FROM BUSES TO TANKS AND PRIVATE HIRE.
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The Reminiscences of a Pioneer in the Bus World. Some Absorbingly Interesting Inside Information.
By Colonel Frank Searle, C.B.E., D.S.O.
T MUST say that when I arrived in town frc.at the quiet of the country one day recently and found awaiting me a letter from the Editor of The Commercial Motor asking for my early experience on commercial motoring for inclusion in the Twenty-first Birthday Number of this journal, I felt, in addition to a sense of gratification, a distinct shock, by reason of the fact that it made me realize how all too rapidly the years of a busy man pass. It so happens that it was exactly twenty-one years ago that I first looked into the possibilities of commercial vehicles with a view to earning some sort of a livelihood with this, then practically unknOwn, form of transport.
At that time I had just given up a post as locomotive superintendent, and I went to Paris to investigate several of the then very interesting omnibus chassis, these vehicles having been brought to my notice by contact with that most energetic
salesman, Dr. Lehwiss. I investigated two likely looking vehicles, both of which were of sound construction, one being a Turgan chassis and the other made by Messrs. Lacoste and Battman. The Turgan chassis was the first one which I brought over to this country, and it was sold to Messrs. Ball Brothers, the omnibus proDrietors, of Brixton. It is greatly to the credit of this old-established and sound firm that they were one of the first to feel that the horse bus might have a very formidable rival in the not too distant future. This chassis, so far as I remember, was loaned to Messrs. Ball Brothers for the purpose of a test, they providing the body, which was built by Christopher Dodson, Ltd.
The possibilities of this vehicle caused me to enter into an arrangement with Messrs. Lacoste and Battman for the purchase of 100 of their chassis, and I do not hesitate to say that this chassis was several years in advance of anything which existed in those days.
After the first two or three vehicles had arrived, one was sent to the Arrow Bus Company, of which that very versatile engineer, Mr. Field, was then in command and, to give Mr. Field the credit he so richly deserves, he did everything in his power to satisfy himself that the vehicle was strong enough • to perform the duties which it would have to undertake. I remember so well seeing this chassis, grossly overloaded, careering about at all hours of the (lay and night—in fact, it was never still—but, rather to Mr. Field's disappointment, nothing happened to That particular vehicle ; it ran like a charm. As a consequence of this excellent behaviour Mr. Field's directors decided to purchase twenty-five of the chassis. and it was after this contract was signed that I had glorious visions of unlimited wealth to come. The chassis were sent to Scotland Yard, passed all their tests (not too strenuous in those days), were given. preliminary trials, and finally sent to the local police station to have the licence plates fixed. Then the trouble started ; everything that could go wrong with the vehicles went wrong, and Mr. Field was up day and night attending to their varied and sad diseases. It has always been a mystery to me why the screwing on of a police licence plate should cause anew type of chassis promptly to fall to pieces, but in after years
it was definitely proved over and over again that, before this wretched plate was fixed, a vehicle would run like a charm and afterwards open up like a lily.
The Arrow Omnibus Company about this time amalgamated with the Provincial Omnibus Company, and, on account of the bad performance a the Lacoste and Battman vehicles, they cancelled the remainder of their order, which caused me a somewhat rude awakening from my dreams of plenty. Further than this, the manufacturers were calling on us to take delivery of the remaining 80 vehicles, and I gave up the ghost, feeling that my line of country in this world was not high finance, but rather in the direcnon of solid hard work. Accordingly, I had an interview with Mr. Field, and he gave me a post as assistant engineer ; rather, I fear, in the nature of a nurse to the Lacoste and Battman vehicles.
