Non-stop Buses to Relieve Load
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IT will probably be of interest to Mr. Ashley Taylor,
whose article dealing with the movement from work to home appears in your issue dated September 9, to know that in 1941 I was chairman of a committee comprising The Federation of British Industries, The National -Employers' Federation, The London Chamber of Commerce and other bodies interested in the transport of workpeople from and to their homes under war conditions.
At that time the President of the Board of Trade had invited traders' organizations, in London particularly,
to consider the further transfer of business houses into the suburbs. On the other hand, The London Passenger Transport Board and the railway intereSts were seeking a solution of the travel probTlem created by the air attacks on London, by means of staggering hours of work.
My own view was that neither solution would do more than touch the fringe of the problem, but that both would create other. difficulties which might be even worse than the remedy. I therefore proposed that the most sensible solution of the problem was to provide a service by coach or bus which would lift the regular passengers from the normal public services at the busy hours of the morning and even ing, by taking them non-stop from their areas of work to their areas of residence in full loads. Each passen
ger to have a ticket -entitling 'him to travel by these business vehicles, which wiJuld not be available to the casual traveller.
The London Chamber of Commerce went to considerable trouble to collect information from its members about the movements of their employees, including the times of their normal journeys. A prototype plan of the routeing of the business vehicles was prepared and discussed with the Minister of Transport, then Lord Leathers, but it did not find acceptance by the London Passenger Transport Board, the principal reason given being that it might result in loss of revenue. I never accepted this view, and in any case did not regard it as material under war conditions, but there it was.
As it is evident that a good deal of research is undertaken by the municipalities in connection with the local
transport services, I suggest that this idea might be considered afresh, and a .much more detailed study of it made than was practicable under war conditions.
As Piccadilly Circus area is mentioned in the article under notice, it will illustrate my point if I mention that instead of attempting to cater for the heavy business traffic moving in the direction of Golders Green, by buses from London Bridge which stop in the Haymarket
and Lower Regent Street, " business " buses-or coaches at the critical times could start and stop in St. James's Square. They could run through to Goiders Green and other destinations by the least populous routes, and without setting down or taking up passengers en route.
In this way the traffic would be broken up into slowmoving short-distance, and fast-moving long-distance, relieving both the normal bus services and the London railways of a good deal of peak traffic.
This principle could be extended to the factory areas on the fringes of London, where the services cannot always be regarded as in keeping with modern ideas.
Southall, Middlesex. FREDERICK SMITH, M.Inst.T.
THE EFFICIENCY OF ENGINE OIL FILTERS WOULD like to add some belated support to Mr. Garnet Hall in his criticism of the article by Mr. Le Clair, on "By-pass or Full Flow." His letter was published on April 1 and the article in question in your issue dated March 4.
• Theoretically, a full-flow filter must at all times gain over a by-pass type, but in practice, during some very extensive tests carried out in this country, this theory
was not borne out. Actually, cotton waste of correct grades correctly packed has been found to be far more effective as a practical filtering element than any of the felt-type filters so far available.
It might be mentioned that a well known felt-type filter placed under test beside a cotton-waste pattern showed, under rigid test conditions, less than half_ the effective life of the cottonwaste model.
One of the worst features of the full-flow type of filter is the need to provide a by-pass valve; when this by-pass valve becomes faulty (as it often does in practice either through lodgment of dirt or other causes) there is no effective filtration at all.
The best testimony for the cotton-waste type cartridge is its ability to remove colloidal' graphite from oil. I have seen the colour of such graphite removed completely in under 20 miles of running.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. E. W. CORLESS.
[We appreciate these comments from our Australian correspondent, but so far as the values of the various types of filter are concerned, we will leave this to be answered by others who have had practical experience with them. There is, however, one point that should be mentioned. It seems that Mr. Corless looks upon a filter which will remove colloidal graphite from oil as being the most satisfactory type, but some people like to have their engine oil graphited, and some of the special lubricants on the market contain this material. Apart from this, many oils are now being produced which carry various other additives with the object of removing or preventing the formation of heavy carbon •deposits in combustion chambers, pistons and on valves. It would be unfortunate if all or some of these were removed from the lubricants in question. This is recognized by some experts in altering, who believe that a filter can be too efficient in this respect, and that its main function-is to remove only those slightly larger particles of hard material which are so deleterious to cylinder and piston surfaces and the faces of bearings—ED.] HIRE CARS AND THOSE ECONOMIC RATES NAY trade is that of a taxi and hire-car proprietor "1 and my hobby is the study of road transport, particularly the passenger side. I find 'The Commercial Motor" most useful and informative from both these aspects, but your issue dated September 2 was, of course, particularly interesting to me.
