Public Service Garages (No. VI). Crewe.
Page 10
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Linking up of provincial towns and the outlying villages is not the least important among the Loons conferred by the motor umnibus. The slow speed of horsed omnibuses would have prevented a sufficient patronage to make a service pay, even when the distances and gradients were within the capacity of a pair of horses, but the removal of these limitations has led to a great cry for travelling facilities all over the country. The purely local service maintained by the Nantwich and Crewe Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, will serve as a typical example of a successful country enterprise. The distance between the two places is only four miles, and the village of Willaston lies about midway. There is a service of trains between Nantwich and Crewe, at intervals of approximately two hours, half the trains stopping at Willaston. The Willaston station is half a mile from the centre of the village, and a mile from the main road: most people having regular business, or residing anywhere between these two places, were, therefore, in the habit of driving or walking, according to their means.
Several Willaston residents conceived the idea last spring of a motor omnibus service between Nantwich and Crewe, and found that the proposal met with strong supjort in each place. A company was formed privately, and one of the promoters, Mr. S. -Jackson, of kVillaston, agreed to see to the engineering side of the matter. Mr. Jackson had worked steam threshing engines and steam rollers for many years, and possessed a considerable number of these more cumbersome motors ; in consequence, as would naturally be expected, his preference was towards steam rather than internal-combustion f ngines. TWO double-deck Chelmsford omnibuss were ordered on his advice, No. i being delivered in June, 19o5, and No. 2 in July of the same year. The first of these was fitted with a multi-tubular boiler, of the then standard Chelmsford design, but the second was fitted with the new flash generator which is proving so successful in London.
Mr. Jackson, who lives at Willaston, was able to obtain .a good site for a garage there, the ground landlord, who is also a shareholder, considerately accepting a merely nominal rent. The garage is constructed of corrugated iron, carried on steel joists, with a rounded roof, and in front there is a brick-paved yard, unfenced towards the roadway. Fig. x is a ground plan of the garage, showing the principal dimensions, and the photograph reproduced in Fig. a shows No. 2 omnibus coming in at mid-day. It is standing on the brick paving, and waiting for the double doors to be opened for it to run in. The roof and sides of the paraffin store can be seen beyond it, and the edge of the brick paving can also be discerned.
Fig. 3 is from a photograph which was taken from the roadway looking straight into the shed. No. i omnibus is standing at the left-hand side, facing outwards, and No. 2 has run in over the pit. The floor of the shed is paved with blue brick, of the same class as those used outside it, but timber baulks are let in to form wheel ways. Large sheer legs are conspicuous in the immediate foreground of this figure. These are erected on the paved yard, and, whets it is necessary to lift the boiler, or other heavy parts, the bus is run out under them. The shed is divided into two portions by a partition : one part is used as a workshop, and the other as office and stores. The number of spares necessary for a Chelmsford steamer is smaller than for a petrol omnibus, except that an extra condenser must be kept, in order that condenser repairs can he effected without laying up the vehicle. Peters' Union tyres are used on the front wheels, and one spare front wheel is stocked, but Turner tyres are used on the driving wheels, and, as these can be replaced without sending the wheels away, no spare back wheel has, so far, been required. It is intended, however, that one shall be kept in stock, in order that each wheel can have its spokes tightened up in turn. No machine tools have been put down, as Mr. Jackson has plant for repairing his threshing machinery and steam rollers with which he can do anything that may be necessary for the omnibuses. The repairs have been very light to date, -small replacements such as piston and valve rings, and re-ferruling the boiler, having been the only things required, which the two drivers have been able to deal with them unaided.
The fuel burnt is paraffin, supplied by the Anglo-American Oil Company, Limited, and is delivered, as required, by tank wagon. A cylindrical tank, similar to those used on the &livery wagons, has been installed in the paraffin store, and the cost of the fuel is under 4d. per gallon. Water is laid on at the garage, which is supplied from the Crewe mains, and a stand-pipe has been erected at the back of the garage on the main road, so that drivers can obtain supplies on any journey that it may be required. 1 he regular trip is from Crewe Station to Nantwich Square, but the omnibuses make a detour, leaving the main road in order to pass through the greater part of Willaston, as the direct route would only touch the outskirts of the village. In the summer the two omnibuses maintain a service at intervals of about half-an-hour, but in the winter only one journey is done by one of the omnibuses in the forenoon, from Willaston to Nantwich, Nantwich to Crewe, and Crewe to Willaston. It then remains in the garage until 1.40 p.m., when it goes to Nantwich, after which an hourly service is maintained until close on midnight. An extended service is conducted on market days between Crewe and Sandbach, a town about four miles from Crewe, on the opposite side to Nantwich. Sandbach is an important market town, but is probably better known to users of commercial vehicles as the place where the Foden steam wagons are made.