It was, therefore, with the Provincial Omnibus Company that J obtained my real first-hand knowledge of omnibus operation, and I soon discovered that my railway training, if applied to motorbuses, would stand me in good stead and enable me to ensure more or less successful operation. This proved to be the case, and we were getting ahead in first-class shape when preliminary rumblings of a rumour of an amalagamation with the then all-powerful Vanguard were heard, and soon these rumours were more or less confirmed by a visit from Mr. Robt. Bell (then chief engineer of the Vanguard Co.) to the Walliam Green Garage. Mr. Bell did not say much—he never did—but I remember that what he did say was not complimentary to our methods. However, we persevered with these methods, and they were proving sufficiently satisfactory for Mr. FooksBale (who was then chief engineer of the London General Omnibus Company) to approach me with a view to my joining that company. As I did not know a great deal with regard to the financial position of each company, I mentioned the matter to Mr. Bell, who, in the kindness of his heart, informed me that in two or three years' time the L.G.O.C. would be out of existence and would be eaten up by the all-powerful Van• guard. This naturally made me somewhat shy of accepting Mr. Fooks-Bale's wonderful offer, and I declined it on two or three occasions ; 'however, his persuasive powers were too much for me, and I finally fell to them and was duly appointed garage superintendent at Mortlake Garage.
Here I found the most colossal disorder that it has ever been my lot to witness. As to whose fault it was
was not in a position to know, but the fact remains that, out of seventy or eighty buses, only 25 per cent. were in regular service. The old policy of robbing Peter to pay Paul had run rife, and buses were standing in rows minus gearboxes, front axles, back axles, etc. These units had been taken out of buses to make others run, and, unfortunately, no arrangements had been made either to replace or repair the defective units. Here was a glorious opportunity—a situation so bad that it must be improved by energy and a certain amount of horse sense.
In my work here I was most ably assisted by Mr. Arthur Whalesby Windsor, who afterwards left the
company to join the editorial staff of The Commercial Motor, and I must say that inside Of two mouths a very great improvement was visible. I might add that, on joining the L.G.O.C., I had an interview with Captain humble, who possessed a very fascinating and charming manner, but whose knowledge of business and things mechanical was conspicuously absent, who yet, in spite of this latter deficiency, had a wonderful bump of organization and unbounded enthusiasm, and it was his enthusiakm and organising powers in those days which were largely responsible for the great strides which were made in extremely difficult circumstances. Apropos of this, I well remember riding on a horse bus, sitting in the front seat and talking to the driver, and, more in the way of pulling his leg than anything else, asking him how the motorbus business was progressing in the company, Not only did he nearly bite off my head at the mention of motorbtises, but added : " Yus, not only motorbuses, but we've got a little tin soldier to look after us now! "
After about three months of extremely hard work at Mortlake I was moved to the chief depot at Cricklewood, and here found a condition of affairs far more amazing than that which had existed at Mortlake. At the latter we had all De Dion buses, but at Cricklewood we were blessed with twenty-eight types of vehicle and about three hundred horses, together with their horse buses, under the same roof, and my readers can imagine the good-fellowship with which the horse section and the motor section pulled together—the proverbial. cat-and-dog life must have been heaven by comparison..
Appointed Chief Engineer to L.G.O.C.
After I had been at Cricklewood for about two months Mr. Fooks-Bale left the company to take up another appointment, and I was promoted to chief engineer. I think my first action in that capacity was to have a re-shuffle of the vehicles over London. Each type Was put into a garage by itself, and one big garage, which was then the Old Kent Road -depot, was given for its sins all the oddments. and 'I am sure my readers will feel sympathetic when they visualize that the change round had to take place after the buses had finished working at 12 o'clock at night ; stores had to be packed in buses, drivers' homes had to be changed, and transport had to be arranged for those drivers whose new homes had still to be found. ,It was all a nightmare.'
Atter all this was straightened out it was easier going and one had time to look around , and take an interest in developments for the future. Here, again, luck was on my side, and George Alan Green—now earning his 1110,000 a year in America—strolled into my office one day asking for a job. He had had a few words with Mr. Bell—Mr. Bell never -said much !—and they had parted company. On my asking Green what he could dot he replied, "Anything," and on my asking what salary he required, he said he would soon be earning the salary he wanted and that all he needed was a start. These terms seemed gOod to me, and a start was made. In those days (and I think he is still suffering from the same affliction even to-day) Green was a " human dynamo," tireless and unceasing in his work and sound in his judgment, and, after he had been with me for only a very short time, I realized that he was much too good to be kept in a subordinate position. Soon we were working together for a common end, which was to prove the fallacy of the prediction of Mr. Coventry Fell, etc. (I forget all the other names that were on the sides of the trams), of the L.C.C. Tramways, that the motorbus was a freak which in a very short time would be in the British Museum as one of the colossal failures of modern times. It only goes to show that men in high positions are entitled to think what they like, but that it is very dangerous to prophesy.
