Approved Depots.—Article VII.
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Duerden's (Maudslay Specialists) Olympia Engineering Works at Burnley.
There lies to the south-east of Burnley, almost within a stone'sthxow of the ground of the famous Burnley Football Club, the depot with which we are to deal in the seventh article of the present series. It is run by Mr. George E. Duerden, the son of a respected and well-known Burnley trader, the management being personally undertaken by Mr. Duerden himself, in conjunction with his engineer and manager, Mr. H, Draper.
The depot is one which has essentially been built for the purpose of handling commercial-motor business in all categories—storage, supply, running, maintenance and re
pairs. The adequate character of its equipment is graphically conveyed by our reproductions of plan and sectional-elevation drawings : these form part of the illustrations to this article.
The central position of Burnley is not fully appreciated when con is in the town, but our reproduction of a map of the district, extending some fourteen miles north, south, east and west, will convey at once to our readers its value as a link in not a few important traffic thoroughfares of interest both to Lancashire and-Abe West Riding of Yorkshire. The site for the works was chosen with deliberate intent; its location is practically on the road from Todmorclen and Yorkshire, and not half-a-mile from the junction of the roads from Manchester and Blackburn: There are, at the present time, three spacious entrances, whilst the necessary overhead girder for a Second main entrance has been embodied in the brick work at a fourth point with a view to later developments and extensions. A considerable area of freehold land adjoins the works, the whole of which land and buildings are freehold and the property of Mr. J. S. D uerden.
It will be observed that the scale for the sectional elevation is 8 ft. to the inch, whilst that for the gsound plan is 16 ft. to the inch. The area which is available for extensions is twice as large again as the whole of the area on which buildings have to date been erected, whilst,the streets which lead to the building are of generous width (about 40 ft.) and well paved.
Mr. Duerden's connection with commercial motoring is of long standing, and additionally of the type which teaches the right way. He learnt how to look after, both vehicles and owners in the hard school of experience ; he has con. centrated upon the commercialvehicle side of the industry, and not been tempted to enter any other branches. He was in the motorcontracting business for 51 years, chiefly running Halley lorries, as Utility Motors, Ltd., and for three years before that he was the local agent for Halley's Industrial Motors, Ltd. It was in the month of March, 1913, that Mr. Duerden decided to identify his interests in Burnley and neighbourhood with those of the Maudslay Motor Co., Ltd., which identification he signalized by placing an order for 200 Maudslay chassis. No fewer than 45 releases have been obtained for Maudslay chassis since the outbreak of war, chiefly for the benefit of cotton and munition manufacturers.
Users who look to Mr. Duerden for that attention which keeps wagons in the best of Condition are inclined to agree with his view that the W.D. Maudslay model, with 13; ft. wheelbase, is an eminentlysuitable vehicle for Lancashire roads under loads of 5 tons, although it is generally`found expedient to lengthen the wheelbase to 15 ft. in order to get the best platform area—such, for example as will allow 35 skips to be carried in three tiers, and at the same time allow the back-axle weight to be kept below six tons. The stocks which are carried at this Burnley depot by no means concern Mau&lay lorries only, al though approximately 23000 worth of Maudslay spares are always available, these being replenished from time to time according to requirements. Repair work is done on Man delays from owners whose places of business are as far afield as Huddersfield, Bradford, Lancaster and Stockport, and Mr. Duerden has had as many as 36 lorries
of various makes tendered to him at once for repair, but he, of course, has not the resourrces to deal with that number of machines simultaneously, let alone the men. Other stocks *hid) are of importance to commercial-motor users, and which one finds at this Burnley depot, include representative sets of tires, in all sizes between 100 mm. and 160 mm. in width, suitable for vehicles of all makes with load capacities . between two and six tons. Petrol and lubricating oils are there in plenty, the former being stored and sold through the agency of a Bywater hydraulic system. The tire-press is conveniently located, cYose to one of the auxiliary, sliding doors, the headroom at this point of entrance being 9 ft.
Turning, now, to the matter of equipment for maintenance and repair work, we feel that we cannot do better than ask readers to study the ground plan which we reproduce on page 132. Power is derived from a 6i h.p. National gas-engine, from which two belt-drives are taken, one to a dynamo for lighting purposes, and the other to the shop shafting. The only use of electricity in the depot, other than for lighting purposes, is to operate several portable electric drills. There is a staff of .17 at the depot, and eight of these are skilled tradesmen. The workshop has been largely employed on munition production for nearly one year, as well as on ordinary commercial-motor repairs. Its weekly output has
been 4i1 bombs, 40 shells for the Stokes gun, and certain incidentals to which we may not refer. Only two of the men who are left in the shop are liable to military service, and they, of course, hold certificates of exemption by reason of the national importance of the work upon which they are employed. Mr. Duerden and Mr. Draper are at the moment concerned with the introduction of some additional tools to do certain special work for the Admiralty.
The depot is open day and night, -and on Sundays. A Renault oneton lorry is available at all times for breakdown and "retrieving" purposes. No commercial user in difficulties ever appeals in vain to the Duerden depot, the work of which is by no means confined to petrol-driven . vehicles, because steam wagons are regularly overhauled there, as was apparent on the occasion of our recent visit.
There is plenty of accommodation for men in the immediate vicinity of the depot, and facility for communication with the centre of the town by means of the tramcar service to and from Townley.
Cleanliness in the depot has been studied in a very thorough fashion, both initially in the details of construction and in current practice by the way in which good order is maintained. The flooring throughout is of concrete, with a fine topdressing, and the levels are so arranged that all water from washing-down automatically runs to the well-arranged drainage. The nil storage is a place apart, wired off, the various grades of oil being arranged on suitable stillages. Our illustrations will show the effectiveness of the provision for overhauling and repairing, and the general loftiness of the building. Mr. Duerden clearly has in hand a reserve of capacity for the erection of a gallery for the repairing of units or parts, round at least half of the outer walls, if not within a greater proportion of them.
One cannot visit Burnley without being struck by the unique feature of its having factory chimneys in all directions. We were told, by a gentleman who seemed to have
made the necessary record, that there are now 285 factory chimneys to be seen from a certain point in Burnley. This figure is given as being indicative of the manufacturing activity of the place at which is located the depot with which we have dealt in our present article. The time has yet to come, however, when one can state that commercial -motors are owned by all of the parties who town_ the record total of chimneys.
Repairs for a majority of the owners of heavy-motor vehicles in the locality are in fact done at this depot, at which, too, tires for approximately 85 per cent. of such owners are fitted. Any spares which Mr. Duerden is unable to procure for any type of machine can be—and are—made at the depot, and it is thus found passible to enable many owners to "carry on," instead of their suffering the consequence of serious delays. We noticed, while in the depot, a typical instance of such help to users, consisting of the loan of a spare driving wheel.
We May appropriately conclude the, article by mentioning the following names of Duerden customers, for whom maintenance, supply or repair work is undertaken from time to time, and in many cases exclusively : —T. and H. Blamires, Ltd., woollen manufacturers, Huddersfield; J. Hoyle and Sons, Ltd., woollen manufacturers, Longwood, near Huddersfield; R. H. Harrison, Esq., Morecambe ; F. Kirkham, furniture remover, Preston ; E. Laycock, Keighley ; Lowfield Spinning Co., Rochdale ; Marriage and Pinnock, Ltd., Chorley ; Rutland Spinning Co., Rochdale ; P. and I. Reynold.s, Ltd., Stockport ; Vickers Ltd., Barrow-in-Furness; and "W/ye Spinning Mill, Ltd., Sham.