Gummiwagen

Once upon a time, the "Volks-Wagen of the agricultural scene, pulled by horses. Back then, if you were rich enough to be able to afford a "Rubber Wagon" you almost certainly had a couple of dray horses, the poorer cousins had to use a wooden wheeled "Leiterwagen" (the ones that look as though two ladders are placed horizontally as side walls) and an ox or pair of cows.

I cannot find much information as to the history of Gummiwagen but I suspect they were popular just after the second world war. Like most, this one was adapted in the '60s with a metal triangular drawbar (this one is dated 1961) so as to be pulled by a tractor.

I had been in Memmingen picking up some things when Angie called to say we could have the wagon free of charge. I was sceptical that such an old thing was still in any way useable, especially as we inherited a rotted version when we moved here and had to burn it. However, she said the owners reckoned it was "driveable" if not perfect.

So being obedient, I organised a trailer from the local car dealer who happened to be still working on a 30°C+ Saturday midday and set off for Buchloe to collect it. Turned out to be better than I could imagine. The two brothers who owned it helped with loading and I returned home safely despite the wheels only just fitting on the ramps.

As I turned off the engine, Angie greeted me with the words "you have got another bee swarm about to take off"! So got straight to work on dealing with capturing the girls and abandoned the trailer. Eventually got the swarm sorted - more to follow later on bee journal.

I found the old horse drawbar we had from the rotted inherited wagon which had luckily been stored in a shed and used this to help unload and of course to add a bit of interest to the Blip.

In the extra photos, I have shown a few views of the trailer and one can see that almost the entire wagon is made of wood, just the fittings are metal. I could move and turn the trailer by hand myself moving it about 50 meters on even ground and parking it at right angles into a shed. I am sure we will find the occasional use for it, at least until the tipper trailer project I started last autumn gets done!

After all the trailer & bee action I couldn't resist getting into the pool which at 7:00 pm had hit 31°C!