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Top speed is about 30mph. This one is unusual in that it stops! The brakes were uprated whilst it was at Heathrow. I would like to fit a winch to it, something like a Turner, Foden or Unipower one. Just need to wait for one to come up at the right price and also will need a Unipower PTO. In the meantime we are going to take it out to a few shows and have some fun! Ed

I did promise that I would post a photo up when I got a Unipower. Below are some photos of my new toy. She is a 1950ish Unipower Forester. Unusually it is a ballast tractor and not a timber tractor. Sadly means it doesn't have a winch or spades. Will have to keep looking for a timber one. Originally used by the RAF and then transferring to Heathrow airport in 1962. Staying there until 1998. She only has 19,100 miles on the clock and is in very good mechanical condition. Just need to sort out some bodywork etc.... General freshen up needed as she has barely moved in the last 13 years. Cheers Ed

Thanks. Yes I have seen that one. Has helped fill a couple of the gaps I've got but still a lot more to go! Thanks Ed

I'm just waiting for the Unipower to arrive home, should be here in 2 weeks time. As soon as it is I'll put a pic up. It's mechanically very good and the cab is pretty good. But it will need new rear body and lots of tidying. So far I've got a list of 30 Unipowers and comprehensive details on 4 of those. Hopefully with a bit of help from everybody we should be able to create a good list of the Unipowers that still survive. I would be very interested in seeing the list you have. Thanks Ed

Having finally tracked down a Unipower and now waiting impatiently for delivery I thought it might be a nice idea to have a register of surviving Unipowers. As most of them were timber tractors I thought here would an ideal place to start asking for information. If anyone has a Unipower would they mind sending me details to help fill it in. The headings I have so far are: Model; Chassis Number; Engine Number, Year; Registration; Present Owner; Timber Tractor?; Winch; Spades; Crane; Other; History; Location and Condition For Present owner I am only putting surnames and for Location just the county rather than anything more specific. Let me know if anyone can think of any other useful columns. Could anyone who can help either reply to this thread or e-mail me at eddnewman at yahoo.co.uk. Ideally a photo of each Unipower would also be helpful. Thanks Ed

There was recently a very big crackdown on trailers and loads in Essex. The police are getting more interested and more likely to pull you over. I've heard of a couple of people being pulled over for the number plates not matching the tow vehicle. In a lot of cases they are pulling people over to check if they have the right licence to tow a trailer. Simple rule - secure the load properly, if you don't know how then ask someone who does. If your not sure if there are enough straps or chains holding something on then add another one. Ed

I'm not sure if I'm more shocked by how it has been strapped or the fact that a few people seem to think it is ok. As a minimum there should be 3 straps holding the dumper onto the trailer. You must always consider the chance that one strap might fail or come loose. It is a serious criminal offence to have an unsafe load. A lorry driver was sent to prison last year as the load on his trailer was insecure and came off smashing into a passing car killing the two occupants. I have seen the result of someone saying it's a big heavy load and I'm not going very far so it doesn't need tying down properly. Ended up with a steam traction engine going down a motorway embankment luckily with no injuries to anybody. If you were lowering a branch from a tree would you just roughly put a loop round one end and hope it doesn't fall off on the way down? Ed