NEW SIX-WHEELED . BUSES FOR SALFORD.
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Vehicles that will Incorporate the Latest Ideas in Constructional Practice.
MO Salford Corporation will belong the distinction of instituting in this country the first service of six-wheeled motorbuses, comprising two 32-seater Karriers, two 20-seater Karriers and one 20-seater one-man-operated Guy vehicle. The extension of existing routes having become necessary, the general manager of the Salford tramways undertaking, Mr. J. S. D. Moffet, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E., .M.I.Mech.E., put before his committee a proposition for express or semi-express services in certain areas, and within the next few weeks this .venture will be begun.
The corporation has at present a fleet of 19 vehicles, comprising Leylands and Karriers and one small-capacity Vulcan. Six 01 the larger vehicles are double-deckers and 12 are of the Moon type. At the present time about eight miles of route are served by motorbus, and when the new six-wheelers have been delivered, extensions totalling 15 to 20 miles will be made. The new type of motorbus will incorporate distinctly new—that is, new to this country)cleas, and in drawing up the specifications the general manager had in mind some of the most recent developments in American and Continental motorbus constructiohal practice.
Mr. Moffet Gives His Views.
In an interview with The Commercial Motor, Mr. Moffet ivas outspokenly frank in his views on motorbus design.
"The day of the Orle man—one idea,'" he said, " is past. The 'all or none tramcar' and the 'all or none bus' fanatic is not only a public nuisance, but, as time has shown, a hindrance and a brake on steady progress towards efficient design.
I am glad to note, however, that manufacturers in this country are beginning to awaken, and in some instances making a voyage of discovery across the Atlantic and to European countries, where there is steady progress in design.
"This is a welcome step, as an improvement in consumption of approximately .5 of a mile to the gallon in a period of 20 years is not an achievement to be proud of, or to encourage a healthy and growing demand.
"The travelling habit has developed sorapidly that new elements have appeared in the traffic problem, the most iinportant of which, and one which apparently has escaped the attention of transport executives generally, is the element of time. This is proved by the fact that strenuous efforts are being made to serve twa. separate and distinct objects with one instrument or vehicle, Or, in other words, to cater for the 'short distance, street to street, door to door, frequent collecting and setting down' traffic with the same vehicle as that used for the 'long-distance' traffic, making a journey of three or .four miles and over.
" The demand of the latter class of traffic is so insistent that it must be met sooner or later, and the time factor or element of time is of such increasing importance that it is fast becoming the ruling—and one might say—the vital factor in all forms of transport, whether it be by road, rail or air.
The Tramcar and the Past Coach.
" The position to-day clearly requires two classes of vehicle to meet present conditions. For the heavy, short-distance and rush-hour traffic the tramcar—or equivalent type of vehicle—is unquestionably without rival at the moment and appears likely to hold its own for some considerable time to For the lotig-distance and faster traffic, on the other hand, the motor coach is undoubtedly the ideal vehicle, and the remarkable advance in' desigts made us the States and on the Continent within reCeilryears has proved conclusively that it has now taken its place as a recognized instrument of transport and will play a most important part in helping to mitigate or solve the difficult problem of moving the populace in the years to come."
In the consideration of the Salford passenger transport problems and possibilities, Mr. Moffet has always impressed upon his committee the importance of the corporation being alive to and in a position to deal with and provide for changing conditions and varying movements of the population in that area. The characteristics of town and city street transport are rapidly changing,' and the trend of such changes points in the direction of quicker and speedier means
of conveyance over the longer distances, leaving the shortdistance and denser traffic to be dealt with by the tramcar.
The growth and the spread of the population, which ebbs from and flows to large industrial centres to-day, demand a higher speed of travel and more. efficient means of conveyance, as the element of time, or duration of travel, is day by day becoming more and more the ,ruling factor.
During the past few month's the .necessity for extending the existing municipal motorbus services has been investigated. The trend of such development Mr. Moffet reported to be in three directions: (a) In the strengthening and extending of existing services • (b) in testing out and building up new routes, particularly cross-country services ; (c) in the provision of an auxiliary service of mediumcapacity light buses, starting from distant points on the main car routes to stop at special stations en route, or, in other words, a limited express service between such starting paints and the town terminus. .
The justification for the strengthening and extension of tbe existing services is provided by the following statistics of passengers carried by motorbus, which show a remarkable growth in the travelling habit :-1921, 422,312; 1922, 1,628,948; 1923, 2,205,044; 1924, 3,825,214; 1925, 5,274,512.
The three existing motorbus services are :—Route 1, Weaste and Great Cheetham 'Street; Route 2, promwell Bridge nnd Kersal ; Route 3, Victoria and Seedley.
