interview with Christopher T. Dabell, nal chairman of the Passenger
Page 51
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Vehicle ators' Association (see pages 50-51) ids me that as well as being a successful Ind coach operator, he is also a steam isiast. He possesses a number of splenteam traction engines which, in between appearances at shows, are used on the by local farmers.
r. Dabell also has a large collection of photographs, tracing the history of his ratty. Perhaps the most interesting of all e photo of the very first bus to enter with the South Notts Bus Co. The )graph, reproduced here, shows no. 1, • seater mounted on a Guy normal conthassis, which was built in 1926.
Terry and jack
1 Monaghan, service manager of PLP ffs Ltd., Warrington, has designed a :ost pit-jack for his company's new st centre. It cost him £120: he tells me the type used in most MoT test centres
about L425. Mr. Monaghan also is that his jack is better than the 's: it will lift 40 tons as opposed to 7 His jack, which is fitted with Epco , can also perform a lift of up to 19 in, its movable rams enabling it to take full weight. The PLP pre-test centre cost t £12,000 to build, approximately .hird of the price mentioned in profes estimates. Who designed it? Why, y Monaghan of course.
log after meat
'Greyhound" with a capital G and one xliately thinks of long-distance bus ;Ts criss-crossing the USA. But the hound Corporation is much more than this, and determined diversification has given it ownership of food production, touring and tourist accommodation facilities and financial businesses.
Now I see it has moved into the battle to buy Armour and Co., with a straight market offer for $35m worth of stock. If it wins, does this mean corned beef sandwiches at special rates en route?
*I'll say that again
My pocket dictionary misses out on elucidating the meaning of "heuristic", a word that was quoted at the recent conference on Physical Distribution Management at Harrogate, Jan 30. But I need not have worried too much. The speaker on developing warehouse policies, Dr. C. Watson-Gandy, provided some instant translation for the less educated members of the gathering. Very lax of us not to have done our homework in advance, of course. For "heuristic" methods read ruleof-thumb and you won't be far wrong.
*El Sharif?
Who is "the most noble and honest one"? kin Sherriff, CM's deputy editor, says it applies to him, and who am Ito argue? He's in the Middle East and tells me this was the literal translation of his name by the Jordanians. If he owes any of his friends a fiver, I suggest they put this definition to the test fairly smartly. When, two and a half years ago, Peter Ellis moved from his deputy managership of West Bromwich Corporation Transport to become general manager at Morecambe, he exchanged the Black Country for the blue waters of the seaside. And I gather he sees no reason to regret his choice. In recent years the development of the University of Lancaster, which largely accommodates its students at Morecambe, four mites away, has given the local operators a welcome accession of traffic. The inter-town public run is a Ribble responsibility but the special University joint service is shared by Morecambe, Lancaster and Ribble. While the traffic staff agree that students and high spirits go together I gather that they encounter no difficulty in this connection with the run-of-the-mill passenger.
*The haulier's prayer
Reg Block is pretty confident about the value of his new transport management courses but he's leaving nothing to chance. He tells me he'll start and finish each course with a slide that reads like this:— "The haulier's prayer Lord preserve me to increase our turnover at a faster rate than we spend it."