It was about 1908 that there were wild rumours of an amalgamation between the L.G.O.C., the London Road Car Company, and the Vanguard Company. These rumours became more persistent as time went on, until at lunch one day Robert Bell, chief engineer of the Vanguard Company; George Pollard, of the Road Car Company, and myself reached the point of discussing the question as to who would be chief engineer of the combine. I must admit that, whilst I put a very bold front on the situation, I felt rather ruefully certain that either one or the other of them• would be appointed to that desired position. However, my fears were unfounded, and after the amalgamation took place I remained on as chief engineer.
The Genesis of the X-type Bus.
It was at about this time that I heard, quite by accident, that the board of directors was contemplating placing a further order for about two hundred buses with the Wolseley Company, and I approached the directors and suggested that it would be to the interest of the company to manufacture its own vehicles, and said that I felt convinced we could at least save the manufacturers' profit. The L.G.O.C. board at that time was made up of the fine old-fashioned type of London_ business man, whose knowledge was profound in the operation of horse buses but who, when I submitted that they should manufacture their own motorbuses, regarded me rather in the light of a conjuror who was trying to persuade them that he was going to bring rabbits out of a hat. However, my persuasive powers in those days must have been fairly good, since the board Sanctioned the manufacture of 20 vehicles which we finally christened the X type. This name was given viith malice' aforethought ; my own knowledge of building buses as such was conspicuous by its absence, but we were a band of enthusiasts and to have christened • the bus the "unknown quantity'! might have created doubt in the -minds of the board ; yet I do not think any member of it realized the significance of the letter which I chose. In the manufacture of the X type we cribbed 'shamelessly ; any parts of the 28 types which had stood • up to the gruelling of the London streets were embodied in it.
The first vehicle was finally produced, and I feel sure that no father has been prouder of his first baby than I was when we drove the chassis, in all the glory of its new paint, to Grosvenor Road on board day for the inspection of the directors. It was driven into the yard / and in fear and trepidation I went into the board room' and informed the directors that the chassis had arrived for their inspection. They consented to come down to the yard and were just about to look at the chassis when, unfortunately, at that partienlar moment about 60 horses tied up with bandages and covered in sticking plaster arrived back from the Army manceuvres. Vrom that instant my gorgeous new chassis was completely ignored ; as one man, the entire board went tO inspect their four-footed friends, and the air was filled with remarks such as, "This one should be blistered" and "That one pin-fired," which was absolute Greek to me and, finally, without a further glance at what was to be the forerunner of the salvation of their company, the directors returned to their board room!
The Demands of Scotland Yard.
After the first glow of triumph, I found, to my sorrow,. that the production of a chassis and getting it past the police were two very different things. Just before the chassis was designed, the police issued a new regulation declaring -that no London bus, together with its passengers, should weigh more than six tons and that it should be silent, which regulation showed the wonderful foresight of (as he was then) Chief Inspector Ba.ssom, of the Carriage Department of Scotland Yard. Mr. Bassom decreed that our bus—whilst Its dimensions had met with the requirements of the regulations—at its trial at Wimbledon was not silent enough, by reason of the fact that it was more noisy on the gears than at top speed. It was in vain that I pointed out to Bas.som that, where a bus had a direct drive on the top gear and a direct worm-driven back axle, it was a mechanical impossibility to get It as quiet on the gears as it was on top; this argument did not move Mr. Bassom one iota. He merely said : "I am sorry, but I decline to pass it until you can make it as quiet on the gears."
