OPINIONS FROM OTHERS.
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The Editor invites correspondence on all subjects connected with the use of commercial motors. Letters should be on one side of the paper only and, preferably, typewritten. The right of abbreviation is reserved, and no responsibility for views expressed is accepted.
Roads Above the Railways.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
127481 read your article, "Why Not Roads Above the Railways?" with interest. As a regular reader and a-railway man perhaps I may be permitted to remark frankly on such a proposal.
To begin with, do you really think, for a moment, that such roads could be constructed. at a cost lower, or even equal to, ordinary surface arterial reads through valuable property? There is no doubt that the initial cost alone would prohibit their introduction. And what of maintenance expenses'? Here, again, there is not the slightest doubt that elevated roads would cost considerably more to maintain than the ordinary type of road. Who do you propose will pay for it all?
Taking the point of view of the railways, I think just afew of their rightful objections might be , enumerated, as follow :—
• 1. Numerous permanent-way and building alterations would have to be made, especially in and about the London area, where, in particular, you advocate such roads should be constructed— and the cost in this case would be enormous.
2. All lines .under elevated roadways would have to he re-signalled.
3. Tracks would become darkened and, in many eases, smoke-laden, and the passengers' general view of the scenery ruined.
4. The countryside would be further defaced.
in your editorial you say that the railways would stand to benefit, particularly as they are so keen on participating in road. tratisPort. I really cannot agree with you.' The obvious WHO of the -railways is to keep themselves as railways, utilizing road transport where it may be necessary forfeeder services, and 1 am convinced that the introduction of elevated'roada would only •intensify the wakeful competition which at present exists between the two means for transport.
—Yours faithfully, GEORGE Dow. London, W.14.
• ,
Lincoln Replaces Its Trams by Buses.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. •
127491 Sir,—To-day (March 4th) at 3.30 p.m. many thousands of the inhabitants of Lincoln. assembled in the city to witness the last electric tram leave for the depot.
In 1905 Lincoln went wild with pride aud joy when the first electric tram,befiagged_and cheered, firat passed doWit the High Street,' but to-day the last tram, which was reserved for the -Mayor, and members of the corporation, moved -away amidst silence. On reaching the depot .a fleet of double-decked-.Leyland Titans were dined • up ready to commencethe new service. The first vehicle was decorated) and reserved, and on moving off they were cheered as the trains were 24
years ago. ,,• Nothing so startingly reveals the whirligig of time
as the history of Lincoln's trams. Less than 50 years ago vehicles which to-day would seem ptterly ridiculous, drawn by cadaverous horses, were hailed as a wonderful sign that Lincoln was in the van of the world's progress. A little more than 20 years ago these antiquatedcrawlers were superseded by the latest idea—electric trams, and the city was so proud of them that thefirst cars were decorated as ftir a Roman triumph, and the city made a holiday. To-day, nobody regrets that we have seen the last of them. They are derided, denounced and discarded.
Civilization moved' on; the wonders of yesterday are the museum exhibits of to-day. Yesterday the trams were; to-day, they are .not. Trains are dead. . . Long live the 'buses: By operating this route by motorbuses instead of trams it is found that the same service can be maintained by a less number of vehicles and in additien they complete the journey in just over half the time taken by the trams.
It is with these and other advantages that the
Lincoln Corporation, with its long-sighted policy, decided to go ahead, in spite of the outstanding debt on the trams--roughly, £20,000—which the buses Will have to carry in capital charges upon loans which still remain in respect of the tramways, and which will cost £3,102 per annum for the next eight years. This is, of course, a heavy initial burden but one which it is essential to carry.
As general manager of the Lincoln Corporation Transport, with 20 years' experience in motor omnibus and transport, it is my opinion that the tramcar must give way to the present-day motorbus.—Yours faithfully, G. Rocx, General Manager.
Operating Costs for Commercial Vehicles.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[27501 Sir,—The articles on " Costing " and the application of your "Tables of Operating Costs" are most instructive and helpful, but up to the .present 1
do not think " has dealt with the use of motors by furniture removers. If he could do so, I am sure it would be of great assistance to a large number of users and do much tO reduce the evil of price cutting -so prevalent in our industry. Most firms use 4-tonners, with and without trailers, " aral-Pneumatie tyres arenow largely being fitted. The time spent on loading and unloading each van averages from five to six .hours for this complete service, and vehicles are on a different job every day or every few days.
May I give an imaginary week's work, in the hope that " S.T.R." will deal with this in the near future in an article showing how the Tables, which are accepted as average figures, should be applied. Cost of packers, loading and unloading to be additional. Owing to it not being possible to book work for every day, and the mileage on many days being small, the average annual mileage would be approximately 1,200. Drivers can be otherwise employed when not required on vehicles.
Four-ton ve.hicle on pneumatics ; trailer on (a) pneumatics, (b)
Working week, 5 days to the 48 hours..
Monday.—Travel empty with trailer to point 20 miles away, load two vans, return and unload ; mileage, 40; total time, 13 hours.
Tuesday.—No work to do.
Wednesday.—Travel empty solo to point 5 miles away, load, return and unload ; mileage, 10; total time, 61 hours.
Thursday, Friday.—Travel empty to point 155 miles away, load, return and unload ; mileage, 310; total time, .24 hours.
With grateful thanks in anticipation.—Yours
faith
fully, FURNITURE REMOVER.
. Shrewsbury. •
[We have requested our expert on running costs, ".S.T.R.," to prepare an article dealing with this matter, and this will be published in the near future. —En.] THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR Diesel-engined Lorries in Actual Service.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2751] Sir,—With regard to the communication Min Mr. Goddard re the above in your issue dated February 26th, it seems to us rather a pity that your eorrespondent should regard our letter, published in The Commercial Motor of February 12th, as calling for such an aggressive defence of the Diesel products of Mercedes-Benz.
