landmarks in the company history have included the supplying of aggregate for the Thames Barrier and the M25 motorway. Foster Yeoman also supplied three million tonnes of rock used to make concrete segments for the English side of the Channel Tunnel. With its substantial interests in Northern Europe, Foster Yeoman now ran a locomotive on German railways from 1997 to 1999. Its other interests include civil engineering and recycling. In 1997, it acquired RJ Maxwell with its London asphalt works and wharves and now operates a very successful contracting division. Continuation of waterborne transport of aggregates on the Thames Tideway was also ensured by the acquisition of Bennetts Barges, which also carried major components of the London Eye and a decommissioned Concorde aircraft. Glensanda granite also provides all replacement track ballast for railways in the South of England. Foster Yeoman continues to be one of the major suppliers of coated stone products used for projects as diverse as motorways, airports and tennis courts. In 2006, after protracted family disagreements, Foster Yeoman was wholly acquired by the Holcim Group and is now part of its Aggregate Industries subsidiary. Quarries Torr Works (Merehead) John Yeoman bought the under-exploited Merehead Quarry in 1958. He developed this successfully in association with his chief engineer, Ron Torr, after whom the new quarry was renamed. This second Foster Yeoman quarry became operational in 1964, and was completed with the installation of the Nordberg Primary Crusher in 1970. In 1985, Torr Works quarry acquired the O & K Mobile Crusher, a five storey high plant which can walk to the current working location, instead of a conventional fixed building which needs to be fed by dumper trucks. Glensanda John Yeoman had long been captivated by the idea of the super-quarry to be situated in a remote location from which stone could be exported by sea, which had also been declared as preferred government policy. To this end, and always looking ahead, he bought the Glensanda estate near Oban in Argyll in 1982. A pilot plant was installed (extended in 1996) which extracts granite by the "glory hole" and conveyor belt method, a pioneering development in alternative quarrying technology. Glensanda went into operation in 1986 when the first shipload of granite left for Houston, Texas, USA. The production director at Glensanda is Kurt Larson, John and Angela Yeoman's son-in-law. Production at the Scottish quarry has now reached six