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IN YOUR OPINION

26th July 1963, Page 62
26th July 1963
Page 62
Page 62, 26th July 1963 — IN YOUR OPINION
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

Moving In?

IS there anything under the surface of last week's news 1 about the reorganization of British Road Services' top echelon? It seems to me that the Transport Holding Company is tightening its grip. What, after all, is the difference between the old B.R.S. Board of Management and this new Federation? The only one I can see is that Sir Reginald Wilson, and not Mr. T. G. Gibb, will be chairman, Finally, if three operating companies merit having managing directors, why not B.R.S. (Contracts) Ltd.?

" TRUNKIE ".

B.T.C. Not Unmourned 1REFER to your issue of July 5, in which Janus I writes his obituary on the final issue of the British Transport Commission Annual Report. Even for Janus this article is rather more inane than usual in its viewpoint that the B.T.C. has passed from this worldly scene unrnourned and unsung. I should have thought that the reverse would have been a much truer assessment of the picture from the private road haulage viewpoint.

Despite the immense powers of monopoly conferred upon the Commission, the level of rates was kept up to an economic level both by British Railways and B.R.S., and only undercutting by private road haulage had tended to undermine the structure and reduce the living standards of the whole transport industry.

In fact, the road-haulage industry has lived off the British Transport Commission for years and in particular off the railways. Starved of capital for reconstruction and development after the last War and frustrated by outdated legislation to protect traders, hauliers, coastal shipping, etc., the industry was easy prey for anyone who cared to snipe away its profitable traffics. It was a case of protecting the wolves from the lambs. Despite all this, the industry's finances were still in reasonable shape when the Tory Government fostered the disastrous rail strike of 1955, which finally doomed the railways' efforts towards profitability and put private road haulage on its feet for good.

When one adds to all that the amazing C-licence hiring decisions of the Transport Tribunal, the Contract A to ordinary A licence grants and the ease with which A licences are granted under the 1953 Transport Act without regard to back loading or the fluctuating level of the country's economy, one gets the impression that private road haulage has not done so badly during the lifetime of the B.T.C.

May I suggest that Janus would be better employed taking a closer look at some of the resolutions on the agenda of the recent Transport and General Workers Union conference relating to excessive drivers' hours, overloading of vehicles and too fast journey schedules.

King's Lynn, Norfolk. ALEX M. HENDRY. 1144 Manual Changing Smoother?

I N his article Automatic Choice ", Mr. A. A. Townsin asserts that when the driver of a Routemaster selects his own gears, the result is inferior to that obtained by keeping the lever in" automatic ".

This, however, does not seem to apply to the RM fleet at my local depot, as every automatic change from second to third is accompanied by a vicious lurch, causing any passengers who are still standing to grab for support. I have witnessed several near accidents to elderly people as a result of this.

Whilst the final change to top is smoother it is accornpanied by flywheel slip, and it is obvious that the auto.; matic system fails to allow the engine revs to drop enough.

When the driver operates his own gears, providing he releases the accelerator when changing up, the change is almost imperceptible, and I am glad to see that more drivers are adopting this technique.

It is in any case significant that the fully-automatic option is not used in the new Green_Line double-deckers, where a higher standard of comfort is expected, as passengers normally ride in them considerably hanger.

London, W.13. E. G. CORKE.

Scrutinize the Specifications RIPPON is perfectly correct (The Commercial IYI Motor, July 5), and redesign is necessary if full advantage is to be taken of steels with a high yield point—and this is exactly what we have done.

However, we decided it was desirable for our lightweight knock-out back-axle machinery carrying range to include a number of popular features, despite added weight. For instance, we provide very strong outside body members with built-in ramping ledges for side loading. Further, our special knock-out back-axle system, which has the advantage of being sprung, gives very easy attaching and detaching, and with the wheel sets removed leaves a loading platform with the very minimum of projections, although it is not the lightest possible arrangement.

Weight/load ratios and weight comparisons do not mean very much by themselves—there has to be very objective scrutiny of the specifications, which is not usually possible.

I think the object of the exercise is not to build the lightest-possible semi-trailer, but the lightest-possible model that will still include all the features the operator finds desirable, and will still have a very big safety factor. This last point must be emphasized particularly as, without any intention to overload, misloading can well occur when machinery is being transported. Providing this extra safety margin may decrease the weight/load ratio, but I am sure this is what the operator prefers.

London, E.C.2. A. MARENBON, Technical and Sales Director, R. A. Dyson and Co. Ltd.


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