Passing Comments
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Travel by Rail— COACH operators will be it's Quicker if it's cheered by a recent Possible incident in which the Railway
Executive was implicated. An East London concern chose Great Yarmouth for its annual staff outing, and eight months before the date chosen applied for a special train for its 450 employees. The reply was that a special train could not be provided, but arrangements had been made to take the party to another resort. Apparently no special trains to Great Yarmouth were available between May and September. Comment on the attitude of the railway authorities in trying to divert the party to a different resort is unnecessary, but it is worth pointing out that British Railways contributed tothe national advertising campaign arranged by Yarmouth Town Council to publicize the resort. One wonders whatthe cost of hiring 15 coaches -would be compared with the cost of a special train, and whether there would be. the. slightest difficulty inarranging vehicles tch• a party of this size.
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Traffic Switched from gEEKING to allay the fears Roadto Rail : R.H.E. p•-/ of traders (expressed in Replies • "The Commercial Motor" on
December 29) concerning the transfer of traffic from road to rail without notification to the senders, the Road Haulage Executive says that this practice is part of an effort to meet the obligation imposed by the Transport Act to provide "a properly integrated system of public inland transport facilities. . ." "The conveyance concerned," states the R.H.E., "is by means of a rail container which is loaded and unloaded at the Executive's own depots, and by the Executive's own staff, and merely conveyed during the trunk journey by the Railway Executive, instead of by road trunk vehicle. The services already instituted have proved highly satisfactory and are entirely similar to arrangements made between certain haulage firms and the railway companies in the days before the advent of the Transport Act. The conditions of carriage and the charges are not changed by this altered method of trunk haul, and the contracting party remains the R.H.E."
Trip on a Southdown MANY of our readers will Double-decker Express iviremember the fine double Coach . deck body by Northern
Counties Motor and Engineering Co., Ltd., of Wigan, built on a Leyland P.D.2 chassis for the Southdown concern and shown at the Commercial Motor Show. In the course of a few weeks this vehicle is to be put into express operation between London and Eastbourne, and on January 3 a representative of this journal joined a party which was making an inaugural trip from the Victoria Coach Station to Eastbourne. It included interested officials, Mr. A. F. R. Carling, general manager of the Southdown concern, and Mr. A. G. Falshaw, of the Leyland Co. • The start was made at 11.30 a.m., and after a somewhat protracted luncheon stop near East Grinstead, the vehicle arrived at its destination at 4.15 p.m. Wintry conditions were encountered for much of the way, and these gave an opportunity of testing the heating and ventilating arrangements for both saloons, which proved admirable. The two heaters are of Clayton Dewandre make, and comfort was contributed to by the rear folding doors, operated by C.A.V. mechanism. The smoothness of running and the good average speed were favourably commented upon, and the comfort on both decks was well up to the best on express services. There was no appreciable roll when cornering and only a little Ditching where the road had a wavy surface. We believe that travellers will like the sociability afforded and the excellent view from the seats, particularly on the upper deck.
Precision Inspection nNE of the occupations in
Work Suitable for which blind persons can
Blind Persons . be employed with great success
is in gauging and otherwise testMg manufactured parts. The use of " go " and " no-go" gauges is the most simple way, but some operators can even become expert with special micrometers fitted with drums of larger dimensions than normal and calibrated in Braille. One blind girl, aged 22, who has become expert with such instruments, has for some months been employed on inspection work at the Perkins engine factory.