A.E.C.s Give Good Service to the C.W.S.
Page 30
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OVER 9,500 tons of goods have been carried by an A.E.C. Mercury vehicle since it was placed in service in 1931, by the preserve factory of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Ltd., at Acton, London. This vehicle, which is the oldest of nine A.E.C.s in the fleet of this operator, has, to date, covered 169,000 miles. Working five days a -week, it has averaged, since the year it was bought, 20,000 miles per annum.
Apart from the renewal of two cylinder blocks with pistons and rings, the Mercury has called for little expenditure on maintenance. The brakes were not refaced until over 140,000 miles had been covered, and neither the gearbox nor the rear axle has, as yet, been taken down.
It was the excellent service given by this vehicle that prompted the purchase of others of similar type between the years 1933 and 1937. The second Mercury, purchased in the first-named year, had, up to February last, covered 145,523 miles, during which it had carried over 8,000 tons.
In 1938, it was found that a larger type of machine could be usefully employed and, accordingly, a Mammoth Major six-wheeler of 12 tons capacity was added to the fleet, this being the first oiler to work from the Acton factory.
• Although nominally based in Acton, this vehicle acts as a general-utility machine and is utilized by other preserve factories of the company at Reading, Middleton and Stockton-onTees, and by a vinegar brewery at Manchester. A constant interchange of products takes place between these depots, and it is in the bulk transport of vinegar, pulp, peel, etc., that the six-wheeler is principally employed.
All the smaller vehicles are used for the distribution of preserves to the 1,28 retail co-operative societies in the " London area," which stretches from Kettering, in the north, to Folkestone, in the south-east. The system of deliveries is so arranged that all machines return to Acton the same day and within the driver's working limit of 11 hours.
Loading is undertaken at night, and the vehicles making the longest journeys are usually away at 6 a.m. During January last, the Acton fleet, including a small number of lightweights, transported over 1,350 tons of jam.
Complete records are kept of the performance of each vehicle, and every expense incurred, even down to the cost of a tin of polish, is entered against the machine concerned. Normal maintenance work, which, in the case of the petrol units includes decarbonization at intervals of 10,000 miles, is carried Out at the company's Acton garage, whilst major repairs or replacements are entrusted to the A.E.C. service station at Southall. At intervals of 18 months, vehicles are sent to the bodymaker's for retouching and revarnishing.