The traffic on Routes 1 and 3 shows, more especially 'on the latter, a steady increase, and the service will require strengthening on the Seedley route at an early date. Route No. 2, whilst a poor one from 'a traffic point of view, certainly provides a very necessary convenience and readily lends itself to extension.
• Testing Out on Cross-country Routes.
The new routes which have been scheduled for "testing out" as and when the department is in a position to provide experimental services, are mainly cross-country ones. The provision of auxiliary high-speed motorbus services is a recent development. The principal component of this new phase is what might be termed "" etoreS" traffic—the outcome of the enterprise of great shopping enterprises which have created a svidespread travelling clientele. .Another component is the business Man who travels either by.. rail or motorcar, because, until 'quite recently, no better, means had pre.sented itself. . This' 'class, has features peculiar to itself. It demands (a) greater speed of conveyance than can be given by the train, and (b) more accessible, more conveniently placed and more frequent pick-up points, or stations, than are pdssible on a railway, and (c) much cheaper transport than can be obtained by running and using a high-class private car, which, of course, in any case, is within the reach of only a limited few.
"The ideal"vehicle, in my opinion, for these very stringent conditions is clearly the modern motor coach—a development ofthe motorbus," says Mr. Moffet. "It would meet the peculiar requirements of the woman shopper and the business man, who, I am satisfied, would be prepared to pay a higher fare for motorcar comfort at a much smaller expense than by keeping a private car. The most suitable route for an experiment with a limited express service is the Worsley route. The best vehicle would be of the motor coach class, with It seating capacity of 25 to 26 passengers, and would be one-man operated. The through fare would probably be 6d., with a minimum of 3d. in the first instance, as the function of such a service is not to deal with short-distance traffic, but ess'entially to cater for long-journey riders under express, Or limited express, conditions. This governing factor must not be lost sight of, or the chief object of such a service would be immediately defeated."
The provision of a half-hourly service for the schemes Mr. Moffet has in mind would require 14 extra buses, but as the introduction of any one of these extensions, new routes, or express services must, of necessity, be in the nature of all experiment, the task immediately before the tramwaya committee is the extension of the Seedley route' to Half Edge Lane and the introduction of an express service from Montan to Victoria.
This explains the purchase of the five new vehicles referred to above. Now, as to the new motorbus,,, themselves.
The low load-line chassis will have a narrow frame with dropped cantilever side brackets to allow, of low-seated or suspended body, the side members of the frame to be inswept at the front, thus permitting as wide a lock or short radius turning circle as possible. The springs are underslung. In specifying the design of the rear bogie, sympathetic consideration has been given to the Goodyear and Mannesmann Mulag types. Transmission is by means of a single propeller shaft from the gearbox, with tandem drive on the bogie axles through inverted worm gear. As to the wheels, these will comprise detachable steel discs fitted with 34-in. by 7-in, straight-sided pneumatic tyres, and 82-in. tyres for the smaller units.
The four Karrier machines will have a six-cylinder 30-40 h.p. power block and the Oily vehicle a six-cylinder 25 h.p. engine. The design for the 32-seater vehicles incorporates a forward drive with the position of the driver on the right of the chassis in a closed-off compartment. To each of the engines a Protectomotor (or oil-filtering device)' will be fitted. To facilitate ease of handling, hooks or lugs will be incorporated ,in the ,design, for lifting the chassis when stripped of the body. Special attention has been paid to braking. Four machines will have pneumatic brakes (Christensen) and one a vacuum brake (Westinghouse) applicable to the four rear wheels.
In the building of the bodies the corporation has imposed a weight restriction of 25 cwt. It was stipulated that fife large buses must be designed so as to be free from racking set up either by the forward control cab or the engine bonnet
and dash. Wherever this tendency manifested itself the two separate parts affected had to be so arranged as to float within or around each other. The necessity for a flexible suspension system was urged in order to overcome any tendency in the direction of distortion by too rigid fixing.
Each of the 32-seater vehicles has a low, wide doorway tit the rear, with doors flush with the side of the body, the exit being at the front. The latter door may be operated either from the motorman's cab or from the rear platform. The windows will be of the frameless type, with three on each side, arranged to be lowered or raised automatically when the position holder is released.
Some modifications have, of course, had to be made with regard to the 20-seater Guy vehicle, which has a low front entrance and exit door and an emergency door in -the rear, after the style of the American Kuhlmann type K city coach body. The windows and other details follow those for the larger vehicle.
Another interesting feature of these machines will be that they will all be fitted with spring bumpers at the front and• the rear. The windscreen will also be a marked departure from accepted practice. Instead of being vertical it slopes back from the upper edge of the dash to the underside of the roof, the dash itself sloping forward.
What prompted this design is the experience that sometimes, when driving head-on to a storm, the rain, swirling round the base of the windscreen and causing a spray, interferes with the line of vision. Mr. Moffet's design overcomes this defect.