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W HEN the idea was mooted that it would be interesting

to include in this issue some reminiscences from current readers who had taken The Commercial Motor in 1905, its feasibility was doubted. The circulation of the journal at that time was, with the exception of the 20,000 of the first issue, comparatively small and the possible number of enthusiasts strictly limited. In fact, several readers from 1905 have been discovered and have contributed some • fascinating

recollections.

RAR. A. F. BIRD, of Bristol. now Pa aged_ nearly 77, says that he distinctly remembers purchasing the first copy of the journal and has been a regular reader ever since.

He believes that he can safely claim to be the first man to drive a steam bus on a "coach" trip. It was in the summer of 1904 when a party of 20 ' farmers and businessmen in Shiptonon-Stour wished to join a combined railway and steamer trip from Stratfordon-Avon to Sharpness Docks, below Gloucester. It was Mr. Bird's task to take the party to the station at Stratford.

He had to be up at 3 a.m. to fire the boiler, see that there was a full tank of water and lubricate where necessary. The bus was away at 4 a.rn, for the trip of about 12 miles, as the train was to start at 5.30 a.m.

The bus had to remain at the station until fairly late at night when the party returned. Some of them had not got over their sea-sickness, as they had had a rough passage down the Bristol Channel.

The interval between the two journeys was not just a question of shutting-off steam, for the fire had to be kept going and standing meant using more water. Fortunately there was a stream with clean water at the side of the road.

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After supper at the "Swans Nest." the party reached home about 4 a.m. and all the passengers voted it to have been a grand day, The stationmaster at Stratford remarked that this was the first combined trip that the railway had ever run. It certainly seems that it has set the example for numerous others that have followed.

Incidentally, the steamer,, employed was a Bristol White Funnel owned by Messrs. P. and A. Campbell, who are still operating.

Mr. Bird also remembers the reliability trials of 1907 organized by the Royal Automobile Club, These covered a route mileage of 1,000 for petrol vehicles, reduced to 600 for steamers.

He was a chargehand erector for Owen Brazil, then for Brazil, Eulborough and Straker (which later became Straker Squire) and was responsible for turning out the test wagon in proper condition. He also took this vehicle out on its first trial. The steam bus to which he referred was also a Straker, was built in Bristol, and was operated in those days by the Braiies, Shipton-on-Stour and Stratfordon-Avon Steam Omnibus Co., Ltd.

Mr. Bird started building these vehicles as wagons and buses in 1903 and later joined the bus company named. Later, the regulation putting restrictions on the tare weight reduced he legal speed of these buses to 5 m.p.h. and put an end to their operation.

ANOTHER reader who states that he 1-3. honestly claims never to have missed a week's issue since the first, is Mr. H. Cope, of Cope and Sons, Oekbrook, Derby, although he writes on one of his old bill heads as a coal merchant and haulage contractor at Ilkeston.

In the early days his firm did much long-distance work with horses as far as Sheffield, Doncaster. Buxton and Leicester. As he read The. Commercial Motor, however, he began to crave for a lorry. Eventually he persuaded his

father to buy one which had chain • drive and oil lamps. In addition, he had a char-a-banes body which was fixed on at week-ends for parties, some being taken to the seaside in the summer.

In 1920 he bought a Dennis and began hauling iron pipes for the Stanton Iron Company, these being taken all over the country. He well remembers his first load to Tunbridge Wells and remarks that there were no return loads in those days.

In 1927 he bought another Dennis and a Cornmer and then at last came return loads in the form of cattle food from Hull, Liverpool and London. With loads of tinplate from South Wales to the Midlands and northeastern districts, and pipes and general goods to Cardiff and Swansea, Mr, Cope built up an excellent connection.

Two F.R.F. lorries with Gardner engines were bought in 1936, as he could see that the day of the petrol engine was done, They have given him the best of service at much lower running costs than his former petrol vehicles. Now the fleet is comprised of four Atkinson, two E.R.F. and an Albion, three of Fhich have been acquired from British Road Services.

1-1 A MEMBER of the Institute of

Road Transport Engineers, Mn' L. Reynolds, A.I,R.T.E., learning of this Jubilee number of the journal, realized only then that he had been reading the paper without a break since No. I. He says he still has the first 22 volumes, which constitute a splendid ,record of the industry in its early and more difficult days. Vehicles were then crude, often badly signed and spares were difficult to itam, whilst they rarely fitted when ey were available. it is not surising, he says. that many manufaerers failed and more operators were sappointed.

He believes, however, that the A.C. Commercial Vehicle Trials of 07 gave the trade its first chance to ocluce reliable machines. The event is well advertised and although the suits were disastrous to some marmeturers, the majority derived much inefit.

in the early days, the bus business, o, suffered greatly barn-hastily proiced machines, mostly of Continental igin, which were quite unfitted for eir tasks. With unskilled drivers and )or maintenance, it is not surprising at many of the companies failed.

Public complaints regarding noise id vibration were, he says, made much in the daily Press, and for once the rthorities issued a wise Order, which as that no London bus should exceed' tons in unladen weight. Many :ogle in the industry said that this as impossible, but it was achieved, as idenced by the production of the .E.C. B-type bus and others. Even le Tilling-Stevens petrol-electric came ithin the weight specified.

From that period onwards, the otorbus became a success and it arked the predominance of British akers in the home market.

