New Post Office Fleet for East Anglian Parcels Experiment
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THE long-awaited experimental reorganization of the parcel post service in East Anglia will start on June 23.
It was in• March. last year, that Mr.
J. •R. Bevins, Postmaster General, announced in a Government White Paper that the Post Office was to make largescale experiments involving the transport of parcels by road, and had selected East Anglia as the area for a pilot scheme. (The Commercial Motor, March 9, 1962.)
Later it was learned that the G.P.O. would employ its own vehicles on this service although at the time it was expected that existing vehicles would be employed.. The basis of the new system wilt, however, be a fleet of 31 semitrailer boxvans, examples of which were displayed this week at the new Canning Town depot built to provide a transfer point for parcel mails routed via London.
The tractive unit of the new vehicles is a B.M.C. FF K300 fitted with a 5.1-litre diesel engine and an Eaton two-speed axle, 26 of these prime-movers having been supplied. The semi-trailers are mounted on standard Scammell 8-ton 26-ft. drop-frame chassis with trailing rear axle, twill wheels and 29 x 8 (12-ply)
tyres. Bodywork has been conStructed by Papworth Industries Ltd., with internal dimensions of 25 ft. -8 in. by 6 ft. 8 in. by 9 ft: 6 in. high giving a capacity of about 1,600 cu. ft. Main framing is of hardwood reinforced with steel flitches and panelled with aluminium, and a fulllength translucent glass fibre panel is incorporated in the roof..
The semi-trailer has a system of independent battery lighting so that loading and unloading can be accomplished when the prime-mover has been taken off. An interesting feature incorporated at the request of the G.P.O. is the handbrake lever mounted in an easily accessible position beneath the mid-point of the body, on the offside. ft is intended that the vehicles should deliver to several main centres on each journey, and mail Will be sorted into respective bundles enclosed in nets on the van's; to facilitate unloading, double doors are fitted in staggered positions on each side of the van in addition to the wide double doors at the rear. Mobile " boom " conveyors will be employed to load the vehicles. ..
• The area Chosen for thc experiment comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire and parts of Hertfordshire and Middlesex, the western boundary of the area being defined roughly, by a line drawn between London and Peterborough. Mail will be moved under closer control than hitherto, in bulk consignments, partly by rail and partly by road (about two-thirds by road) between relatively few main centres, with distribution from, and collection to, these centres by road. Some 90 new vehicles will provide these services, comprising the articulated vehicles and standard Post Office vans of 50-600 cu ft. capacity.
Drivers' Quiz
AT the finals of the drivers' quiz organized by London and Home Counties Division of the T.R.T.A., at the Park Hotel, Hanwell, on June 29, the prizes will be presented by Sir Howard Roberts, president of R.o.S.P.A. Each team will comprise six drivers.