This is what happened before railways 

Early farm carts were drawn by oxen but by the middle of the 19th Century the need for greater efficiency brought about a change to horse power. It was believed that one horse was equal to two oxen; importantly one horse in shafts could draw a two wheeled cart.

The hilly nature of Wales favoured the use of two wheeled carts and a number of different types were developed. This is the simple harvest cart or Gambo. Its use was widespread across Wales and broadly similar carts are recorded in the 16th Century and its continued well into the 20th Century.

A Gambo consists of two heavy side pieces extending the length of the load platform and onwards into the shafts to which the horse is harnessed. Transverse beams joining the side pieces define the load platform front and rear covered in rough floor boards.

The craftsmen who built these Gambos where expert in utilising timber for specific purposes.

- Generally framework was made from Ash due to the flexible nature of the wood which would accept the punishment it would receive under load.

- The wheel rim would also be constructed from Ash for similar reasons.

- Wheel spokes would be made from Oak cleft along the grain. This Oak was strong in compression and able to bear the weight of the fully loaded Gambo.

-The wheel hub would be made from Elm. The reason for this being that the spokes were morticed into the hub and hole was bored through the hub for the axle which left little timber behind requiring a tightly grained timber.

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John's view of his  Hobby

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"I make scale models of horse drawn farm vehicles and implements generally to a scale of 1:12 sometimes1:8 utilising the same timbers that were used in the original vehicle.

I find vehicles on farms, private collections or museums. I measure and photograph these and produce a scale drawing from which I make the model. Sometimes vehicles are well preserved at other times they are not and have simply rotted away. This makes for interesting work in reconstructing the pieces I have measured into a finished drawing. Sometimes vehicles are found on derelict farms and entering collapsing buildings also presents some challenges.

I believe it is important to record part of our social history that is disappearing.

Some pictures  illustrate the good and bad finds."

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