Modern Fault

One thing that Mr. Reynolds deplores many modern buses and goods :thicles is. what he terms, the unforIrate tendency towards inaccessibility. [any, he considers, are great offenders this respect and he would like to see general move, on behalf of operators, ) take up the matter with the

ianufacturers* * rHE first motor vehicle of any size bought by Mr. Tom Norton, Lanaging director of the Automobile alace Ltd., of Llandrindod Wells, was Daimler wagonette; this was in 1902, e used it for hiring and says that it as mast popular, owing to the small umber of public service vehicles on re roads at that time. He had, hower, run private ears as early as 1900. Mr. Norton says that he well rememurs Eric Green., of Haverfordwest, eing shocked when he told him, at te beginning of the century, that all arnmercial vehicles would eventually e fitted with pneumatic tyres. This rophecy has frequently been referred ) since between them, and Mr. Green as remarked to Mr. Norton how right te latter was.

Mr. Norton says that he has noticed at the single-tube tor tubeless) tyre is cing exploited as a novelty, but in the cry early days he used both a ;oothroyd and a Eleuss, the former was 1 his words just glorified hosepipe " nd the latter was detachable. He conluded his letter by adding, "I take this opportunity of congratulating you on a wonderful publication which is much appreciated by the members of the motor trade"

THE son of a driver for many years of one of the old Star horsedbuses, Mr. H. 0. Giles, of Henley-onThames, is another consistent reader since 1905. He, however, missed the first issue, had the second one given to him and bought those which followed, unfortunately missing all but occasional copies during his two years' service with the Royal Flying Corps. However, he has continued reading it ever since March. 1919, and possesses a miniature copy of No. 1, Although being interested in commercial vehicles for so many years, Mr. Giles confesses that he has always favoured the horse, and drove horsed vehicles in London and Henley from 1910 to 1935, but as his work is now solely connected with painting and lettering motor vehicles, he has had to move with the times. He did, however. have some early driving with a 1914 Dennis and, later, a Morris-Commercial 2-tonner.

"Put 'is Nosebag On:"

Referring to the Clarkson steam buses, he says that once these got going. no petrol bus could keep up with them. Many drivers of horsed-buses believed that the petrol vehicles would never last. When one broke down, the old chaffing expression was " Nab, then, put 'is nosebag on! "

The great bugbear of the early buses was skidding, and on a wet day crowds would stop to enjoy the sight of the vehicles travelling almost broadside-on when starting or stopping, Mr. Giles says that he once saw a Great Eastern Straker Squire perform four complete turns, Luckily there was nothing in its way at the time. The drivers had no protection on the vehicles, but dressed in greasy clothes and often held a lump of rag with which to grip the iron steering wheel 1‘4R. H. UNDERDOWN, of London, al was the founder chairman and managing director for nearly 20 years of Commercial Cars ltd., who were registered in 1905, and, he believes. possibly with one exception, the first to be formed solely for the production of cornmeielal vehicles.

At that time there were few business vehicles for,loads of 10 cwt. or over to he seen on the road, although the motorbus had already made considerable, if very noisy, progress.

The hisnify of his company is almost a romance. A friend had asked him to inspect a new form of gear ,change invented by a Mr. C. M. Linley, who owned a garage near Oxford Circus. This proved to be almost certainly the first preselective gearbox for commercial vehicles.

Immediately. arrangements were made to test the invention by fitting the gearbox, the control for which was mounted immediately below the steering wheel, into an improvised chassis. The success was such that a works to manufacture vehicles incorporating this gearbox was established at Luton.

From the first, °sniffier production lagged behind the order book, but special attention was given to exports. and probably the first motorbus chassis to go overseas was shipped to Lima, to be followed soon after by small fleets for Cuba and the Canaries.

During the nine years to 1914, these Comtner vehicles went to many countries, including America, Japan, India, Turkey and Manchuria.

Mr. Uaderdown recalls one order which had an amusing conclusion. Two lorries' were shipped to a private company at Nairobi, for traffic between there and Fort Hall, some 60 miles away. The buyer was confident that he could make the service pay and considered the road was good enough.

However, the first lorry had not covered more than half the distance on us first trip before it sank up to the axles. 'the service soon had to be abandoned and the vehicles were sold to South Africa, but the operator had had the foresight to lease a garage iti the centre of Nairobi with option to purchase at a low cost within three years. The option was exercised and. in the real-estate boom that followed, the site was sold at a profit of over E3.000. As our correspondent says of this early venture, "A successful method of making lorry transport profilahle."

Spanning Patagonia

Another service, which proved to be a complete success, was inaugurated with commercial vehicles by a sheep farmer who, to avoid a round-about railway route had the idea of carrying wool right across Patagonia by lorry. He stipulated, when purchasing, for the service, for a period of years, of an expert driver and mechanic, and the right man volunteered at once for this work—an example of the readiness of the Briton to go overseas.

An interesting order during the 1914-1.8 war was from the Russian Government, for two fire pumps, a condition being that they should be capable of travelling at "aver 60 m.p.h.. and it must be remembered that these were the days of solid tyres.

After the vehicles were built. Mr. Underdown and a driver took the Russian representative on to the Bedford Road for a trial run.' To give as much safety as possible, the wheels were gaitered with heavy leather covers studded with steel. Faster and faster went the fire engine until the speedometer showed over 60 m.p.h. and the machine wagged its taiL Mr. Under-down pointed to the speedometer at the same moment as the Russian yelled to the driver to stop. Neither the representative nor the Bedford Road recovered for a long time, but the machines were shipped and all went well