OPINIONS S
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and
QUERIES
WHERE H.G.V. LICENCES ARE REQUIRED.
149481 We would appreciate your opinion on the following in connection with the new driving-licence regulations : (1) Does a pneumatic-tyred Fordson tractor used for haulage on the public road with trailers, but only between our own farms or to the railway station and only carrying our own goods, rank as a " heavy goods vehicle"?
(2) If so, does a mechanic who passed a test on this tractor and a Year ago obtained a licence to drive any type of vehicle require a new licence?
(3) Does a person who obtained a driving licence several years ago require a licence for this same tractor, which he has already driven for over three years?
(4) Is a licence required, apart from the ordinary one, for driving a track-laying tractor on our own land and between our own fields, i.e., crossing public roads? If so, can we choose our own testing ground? We are used, through long experience, to using this tractor on slopes of over 1 in 4 gradient, on which any Government official would most assuredly kill himself !
Aberystwyth. P.H.
[1. A licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle on a road is required to be held by drivers of all "heavy goods vehicles which are defined by section 31 (12) of the Road Traffic Act, 1934, as meaning vehicles of any of the following classes which are constructed or adapted for hauling or carrying goods or burden of any description, i.e., heavy locomotive, light locomotive, motor tractor, heavy motorcar, and articulated motorcar. Such a licence is, therefore, required by the driver of your Fordson tractor. 2. If, as we understand, the mechanic obtained an ordinary driving licence, he will also require to hold a licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle. 3. Subsection (5) of section 31 of the Road Traffic Act. 1934, provides that the licensing authority may require an applicant for a licence to drive a heavy goods vehicle to pass a test, but sub-section (6) provides that on the first application for a licence by a person who satisfies the licensing authority that in the course of the year ended on April 1, 1934, he had been, during any period or periods of, or amounting in the aggregate to, six months, in the habit of driving a heavy goods vehicle, the licensing authority shall grant the licence on payment of the prescribed fee but without his passing any test. 4. A track-laying tractor is a heavy goods vehicle within the definition quoted above, and a heavy goods licence is therefore required by the driver if it be driven at any time on the public road although only in passing from one field to another. You are not entitled to choose your own testing ground, but it is possible that the licensing authority would allow the test to be carried out on your ground. It is not essential that the inspector who makes the test should ride on the vehicle.—ED.1
A CAUSE OF WATER LEAKAGE IN CYLINDERS.
[4949] From time to time we are struck by the recurrence of some particular form of trouble which could be avoided if certain facts had been realized.
For instance, we have received some cylinder blocks for welding, which have apparently inexplicable water leaks, and in many cases the trouble has arisen after new valve seats in the form of inserts have been fitted.
Valve seatings of this type may be quite satisfactory when the cylinder casting or, cylinder head is designed to receive them, but if this was not the original intention of the de:signer, there is a risk of cracks developing in the recesses machined to receive the inserts. This is because the casting must be relatively thin in the neighbourhood of the valve seats in order to facilitate cooling, and there is frequently insufficient thickness of metal to permit with safety the machining of recesses for inserts.
Trouble often occurs after the inserts 'have been pressed into position, and the first sign of the leakage is often the presence of water with the oil in the sump.
It is, therefore, always advisable for cylinders to be pressure tested after inserts are fitted, and it is, of course, an extra safeguard to test them before the inserts are put in.
When, however, the valve seats are renewed by welding these troubles do not arise, as the seats become a part of the original casting.
C. W. BRETT, Managing Director,
London, W.C.L For Barimar, Ltd.
REMARKABLE ECONOMY WITH AN OIL ENGINED 15-TONNER.
1.49501 The report of the performance of the Foden 15-ton oiler in your issue dated November 27, last, cannot fail to be of great interest to all haulage men, and especially to those who do the very heavy work.
For a rigid eight-wheeler with an unladen weight of nearly 7 tons to average 12.12 m.p.g. over almost 20,000 miles of running is really a wonderful performance, and when we bear in mind that with a petrol engine such a truck would run only about, 41 m.p.g. to 5 m.p.g., once again we see the great economy of the oil engine, and more especially of the direct-injection unit, which is more than holding its Own against its rivals. W. H. GODDARD. Beeston.
LEARNING TO BE A TRANSPORT MANAGER.
[49511 I am writing as a regular reader of your excellent journal. Although my little problem may be an unusual one to place before you, I do hope you will be able to assist me. I am at present employed in Scotland as a transport driver and am considering applying for a situation as transport manager or rather, in the first place, transport foreman with a Scottish retail society. I have nothing actually in view at the moment, bUt there are frequent vacancies in this line amongst the societies.
I have a good enough mechanical knowledge, having had three years' workshop training and seven years' experience on the road with all types of machine, petrol and oil. These societies, of course, do practically no outside work, mostly carrying only their own goods under C licences.
. On the orgahizing side, is. there any book or magazine of which you know or can recommend, dealing with transport organization? As regards costing, etc., has S.T.R., or anybody else, written any book or work on this subject, other than your handy Tables of Operating Costs, which I have? Also, how can I make a proper study of law regarding licences? I already have in my possession " The A.B.C. of Goods Vehicle Licensing."
If there be any fee for this advice, I shall be delighted to pay, if only you can advise me on these matters and make any suggestion for study in any way.
Stirling. P.J.