Here was a disaster to be faced-20 buses built Which could not pass the police. I began to realize that I had not pulled the rabbit out of the hat. However, we replaced the ordinary tooth gear in the gearbox by single helical gears ; this was a distinct improvement, and, With great joy, we presented it again to Mr. Bassom. He cordially admitted that it was an improvement, but said firmly : "It is still more noisy on the gears than it is on top gear—take it away." Our next effort was to replace the single helical gears by double helical gears, and thus we presented it to Mr. Bassom once more. I might say that the double helical gears were wonderfully quiet, but Mr. Bassom was in no mood for "good enough " ; he was out for "perfection." He still maintained, and rightly so, that it "was more noisy on the gears than on top."
The Origin of the Silent Chain Gearbox.
It was at this stage of the game that we were seized with despair ; the board was getting impatient and my staff was becoming 'somewhat disheartened. Then someone had the bright idea (I claimed it as my own, but so many other people differed that I gave it up!) of using a silent chain. Here, in truth, was a plunge into the unknown, and when I put the problem before the Coventry Chain Co. they told me that, whilst the chains could be made to carry the loads, the speed of the chains was such that they would not last a fortnight. The time they lasted at this particular period did not interest me much ; so long as they lasted one day, in order to satisfy the pedantic requirements of Mr a Bassom, I would be satisfied. It is interesting here to note that, owing to the noise of the chains, we naturally had a little noise when running on top, but the same noise when running on second and third gear. Thank heaven I this satisfied Mr. Bassom so far as noise was concerned. But he now raised the point that the use of such chains would be a danger to the public. It was in vain that I pointed out to him that the public were not likely to ride in the gearbox ; he refused to pass it, since, in his opinion, it was mechanically unsafe!
When this dreadful news was broken to the board It felt that I had failed it miserably, and, consequently, bigger artillery was brought to bear on Scotland Yard. and a most interesting controversy ensued between Mr. Worby Beaumont on behalf of the police and Colonel Crompton on behalf of the L.G.O.C. During this period of " waiting, watching and wobbling" I had to be a passive spectator. However, common sense finally prevailed and we were allowed to use the gearbox in public service, and the astounding part of this box was that, in spite of the fact that no provision was made for taking up the wear in these chains, they lasted for something like 22,000 miles without replacement.
How the B-type Bus was Developed.
• I am sorry to say that the X type soon proved to have rather serious defects, although, from its performance, we were able to judge that we were, anyway, advancing along the right lines, and soon afterwards the board decided that -we should produce another and better type of vehicle embodying such improvements as we considered necessary. Thus the B type came into 'existence, and when one considers that this type operated for over ten years without alterations; a think it speaks very highly for the excellent and capable technical staff which I had working for me in those days. Mr. ,Charles Bullock was, I think. responsible to a very large extent forthe actual drawing-office work on the X type, and Mr. Arthur Raekham was chief designer during the B type's production and rendered invaluable service to the L.GD.C. by his efforts. Mr. Rackham. I am happy to say, is to-day still working for Mr. Green in America.
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Those not closely associated with the operation of buses during these early days may not find it easy to realize the difficulties which were encountered inathe transition stages from horse to motor. When I first joined the L.(1.0.C. they still had 18,000 horses, and, of course, a vast horse organization which had been built up steadily over a period of half a century. To disturb habits and the routine which had thus been . created needed a tremendous amount of tact and diplomacy, and I must frankly admit that, in those days, I favoured ruthless progress rather than peaceful penetration. Whilst common sense urged the latter, the former, to my mind, was rendered necessary by the consistently decreasing balance of reserve in the coffers of the company. In fact, in 1908 the L.G.O.C. must have been in a precarious position financially ; this was reflected in the price of their stock, their £100 stock having depreciated as low as £12 10s. This was, of course, fully justified by the very excessive costs of operation, as at this period the cost per mile of running their fleet of motorbuses was in the neighbourhood of 141d. per mile, and I quite realized that, unless ruthless methods were employed, such exorbitant costs could not be reduced.
Superseding the Horse Section.
In attempting to reduce costs one was fighting vested interests ; that is to say, whilst the company had some of the very best men in the world, so far as the horsebus business was concerned, these men, no doubt, realized that if the motorbus was a success, their services would not any longer be required by the company, and, whilst they anticipated that their long and loyal services to the company would be taken into cona. sideration, they were naturally nervous as to what would become of them if the horse should be definitely superseded by the motor vehicle. In other wordS, it is -a most difficult operation to stop a flywheel which has been revolving regularly at a high speed for a number of years and reverse the action without causing very .serious disturbances.
