PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
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The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
SMALL SALOON BUSES OF GOOD DESIGN.
Brief Details of Representative Productions of a Southport Company Who Have Paid Much Attention to the Design and Construction of Rural-type Bus Bodies.
THE one-man-controlled type of omnibus has achieved a considerable measure of popularity ofrecent years, and so successful a reputation has it gained that it now occupies a definite place in the realm of passenger transport by road. Its success has been stabilized as the result of two distinct merits -which it possesses, one being to all intents and purposes a corollary of the other. In the first place by dispensing with the service of a separate conductor it is possible to effect a saving on working expenses, and; in the second, this enables a service to be regularly maintained in a rural or isolated area where traffic is normally limited in extent, and insufficient to warrant the employment of large-capacity buses.
Not only have the municipal authorities given tangible recognition of the advantages of the small one-manoperated type of motorbus, but enterprising private users, amongst whom many men in a small way of business figure prominently, are operating wellpatronized services with such machines.
Certain body-builders have played a actable part in the success of the small bus, for they have given due thought and attention to the passenger's needs and have not encouraged the owner to use bodies in which comfort and convenience have been sacrificed to secure maximum seating space. It is as well that it is so, for local licensing authorities are now insisting upon ample manoeuvring space in body interiors and opposing the use of gangway seats, which admittedly cramp the passengers' movements.
Messrs. Spicers Motors, of 99, EaStbourne Road, Birkdale, Southport, can claim to have had much experience in the design and construction of one-mancontrolled-type buses and representative examples of their saloon bodies of this description are illustrated on this page, one picture showing a 16-seater body on a Fiat chassis and the other depicting a somewhat smaller body to seat 14 people on a Morris 1-ton chassis. A few details of the former body will serve to indicate that the company's bus models are designed on well-conceived lines and that they are of workmanlike build.
The framework is mainly composed of ash with cross-members disposed at suitable intervals and channel irons introduced at vulnerable points to ensure the utmost rigidity. The flooring is of tongued and grooved pine boards, the wearing slats which they carry being of ash. The bottom of the seats and the rear ribs have steel braces let into them in order to stiffen up the structure. The roof ribs are similarly strengthened by the use of steel plates. Fine match. boarding is used for the roof, which is made waterproof by the use of a covering of calico bedded in lead. A cornice B40 runs completely around the contour of the roof. The exterior panelling is carried out in steel, the joints between the panel sections being covered by lengths
of ash mouldings. The interior panelling is of mahogany plywood. •
The seating conforms to conventional practice—that is to say, transverse seats, facing forward, each to accommodate two people, are disposed on each side of a central gangway (it is 12 ins, wide in the Spicer body), the rearmost seat extending across the full width of the body. The spring seats are all upholstered in leather. The framework under the rear seats on each side of the emergency door is made to form lockers for the purpose of housing tools, etc., as also is the space under the driver's seat, the cushions being made to be readily detachable.
A two-piece door at the front serves as the passenger entrance, and its
Operation is under the sole control of the driver, who is screened off from the main body compartment by a. partition at the back of his seat, although provision is made so that his view to the rear is not impeded. The steps leading to the-door are of ash and are protected with stair nosing. The emergency door extends the full depth from the floorboards to the roof and is capable of ready manipu
lation in case of need. '
The interior panels and framing are finished in the natural grain and varnished, and the moulding and waisL rail are stained in order to effect. a pleasing contrast. The roof, pillars and panels above the waist line of the body are also varnished in the natural colour, so that an extremely clean and light ap
pearance is given to the interior. A drop window of the fold-over pattern is fitted on each side. There is •a sliding glass panel to the right of the driver -which enables him to signal his intentions to other road users.
Angle plates are fitted to the pillars above the garnish rails in order to retain the top channels in position, no fillets being attached to the sides of the pillars.
The interior and exterior lighting arrangements are cared for by a C.A.V. set, and provision is made for a spare rim and tyre to be carried under the off side of the body.
The interior is, in all detail, neat and -workmanlike without possessing superficial refinements which are hardly to be sought for on rural-type buses intended for the rough-and-tumble of everyday service. The exterior is a fitting complement to the interior and the panels are finished in Parsons' damson
tone the top half of the framework being in grey and the roof in white. What has been said of the body on the Fiat chassis applies, in its essential characteristics, to the saloon body on the Morris chassis. Both models are coachbuilders' jobs and, being offered at extremely keen prices, should attract much attention, particularly at the hands of the small bus proprietor with limited capital.