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A HUGE MIDLAND MOTORBUS SERVICE.
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The Growth of the Midland " Red " Motor Services, With Some Reference to the Type of Vehicle Called for by the Special Work Undertaken by the Concern.
FEW enterprises can boast the rapid development and success enjoyed by the Birmingham and Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd. This concern, familiarly known as the Midland " Red " Motor Services, is now the largest motor omnibus undertaking outside London, and at the present time, despite a net route service of 3,200 miles and an operating area of over 9,000 square miles, Is still seeking fresh routes for the development of more services. Although a few far-reaching routes (some confined to the summer months only) are being run by the company, the majority of services Is confined to the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire and parts of Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. Actually, however, there are, in all, nearly 400 services working in 22 counties.
The development of the concern from the early days Is undoubtedly very interesting, and in the light of modern knowledge some of the first experiences of motors seem to be somewhat ludicrous, but the early struggles of the petrol vehicle were, as everyone The undertaking was registered as a company in 1904 and took over the working of the horse-bus routes which had previously been operated by the Birmingham General Omni bus Co. In the same year experi ments were started with motor vehicles, but, as the vehicles did
not come up to expectations, they were withdrawn after a few months' work. It was really in the year
1912 that the big development of the motor side of the business commenced and, tracing back through the history of the company, the nucleus of the engineering department was seemingly created when Mr. L. G. Wyndham Shire, who is now chief engineer of the company, brought one Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric bus from London to Birmingham. The initial fleet of buses was of this type—that is the double-decker—but the vehicles were quickly followed by the Tilling-Stevens single-deck bus with a front entrance, as the latter type was found to be more suitable for the country services upon which the company had decided to concentrate.
The first services operated by these buses started from Birmingham and ran respectively to Blackheath (S miles), Coleshill (10 miles), Coventry (18 miles), Halesowee (8i miles), Shirley (7 miles), Walsall (9 miles) and Earlswood (12 miles). From this unpretentious beginning the fleet of buses now totals over 500, consisting mainly of pneumatic-tyred single-deck buses seating 31 passengers. Further vehicles, now in course of construction, are of a new and improved type seating '84 passengers, with a forward seat for the driver, whilst the company also owns about fifty 32seater chars-k-bancs, all equipped with pneumatic tyres.
In addition to the 15 garages in various centres, such as Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Hereford, Kidderminster, Leamington, , Leicester, Shrewsbury and WolSerhampton, a 'new garage is about to be erected in the centre of Leicester (With accommodation for a hundred buses) and another in Digbeth, Birmingham. The chief
garage and offices are at Bearwood (Birmingham), whilst the construction shops are quartered at the Carlyle garage, near the Edgbaston reservoir.
At this latter garage the chassis are erected and the bodies built, upholstered and painted:The company's works, although they are engaged on the assembly of all the components for the vehicle, do not actually manufacture any part, but a rigid system of inspection is instituted whereby the finest limits of accuracy are called for, with consequent certainty of interchangeability and correctness of fit when-any two components are mated. Actually, a representative of this journal has been privileged to inspect some of the components used in the make-up of the chassis, and the high standard of workmanship and finish is a matter calling for remark. • The great aim and object of the Whole of the company's projects isto minimize m a iatenance Work . so far as posssible,.. especially the type of maintenance that requires a large amount of labour charges to -be included. : In. fact, it-has almost been proved, to be an economical proposition t o run, say, an engine until it badly needs an overhaul and then to scrap .it entirely, rather than to spend a lot of time (and consequently
this reason that workmanship, materials and accuracy are so rigidly inspected in the manufacture of the new vehicle, as these qualities tend towards long life in all the working parts.
It is now, of course, an open secret that the company Is discarding the petrol-electric vehicle in favour of the gearbox type, as experiments in the past have showit that such a course is-desirable. Actually experiments with the gearbox type of vehicle were commenced ,some -five years ago, because even at that time it was found that the chassis and electrical units were heavy and were designed to carry very. much heavier loads than the 28-seater single-deck body which Was being used in the services, and, incidentallY, the acceleration and hillclimbing powers of the 'petrolLelectrle vehicle could not keep poce with that of the lighter pneumatic-tyred. vehicles. On the other hand, it is only fair tO state that the petrol-electric vehicle in the early days, when the gearbox vehicles lacked much ' that could be desired, offered many advantages and hehied considerably to extend the company's sphere of operations.'
Actually a large number of the drivers of motor vehicles was draWn from' the ranks of the horse-bus drivers, and as some of these men were' fairly old when they started to learn to drive a motor vehicle they could not he expected quickly to pick up a new art (for in those days it was really an art to change gear silently and without damage to the pinions).
