The Motor Omnibus World.
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The first MiInes-Dainiler omnibus delivered to the Bath Tramways Co., Ltd., ran its trial trip to Corsham last week.
The i6h.p. Albion char-a-bancs running between Kingstow-n and Bray, which we illustrated in our issue of August 24th, is fitted with Royal Sirdar Buffer tyres.
We are acquainted with a highly competent and experienced motor omnibus engineer, who will shortly be at liberty to take charge of a service at home or abroad.
We regret to learn that the proposed service of motor omnibuses between Ravensthorpe and Bradley, which the Mirfield Engineering Company, Limited, had intended to inaugurate, has been dropped for the present.
The Star Omnibus Company is reported to be on the point of serving Croydon with motor omnibuses. Most of the horse-drawn omnibuses were removed from this locality on the advent of the electric tramcar some few years ago.
Mr. W. Turner Smith, who recently resigned his engagement with the Eastbourne Corporation to take up important duties in London, has been presented with a valuable marble timepiece by the employees and staff at Eastbourne. Mr. Turner Smith is a member of council of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers.
At the half-yearly meeting of the Isle of Wight Central Railway, held last week at 3, Lothbury. under the chairmanship of Mr. T. B. Boulton, M.P., it was stated from the chair that the company was suffering from the competition of motor omnibuses, but that the directors would do everything in their power to meet it. There has been a sharp fall in the company's 4 per cent, debenture stock.
Clarkson, Limited, has already supplied four steam omnibuses to the London and South Western Railway, two of which are in service in Hampshire, and two in Devonshire. These vehicles are of the single-deck type, specially constructed for hard service, and each has accommodation for 18 passengers and f ton of luggage. The Devonshire service is between Exeter and Chagford, where some of the gradients are as steep as i in 8, whilst the Hampshire service is between Lyinington and Milford-on-Sea.
The Ipswich to Shotley service, inaugurated by the Great Eastern Railway Company, has been followed by the installation of two more. file new omnibuses will ply between Beccles and Loddon, and Loddon and Trowse, one bus being employed on each length, this splitting of the route into two sections, and the fact that the buses will not run in conjunction, being to avoid any interference with the present railway service between 'Norwich and Beccles. Each vehicle has been constructed in the railway shops at Stratford, and each is capable of carrying one ton of baggage and 30 passengers. Royal Sird.ar Buffer tyres are fitted. The occasion was celebrated by a luncheon at the Swan Hotel, Loddon, when the chair was taken by Sir Reginald P. Beauchamp, Bart. The popularity of the Great Eastern Railway omnibuses in East Anglia is best gauged by the amount of notice which their running is attracting in the whole of the local papers without exception.
The report of the directors of the Fleetwood Motor Passenger-Carrying Co., Ltd., whose services are carried on by three Arrol-Johnston motor chars-d-bancs, is about to increase its capital to Z20,000, and to open additional garages at Fleetwood and Lancaster.
The inhabitants of Wolverhampton are complaining about the infrequency of the motor omnibus service to the Penn Fields district. They are demanding a 15-minute service in all thoroughfares where the narrowness of the roadway renders electric tramcars unsuitable.
The experiment of running a motor omnibus between London and Brighton has proved sufficiently successful for the syndicate to continue its hiring agreement with the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, but we understand that the arrangement is subject to a week's notice.
Ellesmere Port District Council is much exercised over the poor train service which its ratepayers have to endure. It is under discussion to petition the Joint committee of the Great Western and London and North-Western Railways to institute a system of motor omnibuses between Ellesmere Port and Hooton.
The Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited, of Leyland, is rapidly organising its output to give satisfactory delivery of Leyland omnibuses. The excellent running of these vehicles has already filled the company's order book to such a degree that large extensions have been rendered imperatively necessary at the works.
Mr. F. C. A. Griffiths, of Hamilton House, 149, Bishopsgate Street Without, E.C., reports—in our correspondence pages—an amusing state of affairs at Llandrindod Wells, where he is obliged to offer to carry passengers free of charge in one direction, owing to the refusal of the local coupcil to license his motor waggonette.
The Holmfirth Urban District Council, to which body Mr. Harry Lomax is the Clerk, is considering the question of establishing a service of motor omnibuses. The population of Holmfirth is about 9,000, and there is no question that the conditions of this locality are more favourable to the introduction of a motor omnibus service than that of an electric tramway system. It is practically impossible for the traffic of the area to support the critical 12-minute service of tramcars in each direction.