[There is no English book yet published which deals comprehensively with the organization of a road transport concern: there are some American 'publications on the market but they would be of little use to you. You will probably find that the experience you have already had is almost sufficient So far as costsare concerned, The Commercial 'Motor Costs Records, issued at the price of is., •should be of some assistance to you. Each record suffices for two vehicles for one year. The A.B.C.of Goods Vehicle. Licensing, which you say you have, embodies all, the essential information. It would probablY help you if you became a student of the Industrial Transport Nssociation, which is a body especially catering or transport managers. It issues valuable literature on the subject of management and has instituted an excellent scheme for examinations. If there, be any particular .point upon which you are in difficulty, if yoti will drop us a line we shall be pleased to let you have the necessary information ...LED.]
WHERE RECORDS OF ROAD ACCIDENTS CAN BE OBTAINED. •
14952] We shall be glad if you will let us know whether it be possible to obtain a statistical record ot the number of accidents, both fatal and otherwise, over the past 12 months, or failing that, the latest obtainable, showing the number of percentage, in which each of the following were Concerned f—Commercial vehicles, private cars, motorcycles, and cycles. If you are unable to give 'us this record 'perhaps you will be good enough to 'inform us where it can be obtained.
S. FABRAIN,
Cardiff. For H. J. Cridland and Sons.
[The Ministry of Transport issues annually a report on fatal road accidents, and the figures in respect of the year 1935 are obtainable from the Stationery Office; there is a branch at 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff. The report is priced at 2s. This contains a thorough analysis of fatal road accidents of all types. In 'addition, the Ministry issues weekly two summaries (one for the City of London and Metropolitan Police district, and the other for the whole country) of persons killed or injured in road accidents, which you would probably find useful. So that you may obtain some idea of the way in which these are compiled, we have forwarded the latest returns covering the week ended November 21, 1936.—En.]
FINED FOR INEFFICENT BRAKES.
149531 We are the owners of a Surrey Dodge 2-tonner
• fitted with a Lockheed hydraulic foot brake, also a hand brake the lever of which is on the short side compared with other vehicles. We were recently summoned for defective hand brake and fined £2 for permitting and the driver £1 for using this, with a rider added by the magistrate that, "had it not been that the foot brake was in good condition and in working order the fine would have been heavier."
The, police quoted part of the Construction and Use Regulations and I . noted where they referred to an efficient braking:system operated by' two separate
B24 means. Would you please give us details of this part of the Act, together with your opinion? As you will have seen above, we did have one efficient braking system, and claim that the hand brake is a parking brake. E.B. Abercynon.
[The regulations concerning brakes state that every motorcar shall have an efficient braking system or systems with two means for operation, so constructed that any failure of any part (other than a fixed member or brake-shoe anchor pin) through or by means of which the force necessary to apply the brakes is transmitted, there shall still be available for application to not less than half the number of the wheels of the vehicle brakes sufficient, under the most adverse conditions, to bring the vehicle to rest within a reasonable distance. This would appear to indicate that the hand brake must also be fairly efficient so that in case of the foot brake failing it could be used effectively; consequently, the hand brake must now be looked upon as being rather more than a parking brake.—En.] USING A CATTLE TRAILER WITH A MOTORCAR.
[4954] Will you be good enough to give me some advice on the following?
I am running an Austin 16 h.p. car, for which I pay a £12 tax and think of towing a four-wheeled trailer weighing about 5 cwt. or 6 cwt. and capable of carrying one beast. Shall I require an A, B orC licence? Is there any additional fax or insurance, and must I have brakes on the trailer?
I should carry most of my own stock and articles, but would you advise me 'if 'I am able to carry for a neighbouring farmer occasionally?
I should appreciate your advice as soon as possible and I thank you for the very excellent journal which
you publish. • R. HOMEWOOD. .Paddock Wood.
[No additional licence duty is payable for the right to draw a. trailer behind a private car, unless the car be constructed or adapted for the conveyance of goods. As, however, the trailer will be used for the carriage of goods for hire or reward, it will be necessary for you to obtain a carrier's licence from the Licensing Authorities for your Area, Gaywood House, Wood Street, Westminster, London, S.W.1. It will also be necessary for you to observe the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in connection with the transport of livestock. A copy of these rules may be obtained from ELM. Stationery Office, Kingsway, London, W.C.2. You should also notify your insurance company of your intention to use a trailer and obtain an amended certificate of insurance showing that you are covered while your car is being used with a trailer. If such a trailer has more than two wheels, it will be necessary for a second person, in addition to the driver, to be carried on the car or on the trailer for the purpose of attending to the trailer, in order to comply with the requirements of Section 17 of the Road Traffic Act, 1930. If you restrict your work purely to carrying your own cattle and those of neighbouring farmers you may operate your trailer under a C licence.—En.]
RECORDING THE OPERATIONS OF COACHES. _ -'4955] We shall be glad to hear if you can 'supply, and at what cost, forms or books which would enable us to keep accurate records as required to complete Return No. FS.80 when operating six or more coaches.
J. MACPHERSON Fort William. (For A. and J. MacPherson).
[The best publications for your purpose are Nos. 7 and 8 of those published by the Charnwood Publishing Cu., of Coalville, Leicester. The titles are: "Bus Owners' Cash Book and Record" and " Bus and Coach Record Book (Road Traffic Act)."—S.T.R.]