COACHING PROSPECTS IN THE MIDLANDS.
Page 21
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
A Brief General Review of Conditions on the Constructional and Operating Sides of the Passenger Travel Industry.
AItECORD motor coaching season is anticipated in the Midlands, where, as in other parts of the country, the prolonged and hard winter has given owners an opportunity of overhauling and modernizing their fleets of vehicles. In some cases the opportunity has been taken to substitute pneumatic tyres for the equipment hitherto used, for the public continues to appreciate the improved riding comfort afforded by coaches shod in this manner. One owner who has just substituted pneumatics of 38-in. by 7-in, dimensions on his vehicles still uses the wheels shod with super-cushion tyres with the lorry bodies when the lorries are used for transporting loads of under 3 tons. The substitution of the pneumatics has cost about £145_for five wheels and tyres, this figure including twins for the rear Wheels. There is one point,, however, in connection with the employment of pneumatics on a large scale which is causing anxiety to some owners, and that is the question of dust, and in cases *here several coaches run in close for/nation it has been found that the use of twin pneumatics at the rear does not assist to reduce this inconvenience.
An owner in the Midlands, who is running several Maudslay coaches which are in their third season, has, by equipping them with pneumatic tyres, been able to raise the gear ratios slightly, and thus in this way he hopeslo ebtain greater silence. and a slower runnieg power unit, the care and maintenance of which should in consequence be reduced. This owner has also strengthened up the bulbous back of the bodies of his coaches by means of '1'-shaped Metal webbing, and has further improved the appearance of the vehicles by fitting domed mudguards.
Opinion seems to be divided as to the effect which the British Empire Exhi • bition will have on trade amongst passenger vehicle concerns in the Midlands. In one quarter an adverse opinion Is -given, but in the case of the Birmingham Midland Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd., it is stated that a great many inquiries have been received from parties anxious to visit Werabley by road, these inquiries being supplementary to ordinary routine -business, The " Midland Red" motor coaching service will, during the 1924 season, be run very much on the same hues as last year, with the exception that many more vehicles will be in operation.
The company's latest coaches are 32seaters, equipped with pnedmatic tyres and removable hoods and side screens. Some of the most popular tours planned by this company radiate from Learnington and Coventry, and others are run to the Shakespeare country in conjunction with the G.W. Railivay at Learnington and the L. 31. and S. Railway at Coventry. .
:Many bodybuilders in the Midlands are finding an increased demand for allweather equipment, and one of the neatest designs of this type is the latest Buckingham body, in which the windows are arranged to lower into the sides of the body, and can be erected with their metal frames so as to act as side screens. The vertical framing of each window abuts close up against its neighbour, into which it is arranged to fit; this construction gives a very neat
and workmanlike effect. Bodies of this type to seat 20 passengers can be fitted on chassis equipped with iineumatics. In the Potteries districts the authorities are giving careful consideration to the question of the provision of emergency doors on saloon buses and coaches of a certain type, in order to safeguard, the interests of the public, and for this reason some bodybuilders have devoted attention to the design of a. door of this type. On one of the latest types of Buckingham body a very simple emergency door has been embodied to meet these requirements; a brief description of its construction was given in our last, issue. Another item in the specification of some Buckingham bodies is a cable-operated bell, while a third feature worth noting is the particularly sound and sturdymethod of operating the front-entrance door on the one-man-controlled bus body.