However, the costs were reduced week by week, until, finally, we were working at an all-in figure of per mile; but considerable time elapsed before the public generally realized that success had been achieved, although a •few long-sighted men such as Sir Edgar Speyer and—as he was then—Mr. 'Albert Stanley did realize this and at the same time foresaw that such success would be likely seriously to jeopardize other forms of London public-service transport, and (I -imagine by the judicious purchasing of the company's stock) they finally obtained control and absorbed the L.G.O.C.. in-to the Underground organization. Before this was finally accomplished, however, the £100 stock of the L.G.O.C. had risen from i12 10s. to over £300.
It is noteworthy that so few of those men who were responsible for the transition stage of this company have remained in active service in London bus operation, George Alan Green, as I have already mentioned, is now in America ; lie is .still manufacturing bag chassis and, if I may say so, produces the finest bus chassis in the world ; Walter-Iden, who did such excellent work in charge of Walthamstow works and succeeded me as chief engineer of the company, is now with the National Bus Co., Ltd„ which no longer operates in London ; Robert Bell has dropped out of the :business entirely, so far as I know ; and George Pollard is living in more or less luxurious retirement amidst the beautiful Surrey scenery where he has deliberately removed himself from any likely, bus route: These men, and many others under them, were responsible for the transition of this wonderful under• taking, and I think their efforts in the early days are largely responsible for the unfortunate position in which the London tramways are now to be found. On the solid foundations: which were then laid the L.G.O.C. has achieved that success, which we all envy, under the very • able guidance of Mr. George J. Shave, and I should say that the company to-day LS by far the biggest organiaalion of its kind in the world, and it does give us poor
engineers a great feeling of satisfaction to know that we were partly responsible for the mechanical side of it
It may be interesting to my readers • to learn the actual circumstances in which I left the L.G.O.C. Early in 1911 there was a rumour that a new £1,000,000 omnibus company was to be formed in London and that it was to operate an entirely new kind a bus. I was then approached by the embryonic company with the suggestion that I should take charge of its operations, but. whilst I thanked them for their kind, offer, I told them that I could not consider it until the company was formed. At the same time; I mentioned the matter. to the joint general managers of the L.G.O.C., who did not take it seriously, and, I believe, did not mention.it to the directors At a later date my name was connected with that of the new company and a board meeting of the L.G.O.C. was held at which I wa's offered twice my salary, a five years agreement and five minutes to make up my mind. I refused' the offer by reason of the last condition and pointed but that if I had been in the habit of making up iny mind hastily'on important subjects the company would not have prospered, and I asked for time to consider:the proposal. This was not. granted to me, and I accordingly left the cofnpany on the same day. The following day John Brockbank, who was my very loyal assistant, also tendered his resignation.
The Daimler Co.'s Commercial Motor Department.
It is ancient history to my readers that the proposed new company never came into existence, and later on I joined the 'Daimler Co. at Coventry 'to start a commercial vehicle department. Of those vehicles 350 were finally put into service by the L.G.O.C.; a number of them was sold to the Automobile Traction. Ltd., and it is a matter of pride today, when in London, for me to see those comparatively ancient vehicles still quietly carrying on with their strenuous work. I parthmlarly use the word " quietly " becattse I believe that they are really the quietest motorbuses in London to-day, and the fact that they were 'put into service 12 or 14 years ago, I think, speaks very highly for the Daimler product.
