Motor Wagons in the Taff Vale.
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Unsuitable Work the Cause of Loss at Cardiff.
The City Engineer of Cardiff, Mr. William Harpur, issued a report, on April 24th last, in regard to the working of the four Mann steam wagons owned by that authority, and its appearance gave rise to numerous exaggerated statements in various daily papers. From the fact that, upon the particular work available for the motors at Cardiff, a month's observations had then proved the collection of refuse by mechanical vehicles, inclusive of all charges and depreciation, to be 5.14d. per ton more than by horsed wagons, various erroneous inferences were drawn, and the general tendency has been, during the past summer, for local and other papers to condemn motor-wagon conveyance for all and sundry purposes connected with municipal administration. Mr. Ilarpur's latest report was presented to the Cardiff Health Committee on Tuesday, the 23rd ultimo, and he then had occasion to refer to several unfortunate mishaps, which led, as regards this branch of his department's work, to a flood of unintelligent criticism. In these circumstances, we are satisfied that the following short account of an interview, accorded recently to the Editor of this journal, will be of interest to many of our readers. Arrived at the Town Hall, we had the pleasure of renewing our acquaintance with the City Engineer. "The object of this visit is, as you know," we began, "to have an allround chat on the subject of the work done by your motors, and only the knowledge that you were so busy in connection with the finishing stages of the new Town HaIl has caused a postponement until to-day." "Nothing will give me greater pleasure," replied Mr. Harpur, as he called for Mr. Lock, the Superintendent of his out-door department. "I have reserved the whole of the morning to afford you all facilities; let us go out immediately, and see the motors at work. That will enable you, best of all, to appreciate our difficulties here." Suiting his action to his words, Mr. Harpur briskly stepped out of his office, and we started upon a five-mile walk through various parts of the City, the round including numerous so-called "back lanes," these being broad entries or passage-ways, some so feet in width, between parallel rows of yards and gardens, and visits to the Corporation's principal tipping ground, as well as to its Central depet where the wagons are housed. The qualifications of Mr. Harpur's engineering staff, and the general convenience of their arrangements, merit a word of praise. "You will observe," remarked the City Engineer, as we noticed the activity of the attendant fillers who accompanied one of the wagons and its two trailers, "that it is impossible for us to get a big mileage out of the machines on this class of work. Neither have we, in any case, a longer journey to the tip than si mile. Three complete journeys a day are accomplished, and no less than 5.a hours are spent in picking up the tins, boxes or other receptacles, discharging their contents into the van bodies, and replacing the empties on the spots from which they were picked up. We only get about 18 or 2o miles a day out of a motor wagon, and you will now know why that is the case." As we continued our work of inspection, and proceeded on foot to the tipping ground near Roath Park, we were greatly impressed by the excellence of the road surfaces. It has not fallen to our lot to visit any provincial city, in the United Kingdom, where so large a proportion of the paving is of wooden blocks, and where the comparatively rare lengths of macadamised roads are so well laid and maintamed, whilst we doubt if there is a gradient anywhere in Cardiff, certainly on a main street, as steep as i in 30 1 " Well," we were obliged to exclaim, "your roads give the motors every chance in the open ; but what about the approach to the tipping ground, and the arrangements there for jettisoning 'the loads? "
" You will see in a few minutes," was Mr. Htirpur's response, "and I should prefer that you should judge for yourself. The road, by which we are about to approach the tipping ground, is the only bad portion, and I am having it scraped, regularly, in order to relieve the motors of extra strains : it used to be 6 inches deep in mud I Just here," indicating the beginning of the sleeper track where the metalled roadway ended, " we had the misfortune to have one of the wagons break down a few weeks ago, and it was in regard to that incident that I had to report how two other motors were prevented from entering the tip for several hours. The breakage in question could not have occurred at a more awkward place, and it meant that a large number of ratepayers put out their refuse for collection, and that we did not pick it up. There were, naturally, many complaints, because it was impossible to organise any fresh service at no notice."
The writer then was, not for the first time, upon the site of a large refuse tip, and it was at once apparent to him that every practical step had been taken to provide for ready access by, and quick dispatch of, each motor and its two trucks. The trailers, after being uncoupled, are each dragged by three horses to the selected discharging point, while the wagon tips its own load, and then draws round, on the sleepers, ready for departure. None the less, an average of 30 minutes is spent at the tip on each journey, which accounts for 1/ hour per day. Side-tipping wagons would save much of this delay.
With the essential features of the work in our mind, and after a personal examination of the roads, the tip, and the general operations, we were in a position to summarise the day's programme.
" Is it correct, Mr. Harpur, to state a typical day's work thus : journeys to and from work, morning and evening, i hour; three journeys to tip, 45 minutes; three journeys from tip, 45 minutes; disposal of three accumulated treble loads at tip, si hour; and collection from house to house, 51 hours?"
After exchanging views with his adjutant, Mr. Lock, the City Engineer agreed that this analysis of a typical day's programme was accurate.
"Our men work 54 hours a week; that means el hours on five days, and 6/ hours on Saturdays. The comparison with the horsed carts is this : each motor unit, including its two trailers, has a total capacity of to cubic yards, whilst each horse wagon has a capacity of 21 cubic yards : the motoi does three trips per day, or two less than the number that a horse performs, and we cannot get in another trip with the motors. If we were able to do so, the costs would come out about equal, say, is. ed. per ton."
