COUNTERING RAIL) RATE REDUCTIONS.
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The Renewed Competition of the Railways. the Vehicle to the Load. Avoiding Time Load. Ci ad Transport Costs May. Be Reduced. Suit The Important Ratio of Weight to Paying Tyre Bill.
THE DRASTIC reductions in railway rates which come into force on May 1st will, of course, be beneficial to industry as a whole, but they may be taken, so far as certain classes of traffic are concerned, as eing intended for a direct blow at road transport and an attempt by the railways again to win their aforetime supremacy in the, matter of goods transport. As to whether they are to be successful or not depends to a considerable extent upon the owners of commercial vehicies. It is certain that, if road transport is to retain its' favour amongst those who have goods to be despatched, a reduction in the cost of freightage by road will also have to be made. The advantages presented by this means of transport are so many that, even with the rates slightly above those of the railways, there is no doubt that users prefer to have their goods sent from door to door instead of having them subjected to several loadings and unloadings, with the increased possibility of damage, particularly in the case of those of a fragile nature, but the difference between railway and road transport rates must not be too great, otherwise the advantages—strong though they may be—will not outweigh the extra cost, and it is upon this that the railways are relying in order to recover what they have lost in the past. We will not deal here with the question of quoting the correct and proper rates for different classes of traffic, as that matter is dealt with by Mr. Gosselin in his article in this issue.
Many owners will say that it is quite impossible further to reduce costs per ton-mile, but we cannot agree to the use of the word "impossible," for it is seldom proved true. In spite of all that has been done up to the present, there is still a considerable amount of wastage in time and labour, and in running vehicles either light or only half-loaded. .
Many users do not pay sufficient attention to the important matter of efficient maintenance. Every day we see vehicles running in a condition in which they cannot possibly give really efficient service. To use such a vehicle is a constant drain on the financial resources of the ownerl and possibly a quarter of the amount lost, if spent in maintaining the vehicle in good condition, would have saved the rest. Fuel and oil consumption is another factor in which progress can-be made. The gain of half a mile a gallon of fuel may not appear great in the unit, but, taken over a whole fleet, it may mean the difference between' successful and unsuccessful results.
Most freightage may be considered as being at so much per ton-mile, and it is our intention in this article tic t deal with the various methods or possibilities by which this cost may be reduced. In many instances the methods are probably already being employed, but not in all, and our suggestions will 'then apply to the latter. The most important consideration is, naturally, that of the type, or types, of vehicles which can most profitably be employed. Much, of course, depends upon the class of work which has to be undertaken. Therefore, it is very diffieult to lay down any hardand-fast rules regarding the matter. At first the problem appears to be quite an easy one to solve. For instance, comparing ton mileage costs for vehicles running on solid tyres, the onetonner conveys its load at approximately aid, per mile ; in the 3-tonner the cost decreases to 2id. per ton-mile, and in the 6-tonner it is reduced to considerably under 2d.
If we like to carry the matter still further, we can take the cases of the lorry and trailer, and that successful hybrid vehicle the tractor-lorry. In the first case, with a 5-ton lorry towing a 5-ton trailer, we find the cost is something like lid. per tonmile, and with a 10-ton tractor
lorry slightly less than this amount.
Thus' the answer to the question of reducing tonmileage costs appears to be merely that of increasing the load-carrying capacity, but it does not do to take this to far, Every typo of vehicle has its _particular position in the scheme of transport. The small tradesman would look askance and probably revert to the horse if the only vehicle available for his needs
the cheaper . the rates at which they can be transported.
Bigger bodies involve longer terminal delays, because of the time necessary to load and discharge them, but these delays could be, to a great extent, avoided if one body could be conveyed while another was left for loading or unloading. This can easily he achieved with trailers, but not so well with the average tractor-lorry. However, even in these vehicles efforts are being made to render the trailer what may be called " self-supporting" and capable of being employed as an ordinary trailer if the occasion arises. This feature was emphasized in the Hobdell Way tractor-lorry, which was described a few weeks ago in this journal.
We certainly consider that a lot more might be done with interchangeable bodies, even in the case of the ordinary lorry. A few are already employed by railway corrupanies, but to nothing like, the extent which their merits would appear to justify, in view of the saving of time ensured by their use.
Whatever means are employed for reducing time losses, the urgency of adopting them must be emphasized. A vehicle not rendering service on the road is like keeping a horse in the stable. It cannot, of course, be accused of consuming much fuel during its idle periods, but its driver and its second man (if one be employed) are drawing wages for work which is not done, or, at any rate, not for the . work for which they are primarily employed. The whole purpose of a goods vehicle, as its name implies, is that of conveying modeles, and, if not so employed, it represents so much capital lying idle. Even in the actual packing of the goods in a vehicle, time may be saved during the journey if care be exercised. Nothing-is more annoying to the driver than to find that the articles which have to he de
were one built to carry 10-12ton loads. On the other hand, t h e transport contractor dealing with such loads as broken concrete would find little use for the light Van, so that it is first necessary to study the loads and then to purchase that type of chassis which is most likely to meet all requirements. Where large fleets are employed, it certainly saves money to fit the vehicle to the load, and the bigger the loads livered first may be under a. heavy pile of those which ought not to require disturbing until later, or, possibly, at the far end of the journey. This may not Appear to be a very important point, but it is little .points such as these which, in the aggregate, mean all the difference between running to a good time schedule or incurring frequent delays.
