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Space Limitations Keep Out Big-goods Exhibits
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THE extent to which the new Construction and Use Regulations promote increases in the useful payload capacity of rigids and artics is of major importance to bodybuilders, including Scottish bodybuilders. Confirmation of this claim may be obtained from any standholder in Kelvin Hall who is concerned with the marketing of heavier prime-movers.
It is significant that tractive units for train weights up to 32 tons gross are well represented but that only one semi-trailer for more than 18 tons g.t.w. is displayed on the floor of the hall (apart from a mini-artic there are only two bodied semi-trailers). The only plated trailer is a 32 tongross articulated van shown in ihe demonstration park. No eightwheelers are exhibited with a rating in excess of 26 tons, and the vehicles with the highest payload rating are a small number of six-wheeled, 22 ton gross platform-bodied lorries.
• The observation by a standholder that "now the big vehicles have become bigger there is not enough room for them in Kelvin" is typical of the comments heard. Facilities for demonstrating vehicles outside are generally regarded as poor recompense on bleak November days for lack of floor space indoors, and it is pertinent that the Northern Trailer Co. Ltd. are staging a display of six articulated vehicles in a marquee on a nearby site.
Apart from notable details of goodsbodywork construction, interest is therefore mainly centred on standard types of p.s.v. bodywork based in some cases on chassis that have been introduced in the past 12-14 months. Of the heavier models shown indoors, a Leyland Atlantean, an Albion (rearengine) Viking, an AEC Reliance 590, a Bedford VA M and a Leyland Panther rear-engined chassis are bodied by Walter Alexander and Co. (Coachbuilders) Ltd.
Whilst the Atlantean is based on the company's A-type framing and the remainder on standard or modified Y-type framing, the structure of the Atlantean incorporates a number of original features. The Atlantean is displayed on the bodybuilder's stand and the single deckers on the vehicle makers stands—apart from the VAM, which is exhibited by SMT Sales and Service Co. Ltd.
Built to the specification of Edinburgh Corporation Transport, the Atlantean provides seats for 43 passengers in the upper saloon and 31 in the lower, a reduction of two seats at each level being necessitated by a staircase with a straight centre section. The space behind the front entrance that is normally occupied by a seat is used to provide additional luggage accommodation, whilst the staircase is claimed to promote passenger convenience and safety.
Passenger convenience and the external appearance of the vehicle are also enhanced by the two-bay panoramic windows of the upper and lower saloons, the inclusion of which is made possible by the removal of intermediate pillars (the standard distance between pillar centres is 3 ft. 11 in.), a practice, that is followed in the case of many coach bodies.
Possibly the most interesting constructional feature to be found at the show—a one-piece glass-fibre moulding—is employed in place of an aluminium section which spans the rear of the Atlantean to incorporate the wheel-arches, seat pans, foot stools and bridging floor section. A one
piece moulding of the same material is also used for the left front wheelarch and seat support, the value of glass-fibre mouldings for these applications being that they offer effective sealing against the ingress of salt-laden moisture and obviate corrosion.
Of incidental interest, it is claimed by a spokesman of Walter Alexander that the ample free space afforded by the wheel-arches greatly reduces "swirling ", and consequently the spray produced by the wheels, when the vehicle is travelling on a wet road.
Mail Bus
A mail compartment at the rear of the vehicle distinguishes the Alexanderbodied VAM, which is .a 24-seater and designed for feeder services in rural areas, notably those that have been adversely affected by rail closures. Despite the different layouts of the VAM and Albion Viking chassis, the same Y-type body shell is fitted to both vehicles, the rear engine of the latter being more readily accommodated in the shell than a front engine. The Viking is a 40-seat semi-coach and features luggage lockers 2 ft. deep
between the wheels on both sides and a rear locker on the left with a length and depth of 6 ft. 5 in. and 2 ft. 3 in. respectively.
Identical with the 36 ft. model displayed al Earls Court last year, the Leyland Panther rear-engined bus is shown in the livery of Glasgow Corporation Transport, the first model having been employed in service by the Corporation in the intervening period. Of the forward-entrance, central-exit type the bus is one-man operated. scats 42 passengers and provides for 31 standees. In this case the body was partly "hand built ", although the stepped-up rear end is in the main constructed of standard Yf rames.
Whilst the Daimler Roadliner rearengined chassis shown by the maker equipped with a stage-carriage body by Marshall of Cambridge Ltd. is a 50-seater, raising the floor would enable the capacity to be increased to 55 seats for stage work. Six Roadliners have been built, one of which is being operated in service by Potteries Motor Traction Co. Ltd.
News was given on the stand that Roadliners will shortly be manufactured on a production-line basis, and of related interest a Duple-bodied Roadliner displayed in the demonstration park is the first of 28 ordered by the Edmonton Transit System of Alberta, Canada.
