THE BRISTOL PROGRAMME FOR 1925,
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Apart from Standard Chassis the Activities of the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., are Being Devoted to Improving their Bus Seivices and Pi ()mating Comfort.
DURING the year 1925 the Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co., Ltd., will market their well-known 40 h.p. chassis, which has proved so eminently suitable for passenger transport and also makes a very satisfactory 4-ton commercial vehicle, together with the comparatively in 2-ton model of the forwarddash type, which, n many respects, follows the lines of the larger chassis, almost all the unique but practicable points being retained, but, of course, on a smallerscale.
During the past year both the chassis have proved most successful. Vehicles were supplied to the corporations of Manchester, Glasgow, Doncaster, Yorkshire (,Srest,Riding) Tramways, Ltd., etc., and the West Riding Automobile Co., Ltd., who now employ 100 Bristol vehicles, of which approximately half are the 2-ton model, whilst only a fortnight ago an order for 24 chassis of the 40 h.p. type was received from Sunderland District Tramways.
The 2-tonner makes a very satisfactory form of one-man-controlled omnibus, whilst other examples of this model are being used as motor coaches. Our readers will, of course, know that the company run very extensive motorbus services rfot only in Bristol, but covering a large area of the surrounding country. Their fleet of 40 h.p. Bristol vehicles is constantly
being supplemented, and extensions of the services have recently been _made in the Forest of Dean district to Chepstow through Tintern and the Wye Valley to Monmouth. The routes now extend east as far as Hungerford, south to Bridgewater, west to Monmouth and north to Ledbury, Tewkesbury and Broadway, where they link up with the Midland Red services.
The principle employed is that of constant service. The buses do not run merely on odd days; such work the company consider is best left to the country carrier, and the work to be carried out during, the coming year in connection with bus services will lie chiefly in the consolidation and linking up of existing services.
The smaller vehicles are being used chiefly for local services, in towns such as "Weston-super-Mare, the authorities of some of -which are dubious as to the effects of the vibration and road wear caused by heavier vehicles.
'The efficiency of the services is well shownby the fact that involuntary stops, even including those for choked jets, the change of sparking plugs and such minor items, amount to 1 in 48,000 miles. Maintenance costs are 'proving extremely low, which is considered to be due partly to the excellent design of the chassis, the careful construction of the bodies, and partly to the perfect interchangeability of the units and their component parts.
So far as body maintenance is concerned', costs of upkeep are probably reduced to a considerable extent by the_method of insulating the bodies from minor vibrations, rubber cu-shions, shock absorbers and rebound dampers being employed, so that there is actually no mechanical connection between body and chassis. This also has the effect of reducing the sound waves, so that unpleasant drumming noises are prevented. Incidentally, we dealt in an editorial last week with certain of these points. The company are, however, not yet quite content with the good results which have already been obtained. They are still experimenting; rubber cushions are being introduced under the spring slippers, and fore and aft movement of the springs may be prevented by the use of rubber-tyred rollers running in contact with inclined brackets formed as part of the spring brackets. Thus driving and braking strains on the axle will be actually conveyed through the springs to the chassis entirely by the rubber-tyred insulating rollers.