',Separate Engine In Swiss Trailer
Page 27
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WHAT is believed to be the first VT articulated bus with independent engines and transmissions in the front section, as well as in what is normally designed as a close-coupled trailer, has commenced service trials in Ziirich, Switzerland.
In recent years the transport undertaking there has sponsored the construction of a number of unorthodox large-capacity vehicles, including a rearengined, articulated bus and a bus with an elevated driving position placed above the passenger compartment. The new venture is based on Zurich requirements for an improved power-weight ratio in a heavy-duty p.s.v.
Externally the new bus, built by the Swiss Carriage and Lift Works, Schlieren, on: an F.B.W chassis, resembles a three-. axle articulated unit of the type already in use on ZUrich trolleybus routes.
Power Units
A 160 11.p. turbocharged F.B.W., underfloor-mounted engine drives the rear axle of the front section through a fourspeed epicyclic gearbox. An identical, but mechanically independent, power unit and transmission under the floor of the articulated section drives the section's single axle_ individual starting equipment is fitted, but both engines and transmissions are synchronously controlled by the driver by means of electro-hydraulic actuators. Air suspension is fitted all round. The.. body panels are easily replaceable in case of damage.
The vehicle, Ziirich fleet No 215, has an overall length of 55 ft. 9 in. Only 29 seats are provided, as the bus is intended to carry a crush load of up to 125 standing passengers. The wheelbase of the front section, which is short in relation to the overall length, enables the vehicle to clear a turning circle of just over 71 ft. There are three doors in each section to reduce waiting time at intermediate stops. A seated conductor is provided for. The unladen weight is given as 15 tons 17 cwt. and the g.v.w. approaches 261 tons.