In past reports of the Scottish and Earls Court Shows, the relative merits of aluminium, plastics, steel, timber and composite construction have frequently been a major consideration with regard to constructional trends. Conventional timber bodies have always been' in evidence to a limited extent, but this year at the Scottish Show the preponderance of bodies having timber framing as well as floors
could be indicative of a trend in reverse, the type of construction employed being essentially similar to that seen 10 or more years ago in a typical instance. The explanations offered by standholders follow a set pattern, but in sum they could represent a major cross-section of operator opinion.
Upwards of 15 platform and dropsided vehicles at the Show are equipped with timber-floored bodies having timber frames and the total number of bodies in which load-carrying timber members are employed is probably in excess of 40. "They are cheap to buy and extremely durable; above all they can easily be repaired with semi-skilled labour" is representative of the many tributes paid to timber bodies.
Interesting examples of wood construction include an L226, 22-tonc22 gross, six-wheeled platform lorry on the Atkinson Vehicles Ltd. stand. This is designed for carrying fish and features Sealastic-treated timber floor planking attached to the wooden crossbearers and longitudinals with brass screws which resist the corrosion of the fish bree. A steel angle-iron rave is employed and the underside of the floor is clad with aluminium sheet to obviate seepage of the corrosive fluid.
This vehicle carries a standard Atkinson cab having timber framework and glass-fibre panelling, which company designers consider is by far the best type of fabrication in terms of low cost and weight, durability, efficient sealing and freedom from drumming.
Probably the first bodybuilder in the United Kingdom to develop a demountable body system, A. C.
Penman Ltd., are showing their now well-known retractable-tube demount ing gear fitted to an 18 ft. timber: framed van body (on an Austin 7-ton chassis) designed for unloading on to stand-mounted rails. It is reported that applications have grown in the past year or so to include deliveries of industrial waste, effluents, compost, chemicals, explosives, furniture and many other materials and goods. Moreover, the system has been used to convert platform lorries into tipping vehicles, notably bulk-grain tippers, and has been applied to trailers.
The main advantage of a demountable body is, normally, that it allows for a protracted loading time without immobilizing the prime-mover, so it is somewhat paradoxical that the Penman body is equipped with Joloda tracks to facilitate rapid pallet loading.
Also fitted with Joloda tracks, a Bonallack 30 ft. light-alloy body is shown by Scarnmell Lorries Ltd. on a Routeman Mk. 2 eight-wheeled 24-tongross chassis. Designed to comply with the Customs and Excise regulation for the carriage of whisky in bulk, the body is mounted on aluminium cross-bearers arranged at 2 ft. centres and has a plywood floor and ribbed
aluminium sides. The ends of all bolts used in the construction of the body are welded over to deter would-be thieves, The largest vehicle at the Show, a Scarnmcll Handyman Mk. 2 32-tongross tractive unit, is exhibited in the demonstration park coupled to a Scammell trailer on which is mounted a Smith's Litex insulated van body with a Thermo-King refrigerating unit.
In the nearby marquee .of the Northern Trailer Co. Ltd., the six exhibits include a tipping semi-trailer equipped with Edbro twin-ram, frontof-body gear designed for a payload of 12-14 tons, special features of which include fold-outwards auxiliary legs that can be adjusted to support the load at the front of the trailer and thus prevent tilting about the landing legs.
Not Enough Space
Undoubtedly n mechanical-handling equipment would have been far more in evidence had there been more space available in Kelvin Hall. This is substantiated by the publicity given to the Telehoist Ltd. Load Lugger demountable container vehicle on the company's stand in the accessory area and by the display staged by the SMT Sales and Service Co. Ltd. at their Finnieston Street depot of Bedfordbased equipment. This display includes an Abelson Swop-body demountable system, a CAF Multi-Bucket machine, a Bristol Metal Contracts Brimec selfloader and a Peterborough Engineering bulk-grain carrier with pneumatic discharge.
A number of vehicles in the Hall are equipped with tailboard lifts and details were obtained on the stand of Adrolic Engineerings Co. Ltd. of a new type of electro-hydraulic lift which can be controlled by a pendant switch from any part of the vehicle and is available with a ram-operated " closing " mechanism. Other advantages include automatic rearward tilting of the platform at ground level, the availability of removable bridging plates that can be attached to the sides, and a completely free platform area.
Two-stage Stabilizer
Other new Adrolic equipment includes a Mk. 5 two-stage version of the company's semi-trailer stabilizer which is suitable for applications to fifth-wheel outfits and is lighter and neater than the Mk, 4, the valve being built into the body of the ram gear. Also new, an Adrolic spare-wheel carrier is of the ratchet-and-cable type which is actuated by the vehicle wheel brace.
Five sitting patients can be acommodated in the Lomas dual-purpose ambulance shown by Rossleigh Ltd. on a Land-Rover petrol-engined 109-in.-wheelbase chassis. If required an emergency collapsible stretcher can be installed in the seat area on the right, the main retractable stretcher being located on the left of the vehicle. Other Land-Rover exhibits on this company's stand include a special hard-top vehicle on a diesel-engined chassis, which is equipped as a generalpurpose mobile workshop.