Coaches Too Costly : No Big Orders
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T'THERE would have to be a substantial reduction in cost before they placed new large orders for vehicles, said Mr. R. Barr, chairman of Barr and Wallace Arnold Trust, Ltd., at the company's annual meeting in Leeds, last Friday.
Between 1950 and 1952 the cost of new coaches had risen by 37 per cent. In 1950, an oil-engined coach cost £3.500; in 1952, a vehicle with special ventilation and greater seating capacity was priced at nearly £5,000.
The company had purchased 20 new coaches and two businesses at a capital expenditure of 1116,000, and the depreciation on these and the existing fleet, amounting to £70,035, had to be met out of current profits. They were modernizing existing vehicles, and had put up-to-date coach bodies on 16 of their 1950 chassis.
By the acquisition of Hardwick's Services, Ltd., the company's hold in the Scarborough area had been strengthened. That business had been co-ordinated with their existing one and was yielding a reasonable profit. The other newly purchased company was the Farslcy Omnibus Co., Ltd.
Speaking of the company's haulage interests, Mr. Barr said that they were watching the trend of development in denationalization. " We may consider, it opportunity arises and conditions arc favourable, taking fuller advantage of this market," he said.
[Last year Mr. Barr said that the group were not rushing back into road haulage.] TURN-ROUND 200 PER CENT. QUICKER
TURN-ROUND of vehicles operated L by a Scottish coal merchant has been accelerated by 200 per cent. by the use of larger-capacity trucks and mechanical-handling plant. Alex. Russell and Co. (Glasgow), Ltd., have installed a Jones KL44 mobile grab to unload coal from railway wagons direct into a newly acquired Atkinson 8-ton lorry.
The old method was to unload coal by shovel from rail wagons into bags and then load them manually on to lorries. Two men worked 1 ht:. 20 min. .o clear 5 tons in that way.
Now, the grab, employing only one man, can fill a 5-ton lorry with loose coal in some 15 min., the Atkinson 8-tonner taking rather longer to fill.
A special plant has also been built to handle bagged coal. Here the loose coal is delivered direct to the plant by grab, and in 25 min. 100 1-cwt. bags can be filled ready for loading on to the delivery vehicles.
15I-CU.-YD. TIPPING OUTFIT
ONE of the largest tipping-vehicle outfits to be produced by Leyland Motors, Ltd., was recently shipped to Europe. It consists of a Leyland Super Hippo six-wheeled prime mover with an 8-cu.-yd. all-steel end-tipping body, and a Dyson three-way tipping trailer having a 7-cu.-yd, all-steel body.
Bromilow and Edwards, Ltd., built the body on the prime mover. It is fitted with B. and E. 10-12-ton twin triple-telescopic underbody tipping gear driven from a power take-off on the Leyland gearbox.
The 10-ton trailer has twin doubletelescopic underbody tipping gear.
COMET MEAT VANS FOR BOMBAY
TWO Comet 90 meat vans, designed to carry suspended loads of 5 tons of meat, were recently shipped to Bombay by Leyland Motors, Ltd. The all-metal light-alloy van bodies, built by Bonallack and Sons, Ltd., are 17 ft. long.
They are divided into two compartments. A butcher's section 2 ft. 3 in. deep extends across the full width of the van at the front. In the main body there are four rows of rails arranged longitudinally.
Attached to each of these rails are 11 double meat hooks:' To prevent carcasses swinging in transit, they are lashed to tie rings, one beneath each hook.
The interior is kept fresh by the use of three Flettner roof ventilators, in addition to a large ventilator at the front of the van from which a duct carries the air down the back of the butcher's compartment to within 3 in. of the floor.