The Motor Omnibus World.
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London's New Testing Ground for Motorbuses: Scenes on Wimbledon Common.
"The Western Mail" (Cardiff) argues that the electric tramcar is doomed to become obsolete, and that the public will prefer the motorbus.
Mr. Levi Powell, of Sharon. House, Chelston, Torquay, advises us, that, although he has not yet placed his order for motorbuses, he strongly favours the Chelmsford steam vehicles, which proved so successful at Torquay.
Apropos the exhibition of the Halley two-cylin&r, 2oh.p. chassis at the Edinburgh Show, we are interested to learn that the makers' London agents, Autocar Agencies, Limited, of 3, Hanover Court, W., has a number of these vehicles on order for Canada.
Mr. John Wheatley, of Yeadon, has been seeking to conduct a motorbus service with a second-hand, De. Dietrich chassis, and his deal has come before the Orley County Court, at its last two sittings. It appears that he purchased the chassis for ,4;941, of which only L5o had been paid, on account, to Messrs. S. Swan and Company, of 212, Pentonville Road, N. The court, on the 6th instant, had given judgment in favour of the plaintiffs, and the adjourned hearing, on the 13th idetn, was in respect of a counter-claim for .1132, for damages in respect of loss of trade, etc., through the alleged defective condition of the chassis. In the end, the case was settled out of court, the parties withdrawing their respective claims, and paying their own costs, whilst the first judgment, in favour of the plaintiff company, was remitted.
The condition of London's thoroughfares, after a slight rainfall, continues to be little short of a scandal. Only two or three Borough Surveyors appear to recognise the fact that motor traffic is, month by month, becoming an increasing proportion of the total upon the streets under their charge, and diet it is necessary for them, fituri passtt, to change their methods with varying circumstances. When one observes the amount of expenditure that is incurred in wages for street-orderly boys, one may ask, with every excuse for surprise, why a larger number of youths, or men, with squeeg-ccs and other roadcleansing implements, are not allowed to devote their energies to the removal of the slimy. mud which causes so many disasters, it is not as though motorbus proprietors were the only
people who suffered : every ratepayer, and every other user of the highway, is interested in the accommodation of methods of street cleansing to suit the fresh circumstances of the case. We shall continue to insist upon the necessity for a revision 'of this department of municipal administration, and the
sooner such revision is effected the better it will be for all.
Our contemporary " Engineering" in its first Editorial of the 8th instant, expresses the opinion that the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers is "one of our youngest technical institutions, and, we should say, from what we have observed, one of the most industrious . has. well attended meetings, and there has been no lack of papers by no means monotonous in character."
The " meet " of unlicensed motorbuses, which took place last Thursday, on London's new motorbus testing ground, Wimbledon Common, was attended by 27 such vehicles. Shortly before one o'clock, a group of eight Road-Car, Straker-Squire motorbuses took up a position, at the top of the hill, on the Kingston Road. They were followed, in a few minutes, by an extended group of "Vanguards," which stretched out, just 19 strong, in a long, thin line over Putney Heath. The • assembling of this concourse of public• service vehicles was due to the fact that the police examination and tests by the •
Noise Committee were about to be held, and the momentous question decided, which, if any, of these cars should be allowed to leave their retirement and appear as money earners on the streets of London. The first process was the noting of particulars and number of each bus by Superintendent . Bassom, and, this somewhat lengthy . process over, at 2.30 p.m., the mem. bers, or their, deputies, of the Noise Committee arrived upon the scene, and, taking up a position at the side of the road, the long string of buses filed past. them at certain intervals apart, and dis. appeared across the common. The elaborate test one had expected, a test, be it noted, that decides the acceptation or rejection of a valuable piece of ma-. chinery, resolved itself into a cursory examination, by the aid of the auditory nerves of the Committee, for the space of a few seconds : upon the impression so created, as to the degree of sound made by the vehicles, all is allowed to turn. In a score of minutes, the whole of the buses had passed, and the proceedings were over, nothing being left to owners and manufacturers but to await the decision of those who had seen the string of buses file past them, up the long hill, an ascent imposed on them in order to arrive, approxhitately, at load conditions. The discussion on Mr. Worby Beaumont's paper was adjourned, on Monday evening last, to 8 o'clock on Monday the qth proximo, at the Hotel Cecil, when another large muster of members and associates may be expected.