Time wastage at the terminals and long stops en route often necessitate over-speeding between these points, _and this in itself is not only trying to the temper of the personnel (prbba.bly bringing them into a conflict with the police), but it increases wear on the roads and certainly raises the maintenance and tyre costs.
Many fleets could be rendered far more efficient if they were equipped with devices for facilitating the handling of the goods, particularly if these are normally of a heavy nature. Such apparatus has been described in the pages of this journal from time to time, and we have not the space at our disposal to repeat the particulars in this article. We would point out that, by their use, the owner of a vehicle might often he able to dispense with the services of a second man, and this in itself would make a -considerable difference in transport costs. At this point, perhaps, we may be forgiven for reverting to the actual construction of vehicles. It c1.7 would appear that we have by no means taken full advantage of all the avenues of design and research which have been opened up for -us. Take, for in'stance, loading space ; with the advent of the forward dash type of vehicle, well known in connection with the London bus, and later still in the Maudslay, Leyland, Burford, and Bristol goods chassis, the length of available loading space can be extended considerably without increasing the overhang or the wheelbase, and at -the same time the weight could be more evenly distributed between the front and rear wheels. Thereappears to be a certain amount of prejudice against this type, for it has not made the progress which was at first anticipated for it, although. we believe that it has an assured future, not only(for the ordinary vehicle, but also for the tractor-lorry, as, in the latter case, it will certainly tend to decrease what is at present a rather excessive overall length.
We may be wrong—and we are open to conversion —but at present we are firmly of the belief that many goods vehicles are far too heavy in proportion to the loads for which they are designed. If we are right, then a considerable amount of excess weight-which means. increased fuel consumption, heavier maintenance, more rapid tyre wear, and other losses consequent upon an excessive load weight, ratio—is being utilized-, to
no purpose. It should be remem bered that the weight of a vehicle is always with useven an unladen vehicle has to use a considerable =mutt of fuel merely in transporting itself, and the heavier it weighs the less is the useful load which it can carry.
On some chassis the power unit is unnecessarily large, and a much smaller ,engine could often be employed with added efficiency if the vehicle were equipped with another gear, as, in some oases, the full power of the engine is never required on practically level roads, and the additional gear would, through reducing the gap between the ratios; prevent the loss of speed on hills.
The key to efficient service is, of course, careful maintenance, and in this connection it should be remembered that the engine is the heart of the vehicle, and with this out of order, even if every other part of the vehicle be in condition, time will be :lost. The engine has to do work in hill-climbing and overcoming rolling resistance and internal friction. Unfortunately, we cannot quite flatten out our hills, although this is, to a certain extent, being carried out by road improvements. Rolling resistance depends to a considerable extent upon springing. Supple, smooth-acting springs, which will take up the shocks and jars and allow the vehicle to float along and follow the line of the road without perceptibly rising and falling in relation to it, de much to reduce this factor, whilst the more frequ sit use of ball or roller bearings throughout the chassis, careful and frequent lubrication, and the exclusion of dirt from the vital working parts, will certainly reduce the factor of internal friction.
It is hardly necessary here to refer to the importance of carefully adjusting the fuel supply, but the actual fuel consumption depends to a great extent upon the points just raised, and if attention to them saves even a small amount per mile in fuel consumption, the total for the year, when considered in dozens of vehicles instead of units, may do much to improve the appearance of the credit, side of the balance-sheet.
The yearly tyre bill for a big fleet is usually an item of considerable importance, and it behoves every user to endeavour to reduce it, A frequent cause of tyre failure is, of course, the driving of vehicles at excessive speeds, the constant hammering on the tyres tending to disintegrate the rubber, causing it to split away from its foundation. This opplies just a s strongly to u n laden vehicles which are driven at speed, as, in this case, the driving wheels are as often in the air as on the road, and apart from the hammering effect, they are constantly being speeded up and suddenly stopped. In many 'vehicles the wear on the front tyres is even greater than that on the back. This is caused by bad tracking or front-wheel wobble, and constant c.are should beexercised to prevent these causes of extra wear arising.
Depreciation is an item which necessarily appears in the figures. of costs, and is one which can by no means be neglected, for it assumes considerable magnitude in the case of a large fleet. Many arguments have been put forward as to the life of the average goods vehicle. For convenience in computation the depreciation is usually taken at 20 per cent. per annum, but in many instances this has proved to be a very generous figure ; it may apply in certain instances where vehicles are subjected to special conditions which tend to reduce their normal life, and, of course, much depends upon the way in which they are maintained. With thorough inspection, the renewal or repair of parts immediately they show signs of requiring same, and the generous lubrication of all parts, the life can be extended by at least 50 per cent., and this without unduly increasing the costs. A suggested form of tractor-lorry, using a forward dash vehicle,