Articulated 50-seater for Factory-worker Transport
Page 33
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SOME of our munition factories cover so large an area that the distribution and collection of operatives within their confines present an internal-transport problem of some magnitude. Time expended by workers in walking to and from their work places slows down production, so measures are being adopted to provide means for quickly conveying personnel to and from the departments in which they function.
This matter obviously comes within the purview of the Ministries of Labour and Supply, and the solution to the problem that has been evolved is the provision of fast, big-capacity buses which will operate inside these large works and, where necessary, between propinquitous branches of works that are not all built upon a single site.
Whilst obviously this matter has a definite general transport interest, it is of particular note because the type of passenger vehicle selected by the authorities concerned is an articulated outfit, a form of machine which has not, in the past, been favoured with official approval for p,s.v. operation. Single-deck buses, affoiding accommodation for 60 persons-50 seated and 10 standing—are now being built in considerable numbers. . In an accompanying picture, the prototype is depicted and its designers have clearly concerned themselves chiefly with utility and economy, and have worried less about , refinements or .msthetic considerations.
Essentials have received due attention, luxuries have been more or less disregarded. Straight, square lines and uncushioned wooden seats are features, but the suspension is good and the vehicle rides comfortably, ventilation and lighting are adequate, although passengers can see little or nothing through the gauze-covered windows, and there is adequate spacing between seats. The tyre size is 32 by 0.
Measuring overall 8 ft. 4 ins, wide, the body—a product of Charles H.
Roe, Ltd. -has a jack-knife-type door at each end and there is an off-set gangway with ranks of seats for three and for two on each side respectively. This obtains for the full length of the saloon, but, in addition, there are a full-width seat at the extreme back and a narrower scat backing on the front bulkhead.
Having as its basis a B.T.C. droppedframe chassis (made by the British Trailer Co., Ltd.), the trailing unit of the bus incorporates a two-level floor. From the main part two steps give access to the raised portion over The turntable.
Mechanical features of the outfit include the use of twin semi-elliptics for the suspension of the trailing axle, and the employment of a Dewandre servo motor for the trailer brakes. This is connected with a large vacuum tank mountedon the tractive unit—a Bedford W.D.-type short-wheelbase model—whilst an interesting' additional item of. the braking system is a vacuum gauge.