The Bill deposited by the Rawtenstall Corporation, which included among its provisions power to run motor omnibuses, has been reported by the Examiners as not complying with the Standing Orders, and has been referred to the Select Committee.
Mr. R. B. Goodyear, manager of the Cardiff Tramways Company, Limited, of 32, Albert Chambers, Castle Arcade, Cardiff, informs us that his company is about to run motorbuses in substitution for the company's local service of horse vehicles. This and other applications for licenses, will go before the Cardiff Town Council in the course of the next few days.
The performanms of the devices tested in Part 2 of the Side-slip and Skid Prevention trials, held at the Clement-Talbot Works, and reported by us in our issue of -February 7th, pages 506 and 507, have been considered by the Expert and Technical Committee of the Automobile Club with the result that the inventions entered by J. Livexsidge and Sons, Ltd. (the " K.T." tire) and Messrs. W. Sully and P. H. Shailer (loose metal ring) have been ruled out, leaving five competitors whose devices will go through Part 3 of the trials, viz., the Road Endurance test. These are : the wood-lined, metal ring, of the Parsons Non-Skid Company; the floating, metal ring, of Mr. George B. \\Tinter; the supplementary wheel device, the invention of Mr. H. 13. Molesworth ; the Hartridge Syndicate's tire ; and the rubber and leather ring tire, entered by the Westminster laustrial and Finance Developments, Limited. Part 3 of the trials will begin, it is hoped, on Monday, the 25th instant.
In this test, the tires are to see actual service on motorbuses, on the London streets, until a total distance of about x,000 miles has been run in suitable weather, and the noise, if any, which emanates from the fittings will, from time to time, be noted by the official observers on the buses.
The Town Council of Chester, ihrough its Town Clerk, Mr. J. H. Dickson, has invited tenders for the supply of three motorbuses, at an estimated cost of 473,000, and tenders must be lodged on or before the 9th proximo. The Corporation took powers to purchase these vehicles, in its Act of Igor, as well as to establish and run services.
The sporting instinct has not entirely died out in the breast of the commercial motorist ; it was, therefore, without surprise that we heard that an effort is being made to promote a " pic-nic " event, on " Show " Sunday, amongst manufacturing and operating engineers. It is felt that a day out of doors would go far to relieve the monotony of work in the indifferently-ventilated building at Kensington.
A General Manager for the L.G.0, Company.
Our congratulations to Captain Wilfrid Dumble, RE., on his appointment as acting general manager of the London General Omnibus Company, Limited. Captain Durable is a Canadian ; he possesses all the good characteristics of his countrymen, coupled with a peculiar charm of personal magnetism, which quality should stand him in good stead. Born in August, 1871, Captain Dutiable has not yet completed his 36th year, but his experiences, since he entered the Royal Military College of Canada, are such as to fit him for a position which demands high organising and administrative gifts. After a four-year course of civil engineering, at the college named above, where so many young civil engineers have been equipped for their careers, he was one of four to go into the English army, in the year 1892, when he received a commission in the Royal Engineers, with which corps he has since served, seeing foreign service at Halifax, Bermuda, and elsewhere. Captain Dumble's work has been varied: it has included submarine mining, fort building, barrack reconstruction, and, for the last four years, the discharge of the duties attaching to the adjutancy of the corps of Electrical Engineers (RE, E.E.V.), of which Lt.-Col. R. E. B. Crompton, C.B., is the commanding officer. He has, always, had the intention to enter civil life, provided he received the offer of management of an undertaking
which he felt confident he could control, and his wish has, now, been gratified.
Captain Dutiable has, already, taken up his new duties, temporarily, and is spending his annual leave at 6, Finsbury Square, E.C. It will be a few months before he is entirely free to devote his whole energies to his new work, but he has made a typical commencement, in that he has paid a round of visits to the company's garages, during the early hours of various mornings, in order to address the drivers and other employees, and to get, personally, into close touch with the inner workings of the huge concern, of which he is now the chief official. His reputation as an organiser, and his knowledge of
men and affairs, should stand Captain Dumble in good stead, although it is clear that there will be plenty of people ready to criticise the appointment of a soldier to the general management of a trading company. We should say, however, from a knowledge of Captain Dumble's ability to appreciate the fact that all under him are, essentially, human, and from the excellent name which he enjoys in other circles, that he will justify the appointment to the full. Reference to our issue of the 3oth August, 1936, will show that the appointment of a general manager for the London General Omnibus Company was, most strongly, advocated, and the action of the directors must, in our judgment, be of the greatest conceivable benefit to the shareholders. Captain Dumble promises to be the right man in the right place : he possesses the inestimable advantage of a tactful disposition, coupled with great energy. The Amalgamated Motorbus Company, Limited, has moved its offizes to Victoria Works, Belvedere Road, S.E. The telephone number is 310, Ho?.
