Plastics Ambulances for L.C.C.
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AMBULANCES with all plastics bodywork, and incorporating the Austin ID series chassis with either petrol or oil engines, are to replace the fleet of Daimler vehicles which the London County Council have used for some years. The new vehicle has been designed and built in the L.C.C. supplies department's workshops at Wandsworth.
The plastics material is reinforced where necessary with moulded-in timber and metal, and the translucent roof has transverse taphat -section members made of glass-fibre Jape. _
The complete vehicle weighs 11 tons, The rear compartment is 9 ft:5 in. long, 6 ft. 11 in. wide and 5 ft. 81 in. high, with a loading height of 1 ft. 8 in. There are sliding doors at the front. Future models will have a plastics front with a wrap-round windscreen and no quarter pillars.
To obtain the low loading line, the differential has been offset, but the department have built a prototype with a De Dion rear axle which not only affords a low floor but is claimed substantially to improve riding comfort.
Combustion-type heaters of Smiths and ICI. patterns are being tested. About 12 vehicles, all to be built at Wandsworth, are expected to be in use by the end of the year.
RAILWAYS SPENDING OVER 14041m.
OVER £400m. of the £1,200m. to be spent on railway modernization has already been committed to various developments under the 15-year plan. In 1957-58, over 13,000 road-rail containers will be delivered, and new lines, primarily for goods traffic, will be provided at Stratford upon Avon, Edinburgh, in the South Wales industrial area, and between York and Northallerton.
Twenty-two lightweight oil-engined rail-buses are being ordered, for delivery in 1957 and 1958, for trial in rural areas in the Eastern, London Midland, Scottish and Western Regions.