THE HAULIERS' INQUIRE WITHIN.
Page 12
Page 13
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Some Operating Costs for the Fordson Tractor Working with Eagle Trailers and Engaged on Haulage Work in the Manchester District.
IWAS TALKING to a man the other day, advising him, as a matter of fact, as to the choice of a vehicle for haulage purposes, when the name of one make of machine was mentioned—a make in whieh I have every confidence, and which I know, from conversations with various users of it, to be at least up to the average of such machines as regards Its performance, its reliability and the service it gives. No sooner was the name of this vehicle mentioned, however., than my friend, to use a familiar phrase, "went in off the deep end" and slanged it up hill and down dale.
Upon my inquiring as to the reason for his outburst, he told me that a certain friend of his had had one of these vehicles. It had broken down, and several days had elapsed before the necessary spare parts could be obtained in order to enable the repair to be effected. He did not know what was the cause of the breakdown ; he did not eVen know what part of the machine it was that had failed, and he made no inquiry to discover if there was any special reason which might have accounted for the delay in obtaining these spares. Now I maintain that his attitude, in the circumstances, is simply preposterous, and, even if he had known mare about the case than he did, it would still have been unfair to condemn that maker's product, to curse it by bell, book and candle, as he was doing, simply on account of an isolated lapse. On the other hand, if it be wrong for a user to condemn a vehicle because one of the same type has performed badly, it is equally unfair for a maker to expect users to accept a single favourable result as being the standard to which all his machines will readily rise. Yet small is the attitude—or, at any rate, the apparent attitude—of a good many makers, not only of commercial vehicles, but of tyres and other components of such vehicles.
I do not mean to suggest that, because it is the habit of a manufacturer only to put out results which are favourable to his machine, that he is in any way overstating his case or trying to mislead his customers—far from it. What usually happens is this the manufacturer gets from one •user some excellent figures relative to the working of one of his machines ; he broadcasts those figures at once. They do show what can be done with his machine,. and, at the very worst, they encourage other users, whether of his machines or of others, to emulate such results. On the other hand, when the same mann, facturer gets figures which are anything but favourable to his product, he immediately takes the proper course of inquiring as to the reasons for the poor performance which these figures indicate. Very rarely does it happen that he cannot find such reasons, and when they are found they afford him, ample justification for claiming that, as the figures in question are not a true indication of the performances of vehicles of his manufacture, it will not be to the public interest that those figures should be disclosed.
Thus it conies about that the figures which a manufacturer will publish, or even disclose in a more or less private fashion, are not unfavourable to his product, 'because they represent the best of the results secured by users and from them can be deduced a set of average figures based upon data from which the worst results are eliminated because the condjtiona of working were such as to prevent a vehicle from making its best showing. The figures published are therefore usually better than those which are experienced by the majority of users. For the purpose of these notes, I, however, have to include the good and the poor results, for I feel that the average of good workings is such as I may not put forward in telling an inquirer what his costs are likely to be, since, if I were to do so, it is more than likely that his expenditure will exceed that which I have outlined, and he will either rate his fair charges too low or will have in his mind an exaggerated idea of the profit which he can earn.
This little homily I have thought to be useful as the prelude to the disclosure of certain figures with which I have been favoured by the Eagle Engineering Co., Ltd., of Warwick, concerning the use of a Fordson tractor in conjunction with one of that company's excellent two-wheeled trailers which have been specially designed for use with the tractor of that or other make. The figures in question have been submitted by Knutsford Motors, Ltd., a Oheshire firm, who are the sole Manchester agents for the sale of these two-wheeled trailers, and who are, in addition, authorised Ford dealers. The figures which they submit have, I understand, been obtained as the result of an extensive experience with such a tractor and a trailer in and around the districts of Trafford Park and Salford. I am advised that the average speed which has been found to be practicable with this combined unit is 10 miles an hour.
It may be remembered that in the issue of The Commercial Motor for September 18th of this year, I went into the question of the cost of running a Fordson tractor on a haulage contract which had been offered to an inquirer in connection with some road repair work. It so happened that I was comparing this type of outfit with an F.W.D. lorry and a trailer, and the upshot was that I found in favour of the lorry and against the Fordson. In the meantime, I have been making inquiries into this Fordson problem considering it as a vehicle for road haulage, and although I have not discovered anything which would make it necessary for me to modify the views which I expressed on that occasion, I have been more and more impressed with the satisfactory manner in which the Fordson is behaving in connection with such work. It is particularly adaptable for use on building and road-making work, but is also being used in the docks, in railway goods yards, and even for furniture removal. In all cases it certainly shows a big saving as compared with the employment of horse-drawn vehicles.
The figures which I gave in the article to which I have referred were as follows , It will be noted that the arrangement of these figures is not my usual one, nor does it conform with that which was embodied in the article in question. I have altered them and rearranged them so that they can better be compared to the following, which are the ones which I have received from the Eagle Co., and which I prefer to give unaltered:— lit will be noted that the differences between us are not great, being brought about in the main by the fact that, in my original problem. I bad to consider the use of two ordinary four-wheeled trailers. This increased the original outlay, which I took to be 2420, and affected the item of interest accordingly. Depreciation is not fairly comparable, since I reckoned mine on a mileage basis. There is a considerable difference in the amount which iS set down for wages. In my case I assumed 24 10s. a week ; in these figures 23 a week only has been taken. This, however, is an item which varies according to locality and other conditions; it is, in any case, one which the reader may correct for himself in accordance with his own views and experience.
The other differences are not important. I have allowed a little less for tyres and maintenance, a little more for oil. On the whole, our figures agree closely, and there will be even less difference between them when we consider, as I propose to do in my next contribution, the actual total operat ing costs per mile run. THE SHOTOH.
[Complete tables of running costs for all types of petrol and steam vehicles were contained in our Olympia Show Report issue, dated November 27th, 1923. As the cost prohibits frequent publication of these tables we advise readers to file them for reference.—En.]