Steam Omnibuses.
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Another instance of a self-contained motorbus service is provided by the records of the Torquay and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, whose vehicles were recently sold to the Harrogate Road Car Company, and for which company they continue to do good service. The Torquay Company was formed in the year 1903, and the first of its eight Chelmsford steam buses was licensed on the 2nd November of that year. Its total capital account never exceeded L5,000, and, during its three years of work, it paid dividends at the rate of 7i per cent. per annum, as well as setting aside depreciation on a sufficiently ample scale. So well did these Chelmsford vehicles behave at Torquay, that the lost mileage in respect of vehicles on the road was only 3 per cent. for the first year, i per cent, for the second year, and 0.98 per cent, for the third year, in a total mile
age of 296,440. Owing to the adoption of an electric traction system for Torquay, the proprietors of these omnibuses preferred to sell them to purchasers in Harrogate rather than to fight the tramcars, but the accompanying costs, which we give in tabular form, are of interest as proving the ascertained expenditure in respect of the vehicles. The shareholders, too, got back their full capital, as the result of the depreciation fund and the price which the vehicles realised on sale.
With the advance of the Darracq-Serpellet company's plans for manufacture, even better results from steam may be anticipated in the future.
It is obviously impossible for us to make more than passing references to a few more services. The North British Railway Company has recently been obtaining excellent results with some 24 3oh.p. Arrcl-Johnston chars-à-bancs, and the one which we illustrate herewith is constructed to carry 27 passengers, exclusive of the driver, economy of floor space being obtained by the disposition of the engine. The Mersey Railway Company, of Liverpool, has experienced no little trouble front the Opposition of the Birkenhead Town Council, in respect of local services, by reason of the fact that the undertaking was held to interfere with the Corporation's electric tramcars, and considerable litigation has ensued. At present, as a result, only four of the company's 3.oh.p. Saurer double-deck motorbuses, which model is now constructed in England by J. and E. Hall, Limited, of Dartford, are in service. The Midland Railway Company employs three 24h.p. Thornycroft chars4-bancs, and one of these is at present in service between Larne and Cushendall. Mr. B. Mai-' colic, the company's engineer, on the Northern Counties section at Belfast, in a letter addressed to us a few days ago, informs us that the " machines as a whole have turned out satisfactory, but the bad condition of the roads has beeri a severe handicap." Thorcycroft motorbuses and chars-a-bancs are also.em‘ plowed by the London and South Western Railway (4 vehicles), and the Great Eastern Railway (3 vehicles), whilst the MusseIburgh, Nottingham arid Bristol tramways are amongst other users.
Mr. James Holden, locomotive superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway, has now in use three 2oh.p. Milnes-Dairnier, three 24h.p. Thorny croft, three 2oh.p. Maudslay, and twelve 3811.p. vehicles constructed in his own shops at Stratford. Menton of the Maudslay make of vehicle reminds us that Mr. W. Pickersgill, of the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, Inverurie, has also purchased from that company.
The general manager of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, Mr. J. A. F. Aspinall, M.Inst.C.F., M.I.Mech.E., in the course of a recent conversation which we had with him on the subject of fares, tells us that he has adopted the course of charging the whole-distance fare to anybody who gets on at a point remote from the station which his Milnes-Daimler buses are feeding, the object being to prevent pick-up traffic for the convenience .01 people who do not intend to go by train. Thus, in the service between Thornton, Crosby, and Blundellsands, anybody and everybody who mounts the buses for the first part of the journey in the direction of the railway pays 3d., no matter if the passenger chooses to get off at the end of the first half-mile.
The largest number of railway and tramway motorbuses have been suoplied
by Milnes-Daimler, Limited. For example, we may quote the following owners, apart from those mentioned separately elsewhere in this article, of Milnes-Dairnler vehicles :—Great North of Scotland Railway (13); London and North Western Railway Company (7); Glasgow and South Western Railway Company (4); Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company (2).
The largest number of motor charsa-bancs have been supplied by the Albion Motor Car Company, Limited, the New Arrol-Johnston Car Company, Limited. and Thornycroft's, but few of the proprietors have evinced any disposition to furnish particulars of their working. On the other hand, the Sutherland Motor Traffic Company, Limited, Lairg (Albion), and the Fylde Motor Service Company, Bispham, near Blackpool (Arrol-Johnston), have given the best of all proof of their belief in the vehicles by placing repeat orders. The former vehicles are used to couple up railway services, and the latter in conjunction with both railway and tramway undertakings. The accompanyinz illustration is of a typical, Albion chara-bancs, and this particular one is in service between Kingston and Bray, near Dublin.
A number of makers whose announc.2ments appear in our advertisement pages have, during the last few months, ako booked orders from railway and tramway companies, but no reference to
these is permitted at the present date, either owing to their recent delivery, or to the fact that they are not yet completed. These purchasers will provide reports hereafter.
In conclusion, we must point out the extraordinary merit and advantage of the motorbus for emergency work, and its ability triumphantly to continue service on snow. This last-mentioned fact has been amply demonstrated both in London and Berlin, as well as on various country services, during the past winter, when all other forms of road transport, including clectrie tramcars, were at a standstill and had, in some cases, to be abandoned. Another important feature in connection with motorbus operation is that of the extraordinary stability which these vehicles possess, and the illustration at the foot of page 393 furnished ocular proof of this fact. had the vehicle been loaded, instead of unloaded when this photograph was taken, the angle of safe tailor would only have been reduced to about 34 degrees. Lastly, even the largest of tramway undertakings can use motorbuses for cross-city services ; this is being done in Berlin. Internal heating is simple when required by the climatic conditions of the country.
We shall, of course, be most happy to answer specific questions on any points in regard to either home, colonial, or foreign use.