Retired railway carriage gets a new lease of life

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It always provides a bit of excitement and a break from the norm for our drivers when we get the call to move anything other than a shipping container. An enquiry to move an old railway carriage from Towersey down to Faversham was certainly something a bit different for Chris recently. With the new owner having purchased the carriage blind and with the view to hopefully convert it into a guest house it was imperative that we managed to lift, deliver and crane into position without causing any damage to this historical piece. Safely stropped the initial lift was quite easy and with years of experience under his belt Chris had no problem safely securing the load ready for the trip back down to Kent.

Nearing its final destination, the Kent roads certainly do not make life easy for us but coming from this ‘neck of the woods’ it is something we are more than used to having to deal with.

After navigating the final stretch of the journey through some winding country lanes the next challenge was positioning the lorry in a suitable and safe place to enable to drop whilst avoiding telephone cables and some newly laid lawn.

 

 

Rigged and ready to go, the client (and by this time the small crowd that had gathered to see the lift – obviously more of an interesting watch than anything on the TV whilst Furloughed) were impressed with how easy we made the lift look and gave credit to both the operator and the equipment. With a happy customer and not a blade of grass out of place it was another successful job under the belt and back to the yard for a well-earned ice cream on a very hot day.

Having started R.S.French as a transport company way back in 1980 there have been discussions recently in our office as to whether or not we feel as a company we have lost that identity a bit. Its great to see the expansion of the welfare and accommodation side of the business year on year but with another, more specialised lorry (watch this space) on order it is the transport side of the business that really ignites the passion within the French family members and a reputation for being able to complete the jobs others attempted and failed that brings the most satisfaction.

More information on the new lorry spec and what it will be capable of will be released shortly but in the meantime, if you have any transport requirements, whether they be general haulage, contract of specialist lifts please do not hesitate to contact one of the team on 01227 752101 who will be happy to help.