" It is obvious," we admitted without compunction, "that the machines are upon unsuitable work." "Yes, that is the difficulty, but I do not despair of finding new uses for them. I certainly am averse to their being sold, for there would be no gain in sacrificing them. As a matter of fact, I am hopeful of being able to find paying work for them on point to point haulage,_or of giving them a share in the conveyance of stores and material."
" Have you considered," we asked, "the scheme of allowing the horsed wagons to collect in defined areas round a number of district tipping stations, so that the motors might pick up full loads, and work steadily to and from the tip, without the enormous amount of loitering now experienced?" "That proposition is now occupying my attention," replied Mr. Harpur. " I fear that any system of large boxlike receptacles, placed below the road level, and arranged for their tipped contents to be craned or lifted on to the frames of the lorry and its trailers, would involve us in too large a fresh capital expenditure, but I do believe that better results wceild be brought about if we were able to organise our work afresh, so that the horse-drawn wagons were assembled, after filling, at agreed points, where they could be coupled into trains of five or six vehicles together, and hauled to the tip by the motors. All our wagons are fitted with draw-bar couplings, so no expense would be involved for equipment. It is only a question of getting down to the work, and seeing how the necessary fresh groupings of the streets can be made. This method of working would have the great advantage of keeping the motors busy while duplicate sets of empty wagons, of which we have about 40 properly equipped, would be collecting the next series of loads to be assembled into a trail ' and towed away by the motors."
" Under what conditions," we proceeded, " are you satisfied that, even if house-to-house collection were retained, the motors would pay?"
" I believe," answered Mr. Harpur, after pondering over the question for some little time, " that you would require a 'lead ' of not less than four miles to the tip or destructor, unless the roads were hilly, when a shorter trip might be sufficient. It is all a matter of the ratio of time spent in picking up the load to the straightaway run."
" Have you any observation to make in particular reference to your Mann wagons, and, speaking in a general !,ense, in relation to the use of modern road locomotives ty Municipal Engineers? "
" I can only say this," concluded Mr. Harpur. " The Mann wagons have behaved very well as regards their mechanism, and I have no complaint to make against there. In fact, if I were to require more motor wagons, I should not hesitate in recommending further purchases from Mann's Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company. Speaking generally, I am uncertain that the self-contained motor wagon will suit Borough Engineers as well as the independent tractor, and that is a point which you should consider. The tractor has larger wheels, and can go upon rougher or softer ground, whilst it can be transferred from any one vehicle to 4i any other, instead of standing idle during loading."
• Mr. Harpur had mentioned that the two Mann wagons at ..4 Merthyr Tydfil were employed upon work essentially differ o ing from that which he was able to provide for his machines. • These particular motors, of which we gave some particulars • in our issue of January r8th last, are fitted, as may be seen L .
,L) from the accompanying illustration, with side tipping bodies,
and present a most workmanlike appearance. From Cardiff • to Merthyr is only 24 miles, and it did not take us long to .`" reach the Town Hall of this large colliery centre, which embraces the districts of Dowlais, Abercanaid, Aberfan, and
IL 4 ▪ others, the distance from one side of the Borough to the
A other being, at some points, upwards of eight miles. Mr. >" A T. F. Harvey, the Borough Engineer and Surveyor, who
3 kindly put himself at our disposal for information, stated that the two wagons had, between them, dealt with some>4 445• '
• g thing like 6o tons a day, over a two-mile journey. But for ▪ this alternative method of haulage, the Council would have had to " rush " its destructive programme, as there was ILI • 3 great objection to the starting of new tips in the town, and their old one was full.
g In contra-distinction to Cardiff, the wagons are not ern 4414 ployed to pick up small lots of refuse : horsed carts are
TIPPED AT A DEPOT
c in the town, at Dowlais New Road, directly into the body of the motor, the ground being arranged in two terraces. When c necessary, in order to save time, the contents of the horsed * carts are deposited on the shelving edge of the upper ter • race, and are subsequently pushed into the motor-wagon or • trailer body. Mr. Harvey pointed out, during the course of our visit to several points of the works at Merthyr, an excessively awkward piece of road, near Abercanaid. This • is the approach, over a set of railway metals, to a bridge. 1-4 there being two right-angled turns, and a short length with a gradient of s in 9. These turnings, and the hill adjoining them, have constituted one difficulty in the way of a regular course of operations, because, in certain states of the weather, the wagon has not sufficient adhesion to take its trailer. Mr. Harvey believes that plated tires would overcome this, notwithstanding the unfavourable circumstances. Speaking with close upon one year's experience, Mr. Harvey is of opinion that the wagons have CARRIED OUT THEIR WORK EFFECTIVELY, and that they will do much better as soon as they are put upon the actual scheme of working that was contemplated when they were ordered. This is dependent upon the selection of a site or sites for destructors, and the proposals are now before the Merthyr Town Council. Probably the most interesting development in connection with this programme will be Mr. Harvey's intended adoption of local tipping stations for the horsed carts. He is now designing receptacles of the proper cubic capacity to hold the contents of a motorwagon or trailer body, and the horsed carts will up into these. The motors will only be employed to take full loads. from the base of these local tipping bins, direct to the tipping ground some two miles away, and all delays will thereby be eliminated, with resulting large economies.