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T he Livers are Coming PROTOTYPE ROAD RA S OME 500 hauliers

14th February 1964
Page 80
Page 80, 14th February 1964 — T he Livers are Coming PROTOTYPE ROAD RA S OME 500 hauliers
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and traders were last week invited by British Railways to comment on the de-sign and loadability of prototype road/rail containers produced by railway workshops and commercial bodybuilders. These have been built for the projected liner train service and for a " bridging " Condor-cum-liner service which is to be introduced this year between several cities, following the increasing profitability of existing Condor and Speedfreight services.

At Marylebone goods yard, London, 17 new containers— open, closed and tilt-covered—were shown, together with rail flat wagons for the new 75 mph. " bridging " services and prototype liner train wagons, and associated handling equipment. All the containers have been built to the international 8 ft. by 8 ft. cross-section and most conform to the standard lengths of 10 ft., 20 ft. and 27 ft. envisaged for liner work, though one 25-ft. 9-in, model was shown. When opinions and cornments have been collated, and trials conducted, it is intended that a final range of three or four basic types—available in three main lengths—shall be standardized.

The road/rail technical liaison committee of the Road Haulage Association, British Road Services and British Railways was due to meet on Wednesday this week to discuss the initial reactions to the prototype containers and equipment.

As well as models of proposed liner train depots and demonstrations of Joloda pallet-handling equipment (the 11 closed containers have reversible Joloda channels, and floors suitable for 2-ton fork trucks), a film was shown of the Drott Travelift travelling-gantry container transfer equipment which British Railways is to use at liner train depots, but which will be supplemented or replaced eventually by fixed straddle cranes when the larger main depots are established. This confirms the predictions made in The Commercial Motor of April 5 last year, in which liner train plans were set out in detail. A 30-ton capacity Travelift with 48 ft. clear span has been specified (at a cost of over 123,000 for each unit) and the first two of these were shipped from the U.S.A. last week.. The Drott Manufacturing Corp and Rubery Owen and Co. Ltd. are, however, establishing a joint company in Britain to make the Travelift.

Since it is now envisaged that 80 per cent of terminal road working to and from the liner train depots will be handled by non-railway road vehicles (assuming union objections are met), hauliers and traders have a vital interest in the design of containers. And although most of those displayed last week showed evidence of considerable thought, despite the speed at which many had been designed and constructed (York, for example, taking only three weeks from specificationto finished

(Above) A prototype liner train shown at Marylebone; the first true Finer, with a target of over 200,000 tons of traffic annually, is expected to replace the Condor on London-Glaseow runs, after " bridging " services, probably between London and Liverpool. The right-hand container here is a 20-ft. 15-ton-capacity alloypanelled type by Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co. It weighs I ton 15 cwt. empty. Next to it is a Bonallack 20-ft.

15-ton container of I ton 17 cwt. tare.

product), two main points will need watching in the transition from prototype to production model. • Of the 17 new containers shown, not one appeared capable of being fitted between the side raves of a 7-ft. 6-in.-wide semi-trailer, and few would readily fit even an 8-ft. platform if normal raves were incorporated. While 8-ft. 21-in.-wide trailers should become legal this year (under regulations which should also take care of containers grossing up to about 23 tons) the bulk of the semis in use for many years will be 7 ft. 6 in, or 8 ft. wide; both the safe locating and securing of containers without the use of illegally wide fixing gear, and the need to spread the weight over the load-bearing areas of the trailer floor, demand that the container rests level on the trailer platform, between the raves. It is also important that the major load should not bear on the edges of the platform.

Several prototype containers have sides recessed along the length of the base (others having slots) so that the lifting plates of the Travelift grabs can. engage, but the recesses were too narrow or too shallow to clear normal raves and still give clearance for the lifting grabs. Cutting away the raves just at the lifting points would solve this if the base width of the container enabled it to sit between the raves. Two haulage trailers at the display, (one a B.R.S. vehicle) had baulks of timber beneath the containers to lift them clear of the raves, while a B.R. 8-ft.-wide semi had neat hinge-down raves, with simple locking gear, which could not be used because the container it was carrying was also 8 ft. wide and flush-sided.

For fleets regularly engaged in feeding liner depots it might be possible to incorporate robust spigots in the trailer floors, such as are used on the liner rail flats, these engaging with holes in the container base.

A second point is that several containers had projecting structure or interior fittings which might damage light goods; notable exceptions here were the York and Duramin models with flush-panelled interiors and recessed lashing bars.

But the speed with which containers and ancillary equipment are being gathered together—in real hardware rather than paper plans—confirms that liner trains are coming fast. H.B.C.

Tags

Organisations: Road Haulage Association
Locations: Liverpool, Duramin, York, London

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