The Motor Omnibus World.
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The Council Soc. M. 0. Eng. will formally visit the Olympia Show on Wednesday, November 22nd. A recent obseivation of the comparative useful speeds of a motor omnibus and an electric tramcar, in the south of London, showed a gain for the motor omnibus of eight minutes in a trip 3i miies long.
The " Daily Express " of October 4th solemnly announces " There are at present no fewer than 390 motor omnibuses in London, the property of 47 companies. The Milnes-Daimler heads the list with 63, and the Londan Motor Omnibus Company is second with 37."
A sub-committee of the tramways committee of the Blackburn Corporation, which has been considering the question of running a service of motor omnibuses, has recommended " that the consideration of the question of applying for Parliamentary powers be adjourned with a view to its being brought up in connection with the next application by the Corporation for a Bill."
At the West London police court last week, Mr. Lane held that the chief engineer of the London Road Car Company, Mr. IL P. G. Brakenridge, had satisfactorily disproved a charge that some of his motor omnibuses had not, so far as practicable, consumed their own smoke. Five summonses were subsequently dismissed with ,4'3 35, costs against the London County Council. The Durham motor omnibus service between that city and Langley Moor has been advanced a stage, as the result of a meeting held in the mayor's chamber one evening last week. The directorate of the new company, which intends to start with two omnibuses, each capable of carrying 16 or 18 passengers, includes Councillors J. T. E. Dickcson and R. MacLean, and Mr. John Craig (president of the Durham Cooperative Society).
The driver of a London County Council tramcar was fined ms., with 25. costs, at the Lambeth Police Court last week, for failing to obey a constable on point duty at the Elephant and Castle intersection. The evidence given tended to show that the man drove forward in order to obstruct a motor omnibus. The magistrate, Mr. Hopkins, told the driver that his .opinion evidently was " I am better than a motor bus, and. I will go through."
" Pater Etoniensis " writes from Biarritz to the " Daily Mail" complaining of "the colossal motorcars which the Great Western Railway Company runs from Slough to Windsor. These monsters thunder through Eton every few minutes, shaking the old buildings to their very foundations . . . their infernal din prevents tired boys from getting to sleep in the houses on the route." The insincerity of this letter is disclosed when we remind our readers that the last motor omnibus passes through Eton at 9.3o p.m. The Eastbourne Corporation has decided to allow its motor omnibuses to take up passengers at any points along the routes served.
The Landon and North Western Railway Company is completing the arrangements to provide a motor omnibus service between Llantaethlu, Cemaes, Benllech, and Trearddur Bay, in Anglesey. The service of motor omnibuses between Aylsham and Norwich, to which we referred in our issue of August the 31st, has been carried a stage further. Two omnibuses will be purchased, and Mr. T. W. Purdy is acting as honorary secretary to a committee of local residents. Parcels wilt also be carried.
A public meeting was held recently at the Swan Hotel, Almondsbury, to support certain proposals put forward by the West of England and South Wales Transport Company, Limited, of Bristol, when the chair was taken by Colonel T. W. Chester Masters. Mr, Charles Howes, the secretary of the company, explained the projected service between Bristol and Berkeley, and that the vehicles would carry from 12 to zo passengers with half a ton to one ton of baggage or goods.
People who complain of the noise which sometimes proceeds from the motor omnibus, owing to temporary want of adjustment or overhauling, appear to forget the constant clanging of the foot-gong on an electric tramcar and the thunderous noise which these vehicles make when the rails are slightly worn. There are no motor omnibuses in such cities as New York, Chicago and Buffalo, but the " Lancet " states that the pandemonium of sounds in these cities tends to destroy much of the pleasure of life and to produce nervous and dyspeptic Americans. There are, of course, numerous street cars.
"The Sportsman," in its issue of the 5th instant, says" No more striking proof of the motor vehicle's superiority can be found than by comparing the new motor omnibuses with those drawn by horses. Without appearing to. travel at any undue speed, the motor bus easily passes all other traffic, and even a swift hansom has to give way,. whilst in regard to comfort the motor vehicle is also far superior. To see one of these buses working its way through traffic during a busy time of day makes one realise to the full the marvellous control a driver has over a motor vehicle. The public has soon realised the advantages of this mode of travel, and all day long the motor omnibuses seem to be carrying their full complement of passengers." The New Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Limited, of Underwood, Paisley, is the latest established British company to enter the ranks of motor omnibus constructors. It was our privilege last week to make a careful examination of the whole design and of such component parts of these vehicles as were well advanced at the Paisley factory. We also. had the pleasure of meeting Mr. J. S. Napier in London early this week, when hewas in town for the purpose of attending the opening meeting of the Society of Motor Omnibus Engineers. The recent meritorious win achieved by the ArrolJohnston system in the Tourist Trophy competition, coupled with the successful running of the numerous chars-MancE at Fleetwood, New Cumnock, and in other localities, augurs well for material additions, in connection with public service vehicle undertakings, to this company's' already long order list It is expected that one of the new chassis, which is to be fitted with a new type of 24h.p. vertical engine, will be on the company's stand at Olympia, five weeks hence, when we feet sure that engineers and all others who areinterested in motor omnibus services will be welt repaid by examining the machine. A full description will be published by us. three weeks hence. It will then be recognised that the design embodies a number of valuable features calculated to result in maintained and satisfactory service. The inhabitants of Alveston, Rudgeway, and Thornbury met in the Cosshain Hall, at the last-named place, on Thursday evening last, to discuss the question of a motor omnibus service with Bristol.
A Vanguard motor omnibus recently enabled the police to arrest a pickpocket who had attempted to escape by the Metropolitan railway. The omnibus was quicker than the train between Edgware Road and Baker Street stations.
A circular letter has been issued to the London motor omnibus companies by the Chief Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis, inviting expressions of views as to the possible stipulation of a maximum height of frame and other dimensions. These matters will be considered by the council of the Soc.M.O.Eng. on the 23rd instant.
Arg-ylls (London), Limited, has been registered with an authorised capital of £20,000 in L:t shares. The chairman is Mr. Eustace H. Watson, and the object of the company M is to act as selling agents for Argyll otoi-s, Limited, and to carry on the business of proprietors of motor omnibuses, vans, lorries, and other vehicles, as carriers of passengers and goods, and as engineers, machinists, etc.
Complaints, for which there appears to be more than a suspicion of foundation, are being made as to the indifference of motor omnibus drivers to would-be passengers at other than acknowledged points. If the calculation of a bonus upon the mileage basis results in drivers' ignoring patrons of the services like this, the employing companies will have to modify the terms of payment. Messrs. C. S. Rolls and Company, 15, Conduit Street, W., are ready to show their four-cyclinder chassis to enquirers.
A number of " scare " paragraphs appeared in various daily papers last week regarding an alleged serious conflagration at Wolverhampton. Graphic details were given cf how a Great Western Railway omnibus burst into flames, and one was harrowed by particulars of how the women threw off their children into the road. The facts of the case show that a slight overflow of petrol in the engine tray caught alight through a back-fire, and the magnitude of the disaster may be gauged by the total repair bill, including the time of two painters, which came to 22s. 6d.