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MILESTONES
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IN THE HISTO Y OF PASSENGER TRANSPORT
PICTORIALLY PORT is: AYED.
MHERE can be no better way of emphasizing the 1 many remarkable changes which have been made in the passenger vehicle than by comparing early examples with the corresponding present-day products.
The extraordinary feature about the revolutionary advances which have taken place is the comparatively short period of time in which they have eccurred. In no other industry have 20 years marked such progress —in fact, many of those who have watched the developments find them almost bewildering.
Imagine the state of affairs only a few years ago, when a passenger had frequently to make three changes from bus to bus because of breakdowns, and yet this we have had to do on many occasions and on comparatively short journeys. Today, a stranded bus is a rarity, and one can travel daily for months on end without experiencing a single involuntary stop.
The coach journey of a few miles taken from some seaside resort as a centre was quite an adventure,
particularly when the route lay through hilly country ; 'often one gripped a side of the vehicle and hoped for the best. Up hill, radiators steamed, gears shrieked ; in fact, every part of the chassis and body groaned its protest. Down hill, feeble brakes scarcely permitted control, and, when long applied, quickly wore or burnt out. Speeds of anything over 15 m.p.h. were almost impossible, and the passenger vehicle, so far as its chassis was concerned, differed in little, if anything, from that utilized for the conveyance of goods, and then only in the final-drive ratio.
The marvel is . that operators were able to keep the vehicles going in the way they did, and it goes to prove how the remarkable pertinacity of the pioneer users and their stubborn refusal to aclint failure encouraged the developments which have been made since that period. Proper servicing was practically unknown, and once a vehicle was sold it rested with the buyer to keep it going as best he could with the aid of repair shops usually most inadequately equipped.
Compare the doubledeck bus of a decade or So ago with that wonderful example of engineering which is being utilized to-day ; or the old-fashioned tiered vehicle, which well deserved its name of char-Ithams, with the modern coach affording the utmost degree of protection against the weather and capable of travelling at high speeds with a factor of safety perhaps even greater than that of the private car and providing suck comfortable and even luxurious travel facilities that even the most critical cannot find cause for complaint.
Although at least one example of the six-wheeler was seen on the roads considerably more than 20 years ago, it is only comparatively recently that it has been developed into the efficient and smooth-riding vehicle which it is to-day.
Who could possibly have visualized the wonderful progress which has been made by this type of vehicle, which has practically reached its zenith in the 72seater double-decker bus with the upper compartment giving as good protection from the weather as the lower? Who would have believed it possible to establish a regular passenger-transport service from Beyrout to Baghdad?
It is highly probable that the vehicle with more than four wheels will be one of the dominating factors in opening m.) undeveloped country, not only 5y the transport of goods hut by the conveyance of passengers. It seems almost a pity that so few parts of the world remain unexplored, for such work could have been done to-day in a tithe of the time which necessarily had to he occupied by the early pioneers.
There are but few limits to the travelling capacity of the latest vehicles. Some now run mileages in a day which, in the early years, would have taken a week.
Even more extraordinary than the progress made in the actual vehicles themselves is the vast growth of the passenger-transport services radiating from all main centres of population and forming a closely meshed network of travel facilities extending to all quarters of the land ; nor is this advancement confined to Great Britain. It is taking place throughout the world and even the former impregnable strongholds of nature are being forced. Such deserts as the Sahara and the Kalahari. to which civilized man was formerly debarred access, are being penetrated and even completely crossed by the ubiquitous coach. That ancient means for transport, the camel, has begun to lose its age-old supremacy. It is being replaced by the multi-wheeler and the track machine, particularly the former.
It is interesting to make a comparison between the power units utilized on these old vehicles with those designed for the modern vehicle. Even such a wellknown make as the Albion had a two-cylindered engine equipped with what was then considered quite a modern form of ignition, the low tension with the make-andbreak within the cylinders. For many years the four-cylintiered pattern was regarded—at least where the commercialvehicle chassis was concerned—almost as the last word. Now, increasing attention is tieing given to the development of units with six cylinders; there are even commercial vehicles in which the engines are provided with eight cylinders. We think that, in this connection, credit is due to Halley Motors, Ltd., for the way in which this company championed the " six " for so many years, and in face of quite a considerable amount of opposition. This company overcame many of the difficulties in the design of the " six" with which the makers of modern units have only recently had to cope.
Striking comparisons can be made between the longdistance services, often well exceeding 200 miles, which are frequently run to-day, and the brief journeys which were the order or things only a few years past. At that time long journeys were something in the nature of adventures and seldom free from minor, and often major, mechanical troubles. Naturally, the wonderful progress which has been made with the pneumatic tyre has contributed greatly to the mileage capacity of the present-day bus and coach.