Operators' Opinions of British Gas Vehicles
Page 53
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First H.S.G. Luny in Service Giving Great Satisfaction. Highland Operator Places Order
for Coach. Yorkshire Bus Owner Much Impressed
LAST week the first H.S.G. producergas lorry to be put into regular service completed its sixth return trip between. London and Leeds. Acquired recently by Messrs. T. W. Nightingale, haulage contractors, Iron Street, Leeds, 10, this vehicle, a 6-tonner, during the fortnight embracing the Coronation and Whitsun week-end (on which holidays it was not running), covered a total distance of some 3,000 miles with flying colours.
In a recent interview with Mr. Nightingale we learned that he was, up to date, entirety satisfied with the performance of this vehicle and highly gratified at the big saving he was effecting, by its means, in his fuel costs. His firm runs two lorries, one a Gilford using petrol and the other the H.S.G., which has replaced " another petrol vehicle, recently disposed of.
The gas machine is operated under a temporary A licence and is regarded, for taxation purposes, as being in the steam or coal-gas class. Its unladen weight is 3i tons. .
General goods are carried and their collection and distribution often involve a considerable mileage in the London district and about Yorkshire, in addition to the 190 miles separating Leeds from the Metropolis. The vehicle is frequently in service for 24 hours on end, each straight trip occupying abput 11 hours.
Big Saving on Fuel. .
Records shown us contain particulars of a number of journeys, the total mileage of which is 2,526. On these, 3,653 lb. (1 ton 12* cwt.) of fuel (anthracite and a small quantity of Suncole) have been consumed. The cost of anthracite in bulk is £2 8s. per ton. Messrs. T. W. Nightingale are at present paying £3 per ton, through buying in moderate quantities. Thus, their fuel expenditure for the 2,526 miles has been £4 18s.
.Comparing this with the fuel cost of their similar petrol machine, on the basis that this uses fuel, costing 1s, 2-6-cl. per gallon, under average conditions of load and so forth at the rate of 8 m.p.g., the figure for 2,526 miles is £19 ls. Thus, there is a saving of :214 3s., or about £5 10s. per 1,000 miles. Incidentally, only 3t pts. of lubricating oil have been used.
At present the drivers of the H.S.G. are being accompanied by an engineer from Gilfords (11.5.G.); Ltd., North Circular • Road, London, N.W.10, the maker of the vehicle, His part is to train them in its proper handling and maintenance and to remedy any failure that might arise.
Hitherto his services in the latter respect have not been required. With regard to the former, almost the only extra knowledge required for driving is for the operation of the air control. When starting there is the electric blower to attend to and the simple job of lowering the clinker has to be done at about the half-way point.
At each end of the 200-mile run clinker is removed, the filters cleaned and the new fuel sifted. This work occupies roughly one hour and could, under ordinary conditions, be done by a boy. No fuel, in addition to that in the producer hopper, is carried, supplies being kept at Leeds and London.
The drivers, it is stated, like the machine, finding it not only light to control, but also silent and relatively vibrationless. Moreover, they have made unsolicited comment upon the flexibility and " hanging-on " powers of the engine. It seems that the lorry can more than hold its own with comparable vehicles encountered on the road even when these are more lightly laden. A by no means unimportant point is that the exhaust is clear.
Great interest is, of course, being aroused wherever this pioneering H.S.G. goes, and we feet it safe to predict that Messrs. T. W. Nightingale are making history.
In The Commercial Motor dated May 7, 1937, we illustrated and described an 11.5.G., A.E.C.-engined passenger chassis that was shortly to' go on a demonstration tour to Scotland. This project has since been accomplished with great success. The performance of the vehicle was observed by Mr. Laurence Bell, M.I.A.E., consulting engineer, 85, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, whose report we have before us. Its route was as follows :--London, Edinburgh, Inverness (via Kincardine Bridge), Berriedale Hill, Inverness, Edinburgh-971 miles. This is the recorded mileage ; by Ordnance map it is 1,036 miles.
During the four sections between these points, the anthracite used and the distances of each were respectively 850 lb. in 385 miles ; 400 lb. in 188 miles; 450 lb. in 217 miles and 400 lb. in 181 miles. The average road speed was about 27 m.p.h.
Under the heading clinker in the report is the entry, "a very small quantity except • . . . when fire-bars burned" ; then about 1 lb. was extracted. On no occasion throughout the trial were the filters cleaned, but they were examined each day. The observer's comment here is, " a wonderful testimony to the efficiency of the filters and the fuel."
Berriedale Hill has a gradient of 1 in 7 and includes two hairpin bends. The climb by the H.S.G. of this acclivity was observed by a representative of the Highland Transport Co., 1,td., who states that "the performance was satisfactory in every manner," particularly in view of the fact that the gross load was 9 tons and the driver unfamiliar with the road.
Will be Run on Peat.
In his presence the machine was also driven for 104 miles from Inverness to Helmsdale along with one of the Highland Transport concern's buses. This company has ordered a chassis, which is now being converted at the H.S.G. works. We understand that it will be run on peat.
Another passenger-vehicle operator, a well-known coach proprietor of Doncaster, who accompanied the H.S.G. on a part of the outward trip and who may be regarded as a wholly independent observer, is stated to have said -that it was "about a gear ahead of his vehicles."