Central NI logger EF Deadman Ltd recalled – Part one
A pair of International R190’s with pole trailers.
Article first published June 2019
Eric Deadman began hauling logs in the King Country before the Second World War. From small beginnings his business grew from a single truck to a small fleet before selling the business to his son Bob and his wife Margaret. By the early 1980s the changing regulatory environment and declining business ethics saw the new owners sell up their stake and take up farming, a decision they haven’t regretted. Simon Vincent looks back over the history of this well-known logging business with the assistance of the Deadman family.
It has been thought that Eric Deadman most likely left school to work on the family farm at Piriaka in the King Country. Born in Te Kuiti and educated around the centre of the North Island, Eric’s journey to adulthood mirrored that of many a young man. At the tender age of 14, assisting the family break in land at the top of the farm was what was needed to help the farm grow to keep up with feeding and providing for the family.
Once he had finished on the farm, Eric spent time at a saw mill where he lost two fingers.
He then moved south to Palmerston North where he found work as a carpenter, but was put off during the depression.
Eric was able to find a permanent position with the fire service, which also provided a roof over his head. Together with a business partner, it is understood Eric ran a parcel delivery service PDQ (Pretty Damn Quick) using his 1912 Harley Davidson motorcycle with an attached side car.
Eric met his wife Lorna whilst delivering parcels around Palmerston North and the pair were married in Wanganui in January 1934.
By 1935 Eric was getting right into the transport game. His Transport License was approved in May of that year and he purchased a brand new three tonne Bedford with a cam and roller hoist costing the massive sum of 411 pounds. This was not only a huge amount of money, but it occurred during the height of the depression years. So, for a young man to have such reserves at that time would have been an impressive achievement.
Eric and Lorna’s son Bob says that during its first year of operation the business turned over 1400 pounds which gives us some indication of the value of the new vehicle.
Eric initially began carting and spreading metal for Spencer & Smith around Taumarunui, however this doesn’t appear to have lasted long.
Eric soon converted the truck to haul logs and added a single axle trailer which cost a further 70 pounds. The newly transformed unit was contracted to Smyth Bros and Bdwyer Ltd who operated saw mills in the central North Island.
Eric was soon carting sawn timber from Hauwai at the southern end of Lake Taupo to the National Park rail head.
The family had moved to Hauwai during 1937 not long after their son Ray was born. Hauwai has long since disappeared.
By this stage the Bedford had been replaced by a six wheeler 1936 Leyland Cub flat deck truck.
The Leyland Cub is reported to have gone well and been reliable apart from its propensity to drop its gearbox onto the road from time to time.
A second truck, a second hand 1934 International, helped out with the timber cartage as well as delivering sawn timber into Taumarunui. George Machin drove the International.
Of course, the saw mills continually relocated to be nearer the source of the raw material. During such shifts the timber trucks would be employed to help relocate the milling apparatus. This included boilers, winches, rail tractors, machinery and such like.
In 1938 the family returned to Taumarunui where Bob was born.
Eric went back to hauling logs again having converted the Leyland to a log truck. He was once again supplying Smyth Bros and Bdwyer’s saw mill at Te Whakarae.
The logging roads were no better than before. This presented challenges for the larger Leyland which struggled to negotiate some of the difficult terrain, and often required multiple turns to negotiate its way along the tightest of the bush tracks.
During the war years, Eric had a brush with the law over his hours of service. As today, drivers were required to maintain a “time book” that could loosely be described a as log book. As an owner driver Eric felt he should be exempt from having to fill out such a document, however the judiciary felt differently!
During the war Eric’s trucks were requisitioned, along with everybody else’s. Having failed a medical, he operated machinery for W Stevenson in Auckland and Spencer & Smith in Taumarunui.
It has also been speculated that Eric somehow obtained a 1937 White “704” truck with a Tidd trailing axle during the war. This would have been quite an achievement given the war time restrictions in place.
