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12,000 GAL 70-TON TANKER NOT ONE FOR THE ROAD
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By H. D. Cater
AMAXIMUM gross train weight of 70 tons and a capacity of 12,000 gal—those are mouthwatering figures for any tanker operator seeking high productivity. But they refer, not to road-going tankers but to two aircraft refuellers for the BAC Concord development at Filton, Bristol, which have been ordered from Thompson Bros. of Bilston. An artist's impression of one is published here.
Tankers of the rOadgoing sort were, however, prominent at last week's exhibition staged by the transporter division of the John Thompson group at Hucclecote (CM, October 13). These were products of both Thompson of Bilston and Darham Industries. They were shown alongside truckmixers, containers, semi-trailers, skeletals —and one simple boxvan.
As reported briefly last week, two additions to the Thompson Trailmobile semi-trailer range are coil-carriers and a perimeterframed container-carrying skeletal. The coil carrier shown at Hucclecote was 32ft long and designed to carry coils of 7.5ft diameter in a 20ft-long well. I was pleased to see that the well was radiused to form a substantial degree of toad-bearing surface and avoid local damage to the coil being carried.
Easily removable floor sections cover the coil well when the unit is being used on general traffic, and good drainage is provided for the well itself.
Another new item—the skeletal semitrailer—will take ISO containers of 1011, 20ft and 30ft and the 27ft Freightliner type. It has both ISO and BR aligning and clamping devices, and—as its description implies—it has main frames, of fabricated I-beams, at the outer edges; these "contain" the lattice of smaller members.
Thompson Trailmobile had yet another piece of equipment on show for the first time: an air suspension unit employing 661n.-long double air-pillows. This is a tandem-axled assembly intended as a running gear for tankers and other frameless bodies. Both axles are located by centrally disposed trailing arms, and compensation of air pressure is by a single levelling valve.
As well as many sizes and types of freight container, an ISO bulk liquid container was exhibited. This took the form of a 3,000 gal stainless steel tank mounted within a stackable framework with ISO corner castings. Whisky to North America is a typical traffic on which these are used.
A 5,000 gal tanker for Arrow Bulk Liquids Ltd., Hull, was one of several particularly interesting models on view. The three-cornparhilent cylindrical stainless steel tank was built by Darham and has hydraulic pumping gear. Through flexible piping, a p.t.o-driven pump on the tractive unit powers a pair of motors on a sub-frame beneath the cargo tank. One motor drives a compressor, the other a positive-displacement pump.
The system was devised by Drum Engineering, Bradford, and a change-over valve in the pipework of the displacement pump permits charging or discharging of cargoes without the need to swap hoses in order to change the direction of flow.
TIR Irish extension
AS A RESULT of the accession of the Republic of Ireland to the Customs Convention on the International Transport of Goods by Road, HM Customs has announced that TIR Carnets are now accepted to cover the removal of unexamined goods for through transit to or from the Republic of Ireland, without additional documentation or bond.
The RHA and TRTA have given guarantees to cover the duties and taxes involved. These guarantees do not, however, dover consignments wholly or partly of spirits and tobacco, which continue to be dealt with under existing procedures.
• ULSTER TRANSPORT AUTHORITY is to appoint a chief executive at £4,000 a year to advise the Board and implement its policies including advice on the management and development of properties yielding a potential income of £500,000.
• WORK STARTS SOON on 91 miles of M6 between Killington and Tebay in Westmorland. Mrs. Barbara Castle has accepted the John Laing Construction Ltd £11,707,248 tender and the work is expected to be completed in the summer of 1970.