, It may interest my readers to Ieatn of the manner in which these vehicles came to be sold to the L.G.O.C., in spite of the enormous facilities which that company had for producing its own. With my experience of the bus business, I knew that the competition of the L.G.O.C. buses was costing the board of directors of the Metropolitan Tramways Co. many sleepless nights. In consequence of this, I approached them and took their order for the first 100 Daimler buses, and, in view, of the fact that they had had no experience in the operation of buses, undertook a maintenance contract for the period of three years for labour, material, petrol and lubrication at a charge. of 31(1. per mile., I afterwards approached Sir Albert Stanley and asked' him if he would like to purchase Daimler buses, telling him that
had sold a. hundred vehicles to the Metropolitan Trarnwa.ys Co. He suggested giving me an order for 250 buses if the Daintier Co. would -undertake not to supply inotorbuses to any other London concern for a period of five years. In view of the fact that the Metropolitan Tramways Co. had given me my first order, I acquainted them with the fact that this offer had been made, and they immediately gave me a further order for 250, making a total of 350 buses, and at the same time I -reduced the maintenance contract from 31d. to 3d. per mile. I might add that in those days we received deposits with orders, and I came away with quite a respectable cheque as a deposit on this particular order.
Immediately after this transaction I left England to witness some ploughing trials in Canada. On my return I met Sir Albert Stanley and Sir James Devonshire, when I was informed that an amalgamation.had taken place between the L.G.O.C. and the Metropolitan Tramways and that the former were taking over the 350 buses. It can be easily understood that the L.G.O.C. did not wish the maintenance contract to continue, and an arrangement was therefore made whereby the Metropolitan Tramways board paid the Daimler Co. a certain amount of money, in view of the profits which they would reasonably have made by their contract, in addition to which it was agreed that the Daimler Co. should be appointed sole selling agents of any surplus vehicles which were turned out of the L.G-.0.C.'s Walthainstow factory. It was owing to this agreement, which Was in operation during the early days of the war, that all the surplus veldcles made at the Walthamstow factory for the War Office were sent out from there as Daimler products, their type letters being altered so that discrimination could be made between the Coventry and Walthamstow vehicles. The chassis of the. original 350 vehicles after two years' service were finally repurchased by the Daimler C. and sold to the War Office as reconditioned vehicles.
The Tanks and Their Maintenance.
It was in the early part of the war, that I deserted
• commercial vehicles and turned my energies to the operation and maintenance of Tanks in France. This, again, was something entirely new and unknown, and one's preconceived ideas of standard stocks of spares on a mileage basis went to the four winds of heaven, as one had then to deal with the entirely unfamiliar element of the partial destruction of Tanks from shell fire. There is no doubt, however, that my early concentrated experience in bus-running was an invaluable help to me in conducting the maintenance and operation of Tanks.
The difficulties of our maintenance at that time were almost insuperable. We finally had 13 battalions of 50 Tanks each, having, all told, over one thousand Tanks in France, and after the first 150 had been delivered we were informed that no more mechanics would be available. in these circumstances it looked as though we were faced with failure, but schools were started and the raw material of the ordinary Tommy was put through a three weeks' course of mechanical maintenance training and, after this course, a Tank's crew, consisting of an officer and eight men, none of whom was an engineer or mechanic, were entirely responsible for the mechanical maintenance of their Tanks.
Engines, gearboxes, differentials, etc., were changed in the field by these men, with no workshop of any sort or description behind them, and I think that few people to-day would believe such an achievement to be possible. Nevertheless, the Battle of Cambrai proves that It was attained, ' as, with those 500 Tanks, no mechanics were provided in the field and the whole of the mechanical maintenance in that big operation was supervised by a dozen or so officers, who were there -not to superintend the work but to act as advisers, Where necessary, to Tank commanders.
After the war the problem Was what to do in order to secure an early return to peacetime conditions. I felt that the private carriage hire business in London was in a similar state to the old horse hackney-carriage business and that a first-class hire organization would be well supported if properly devised. It is a fact known to many residents in London to-day that Daimler Hire has between 250 and 300 cars and that as an organization of its type it is second to none in the world. The early teachings and hard experience of mechanical maintenance in the bus companies again stood me in good stead in helping to get this organization going, and with me I again had the assistance of John l3rockbank. Here the problem was to give absolute luxury at a reasonable price.
This, I think, concludes my varied association with mechanical maintenance, and although it has at times been not only strenuous but extremely worrying work, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed every minute of it and I think that those who to-day continue the good work of Maintenance of mechanical road transport still find it very difficult to become proficient golfers !