MODELS MARK 100 YEARS OF LIVESTOCK MOVEMENT FOR F. DAVIDSON!
Customised promotional model vehicle specialist Search Impex is pleased to announce the release of a DAF XF 480 Super Space MY2017 (6x2, single wheel tag axle) tractor unit with 3 axle, cattle float trailer, customised in the classy and traditional two tone red livery of Scottish operator F. Davidson.
The models have been commissioned specially to celebrate F. Davidson’s 100th anniversary in 2021 and they have been be produced exclusively for Search Impex by WSI Models as a certificated Limited Edition (155 pieces)
Based in Dumfries and Galloway, the business was founded in 1921 by Fred Davidson and must surely now be one of Scotland’s oldest livestock transporters. Always based within striking distance of the nearby market town of Dumfries, the business has operated from several different locations over the last 100 years, including a period based in the tiny parish of Irongray. This name has almost become an integral part of this haulier’s livery with the parish name of Irongray continuing to adorn the trucks and trailers to this day.
The business actually started out with a 16hp Albion bus, running a service of some 13 miles between St Ann’s Bridge and Dumfries. A second vehicle - a Guy truck - was soon purchased which was capable of being used for livestock transport during the week and then converted (and cleaned, we hope!) for passenger transport at the weekend. Despite maximizing the use of the truck, the Guy actually proved expensive to run and so it was replaced with a Dodge truck which came from a garage which, at that time, also constructed wooden float bodies. This proved to be a great success and over the next 10 – 20 years more trucks with float bodies were added to the fleet, including two Bedfords.
The Second World War put a temporary, but prolonged, end to further truck purchases and after the War, Nationalisation saw all but one of Fred’s trucks requisitioned by the Government, leaving him to continue livestock movement with his one remaining truck. In the early 1950’s, as Nationalisation came to an end, Fred began to invest again in more trucks and he was also re-joined in the business by his son, Bob. In order to help counter the seasonality of work based solely on livestock movement, operations were extended to include the transport of hay, straw and bagged animal feeds. The floats were also used (and again, cleaned, we hope!) as removal vans to relocate agricultural workers who regularly “flitted” from place to place due to the seasonal nature of their work, or due to moving to different areas for better wages. The removals service for flitting workers ran from the 1950’s right through to the 1970’s.
In 1976, Fred Davidson retired and the business was taken over by his son, Bob, who, in turn, was joined by his own sons, Billy & Bobby. At the same time, the business was re-named R Davidson & Sons Ltd., and for some years now, it has been based in Lochfoot, a small hamlet some 6 miles south-west of Dumfries. In 1985, aged 86, Fred Davidson passed away and then, very sadly and only one year later, so too did his son Bob. That left the business in the young, but very capable, hands of his sons, Billy and Bobby, to take forward at what must have been a very difficult time for the family.
Nowadays, the business runs around 12 livestock trucks, predominantly DAF XF & CF, with a mix of artics and rigids and the DAF XF on which the model is to be based is the latest addition to the fleet. Geographically, R Davidson & Sons undertakes work in an approximate circle from Stranraer in the southwest of Scotland, to Perth in the north and then down to Berwick upon Tweed in the north of England and across to Carlisle. And now with the business comfortably into the fourth generation of family ownership, the well-known two tone red livery of the trucks persists – as does the Irongray badging and the branding with the founder’s name, F. Davidson.
Models, available from Search Impex, are priced at £154 each (including UK delivery & VAT). For details of availability of this and other models, collectors can visit the Search Impex website at www.search-impex.co.uk or call on 01332 873555.