FRUIT TRANSPORT IN THE SCOTTISH CAPITAL.
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How the Motor Vehicle Has Proved Its Worth to Those Concerns Associated with the Transport of Fruit and Vegetables in Edinburgh. A Sphere of Activity in which Speed is an Important Factor.
EW COMMODITIES benefit to a greater extent by rapid transport than fruit, and, like so man concerns engaged in the distribution of perishable goods -those traders•who are concerned with the transport...of fruit and vegetables have extensively adopted the motor vehicle as a means of getting the produce of the grower passed on to the consumer in the quickest possible time. The imPortance of the motor vehicle in this trade can best be cited. by reference to the activities of a number of concerns engaged in distributing such products from a definite centre, and in this article we propose taking Edinburgh as a concrete example. Almost all the business of this kind in the city radiates from Market Street, which is most fortunately placed in so far as it is central from almost every point, being .conveniently located in relation to Waverley Station, and only about a mile from Princes Street Station on the Caledonian Railway.
Measuring perhaps 200 yards in length, Market &reel, has warehouses on each side which accommodate no fewer than ten concerns all engaged in one pursuit ; eight of them devote their energies to the sale of general produce, one to vego• tables and potatoes, whilst the remaining concern deals in potatoes only.
Between them these concerns employ 21 motor vehicles, ranging in capacity from those designed to carry 15-cwt. loads to 4-tenners. If it were possible to procure figures giving the total tonnange, it would be found that the amount of goods transported by these machines annually ran into vety large figures.
A description of the vehicles owned by the different concerns will not be amiss before going into details of their operations, and in this connection it is curious to note how tastes in the selection of makes vary for work which is similar in most respects.
The following is a list of various owners, together with the different makes' of vehicle which they run James Lindsay Lindsay and Son, Ltd., 2-ton G.M.C., 15-cwt, Napier, 30-cwt. Albion, 30-cwt. Vulcan.
Witch, Moir and Erskine, three 2-ton Daimlers, Wood, Ormerod and Co., 2-ton Commer-car, 2-ten Dearborn.
James Tait and Sons, 30-cwt. Vulcan, 1-ton Ford. T. A. Searle% 3-ton Albion, 1-ton Ford.
James Marshall and Co., 30-cwt. Napier.
John R. Mowat, 3-ton Albion. . . Renton and Wood,30-cwt. Albion. , Andrew S. Clark and Co., two 30-cwt.
Napiers, 30-cwt. W. and G., 3-4-ton Dennis, 30-cwt. Fiat.
With the exception of Messrs. J. Lindsay and Son's G.M'
.C. which has a large van body on its chassis, all the machines have bodies of the flat-platform type. Distinction must be accorded to Messrs. -Wood, Ormerod's Comrnercar and Dearborn, however, for these vehicles have superstructures consisting of four stout timber uprights (one at each corner of the platform), which support a well-built roof, constructed in
tegral with the cab. This provides a line canopy, giving plenty of -headroom, and by bringing into use two waterproof curtains, which drop from the roof on each side and are secured. along the bottom of the platform by hooks, absolute protection is given to the load during wet ,weather. Drivers who have wrestled with rain-sodden sheets on inclement days will appreciate the above arrangement, as it renders the handling of the lead comparatively easy during halts when making deliveries.
We can now proceed with a review of the work performed by the vehicles, as none of the chassis requires special mention; all of the types which are in use have been described in the columns of The Commercial Motor at one time or another. The chief duties of the lorries are concerned with deliveries to the shops in the city. The various concerns have their own methods of accomplishing this work, hut in the main this object. is attainedny dividing the city into four or six districts, the division depending on the weight of the load or the number of calls to be made ineach district.
With the delivery of goods to customers' shops is added the necessity for bringing back empties, as the return of these during the soft-fruit season constitutes a most important feature of the trade.
Next, in order of importance, comes the duty of transporting perishables which arrive at IRith Docks by steamers from the Continent, the shipments from this direction being very heavy during the months covered by the period from April to October. The distance between Leith Docks and Market Street is roughly about three miles, and the running is very much uphill for the greater part of the .way.. This latter point snakes haulage by horses most laborious and slow, the time taken on this journey by horses being on an average ninety stinutes. The niestor lorry accomplishes the same journey (often overloaded, unfortunately) in something less than 25 minutes, thus rendering it possible to make two runs in each direction in the
time taken on the one haul from the docks by a horse-drawn vehicle. in this way the quantity of packages dealt with from the docks has more than doubled since the introduction of mechanical transport, and the trade has naturally increased as a direct result of more expeditious handling of commodities.
We now pass on to the lorries' work at the railway stations, but it may be paid that, owing to the proximity of the stations to Market Street, no striking benefit results from the use of motors. Some of the warehouses are in direct communication with the railway by sidings under the street, but others are -devoid of this facility, and goods, therefore, must be brought in by other means. Even here a slight saving must accrue, for the railway .carting contractors .undertook all work of this •class prior to 1919.
On these various duties the motor vehicle has shown to particular advantage in connection with that associated with delivery work, and this in spite of the fact that the cost of running i very high in Edinburgh owing to the number of hills which have to be negotiated and the granite-sett-paved streets. The great saving in time mow than compensates for the relatively high cost of operation, however, and customers caa depend on obtaining service right up till the time the warehouses are closed.
In the days of the horse one journey per day sufficed for each animal, and when once away on its round no expec,
tations of its return until the next day were entertained. This state Of affairs has vanished long ago, and the motor vehicles are seldom away from Illarket Street for much more than two hours at a time, and thus any retailer who requires to make a purchase in a hurry can telephone one or other of the warehouses, and feel tolerably certain that he will, secure quick delivery—i.e., if what he requires is in stock. In the old days service of I this description was impossible, for then .a retailer, whose orders missed the usual daily district delivery, either had to find his own transport or wait until the next day before obtaining what he required.
With regard to country work, only a very small amount of this is done, and it is regular in the winter months only, when the vehicles can be spared a day or two during the working week to undertake fairly long journeys. In the summer months the calls upon their time are far too many to permit this class of work to be undertaken.
Most of the repair work which is required to be carried out on the vehicles from time, to time is done by outside engineering firms, and often by the agents who, in the first instance, supplied the vehicles to each concern, and this is due to the lack of good garage accommodation, Most of the lorries owned by the users to whom we have referred are either garaged in public establishments, or housed in premises which have been stables or the like previously, and this renders it obligatory, in either case, to seek outside assistance for all but minor and small running repairs. Accurate running costs are not kept by any of the owners, so that no reliable figures can be obtained to enable a useful comparison -with horsed transport costs to be made. Only on three or four vehicle's are mileage recorders fitted. The question of tyre equipment is one which could be given more thought by those concerned, and, while there is general apathy on the subject at present, the writer believes that if the merits of giant pneumatics were properly brought to the fore conversions to this form of cushioning would only be a question of time. What is wanted is a definite lead in the matter.