After the war, Eric become the owner of an REO “Heavy Duty” model. The Reo was used to haul logs down State Highway 41, known locally as the Punga. To increase performance the original Reo motor was replaced by a six cylinder Hercules petrol engine.
Another innovation which was taking hold at the time was the use of water to cool the brakes. The cooling effect of the water could extend brake life on the gruelling 16 mile descent into Mananui.
The idea for water cooling came out of Canada and early efforts involved securing ever larger drums of water to the chassis.
Bob Deadman supervises the loading of the logs. The water tanks for cooling the brakes is clearly visible behind the headboard.
Eric took the concept further, building purpose built rectangular tanks (eventually of 80 gallon capacity) which he fitted behind the cab. A series of pipes were then plumbed to the brake drums with nozzles spraying water on the brakes as required. Sand traps were added to the lines to prevent the nozzles blocking.
The ever present fear of being caught overloaded finally became a reality when Eric’s single drive REO was weighed by a Traffic Officer in July 1950. The truck was found to have nineteen and a half tons of logs on. The result of course was Eric’s first ticket for over loading which, after appearing in court, netted him a very substantial 15 pound fine.
With parts from a wrecked International truck, Eric grafted a double drive rear bogie to the REO in his own workshop (imagine doing that today!). Whilst this reduced the fines, they never quite went away. Even representations to government ministers and the Transport Department for greater carrying capacity limits seem to have failed to gain ground.
Bob said that in 1951 the same truck blew a diff whilst climbing the Punga fully loaded. The diff was removed, and the truck was left overnight. During the night, some scoundrel siphoned off the petrol tank. The next day they returned to replace the diff and get on with the journey.
As Eric had broken his arm, Reg Porter had been employed as a relief driver. Reg set off with the truck only for it to run out of petrol on the downhill side of the Punga. Without any brakes (the vacuum system stopped working without engine power) the truck raced onwards. After passing a grader Reg jumped from the cab, breaking both his ankles in the process.
The truck was less fortunate and was a complete write off.
As a replacement, Eric purchased his first L190 International, a move that would pretty much cement the brand in the fleet for the future.
Bob recalls the L190 was powered by an RD 450 six cylinder petrol engine which delivered 145hp.
This truck has great significance for Bob as it was the truck he learned to drive in when he was just 17. Bob had left school and worked for Dalgetys and the Ministry of Works for a while before being summoned to join his father in the transport operation. Eric had broken an arm again, so Bob was rather needed to fill in during 1956.
Bob’s most exciting experience was to be pulled over, weighed and have all the legal paper work examined for the truck. What proved most fortuitous was that the officer never requested his license.
Less than a month later, the day he turned 18, Bob sat his heavy traffic license. That same officer took him for his test!
During the 1950s the operation grew. A second International, a newer R195 was procured to cart logs to the Ellis & Burnard mill in Ongarue. This contract continued until 1966 when the mill closed.
A third truck was purchased second hand with a transport licence from the Tama-i-whana Timber Co. This White 2064 arrived with another long-time logging identity Barry Towler behind the wheel.
The White was traded in for a new International in 1962 and Ross Todd Motors in Cambridge squeezed a Detroit Diesel 6-71 engine under an elongated hood.
This White was traded for a Detroit powered International.
The fourth truck arrived from the South Island via another Taumarunui contractor. This truck came with a petrol engine and was specified with full air brakes from new by George Wallace, Haast Transport. Later it was repowered with a Detroit Diesel 8V53.
This was one of only two R195 Internationals Deadman’s had with full air braking.
The next truck was an F1800 which had been repowered with a 4-71 Detroit Diesel previously owned by George Davis from Raetahi. Nicky Houpapa, who served the company for over 20 years, drove this truck. The F1800 was moved on in favour of an air braked 6V53 powered R195 International.
Photos: the Deadman family collection.
We will continue the Deadman story soon.