Bird's eye view by the Hawk
Page 56
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*Call it the FTA
How true it is that the little things can sometimes be the biggest problem. I was amused to see that although TRTA, NTTA and TCC have agreed their merger in a commendable degree of detail, they haven't settled on a name for it. And I can just imagine the sort of argument this could provoke among long-serving members naturally anxious to retain some link' with their old association in the new name.
But surely it is time for a fresh start; the desire to keep, say, "TRTA" as the initials, or retain the word "road" in the title could only lead to an inhibiting image for what must become a truly national body. There will no doubt be some who confuse pomposity and verbosity with prestige, and who will plump for something like the National Confederation of Transportation User Associations; others may, like me, come up with tentative titles which turn out to make rude words when initials are strung together.
But enough I The answer to the problem was staring everyone in the face on the heading to CM's news story last week: freight transport association. Give it capital initials and the FTA is in business—subject to Board of Trade approval. Now, where was I. . . .
*Brighter outlook
Reply by a witness to Traffic Commissioner's question as to why she liked road travel better than rail: "Because I prefer to see the front of the houses rather than the back."
*Surprise on Sunday
Something many travellers had never set eyes upon previously appeared on the M6 on a recent Sunday. This was a 1935 Sentinel S4 steam wagon—doing a steady 45 mph under the capable control of Tom Ward, head of Transport Vehicles (Warrington) Ltd. Mr. Ward was on his way from his North Wales home to a steam traction rally at Stafford. The 85 miles from Holywell to the venue were completed in 21 hr.
Mr. Ward is no amateur enthusiast in the steam world for he first drove a road steamer in 1922. At the time of the general strike in 1926 he brought a supply of out
crop coal by steam wagon from North Wales to Liverpool for the use of the late A. S. Jones who founded the business of A. S.Jones & Co. Ltd., which last week put into full operation a new £150,000 headquarters at Bromborough on the Mersey. Unfortunately, steam wagons are fussy about their diet and I gather the 1926 supply mentioned produced a somewhat substandard performance.
*Another mammoth rallye
Talking of oldies (which I seem to have done frequently in recent weeks), I hear that Sudbury, Suffolk, has plans for a really mammoth Old Tyme Rallye next year—on June 28 and 29. The intention is to reflect the development of British transport in the past 100 years and, as well as a host of other exhibits ranging from steam organs to threshing tackles, there will be about 60 vintage commercials. The site is Melford Hall; details from D. J. Chambers at 2a Market Hill, Sudbury.
*Portrayed
Still on vintage topics, a series of 10 drawings in the Prints for Pleasure range is now available separately—previously in book form—showing early commercial vehicles in full colour at 13+in. by 18+in. They really are most attractive, and I reckon that at 8s each they're a good buy. The publisher is Prints for Pleasure, The Hamlyn Group, Astronaut House, Feltham, Middlesex. The ten subjects are: 1919 RAF Leyland; 1917 Bema lorry; 1919 Vulcan lorry; 1914 Ford T van; 1914 Dennis fire engine; 1908 Unic taxi; 1902 Shand Mason horse-drawn fire appliance; 1890 horse-drawn brewer's wagon; 1898 Daimler truck; 1868 horsedrawn delivery van.
*Selftaught
One of the exhibits in the Glasgow 'transport department's art club show, which is being held in the McLellan Galleries, is a remarkable painting of the Last Supper by Corporation bus driver James Robertson. It measures 7ft by 3ft and Mr. Robertson, who is self-taught, has been working on it for five years. It is still unfinished—there are hands and faces still to be painted in, but already he is off on a picture of Moses.
His "studio" is in the sitting room of his home. He says that, with a family of four young children and the need to fit in with his shift working at Knightswood garage, it is sometimes not easy to concentrate on painting, That I can well imagine, and I take my hat off to him for his enthusiasm.