With regard to your leading article, "Wanted a Hire Car," I consider that the 1938-9 Austin 18 long-wheelbase Windsor or Iver saloon fills the bill admirably. It has a generously sized body and the overall length, gear ratios and appearance could be modernized quite easily without going to the impracticable extremes found in most 1949 car designs.
As to my hobby, I have filed all the recent articles by Mr. C. S. Dunbar and Mr. Ashley Taylor. I feel that these will form a valuable record of a great industry tinder private enterprise, the value of which will increase as time goes by.
Referring to business matters, could we not have more good articles from S.T.R. on the hire-car charges, etc.? One of Amy competitors has been advertising longdistance journeys at 6d. per mile (garage back to garage). He employs 21 h.p. Hillman seven-seaters. I am certain that this cannot be an economic rate, but
would like this to be confirmed. C. A. REDDY. Wirral, Cheshire.
IS THE FLEET MAINTENANCE ENGINEER ENCOURAGED?
REGARDING the letter from Mr. A. R. Wilson, which
appeared in your issue dated September 9, he says that he would like the views of other readers concerning the placing of vehicle maintenance in its proper position, and the omission of courses on this subject by technical colleges. I would like to give my own experiences in this matter.
I served my apprenticeship as maintenance engineer with an undertaking which, rightly or wrongly, boasts of having the best-maintained fleet of passenger-service vehicles in the country—I allude to Leeds City Transport. I was educated to National Certificate standard at the Leeds College of Technology. Despite this, I was earning a bare a a week in this undertaking, as the charge-hand engine erector, and I might add that there is no production bonus on this maintenance work.
Now I am a technical sales service representative for an important manufacturer of heavy oil-engined vehicles —just another case of a man being forced into a white collar from a job that he enjoyed and was proficient at, in order to earn something more.
I would like to ask Mr. Wilson a question. Where is the incentive to become a maintenance engineer?
Leeds, 7. A. L. BIRD.
BALLAST VEHICLES REQUIRE BRAKE PROTECTORS I WOULD be glad of a little space in your pages to 1 bring to the attention of manufacturers a small point of design which is open to criticism on many goodsvehicle chassis to-day. When a driver wishes to unload or load a quantity of sand, gravel, granite chips or similar material from or on to a pile, he frequently backs his vehicle until the rear wheels are pressed hard into the pile. Although this practice is perhaps frowned upon by vehicle operators, it must be realized that this does frequently happen, with the result that chips of material find their way into the brake drums, causing damage to the friction material and to drums.
A pressed-metal shield incorporated in the structure of each rear brake plate, or even a detachable cover, would provide a compact and simple remedy for the trouble; but it must be fitted before the vehicle is in the hands of the user, who may not appreciate the damage which occurs or may be unable or unwilling to have the necessary protection added later.
I have recently seen a number of American lorries used for transporting granite chips, and the condition of the rear drums justifies my making some effort to attract attention to this matter.
Sunbury-on-Thames. M. F. AVERY.
THAT INTEGRATION OF ROAD AND RAIL TRANSPORT ADDRESSING the inaugural meeting of the Road 1-1 Users' Consultative Committee (what a dreadful title for any committee), Mr. A. Barnes, the Minister of Transport, has stated that his idea is to develop "an integration of the national railways system, long-distance road haulage and a series of area schemes in which road passenger services are all organized."
Ignoring the obvious point that road passenger transport is already organized or it would not be in existence, even Mr. Barnes must surely see that the whole conception of " integrated " road transport is an experiment— in the opinion of the writer, a wild and unreasoned experiment. The country is in no state to risk such "kill or cure" methods at the moment.
Some of the road haulage concerns which have already been taken over have been shattered recently by an instruction that they must show in luminous letters above all vehicles the words "British Road Services."
In one instance this is costing a northern firm (I should say a late northern firm) over £300—no, I am wrong. In this particular instance it is costing. the British taxpayer over £500, If this be a sample of " integration " I suggest .that Mr. Barnes would be well advised to forget his grandiose and impracticable schemes, and solve the difficulties of British Railways some other way.
The poor old British taxpayer has quite enough oil his
plate at the moment. R. ERSKINE HILL,
Organizing Secretary.
(For Omnibus Passengers' Protection Association.) Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 2.
SOME NEWS CONCERNING A MYSTERY BUS
IN last week's issue of "The Commercial Motor," you I showed a picture of an A.E.C. 8-ft.-wide full-fronted, double-decker bus. I believe that this is the bus to which you refer in the third item in the second column of "One Hears." You do not seem to have much information about this vehicle and I think that I can give you some:—The bus has London Transport size indicators (front and rear), a London Transport type emergency exit, it seats 60 and the interior is brown, cream and green like London Transport bus interiors.
London, N.6. J. DEUTSCH.