New Features in Hastings Latest Trolleybuses
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The First Double-saloon Trolleybuses to Serve a Popular South Coast Resort are Excellent Examples of the Products of Leading British Chassis and Body Builders
THE first 10 of the 20 A.E.C.-English Electric double-deck trolleybuses, with M.C.W. bodies, which have been acquired by the Hastings Tramways Co. are now going into operation. The new vehicles are not only the first of this make to work in the boroughs of Hastings and Bexhill, but are also the first covered top double-deckers. Hitherto, single-deck vehicles and a small number of open top doubledeckers have been employed, but these were proving insufficient for the normal needs of a popular and growing seaside resort. The change-over from one type to the other will be completed when 28 additional A.E.C. English Electric double-deckers now under construction have been delivered.
The new vehicles have chassis constructed to the revised M.O.T. regulations affecting ground clearance. The 54-seater bodies, of which half are of M.C.W. composite construction, are to the design of Mr. George F. French, director and general manager, and embody many ideas which, in his experience, have been found advantageous.
The revised M.O.T. regulations, it may be recalled, allow, in certain cases, the statutory 10-in, ground clearance for two-axle vehicles to apply to a reduced le,,ngth (measured from the front) of 12 ft. 6 ins., the requirement applicable to three-axle vehicles. Formerly, the measurement was 14 ft. 6 ins. The effect of this is that the motor can be moved rearwards to give a lower floor and platform level and a reduced overall height. The resulting lower centre of gravity provides, of course, an increased safety factor.
In the case of the Hastings vehicles, the overall height has been brought down to 15 ft. 2 ins., which gives a clearance of 8 ins, under the lowest bridge on the system. Floor height is finally determined by the position of the axle casing, and in the latest A.E.C. chassis this component has been kept clear of the gangway by the use of a special oblique 8i-in.-centre worm gear. This is offset at the near side to
A26 line up with the motor, dined at an angle of 3 degrees, a form of design that permits the adoption of a straight-line drive.
As the trolleybuses have to operate over severe gradients, separate types of brake have been specified—full regenerative, rheostatic, run-back and coasting. The run-back brake, operated electrically but entirely independent of the main power supply, automatically limits the speed of the vehicle to 2 m.p.h. 'in the case of dewirement or current failure. The coasting brake is capable of restraining the speed of the vehicle to 10 m.p.h. on a gradient of 1 in 9. At Hastings, its application is made compulsory by M.O.T. orders before descending Elphistone Road and Harold 'Road, which have gradients of 1 in 9 and 1 in 10 respectively.
The bodies are of attractive design and well suited for operation in a leading seaside resort. Pitch pine has been used for the main framing • and steel for the exterior panelling. This includes a detachable section at the front, giving immediate access to the resistances beneath the driver's cab. The resistances have, too, special protecting panels designed to give adequate ventilation and to prevent the ingress of sea water and spray when the vehicles dare working along the promenade in heavy weather. which is in Horizontal half-sliding windows— eight in the lower and nine in the upper saloon—are a departure from general practice in vehicles of this class. As well as affording proper ventilation, they have also a thinner metal band on the eye line and thus make vision easier.
Seats are of the tubular type with separate top rails and they have latex fillings upholstered in a combination of green moquette and brown hide. Leather cloth to match the lining panels has been used for the backs. A particularly .pleasing appearance is given to the lower saloon by the adoption of a swept bulkhead rail and the fixing of three mirrors in the top and centre panels of the bulkhead itself.
The platform is ramped to give an easy quick-loading entrance step and has, beneath the stairway, ample room for luggage, both on the floor level and on a waist-high slatted shelf. Additional space for luggage is also provided on the top deck between the rear seats and the emergency exit window, which, when let down, forms a platform for .
paining access to the roof arid trolley • .
gear.
The Hastings system, which serves also the borough of Bexhill, has a route mileage of 29 and comprises 12 services. Although the routes along the sea front are level, those running to the east and north-east of the town rise very steeply.