Answers to Queries.
Page 18
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Who Owns G.P.O. Mail Vans?
[2793] (Portsmouth).—The G.P.O. has at no time owned any motor-mail vans. Some, few motorvans are owned by the C.P.O. Stores Department, but they do not carry mails.
List of Motor Manufacturers.
[2794] (Birmingham).—A list of the more-important manufacturers of commercial motors appears each week in our advertisement pages. In the current issue it faces page 205 of the text.
Haulage Wanted from Liverpool to Birmingham.
[2795] (Liverpool).—We think you might possibly find occasional haulage from the Birmingham and Midland Counties Transport Co., 34, Bradford Street, Birmingham. A better way is to advertise for loads under the road-transport heading in the columns of " The Times."
Shall They Order Now ?
[2796] (Redhill).—You need not be nervous of future legislation, as an exemption will be granted to existing owners. Certain alterations may be required in respect of steel-tired wheels on some sizes of motor wagons, as regards new construction after the Order is issued next year. In our opinion, you will not he in any way prejudiced by placing your order and taking delivery, except that you might be required to convert to the new standard (if any), five years after the Order comes into force.
Instalment Purchase, Annual Licences, and Cost of Petrol.
[2797] (Maidstone).--It is not a very good time to ibtain reliable second-hand lorries, but sometimes ;hese are obtainable if they are sought by advertisement in this journal. Some makers arrange a system. of deferred payment, and you could ascertain how matters stood in that connection just now by writing to three or four typical manufacturers. At present only a single registration payment of £1, without any annual payment other than the drivers' licences of 5s. each, is required. Any commercial-motor owner is entitled to a rebate of 3d. per gallon in respect of all petrol on which the full tax of 6d. per gallon has been paid. A direct contract for petrol with one of the principal companies is, of course, the cheapest way to buy.
Early Motorbus Work.
(2798] (Southerner).— The first Tilling motorbus (a Milnes,Dahnler) was delivered in September, 1904. Public,epassenger conveyance by motor vehicle may be said to have commenced in this country with the earliest days of operation of the 1896 Locomotive on Highways Act. From 1898 to 1900 over 50 companies were brought into existence, with the object of exploiting motorcars for public service work. The L.G.0.0. and the Road Car Co. tested different motorbuses in 1900 and 1901.
A Cannstatt-Daimler single-decker was imported by the late Hon. C. S. Rolls, at the end of April, 1898. Very early services were found at Blackpool, Mansfield and Newport Pagnell, in the same year. Few of these, however, concerned other than converted pleasure-car experiments.
In 1900, the London Steam Omnibus Co., Ltd., put two double-deck petrol omnibuses on the streets. The first Vanguard motorbus made its trial trip in the beginning of March, 1905. In September, 1905, the London Power Omnibus Co. (Pioneer) had ten ScottStirling maehines--olinning. The Arrow machines were run by the London and District Omnibus Co., some time after the "Pioneers" and the "Vanguards" had started.
Collection from Depot at Si Miles and Big Delays in City Traffic Making Deliveries.
[2799] (E.C.).—Additional to Answer No. 2790, we quite appreciate that the variations of your trade render it exceedingly difficult to state averages in any definite fashion. You omit, on the first page of your letter, the total weight carted each day, but that omission does not affect the answer which we now give. Might it not pay you to let the motorvan bring all your cases from Nine Elms to apoint in the City, and to arrange smile quick and easy method of transhipment on to horse-vans? This would merely be taking a lesson from the practice in Manchester, where cotton cloth habitually arrives on superimposed platforms which are termed " flats," the loaded " flats' being lifted from the railway truck or the motor lorry On to the platform of a horse-drawn vehicle, for distribution. In coining to a decision as to whether a motorvan can " really pay," it is quite fair, and certainly essential, to credit the motor with some values in respect of convenience, certainty, saving of time, and any other factor which enters into the proposition. We may remind you, by way of an analogy; that a steamer costs more than a sailing ship, yet we do not think as a nation of going back to sailing ships. It is impossible to give a useful opinion concerning asecond-hand vehicle without an inspection. No. 1 (Miln6s-Daimler) to which you refer is evidently a vehicle at least 81, years old, and possibly 12 years old. We agree with you that a good second-hand vehicle, if properly certified after examination, should suit your company bette-r than a new American or other chassis, owing to the apparent existence of an element of experiment. Otherwise, of course, we should urge you to buy a new lorry. Delivery from British makers is now more easy to obtain.