Avoiding Irish Tariff Walls by Local Assembly
Page 40
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HEAVY tariffs on complete vehicles imported into the Republic • of Ireland have made it desirable that assembly of commercial chassis should often taken place in that country. Special arrangements had therefore to be made for delivering eight Leyland Royal Tigers with 44-seater Rivaloy bodies to the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Co. under an order now being met.
Construction of the bus body on the chassis takes place at the works of Saunders-Roe (Anglesey), -Ltd., at Beaumaris, but when complete, the shell is lifted off and the chassis is returned to Leyland, Here the chassis is reduced to completely knocked-down form before shipment to Ashenhurst, Williams and Co., Ltd., Dublin, Whtre it is re-assembled.
According to original plans, the Rivaloy body would have been lowered over the ship's side at Dublin straight on to the chassis, but because of the failure of certain docks equipment, shipment has been made through Preston, instead of Holyhead. This arrangement has, therefore, become impracticable.
Body shells are carried to the English port on a Leyland Comet articulated vehicle with Dyson semi-trailer. Loading and unloading are by means of a specially designed slinging gear which travels to Ireland with the shell. To reduce freight charges, seat frames, floot boards, windows, cushions and othet interior equipment are packed inside the body.
By the time the shell arrives in Dublin, the chassis is re-assembled and is driven to the docks to meet its " opposite number." To avoid risk of damage to the skirt panels, temporary cross-frames are fitted to the shell during the journey and these are removed when the body is placed on the quay-side. The shell is then lifted directly on to the chassis and bolted into place, an operation which, in the case of the first vehicle', occupied only 13, hours.
Completion takes place at the works of Dublin Vehicle Builders, Summer hill. Dublin, wherc painting and lettering are also carried out. The bodybuilders fit a special jack-knife cabin door which is designed to preclude passengers from talking to the driver.
Jack-knife Door Except that they have only a single manually operated jack knife door amidships, the bodies in question arc similar in construction to those supplied for the big Cuban contract. They have transverse seats for 44 passengers and the body weight is 2 tons 13 cwt.
The Londonderry and Lough Swilly. Railway Co. has taken delivery of four of the eight vehicles and two are already in service. Mr. J. Whyte. general manager, • states that the 44-seaters are likely to be employed in the summer months on the popular tours to which reference was made in "The Commercial Motor" on August 31 in a description of this undertaking's activities.
Two similar vehicles, but with front entrances, have recently been delivered to Erne Bus Services, of County Cavan.