From the early 20th century up to the 1960s timber haulage was in its heyday, as majestic traction engines took over from stout carthorses, and were in turn succeeded by faithful old Gardner diesels in AEC Matadors and the like. There’s little evidence today of the hundreds of timber haulage firms which once operated across the country, but the Judd family is doing its bit to preserve their legacy. Indeed, there are few more enthusiastic operators of preserved timber tractors, and the contemporary Judd fleet includes two Canadian Fords and this extremely rare 1935/42 Foden Whitlow TG5 tractor.
The Foden is owned and rallied by Lewis Cadnam, whose grandfather was Harold Judd, patriarch of H Judd & Son of Spencers Wood, near Reading, which operated it from nearly-new. Foden, of course, is famous for its role as an unlikely pioneer of diesel power, but the story of how it came to embrace oil engines is fascinating. The first indication of an ill wind starting to blow at Sandbach was when the sage, paternalistic figure of William Foden retired from the firm in 1924. His brother, Edwin Richard Foden, himself no fool, stayed on. By 1930, the mass replacement of steam
