Levitation

23rd January 1959, Page 57

23rd January 1959

Page 57

Page 57, 23rd January 1959 — Levitation

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Keywords : Swanage, Ferndown, Bus

AIR suspension has been given a new meaning by the American Ford company. At the Chicago Auto Show, which opened last Saturday, they have a working model of a vehicle which is elevated a fraction of an inch above the road surface by compressed air. The object is to reduce the power required at high speed. Ford envisage road travel at 500 m.p.h. —but not, I hope, in my lifetime.

Back to Electricity

ANOTHER novelty at the Chicago Show is a model of a De Soto vehicle to be driven by four high-speed electric motors, one geared to each wheel. Hydrogen and oxygen fed into a fuel cell would energize the motors on the principle of a dry-charge battery.

Still Steaming

ENTHUSIASTS for steam might like to visit Mr. J. Hutchens, of the A31 Transport Cafe at Ferndown, Dorset. He has a collection of nine old steamers, including a Sentinel which, complete with an illuminated Christmas tree, took part in Swanage children's Christmas parade.

Nearby in Poole, Mr. James Harris is the proud owner of a glittering old Fowler Tiger steam traction engine, and in neighbouring Bournemouth, Messrs. Mark Loader still polish a Fowler Princess steamer. It's all good clean fun.

On the House

IEXPECTED the 600 Group to rise to the bait held out in my paragraph (January 2) about the use of registration numbers to advertise Heinz 57 Varieties. They have done so, pointing out that various senior executives have cars with registration marks comprising their initials and "600." Mr. Lewis D. Levy, who is well known to members of the Traders' Road Transport Association, is favoured with the registration mark LDL600.

One Hop Too Many

A YOUNG Indian took London Transport's Hop on a

Bus" campaign too literally and, in boarding a moving vehicle, slipped on the wet platform. Half kneeling, he was dragged along, hanging desperately to the• rail, with one leg dangling. The conductor stood and watched, making no attempt either to haul the passenger aboard or stop the bus. When taxed with his indifference the conductor said it served the young man right for boarding a moving bus.

I trust that when he is enjoying his holiday cruise in the Mediterranean next summer the conductor will not have the misfortune to fall overboard.

It Was, Too !

A COLLEAGUE to whom I mentioned this incident said 1-1 that the previous evening he had been pursued up Edgware Road by a double-decker, and when they were both approaching 40 m.p.h. the bus tried to overtake him on the near side. When they were eventually halted at a crossing the bus driver dismounted and came round to abuse him for impeding the flow of traffic. The blue destination blind of the bus bore the legend, "Express,"

Good Old Days

LN view of these two incidents it is not surprising that Mr. Herbert Gunn, editor of the Daily Sketch, should have asked at a luncheon of the Institute of Public Relations, last week: "What has happened to the courtesy campaign that London Transport used to run?" He recalled with rather more bitterness than nostalgia that the cheerfulness and courtesy of transport workers in London were once acclaimed all over the world.

Democracy at Work

NEXT week 12,000 Leyland employees will go to the polls. In their wage packets they will receive ballot slips on which they will be asked to mark with a cross their choice of a venue for this year's men's outing. Possibilities are Ostend. the Isle of Man, Dublin and London.

Unsung

MR. JOHN GREEN, who retires from the post of. traffic manager of the North Western Road Car Co., Ltd., next Friday, attended his last traffic court on Monday. The occasion gassed unnoticed.

Doing His Bit

ATRANSPORT manager whose wife, Elizabeth, wants to learn to drive, is starting a "Keep .Beth Off the Road" campaign.

Levitation

Page 57

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