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Largest Borough
SINCE the borough is London's largest, the municipal authorities at Wandsworth have to take advan• tage of the services of many municipal motors. The council's fleet is well chosen, well kept and run in a businesslike manner.
Before dealing with the various types of vehicle in use, however, let us consider a few points in relation to the borough itself, so that an idea can be obtained of the work involved and the importance of economy in carrying it out.
The total area in acres is 9,199 (about 19i sq. miles), the magnitude of such a figure being quite easily understood if it be remembered that the borough extends into Putney, Wimbledon, Streatham, Tooting, Clapham. Southfields and intermediate districts.
The population, at the time of the last census, in 1931. was 353,110 and it is estimated that, at present, there are about 38 persons to the acre; last year the rateable value was £3,328,452. Wandsworth's borough engineer is Mr. E. J. El ford, M.Inst.C.E.
Street Sweeping.
The most interesting phase of the activities of the fleet of vehicles run by the council' relates to street sweeping. As recently as 10 years ago this work was carried out with constant difficulty and considerable lack of economy; it must be noted, in this connection, that there are about 250 miles of roads to be cleansed within the borough. At that time the men engaged on street sweeping had big wooden hand carts, not particularly attractive in appearance and certainly ungainly to handle
It was the work of the men to cover their particular routes, sweeping leaves, dust and dirt into orderly heaps at the roadside before filling their lofty barrows. The elements sometimes proved troublesome, and on a windy day it was a wonder that any street refuse was collected at all, although the sweepers went on manfully with their work. When the harrows were full the contents were transferred to horsedrawn carts, at pre-arranged points.
The year 1931 saw the beginning of a changed system. A Bedford lorry was purchased to supplement some, at least, of the horsed transport, and it was soon evident that mechanical transport made the work easier and more effective throughout. It was decided, as soon as possible, to replace all the horses and carts by motor lorries.
Changes were being made, too, in the barrows used by the sweepers. Many experimental types were tried, and the wooden ones were discarded.
One idea, of considerable merit, was to have a barrow with a container which could fairly easily be lifted up and tipped into the back of the lorry. the latter having a beam and tackle for this purpose. Later, however, a type of hand cart was designed which, basically, remains the same to-day. On this were carried three detachable cylindrical bins, with lids and handles. The whole structure was fairly light and easily handled. The obvious advantage was that refuse could be put into a bin instead of being left in heaps at the roadside.
Improved Hand Carts.
At first the new-type carts had rather clumsy wooden wheels, but now they have steel ones with cushion tyres. Lunch boxes for the men are fixed on the "handlebars."
To-day, then, when the council save; about 23,000 per annum over the old system of street-refuse collection, the work is attended to by nine Bedford long-wheelbase 2.2tonners, with 7cubic-yard tipping bodies, these vehicles, of course, taking the refuse from the vast number of barrows now in use.
A point about the barrows, incidentally, is that the three bins can be removed and substituted by a single wooden grit-container, so that a number of the council's men can go around with their carts on a frosty morning and make the roads safer.
Collecting House Refuse.
Wandsworth's house and trade refuse-collecting is carried out under contract by Messrs. F. W. Surridge, who run a big fleet of lorries with special gear for lifting and transporting low-loading dustcarts.
To explain in more detail, the system is this :—Refuse is collected, in the first place, by emptying the dust-bins into a large-capacity horse-drawn container, in each ordained area. This full container, after the horse has been taken out of the shafts, is drawn on to a Pagefield lorry, up steeply inclined steel channel members and, finally, anchored firmly after the runs have been returned to the horizontal position by motor power. Previous to mounting the full container, an empty one has been run off the Pagefield, and this is then ready for another round, with the horse in the shafts.
The council has three S.D. Freighters, these being employed in connection with road repairs and construction; with their low loading line they are found particularly valuable for carrying kerbs, granite setts, etc. Also used by the highways department and for general purposes is a Karrier 2-ton
lorry. Five road rollers are in use; three are Aveling and Porters, one a Mann, and the other a Wallis and Steevens Advance.
The parks department uses a Fordson lorry and a Pattisson tractor, the disinfecting department two 25 h.p. Vauxhalls, the cemetery section. two Fordsons, whilst two Fordson 5-cwt. vans are kept by the council for the use of mechanics. etc. Although a part of the street cleansing is carried out by Mechanical Cleansing Service, Ltd., the borough has one Dennis 5-ton petrol-engined gully-emptier and a Garrett steamer of this type. These two and that used under contract are working continuously. The Dennis is of 1,200-gallons capacity.
The council's main depot, where the Bedfords and the gully-emptiers are kept, is at Ravenstone Road, Balham being under the supervision of Mr. Everett (Works Superintendent), whilst the central workshops are at Tooting. In these workshops all ordinary maintenance is carried out and the equipment, which is comprehensive, includes an electrically driven lathe.
Costs Recording.
A close tally is kept on all figures connected with the vehicles run by the council, Servis recorders being employed on all of them. Every time a vehicle does a job a form has to be accurately tilled in by the driver, showing details of the trip (place, time, etc.), the load (weight, material, volume), and the mileage. Also on the form are spaces for details of fuel and stores received (quantity, material), and of allocation (hours, service, etc.). All information from the forms is entered weekly into a running-costs book.
Considerable extension of the Wandsworth Borough Council's fleet is proposed within the next year or so, and it is expected that two more low. leaders and another gully-emptier will be added quite soon.
In conclusion, it must be pointed out that this policy of standardizationi.e., the use of nine vehicles of similar manufacture for street refuse-collection—is a sensible one in that marked facility is effected in the matter of maintenance. This means an economy in men's time and in the purchase of spare parts, and a greater degree of reliability. The latter factor is one of considerable importance in work of this type.