Touring the Lake District.
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GRANGE-OVER-SANDS is admirably located as a touring centre for trips to the Lake District, and the Grange Motor and Cycle Co., Ltd., have net been slow to avail themselves of the opportunities thus afforded. The company first entered the coaching business in 1914, when they purchased their first 25-30 h.p. Fiat vehicle. Two additional machines of this make were run in 1919, and a further two secured for service last year.
The Fiats are all 14-seaters shod with pneumatic tyres, whilst a 26-seater Daimler coach is used for the express purpose of taking the shorter tours in the
immediate locality. This vehicle has given the utmost satisfaction for the purpose for which it is employed. 1-n addition to the Fiats, Leyland coaches are to be used during the present season for tours over Kirkstone to Keswick
and Shap and Penrith.•The class of tours run by the company are mostly day trips through Lakeland, and the small Fiat coaches are best able to negotiate the hilly and narrow roads which abound in the district. The most popular tour is the one from Grange to Keswick via the Kirkstone Pass, touching eight lakes and covering a distance of approximately 100 miles. This tour is run four times weekly during the season, from Whitsun to the end of September. The company also cater for large parties, which come direct by train from Lancashire and Yorkshire, and who generally take a short trip of about 50 miles. The season opened on March 24th and continues until October 22nd.
During the winter two of the company's coaches have been engaged under contract with the Lancashire County Council for the cOnveyance of school children to a Special Subjects Centre School, whilst on Saturdays football enthusiasts help to keep the coaches occupied. The busiest part of the season is during July and August.
The Fiat coaches receive much patronage on account of the exceptional comfort which they provided, due, as we have already said, to the fact that they are shod with N.A.R. cushion tyres manufactured by Macintosh, Ltd. The all-in running cost per mile of the 14-seaters worked out during last year at is, 3d., and for the Daimler 26seater 11d., the difference between these figures arising as a result of the heavy costof upkeep of the pneumatic tyres.
Most of the, drivers employed by the Grange Motor Co. are qualified mechanics, who have received a thorough training in their own workshops, and particular attention is paid to the condition and upkeep of the coach fleet by the work's foreman.
The traffic is controlled from the head office, where minute daily records of each conveyance are kept by a clerk, who works under the supervision of the company's secretary. During the busy season a special traffic man—a man having a full knowledge of local conditions— is appointed, and he deals exclusively with the working and regulation of motor Coach tours. A special check is kept on supplies issued to each conveyance, and each driver, when requiring petrol, oil, tyres, etc., has to make an entry in a special requisition book which he possesses, which has to be signed by the foreman and then handed to the storekeeper, a duplicate being kept by the
driver. The repairs to the coaches are carried out in the company's own workshops, which ale well-equipped with modern machine plant.
Thefinal arrangements for the tours arranged by the Lake District Road Traffic Co. Ltd., Market Cross, Ambleside, for the 1921 season have not yet been decided.
The company run an extensive service from Windermere to Ambleside, Grasmere
and Keswick, in conjunction with the London and North Western Railway Co.
The season commences in the district at Whitsnn and extends until the end of September, the Easter programme depending upon the demand, which, of course, is influenced by weather conditions.
Eleven Thornycroft coaches are run, four of these being 18-seaters and the others 28-seaters. It says much for the dependability of this make of machine when we mention that the company have been running Thornycroft vehicles for the last 16 years, and that they find them admirably suited to the hilly districts of the locality.
They have overcome the difficult problem of accommodating luggage on an ordinary coach by the purchase of a • Ford one ton lorry, which is used both for the conveyance of passengers' lug' lags as well as for parcel traffic in con• nection with the L. and N.W.B. The company also operate the Royal Mail contract between Windermere and Grasmere, which is carried out by a Ford one ton machine.
Coaching from Durham. THE Hetton Motor Co., Ltd., of Hetton-le-Hole, Co. Durham, are the proprietors of the "Lyons " fleet of motor coaches. The company are among the pioneers of the char-5,-bancs business in the North of England, having been established in 1911 for the specific purpose of entering this line of business.
The company own a fleet of five vehicles, comprising two 28-seater A.E.C.s, one 34-seater Commer Car, one 29-seater Commer Car, and a 10-seater Daimler with an open bus body.
The season opened at Easter, and will continue until the end of September. During the winter months short trips are undertaken to football matches, theatres, etc., but very little work is done in this direction. Day trips are the chief class of tours which are undertaken, but these are interspersed with occasional two, three, and four days' tours,. The company carry out their own repairs and maintenance, and a staff of skilled mechanics is employed for this pus-pose.
A Mixed Fleet at Scarborough.
ROBINSON'S MOTORS, LT1I., Westmount, Scarborough, run a number of tours to the district around this popular north-east coast holiday resort, for which purpose they use Daimler, Leyland, Thornycroft, Napier, and Maxwell coaches, with a seating capacity ranging from 16 to 30. The mediumsize vehicle, with a seating capacity of 20 to 25, is found to he most suitable for coach work, because it is select and offers greater privacy than the bigger machine.
Country bus tours and a town bus service are also run, but the motor coach tours to the countryside are the most popular of all the services run by the company. The coach season extends from May to October, but motorbuses are engaged on an all-the-year-round service. Both pneumatic and solid tyres are being used for coach work, but the company have formed the opinion that the former, besides being very costly, are much over-rated.
Morning, afternoon, and eve.hing tours are run, .as well as day tours -further afield.