John Child Meredith, Limited, of Birmingham, has put on the market a special, hard metal for contact tips, to replace platinum, and the price of these new tips is only 4d. each.
The Great Western Railway Company, after charging depreciation on its Milnes-Daimler motorbuses at the rate of 20 per cent. per annum, has found, after several years' experience, that it is sufficient to provide a sinking fund at the rate of only 12A per cent. per annum. This testimony, from the lips of Mr. J. W. Inglis, the General Manager, cannot be regarded as other than absolutely conclusive testimony on the subject.
The 4oh.p. Ryknield motorbus, which is undergoing a prolonged trial for the London General Omnibus Company, Limited, has completed, so far, a mile
age of close upon 2,000 miles. No journey had, up to the time of our last report, been lost, whilst the number of miles per gallon of petroleum spirit had averaged seven. The consumption of lubricating oil has been, only, one gallon for each 218 miles, and that of grease, ilb, for each tog miles.
The accounts of the Associated Omnibus Company, Limited, for the twelve months ended 31st December last, will be submitted to the shareholders on the 28th instant. The net receipts were
'82,081, and the expenditure, after allowing depreciation of omnibus stock (both motor and horse), the transference of L.' toms to insurance fund, the writing-off of :soo in connection with the debenture issue, and the provision of £11,035 for interest on debentures, amounts to 480,557. With )c804 brought forward, there is a net balance
of ,2,328. The report states that traffic receipts have suffered by keen competition, and extremely low fares. It is recommended by the directors, that no dividend should be paid, and that the balance be carried forward. The expenses for the year have increased by some .‘12,800, as compared with 1905. The L.C.C. continues to refuse to furnish particulars of the reduced takings of its tramcars along routes where motorbuses are in competition. It is, also, about to expend a large amount of money on the construction of tramlines along the Tottenham Court Road and the Hampstead Road, where the competition of both motorbuses and " tubes " will have to be faced.
It transpires that the citizens of Munich have found the motorbus so much to their liking, that the Corporation is being bombarded from all quarters of the City with petitions for additional lines as early as possible. Not much can be done in this respect with the existing fleet ; the " Mtichener " must wait awhile for anything on a big scale, but the Corporation has agreed to extend one of the existing routes.
The Metropolitan Asylums Board makes an announcement, in this issue (see under Sundry Advertisements), as Lo its preparedness to receive tenders for the supply of two motorbuses. We understand that extensive developments of the Board's mechanical transport are contemplated, and that the present order will, by no means, be the last. Particulars of the general requirements may be obtained from Mr. T. D.:rcombe Marr, Clerk to the Board, Victoria Embankment,E.C. (Corner of Carmelite Street). Mr. C. P. Markham, J.P., of Chesterfield, who is the proprietor of the local motorbus service to and from Hasland, is to be asked, by the Chesterfield Town Council, to give instructions for the reduction in the pace at which his drivers proceed through certain narrow streets, owing to alleged inconveniences caused to ped2strians, in wet weather, by the dispersal of mud.
Wilmersdorf, a rising borough adjoining Berlin, is to have four municipal motorbus lines, with a to-minute, express service, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m., and, possibly, a night-service up to 2 a.m., the buses running every half hour. The Corporation purposes experimenting with s-pfennig (o. 625d.) sections, a minimum of which the Berlin companies working, or intending to work, self-propelled omnibuses fight shy, pressing for a minimum of double that amount. There is something in favour of the lower minimum. Berliners are not apt to throw money about, and many who might, other vise, hesitate to spend to pfennigs would, probably, use the motorbus over a spfennig section. Spring will, most likely, see the lines open. Two of them will connect up Wilmersdorf with Potsdamerplatz (Berlin), whilst the others are to terminate in Halensee and Charlottenburg, respectively, suburbs to the south of Wilmersdorf.