Evidence of the extensions which are in hand for the production of motor omnibuses is found in the plan of the new works for the British Automobile Development Company, Limited, which we publish on page 496 of this issue. One interesting feature at this new works is the intended introduction of a complete system of overhead rails, by which means goods will be transferred from the sidings to the stores, and thence to the various shops as required, without any necessity to make demands upon the floor space for narrow-gauge trucks.
Ten additional omnibuses have passed through their examination, and have been put upon the streets of the Metropolis since our last fortnightly census. There were 115 motor omnibuses actually in service on Monday last, these being divided between the following routes in the numbers stated :—Cricklewood and Marble Arch, to; Criciciev.00d and Elephant and Castle (Vanguard), 25; Cricklewood and Law Courts, 13; Kilburn and Marble Arch, I; Peckham and Oxford Circus, x7; Brixton and Oxford Circus' ; Finchley and Oxford Circus, 4; Hammersmith and Oxford Circus. le ; Putney and Piccadilly Circus, ; St. John's Wood and Victoria (4, Victory "), 6; St. Pancras and Victoria, ; East Finchley and Charing Cross, 2 ; Surbiton and Ealing, 4; Higham Hill and I3arking Road, 1. The London Motor Omnibus Company now takes the lead.
The Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers was incorporated on July 26th last. Its objects include the following :—(a) To promote, encourage, and facilitate the growth of the carriage of passengers, and of mails or goods if carried in conjunction with passengers, by means of motor vehicles other than on permanent ways, for profit (herein referred to in general as the said motor traffic), and to promote the science and practice of motor omnibus engineering and all branches thereof. (b) To promote the consideration and discussion of all questions affecting directly or indirectly the said motor traffic, and generally to watch over and protect the interests, so far as possible, of persons engaged in such traffic. (c) To enable persons interested in the profession and practice of the said motor traffic to meet and discuss and to correspond and generally to facilitate the interchange of ideas respecting improvements in the various branches of the science of motor omnibus traction, and the publication and intercommunication of ideas respecting improvements in the said science. (d) To give to the Legislature, and to public bodies and others, facilities for conferring with and ascertaining the views of persons engaged or interested in the said motor traffic RS legards matters directly or indirectly affecting that traffic or trades allied to it. (e) To promote excellence and perfection in the construction in that class of motor vehicles as are or might be commendable and serviceable to the said motor omnibus traffic or manufacturing trades. (f) To promote just and honourable practice in the conduct of business and to suppress malpractice.
Very wide support has already been accorded to the society and its objects, and the
interest with which its progress is viewed by members of the motor and allied industries may be gathered from the fact that the • undermentioned firms and companies have already joined as associates. It may be mentioned that the principal advantage of associateship is that admission will be given to certain specified meetings of the society. The present list of applicants for enrolment as associates includes :—Messrs. Straker and Squire (L. R. L. Squire); the Palmer Tyre, Limited (Ernest J. Mitchell); Car and General Insurance Corporation, Limited ( Fredk. Thoresby) ; W. H. Wi deem and Co., Limited (Walter H. Willcox); the Shrewsbury and Challiner Tyre Company, Limited (C. Challiner); J. W. and T. Connolly, Limited (J. W. Connolly); J. Liversidge and Son, Limited (Arthur J. Liversidge); the Peter Union Tyre Company, Limited (Richard Brockemuhl); the Motor Car Emporium, Limited (C. E. Rowbottom) ; the Lancashire Steam Motor Company, Limited (Henry Spurrier, Jun.); the London and District Motor Omnibus Corn.. pany, Limited (A. A. C. Swinton); the General Petroleum Company, Limited (Alfred Gray); the Michelin Tyre Company, Limited (Marc. Wolff); and John I. Thornycroft and Company, Limited (G. A. Burls). The names in brackets are those of the nominated representatives.
A service of " S.A.F.E." motor omnibuses is in operation between Gernsbach and Baden Baden. Some details of these vehicles are given on page 497.
The Lafargue patent " Reliance" motor tyre is designed to overcome some of the difficulties experienced with rubber tyres at the present day. The illustration on this page ineludes sufficient detail to make clear the principal features of the tyre, but it may be mentioned that there is a clearance between the edges of adjacent metal shoes to allow of a reduction in the diameter due to vertical movement under load. It will be observed that two bolts pass through each of the metal shoes, and that the shoes themselves are arranged diagonally across the tread. There is space left at each side of the rubber to allow for expansion, but it would be an improvement if the rubber itself were used, as the design admits, in four or more lengths instead of strips encircling the whole feline. The inventor, Mr. A. Lafargue,of 55, Radipole Road, Fulham, S.W., is now in negotiation with leading wheel manufacturers.