole of each cab door.”

The Volvo prototype

For many years, Bedford had held the contract to supply fleet vehicles to Guinness so before Bedford Trucks closed down, Volvo were asked if they would be able to supply a replacement. At the time, their model range did not offer a suitable vehicle; consequently the F6 was built as a prototype urban tractor unit for the brewery industry for evaluation between the Brewery Transport Advisory Committee and Volvo.

The tractor unit had two sets of airbags fitted to the rear axle, one set for the suspension system and one further set which allowed the ride height of the trailer to be lowered. As the vehicle would be used for making keg deliveries, this height variation would make it an easier and safer operation. Small wheel rims and low profile tyres were also chosen for this prototype tractor unit, which ran as a prototype in the UK before travelling to Dublin. Guinness purchased this particular unit in 1985 but by this time Volvo had already launched its FL6 model.

Ownership of this unique Volvo changed in the early 1990s when Paddy purchased it from the company. He continued to use it on his fleet for a further six years, making regular deliveries around the country. It was then parked up before being restored four years ago. Paddy says that such was its condition, only a small amount of mechanical work was necessary throughout although the cab was fully restored.

“Even the trailer is of special interest,” Paddy explained. “Apparently it is one of the last tankers to be used to transport Guinness in the UK. It had been based at the Park Royal Brewery in London then with the closure of Park Royal, the trailer had been brought over to Dublin. I noticed it in the yard and thought that it would be a perfect match for the Volvo tractor unit and was really pleased when the company agreed to sell it to me. Basically, the trailer is in original condition as I have had no work to do on it at all.”

An educational TK

In its day, the Bedford TK was one of the most popular vehicles with hauliers, either as a tractor unit, flatbed or box van configuration. Guinness operated large numbers of these units and, indeed, the vehicle which launched Paddy’s career as an owner-driver was a 1979 TK which had originally been operated by Bass Brewery.

TK registration number 961 RZE joined the Donovan fleet during 2000 after having been purchased from an auction in Dublin. Its previous owner had been Dublin Corporation, who had used the unit for transporting mobile libraries to the suburbs. This is believed to be one of the last TK tractor units sold as it has an automatic coupling to mount the trailer, a feature common on tractor units until the early 1980s, rather than the fifth-wheel system in use today.

According to Paddy, the restoration of the TK was pretty straightforward. “I had some repair work to do on the braking system and bodywork but overall, it was in reasonably good condition. During the course of the restoration I decided to fit a larger fuel tank.”

The trailer Paddy had chosen to use with the TK was imported from Germany, having been used by the army; sadly, he says he has no other history on this. The tanks loaded onto the trailer are known as transportable tanks (TT tanks). They each have a capacity of 504 gallons and were used mainly for export as they could be easily loaded on to the company’s own ships destined for the UK. Some were, however, used for local deliveries.

The tanks are constructed from mild steel on the outside while the inside is stainless steel and in times of water shortage or emergencies, as they were so sterile, they could be used for transporting water to assist those in need of clean drinking water.

The tow tender

Believed to be the last AEC on the Guinness fleet and probably the last working AEC in Dublin, the 1973 Marshal came into Paddy’s ownership around 12 months ago.

“This is one of a pair of Marshal lorries put into service by the company in January 1973,” Paddy explained. “It was originally a long wheelbase 24 foot flatbed and would have been loaded with kegs which would be delivered throughout the country. It was taken out of service in the early 1980s, at which time the company was looking for a new tow tender to put on the road to recover broken down lorries.”

To make it suitable for this type of work the chassis was shortened by some five feet and the axles moved forward. A Holmes FW-20 demountable wrecker was fitted as well as a fifth-wheel coupling and the AEC worked in this role for many years.

“I had the go ahead to purchase this vehicle two years ago but the change of ownership did not actually take place until 2009. Not only does this vehicle have an interesting and varied work history, but as it remained on the company’s books until 2009, this particular lorry is also probably the last Guinness owned lorry to bear the old blue livery,” said Paddy.

Once again, restoration work on this vehicle has been minimal with some work done to the electrical system, alternator and headlights.

In-house instruction

The last Bedford rigid lorry to work in the Guinness fleet was a 1982 TL1000 which, during its working life has carried four of the company’s different liveries. After being taken out of delivery service, it went on to spend a further 10 years as the designated driver training vehicle. A second ‘deadman’ handbrake was installed in the cab on the passenger side for the instructor, should it ever be needed.

Taken out of service in 2003, it was purchased by Paddy then parked up for several years before a huge restoration was undertaken during 2009.

“Of these four vehicles the TL was the most comprehensive restoration project. We built and fitted a new body and were fortunate to locate a second-hand cab to replace the original, corroded cab. A new windscreen was fitted and all wiring repaired or replaced. New tyres were also fitted and the whole vehicle resprayed,” Paddy explained. “The livery I chose for the Bedford is the first of the all black colour schemes as it would have carried this at some time during its working life.”

Both my father and I would probably have driven this particular TL when we worked as delivery drivers for the company, which probably makes it a little more special for me,” he added.

A unique fleet

Paddy says that he is proud to own such a unique fleet of vehicles but when asked if he preferred driving one over another he replied “That is one question I cannot answer, it is impossible to put one vehicle ahead of another as each one is very unique in its own right. I will say that I have great respect for all of them and their proud working histories.”

On meeting Paddy and discovering his enthusiasm for the history of one of Ireland’s best known companies, it is apparent that he is the perfect ‘custodian’ for the classic vehicles that have played such an important part in the Guinness story.

As for the future, 14,084,507 pints (1,760,563 gallons) of pure water from the Wicklow and Dublin mountain ranges flow daily into the St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, which has the facility to brew 352,000 pints (44,000 gallons) of black stuff each day; it seems that road transport will continue to play an important role in keeping Guinness on the move for the foreseeable future.

Paddy also plans to write a book on the history of Guinness transport and is currently looking for any information and pictures on all aspects of Guinness transport from the horse drawn drays to the present day. Paddy can be contacted at patjdonovan@eircom.net