The aim of the company has, for some time past, been to obtain a standardized vehicle where only one type is ' in use throughout the whole of the fleet. Actually, however, a number of frontentrance doubledeck omnibuses, which were designed at a time when the light, fast sin'gle-deck omnibus was not ,in" NACU r Row,
c o ntem plated and when acceleration, speed and comfort were not so important as they are to-day, are still in use. In cident ally, these double d e 6 k vehicles were brought into aeticin when the omnibus fleet entirely composed of the easy to produce a Vehicle which could be employed with the remainder of the fleet and which would bs capable of working at the same scheduled rate of speed: It will be seen then that by the gradual introduction of the light, fast pneumatic-tyred bus the difficulty Of competing on level terms has forced these heavier double-deckers into the background of a few local areas, where the traffic is heavy and the runs comparatively short.
The experience of the Midland Red Co.—based on the past four years or so—goes to show that the highspeed high-compression engine offers the omnibus user every advantage, for when it is designed to withstand the conditions imposed it will give long and troublefree service, in addition to a very good petrol consumption—all features which are very desirable from the maintenance point of view.
With the high-speed engine the necessary reciprocating parts can be made smaller and lighter and the compression ratio may be higher than can be economically used with the larger engine of lower crankshaft speed. For the 37-seater single-deck omnibus, upon which the company is now concentrating, the cubic capacity of the engine does not exceed 4,500 c.c., which thus produces a power unit of a size that is very easily handled. A maximum power of 58 b.b.p. to 60
is reached at about 2,000 r.p.m., but the engine is capable of speeding up to about 3,000 r.p.m. without serious loss of power. Side by side valves are preferred to the o.h.v. type, the stems and springs being left uncovered, as no advantage has so far been found to accrue from enclosing them. .added to which the driver is more likely, to test the valve tappet clearances occasionally when they are exposed .to view than if they are enclosed.
The lubrication system of the engine is rather unusual. In the first place, it might be mentioned that all the units, such as the pump and piping, are external to the crankcase, so that, in the event of failure or a blockage in any of the pipes, the offending part can be detached instantly, inspected and replaced. Oil is led under pressure to the three main bearings of the crankshaft; thereafter the lubricant Is flung by centrifugal force along the crank webs, and is collected by sheet-metal troughs formed at the outer edge of the crankthrow, whence a passage communicating with the centre of the connecting-rod big-end bearing leads the lubricant trapped within the trough to the bearing. In addition to this, the usual dipper-and-trough system is employed, with drain-holes arranged on the top of the hearing, so that oil can enter from the connecting-rod web.
Without doubt one of the greatest assets of the motorbus of the gearbox type is a first-class clutch with an exceedingly light free member. In the latest Midland "Red " bus this point has been very carefully considered indeed, the clutch being of the single-plate type with two fabric rings attached to the flywheel and back plate in order to reduce the weight of the free member. During our visit to the Carlyle works we had an opportunity of witnessing a considerable amount of gear changing, both up and down, at various speeds. By
using the double-declutch method, a change froth fourth to third could be effected at 30 m.p.h. without the slightest sound emanating from the gearbox, which operation was repeated many times in order to demonstrate that the first effort was not merely a fluke in the judgment of relative speeds.
There is a point upon which there has been a great deal of discussion and controversy lately—the height of the floor of the vehicle from the ground. The experience of the company goes to show that, for country work, especially on routes where the vehicles traverse roads which have fairly high hedges, the passenger is at a disadvantage if the seating level be too low. Thus, the opinion is held that, for the particular class of work for which this concern caters, it is necessary to provide a vehicle in which the passengers can see beyond the country hedges and, for this purpose, a straight frame without any arching for the wheels can be used, in conjunction with a suitably designed body. The height of the floor from the ground, unladen, is 2 ft. 8 ins.
Returning to the activities of t h e company, regular services are now being run from Birmingham to Llandudno (a distance of 126
Aberystw y t h, Westonsuper-Mare and Blackpool, t h e starting t imes and stopping places, etc., being included in an official time-table In addition to these regular services, however, the company runs a series of circular tours in the regular type of service buses over the area covered by its ordinary bus routes. Altogether about 40 tours are planned, which usually take half or a whole day, according to the length of the run.
A few examples of these tours may prove interesting. For a total fare of 6s. id., one circular tour runs from Birmingham through Knowle, Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth and Coventry back to Birmingham. Starting at 10.5 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, 31 hours is spent at Leamington, 2 hours at Kenilworth and 21 hours at Coventry, in order that places of interest may Se visited. A longer run, costing 10s. 6d., follows a route through Worcester, Ledbttry, Hereford, Bromyard and back again to Birmingham through Worcester, with a stop of 40 minutes at Worcester, an hour and a half at Hereford and a few minutes at Brornyard and Worcester on the return journey. This route, of course, embraces very fine country.
As an example of a short circular run, the itinerary of one we have in mind embraces Studeley and Redditch, the starting time being 3.15 p.m. from Birmingham and the arrival home again 8.56 p.m., at a total cost of 3s. 8d. A further development may be expected in the near future—five-day coach tours, one route embracing North Wales and another Devonshire. The vehicles to be used will be up-to-date chars-abanes for 25 passengers, complete with luggage.