A 2,300-Mile Road Tour Successfully Completed.
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T"party of about 140 schoolboys and their leaders who have been touring England and Scotland under the auspices of the Young Australia League, brought their trip to a successful conclusion on May 26th, when they arrived back in London with the fleet of Thornycroft motor vehicles which had been placed at the disposal of the organizers by John I. Thornycroft and Co., Ltd.
In all, 10 vehicles took part in the tour, these being made up of one single. deck bus, one 28-seater motor coach on Boadicea chassis and three singledeck buses, two motor coaches and three luggage vans, the basis of all of which was the company's Al subsidy-type chassis.
As originally mapped out, the tour was expected to involve a road journey of about 1,200 miles, but, as a matter of fact, this figure was considerably exceeded, due to many local excursions being run from the various centres at which the party halted. The actual mileage covered by each of the passenger vehicles was more than 2,300, although, naturally enough, the luggage vans were not called upon to travel with the complete party all the distance, and their mileage was 500 less than that of the other vehicles.
The party set out from London on April 9th, some of the principal centres which were visited on the outward journey including Southampton, Oxford, Birmingham, Sheffield, Liverpool, Manchester, Carlisle, Glasgow, the farthest point north reached being Perth. It was a happy little touch that impelled the organizers to make the turning-point Perth, for the League was founded in the town of the same name in Australia. The return journey was made via Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, Leeds, Doncaster, Grantham and Cambridge. The longest day's run undertaken was that from Bradford to Cambridge, when 153 miles were completed.
The whole of the Thornycroft vehicles behaved splendidly throughout the tour and completed the extended journey without a mechanical hitch of any description, and their running was so much relied upon that the time-table which had been pre-arranged was adhered to throughout, thus enabling the party to keep something like 30 appointments strictly to time.
All sorts and conditions of roads were naturally encountered, and a number of notorious gradients was negotiated with ease. In the latter connection we can particularly refer to the successful climb of Greenhow Hill, near Pateley Bridge which, in places, has a gradient of 1 in 31. The manner in which the vehicles ascended this steep gradient made a deep impression on the whole of the party, and in a short chat which we had with Capt. J. J. Simons, the founder of the Young Australia League, he told ,us that this was one of the features of the tour implanted in his mind. • Tiiit completion of this tour is of triore than passing note and, in a measure, marks a definite development in the history of passenger travel by road, because we believe it to be the longest journey of its kind undertaken in this country. For the party it has been an invaluable educative expedition, and for Messrs. Thornycroft, whose public-spirited action in placing the vehicles at the disposal of the organizers is deserving of praise, it has carried their narhe far and wide, the ultimate effect of which is sure to redound to their advantage.