Our intention was not, as we think will be evident from a perusal of our letter, to belittle the vehicle in which he is interested, but was a simple statement that the first Diesel-engined lorry to be put into regular service by a: transport user in this country was a Saurer, in October last, and to this fact we adhere. • Our letter was sent you solely as a result of the announcement in your issue of February 26th, in which it was claimed that the first vehicle so used \vas a Mercedes-Benz.
In our opinion the other aspects of the matter, as raised by your correspondent, do not at all affect the accuracy or otherwise of our statement, and, in fact, are not germane, the issue -being a perfectly simple one. Obviously we could not be expected to know what Mr. Goddard intended should be said in the original announcement, and were only concerned with what was said.
Your correspondent cannot expect to be in possession of full information as to the Diesel programme of the Saurer Company, considering that his first communications were addressed to us on private notepaper, without disclosing, as he did subsequently, that he was one of the sole agents for Mercedes-Benz Diesel-engined chassis.
We do not desire to trespass too ranch on your valuable space, but referring to your correspondent's remarks as to the activities of the Daimler-Benz 'Company in Diesel design, during the past eight or nine years; we would just like to mention that the Sourer Company in Switzerland has been studying this problem and engaging in experimental work for many years; our engineer in London being able to teStify, that he. conducted actual . bench tests of a Saurer Diesel engine fourteen years ago.—Yours faithfully, . For THE SAURER COMMERCIAL VEHICLE Co., LTD., London, N.W.1. D. NORMAN POLLOCK.
The Hard-hit Haulier.
The Editor, THE .COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2752] Sir,—Having taken your journal ever since we commenced our haulage business, six years ago, I would like to point out what ill effects increased taxation and the raising of the price of petrol are having on our business, and I would like you to forward my letter to the motor associations which have Rent a deputation to see the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
We have three old Commer Car 4-ton lorries, and the petrol tax alone adds £14 3s. 4d. a month to our costs. I drive one lorry, my son drives another, and there are two hired drivers and two mates. Three. of us are married, and we all try to win a living from our work.
The extra 21d. which has just been put on to petrol !s going to add something like £7 lets. a month to our expenses. So far we have not been allte to obtain any 'more for our haulage work to compensate for the extra cost, and it does not look as if we shall he able to ask for more in the .future, as all that our clients say is: " Oh, but the railways do" it for that." We use about 800 gallons of petrol a month, as the vehicles are used on long journeys. "
It appears to me that the commercial user. has been penalized ever since Mr. Churchill became Chancellor of the .Exchequer. He has. tried to. kill" the commercial motor. trade by continually adding to our costs. Our books prove that our expenses are now over 1200 a. year greater than they were a few years ago. We used to pay 128 in licence fees for each lorry ; now it is £48. We shall either have to give up, reduce the wages of our employees, or dispenSe with the extra inen: Naturally, we wish to avoid such a procedure.
My son joined the Army before he was of age, and when he came out I bought him a lorry, and this was followed by others; now, haviiig established him in my business, I expect we shall have to do something else, as we shall not be able to pay our way.
I wish that the Commercial Motor Users Association; ,would show itself more active in this direction, as there are many haulage contractors in this area who would be glad to belong to it, so that We could all hold together in order to obtain our rights.
As you say in your issue of last week, if the horsepower tax is reduced and more put on petrol the haulier will again have to pay.—Yours faithfully, For F. BUTLER AND SON, High Wycombe. F, BUTLER.
The Renewal of Driving Licences.
The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2753] Sir,—How many readers of The Commercial Motor have raised an objection at the bother and delay of having to send their driving licences to the County Council offices by post for renewal, there being no other alternative on account of distance?
Why . should this absurd regulation be allowed to exist and driving licences made an exception to i he usual practice of renewal at the local post office?
. In my case, my driving licence together with a 5s postal order went astray in the post, leaving me without a licence for ten days: This is indeed a totally unsatisfactory state of • affairs for those who earn their living at the wheel.
Herts. L.S.
'A Low-loading 2-ton Electric.
" The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR.
[2754] Sir,—A very important point to the user is omitted from: the article appearing in your issue for
last week under this heading. •
We refer, to the tax which for the model illustrated is only 113 per annum because the unladen weight is
well under 2 tons. . . .Perhaps you would like to draw attention to this in the next number ; it may be that not all transport users are aware of the concession to operators of electric vehicles. . • In any' case we believe we have accomplished something worthy of note in keeping such a substantial machine within the weight metitioned:Yours faith fully, For THE GENERAL VEHICLE CO., LTD., HAY, BirlDillgIlaTil Manager.
Birmingham.
The Reliability of Anti-freezing Mixtures. The Editor, THE COMMERCIAL MOTOR. '
[2755] Sir,—Some of Us have been having a very bad time with frozen !radiators duringthe last' spelt of frosty .weather. • You have started discussing in "your excellent paper some of the experiences of People Who have used glycerine.and various other types of withfreezing mixture to add to the water in the radiator
of their 'vehicles. ". • " We know, of course, that this is used by the L.G.O.C., but thin their vehicles stand at night in garages. What we would like to know are the experiences of people who have used glycerine for vehicles which have atodd out in the open. You will, of course, tindrstand 'that it would be impossible for us to risk using Water in an engine'which 'is exposed to heavy frost when there is any chance of the water freezing.—Yours faithfully, For COVENTON'S, LTD., London, N.19., J. B. FARRINGTON.