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cropper's column

2nd June 1972, Page 54
2nd June 1972
Page 54
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Page 54, 2nd June 1972 — cropper's column
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Inspection charts demand clear thinking

• A wall chart is a convenient way of keeping check on the inspection of vehicles to satisfy the requirements of the LAs — but that operators don't always steer clear of some pretty obvious pitfalls.

Some operators may be talented enough to rule up their own chart, others may obtain them from trade associations, etc. I have a useful one from an oil company; it is ruled into squares, with vehicles shown horizontally and vertical columns indicating weeks. Supplied with the chart are self-adhesive stickers in various shapes and colours, to indicate the grade of attention required at each date.

The system's success depends on meticulous use: the chart must be watched week by week; arrangements must be made for the work to be done; and the chart stuck up with the appropriate sticker at the right time.

Will the sticker show (A) a job to be done, or (B) one that has been done? This alternative interpretation is a weakness of the Amoco system. For procedure (A) the sticker for the class of job needs to be affixed in advance; when the week arrives, the job required is clear to the fitter. But this gives no guarantee that the job is carried out.

With (B), the sticker goes on when the job has been done. One danger is that a fitter may not bother to do this while his hands are dirty. Procedure (B) does record that the jobs have been done, but cannot be used as a reminder when the next job is due.

The benefits of both alternatives can be secured by developing a refinement. A quantity of small black disc stickers are required, such as Sasco: black contrasts with the normally used colours. Procedure (A) is adopted for the standard stickers, which thus indicate when the next job is due. When the work is completed, the black sticker is put on the top of the standard sticker, as a cancellation mark, allowing the standard sticker still to be visible below; at the same time. the next future date is marked with another standard sticker.

However, the system works on weeks and not on mileage, and it is mileage which justifies the next inspection, or its postponement. For vehicles doing various weekly mileages it is best to plan inspections and maintenance on mileage. To get a wall chart to measure by mileage, you have to make your own. Conquers Transport Ltd of New Cross, made one with horizontal lines — representing vehicles — fitted with grooves made of pieces of card; into these grooves a cardboard "boat" is made to float. The vertical divisions are scaled for mileage and the appropriate sticker for the next job is already in place at its proper mileage point. As the vehicle's mileage is reported weekly, the -boat" is floated forward, until it reaches the sticker for the job to be done. When the work is completed, the sticker is cancelled by placing a small black sticker on top of it.

Ralph Cropper

STEADILY increasing realization of the potential of the drawbar concept is one of the most significant trends to emerge from the British road transport scene in the past few years. A substantial number of the country's largest fleets are experimenting with the lorry-plus-trailer configuration. Of course, just how much of the current interest in this form of road transport technology is inspired by fashion and how much by sound economic argument has yet to be established. Many of the operators now trying drawbars are in the own-account field where, perhaps, cut-to-the-bone budgetary control is not absolutely essential, so it is particularly refreshing to learn of one medium-sized haulage fleet which is successfully utilizing drawbars on its express parcels business. The company is Harrisons of Dewsbury Ltd, an associate company of the Ackworth Transport Group.

Harrisons began trading as long ago as 183 I when its business was coachbuilding. It entered the parcels business after denationalization in 1956.. Since then the fleet has steadily increased to its present 85-vehicle total and the mix of the business is now spread almost evenly between parcels and general haulage traffic. Like many transport concerns in this part of Yorkshire's West Riding, [garrisons' success has largely been built upon the textile industry . When the parcels business first came into its own it was largely concerned with carrying consignments to and from the textile industry, between Dewsbury and London. It is probably true to say that this trunk run is still the company's most reliable earnings producer but now, as well as a depot in London, there are premises in Stockport and Glasgow.

MI three locations are linked with Yorkshire by overnight trunking with collection and delivery during daylight hours. The company has always specialized in express delivery work and, for instance, parcels collected in Yorkshire one afternoon can be delivered in London on the following morning. It was this part trunk, part urban work which inspired the company to try drawbars.

Switch to alnico

However, the idea of drawbars is by no means new to Harrisons. In fact, the company had old-type drawbars on the road until about three years ago. The main reason for the switch from drawbars to artics in 1962 was the infamous double-manning requirement. During the late Fillics and early Sixties the practice of employing two men for one vehicle was not only common but, though hard to believe now, made some economic sense, too. But, as Mr Martin Oldroyd, assistant to the managing director, explained to me, the dramatic rise in drivers' wages changed all that. It became obvious that two men were just not practicable, particularly on long trunk hauls. The only, alternative was the artic, though this allowed -at that time — a deck length of only 26ft. (The parcels business, of course, is more concerned with cubic capacity than gross weight.) The switch to artics meant a major saving in manpower requirements. Where eight men were needed to man two drawbar machines on daily trunks to London, only 10 men were needed to handle four artics doing the same work.

The changeover to artics was of necessity a gradual one and, at first, the drawbar trailers were relegated to use behind eight-wheelers carrying general haulage goods. Steadily, though, the four-wheel trailers — some dating from 1950 — were scrapped and the last one left the road three or four years ago. With increases in the permitted overall size of artics. Harrisons built up a fleet of 40ft semi-trailer boxvans.

