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loors by Derek Moses A remarkable exercise in public ations was undertaken by the Yorkshire oollen District Transport Co Ltd in wsbury on Saturday. To coincide with handing-over of a fleet of new Daimler .:etline double-deckers with Alexander seat bodies, the company decided to en its brand new central workshops to.the blic, and to convey parties on the new ses to see the modern servicing lane at the :ckmondwike depotin operation.
Yorkshire Woollen is now a member of West Riding Group of Companies—anler step in the National Bus Company's Igramme of rationalizing its operations. e other companies in the Group are the est Riding Automobile Co Ltd, which cl-out to the THC in October 1968, and :bble Motor Services Ltd. The Dewsbury irkshops were completely rebuilt in a joint rcise between the company and H. B. lynards, management consultants. A full seription appeared in the special ansport Servicing and Equipment issue of 4, published on April 9.
The open day was advertised on one of new Heetlines exhibited in Dewsbury s station, and invitations were handed to ;sengers on the town's bus services, or on bus scats for people to pick up. On : preceding day, civic dignitaries from al towns inspected the works, and a full >oft was carried in the local Press.
Rather optimistically (the company )ught) 1500 leaflets were printed to hand visitors, the leaflets containing a message m the Group director and general .nager. Mr F. E. Dark, and a full icription of the new buses, the modern rkshops and the servicing lane at ekmondwike.
Despite pouring rain, officials arriving to !n the premises at 10 am found a queue people waiting. It had been intended to
conduct parties of 20 at a time round the works—in fact the first party consisted of 65 people! Brighter weather which soon arrived simply inflated the flow of visitors. Shortly after 2 pm the last of the 1500 leaflets was handed out, and although the open day should have ended at 4 pm, it was nearly an hour later before the last party completed its tour. By this time an estimated 2000 visitors had taken advantage of the invitation.
I joined one of the parties for a sample tour. First we were shown the layout of the new pits in the sunken workshop area, and then the new high-pressure two-stage component washing and degreasing machine. An inspection of a Daimler Fleetline chassis was followed by a demonstration of fuel injection pump calibration and then upstairs to the works canteen for a welcome cup of tea.
The tour resumed with a look at the store keeping methods, and, on the way out of the workshops a front-engined double-decker with its rear panels removed to show the extent of damage caused by salt corrosion was pointed out.
The Alexander-bodied Fleetline, which took our party to the servicing lane, was admired for its attractive interior decor, which included a cheerful red moquette on the seats. echoed by an orange, red and black pattern on the Formica ceiling panels. Highlight of the servicing lane was a new Dawson five-star bus washer (also described in CM April 9). the latest of its type. And so back to Dewsbury.
Talking to Mr Dark and some of his colleagues at the end of the day, I learned that; although the new West Riding Group had been formed, it was likely to be some time before any noticeable changes were made. The new Dewsbury works would gradually take in the West Riding and Hebble vehicles for major overhauls, however.
What really pleased Mr Dark was that. although Yorkshire Woollen had come in for much criticism in recent years, on Saturday the public had the opportunity of seeing for themselves some of the problems and the steps the company were taking. This the public had done.
• Tyneside PTA was told by its Executive on Monday that the reorganization of services introduced on March 21 had resulted in improved service reliability and less lost mileage. Staff morale was up and absenteeism down.