52,000 Sq. Ft. of Clear Garage Space
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New London Transport Garage at Peckham Accommodates 150 Buses Under Cover, and Has Mainten ance Facilities for 300
WITH• covered accommodation for 150 buses, and engineering maintenance facilities for twice that number, London Transport's new garage at Peckham has now been brought into service. The site, which is between Peckham High Street and Hanover Park, occupies 21 acres, and in addition to the parking space and maintenance shops, the building embraces administrative offices, canteen, 'recreation room, and the SouthEast Divisional Medical Centre.
An outstanding feature of the building is the roof over the parking area. This comprises two rows of six reinforced-concrete barrel vaults, each 110 ft. long and of 40-ft. span, the dividing beam being supported by only two intermediate reinforced-concrete columns. Thus, there is a parking area of 52,000 sq. ft. that is almost free from obstruction.
Vehicles coming out of service enter from Hanover Park, and to prevent congesting the highway they are driven into a " reservoir." From here the buses pass on to the first position in one of the servicing lines, where they are vacuum-cleaned and replenished with fuel and oil. An Essex washing machine forms the second position and here the exteriors of the buses are treated. There are three Essex machines altogether.
Between the first and second positions on one of the servicing lines, a roofwashing machine, designed and patented by London Transport, is installed, and vehicles can be directed under this by rotation. Before entering the dock area all vehicles have their chassis cleaned by high-pressure steam.
Inspection pits are divided into three groups, known as major dock, interdock and rota and running shift. All pits are equipped with fluorescent lighting, the tube housing being located and the light directed so that the fitter's vision is never impaired. A compressed-air supply is available in the pits, and the special means provided for crankcase drainage ensure that the oil cannot deface the pit floor.
The traffic offices are on the ground floor of the administrative building, the hall of which leads into the conductors' room, where the men are able to make up their waybills and check their tickets and cash.
In the canteen, the main dining-room has seating room for 132 persons, the administrative dining-room having accommodation for 24. Billiards, table tennis and other indoor games can be played in the recreation room.
Plant and Equipment
The plant and equipment installed include five 5,000-gallon fuel tanks and two 500-gallon oil tanks. The vacuumcleaning plant has two electrically driven turbo-exhausters arranged to operate independently or in combination, so that up to 12 operators can work at the same time.
Full use is made of compressed air for hoisting and lifting apparatus, for forced-lubrication equipment, and for all types of portable handtools, as well as for tyre inflation.
The steam jenny used for spraying the underside of chassis is a stationary gas-fired machine which sprays. under a pressure of 80-100 lb. per sq. in.. a highly atomized mixture of steam, hot water and cleaning compound. The lift employed to raise the vehicles is of 10-ton capacity.
Other items of equipment include a heavy-duty brake-refacing machine, a 111-in. centre lathe, two drilling machines, a pedestal grinder, a valve refacer, and a number of mobile cranes and hoists.
The new garage, with all its up-iodate servicing facilities, has afforded much relief to many other garages in the central area by making possible a re-allocation of South London bus services, as well as in accommodating most of the new vehicles required in the fourth stage of the tram °flyers ion scheme.