The Borough of Crewe owes its existence to the L. and N.W. Railway Works, and most of the residents are directly, or indirectly, connected with the locomotive or permanent way workshops. A trip by motor omnibus to Nantwich and back is a favourite excursion with them in the summer, and the cars are crowded in the afternoons. A considerable number of parcels are tarried, each parcel being charged for at the rate of a passenger ticket for the same distance, and the service has, according to the careful records of all costs, mileage, and receipts, which are kept by the secretary, Mr. Joseph Bran, so far yielded a fair profit. Everyone connected with the service is pleased with the success of the venture and with the behaviour of the two Chelmsford steamers, but, until the first balance-sheet has been put before them, and been fully considered, the directors do not intend to extend the routes. The public are particularly eulogistic about the absence of smell from the exhaust 3nd absence of jerks from clutch and gear changing. There is a subdued roar from the burner, but otherwise there is no sound from the machines.
The writer took a short trip on the box seat of each omnibus, so as to study both the road and the method of control. No. omnibus (which is fitted with the multitubular boiler) has two gauges on the dashboard to indicate the pressure in the fuel tank and the boiler pressure respectively. It will be noted how neat the front is in appearance. The air pressure is maintained by a pump driven off the main engine shaft, and when the pressure in the air reservoir tank reaches 4o1b. to the square inch a by-pass opens and returns the air to the pump. The gauge should, therefore, remain stationary at 4o1b., and the burner should need no alteration, but cocks are provided to cut off the fuel supply should it be necessary. The system gives no trouble in practice, as might be feared. The burner is automatically turned down when the boiler pressure reaches 25o1b., and turned on again when the pressure drops. The height of water in the boiler is shown ip a reflected image of the gauge glass in a small mirror, which is placed in sight of the driver. The feed pump is also driven off the main engine shaft, but the by-pass is controlled by the driver. The boiler pressure must be kept as high as pos. sible, and this is attained by only using the feed pump when little steam is being taken by the engine. The engine is entirely controlled by the throttle, and the only control levers requiring attention are those to the boiler feed, the main stop valve, the steering, and the occasional lubrication of the cylinders. The new flash boiler on No. 2 omnibus has automatic feed, so that there is no call on the driver's attention beyond the steering wheel and the throttle. The burner and fuel supply are exactly the same as with the other boiler, but, in addition to the fuel pressure gauge and the steam pressure gauge, a pyrometer is mounted on the dashboard to indicate the temperature of the superheated steam. There may be slight trouble in attaining a sufficient temperature when the car first leaves the garage, but, once everything is warmed up, a temperature of tioo degrees Fahr. is easily maintained. The burner is automatically turned down when Soo degrees is reached, and is again turned up when the temperature falls to the normal boo degrees. No matter what pressure is attained, there is insufficient power if the temperature falls below 41X} degrees. The only thing that can be done in this event is to stop until the temperature rises, as everything is automatic, and depends upon the pressure. Such delays are unlikely to occur, however, and a steam jet is provided to neutralise any loss of draught that may arise from a cross-wind or other cause. It is a pleasure to watch the gauges when on a give-and-take road, and to notice with what regularity the boiler responds to all calls, generating plenty of steam, with the throttle wide open, on the steepest hills, and cutting out the burner when coasting down hill or standing. The steering on both cars is remarkably easy, but does not appear to be irreversible, as the wheel snatches slightly when running over cobbles. The local authorities have assisted the running of the buses in every possible way, and the owners of roadside property have willingly granted permission for the lopping of boughs which might have inconvenienced the outside passengers. A great local improvement is nearing completion in the widening and straightening of the main road between Crewe and Willaston. This improvement is not a matter of merely a few feet, for the width of the road has been increased from 16 to 40 feet ; new hedges have been planted, bridges have been widened to correspond, and a footpath has been constructed. All credit should be given to the Cheshire County Council and to the Rural District Councils concerned, for this public-spirited enterprise, as, in most counties, such widenings are only carried out when the use of the highway has become so restricted by the construction of tramways that they have been rendered unavoidable.
The new catalogue (No. 59) which has been issued by the Tangye Tool and Electric Company, Limited, of Birmingham, shows a number of types of high-speed lathes suitable for motor vehicle construction. These types include: 12inch heavy-duty lathes; high-speed wheel lathes; bossing and boring lathes; axle lathes; ro-inch and 12-inch highspeed lathes ; and is-inch high-speed chucking lathes. Other useful tools are : the T.T.E. high-speed drilling machine; the '6-foot Radial drilling machine, with reversing motion for tapping; an electrically-driven milling machine; and a face-milling machine of exceptional strength and power, with 4o-inch cutter block.