It was at the beginning of 1970 that the company heard of two major impending

changes in the law relating to drawbars: the two-man requirement was to be lifted and four-wheel trailers could be up to 11 metres. At about the same time the trailer manufacturers began to wake up to the idea of dollies for converting semi-trailers to artics. Accordingly, the company decided to buy some drawbars. I asked Mr Oldroyd what the real reasons for this reversion of policy were. First, and most importantly, he said, was the "basic gut feeling" that the configuration was right for the job in hand. Although there had been no opportunity to make long and detailed costing studies of the company's own operations, figures published in CM on experiments with drawbars in other fleets had shown there were significant running cost advantages to be gained.

Space important In the company's business, space was the most important consideration and the drawbar combination allowed a total deck length of 48ft and a gross capacity of 35,000 cu ft. For taxation purposes the combination was considered as a 16-ton four-wheel skeletal with trailer and a saving of £150 a year over a maximum-size artic was possible. The drawbar outfit, particularly the towing unit when separated from its trailer, was very much easier to manoeuvre on collection and delivery work in towns than a 40ft artic. The easy split of the two halves of the configuration allowed impressive savings in turnround time (up to three hours assuming 1+ hours to load and Unload a 26ft semi-trailer). If, as often happened, there was one large batch of consignments for distribution by local, depot-based vehicles, it was much quicker to leave the trailer at the depot and deliver the remaining parcels with the towing unit. Harrisons were impressed by the flexibility the drawbar concept offered but decided to enhance it still further by making the bodies on the towing units demountable. Not only could the trailers then be used as artics — by removing the dolly — but the towing unit body could be demounted for high-speed load transhipments.

Having clarified. the benefits it could expect to achieve from re-introducing drawbars into its fleet, Harrisons set about looking for suitable equipment. Existing vehicles in the fleet were basically British

Leyland at the heavier end of the scale and Bedford lower down. Mr Oldroyd approached BLMC but could not find a suitable specification for his needs. After various inquiries the company approached ERF Ltd which appeared to be the only manufacturer able to offer a suitable specification. The result was that last summer Harrisons took delivery of four ERF A series rigids with Gardner 180 engines. Two had David Brown gearboxes and Eaton two-speed axles, while the other pair had Fuller RTO 610 gearboxes with Kirkstall back axles. One pair operates between Glasgow and Dewsbury and the other two between London and Dewsbury. The units have 22ft maximum-capacity demountable bodies designed and built in the Harrisons coach works (which, incidentally, spends only 10 per cent of its time building vehicles for the fleet but produces about 15 per cent of the company's turnover). These demountable bodies — secured by standard ISO twistlocks — are interchangeable with those fitted to the company's rigid fleet, comprising mostly Bedford KH and Albion skeletals.

It was in the selection of trailers that it was possible for one of the most significant savings to be made. Mr Oldroyd had costed out a complete new lorry-plus-trailer outfit at more than £10.000 so he was overjoyed when he realized that the now obsolete 26ft trailers with which the company had launched its articulated programme eight years ago were ideal for drawbar operation. In fact, the trailers had been very close to being scrapped but now, though no longer of the latest construction techniques, are proving quite adequate for their new role. They are mounted on York dollies and mostly have York bodywork. The trailers are coupled to the towing units bY Jost automatic couplings.

Drawbar resurgence Mr Oldroyd pointed out that as one of the first companies to really get involved in the resurgence of the drawbar, Harrisons had had to be prepared for some initial teething troubles. In fact there have been very few. One of the more complex is the argument currently going •on between the company and Department of the Environment test station officials over the specification of the dollies. When presented for test fitted to the trailer there is no problem but when a dolly was sent for plating without a trailer for the first time, it was refused a certificate because it did not have a handbrake. Although the times when a dolly is towed without a trailer are. few, a clip-on lighting and number plate board has been produced, but the parking brake question was entirely unexpected and is still being resolved.

Good fuel consumption So far as the ERFs are concerned — they are the first vehicles of this marque to be used in the fleet since before the war — Mr Oldroyd is quite satisfied. The outfits rarely achieve their permitted gross weight of 32 tons but, more typisally operate at around 26 tons. About a quarter of their mileage is covered without the trailer attached. The fuel consumption of 11+ mpg is considered very good indeed and compares favourably with artics operating at similar weights. However, Mr Oldroyd admits that the ERF is a bit of a compromise for urban work. For this part of the operation a Ford or Bedford would be preferable, he says, but such vehicles are not considered capable of hauling the trailer at sustained motorway speeds. The drivers' preference for the two-speed axle transmission is perhaps an indication of the need for an easier-to-handle vehicle for round-the-houses work.

There seems little doubt that in the future there will be more drawbars in the Harrisons' parcels fleet. But Mr Oldroyd does not see their encroachment into the general haulage field. This is because they are too difficult to manoeuvre into tight locations. As it is, they are almost impossible to reverse and have to be moved around within depots by shunters or even fork-lift trucks. Harrisons are currently considering extending the use of drawbar outfits to other express parcels routes like, for example, Glasgow to Birmingham with an exchange of trailers at Manchester. Though by no means new in principle to the company — indeed one of the drivers of a drawbar outfit was formerly a mate on the older type of vehicle — drawbars certainly seem to be paying off in a big way for this Yorkshire haulier. Maybe others could profitably follow its pioneering example.


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