COAL. HAULAGE BY PETROL TRACTORS.
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AFLEET of three Fordson petrol tractors and seven trailers has been successfully employed for the past two years by the City of Birmingham Gas Department for hauling coal from the railway company's sidings at Lawley Street to the Adderley Street gasworks. The works are situated about a mile from the railway and, as some 200 tons of coal have to be transported every day, the problem is a difficult one.
The coal was originally carted by horse-drawn vehicles, and various schemes of mechanical haiiihge were considered before the Fordsons were installed. So that the drivers are afforded a good ,measure of protection in all weathers, the tractors are equipped with enclosed cabs, which havesingle-panel windscreens.
The coal is loaded by manual labour at the railway siding and when large
coal is being handled, side doors in the trailers enable them to be directly loaded from the side door of the railway truck. Vtlien dealing with small coal, the loading is carried out from the top of the truck.
The method adopted for unloading is ingenious. A special hopper is used at the gas works, in conjunction with a special sliding door fitted to the bottom of the trailer. The trailer floor tapers to an opening which is 14 ins, wide and runs the full length of the body. This is •closed by a steel slide. Ar in. thick, which Nis operated through three racks and pinions from a handle within easy reach of the driver. The body is 11 ft. long, 6 ft. 9 ins, wide inside and has a, capacity of 318 cubic feet.
Normally, only two tractors and six of the trailers are in use, the odd tractor and trailer being reserved for use in emergency. Two hundred tons of coal are delivered every nine-hour working day, the maximum weight transported per trailer per journey being 7 tons, the average being -6,25 tons.
Speaking of the work of the vehicles, Mr. A. W. Smith, the generarmanager and secretary of the City of Birmingham Gas Department, reports that they have now been working practically two years and are proving highly successful and less costly than horse haulage.