A Special Coach for Desert Service
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BASED on experience with an earlier AIbion, Dwyer and Company (Iraq), Ltd., Baghdad, has had built by Albion Motors, Ltd., Scotstoun, Glasgow, a special motor coach intended for the Syrian Desert crossing between Baghdad and the Mediterranean. Basically, the company's 6-ton chassis with long wheelbase and Goodyear 10.50-in. tyres is employed, but the largest Albion petrol engine, developing 110 ti.h.p. at 2,000 r.p.m., is fitted. The standard 6tonner gearbox and 6-to-1 back-axle ratio are specified. Two petrol tanks, one on each side of the frame, have a total capacity of 150 gallons.
The body is of particular interest, being no less than 9 ft. 2 ins, in overall width, and of extraordinary strength. The body frame is of fully ffitched ash members sheathed with silver steel, the cross-bearers having built into them pressed steel channels of 2i ins. by 11in. by * in. section. Steel bands passing up the outside of the pillars and over the roof bind the whole structure transversely. No screws are used in the framework, bolts and nuts being employed throughout The roof is double, the outer panelling being of moleskin-covered Oregon pine, built to take a 30-cwt. load; this has a lining of asbestos 'is in. thick, and between this and an aluminium inner panelling is a space open to a through air draught. The sides of the roof luggage hopper form a superstructure.
The driver's compartment seats, in addition to a relief driver, two secondclass passengers. The main compartment accommodates 12 forward-facing individual seats for first-class passengers. These seats are of special design, built up of welded steel tube and having leather-covered spring-andhorsehair upholstery. The seat backs are adjustable, with five positions between the vertical and a full recline. Each seat has an adjustable foot-rest, also a detachable meal table, both of these fittings being normally housed beneath the seat proper.
At the rear of the coach are crockery and food cupboards, also two water tanks, built into the roof quarters adjacent to ice bunkers. These tanks and one which is mounted on the roof at the front have a total capacity of 47 gallons. Powerful headlights, a searchlight, rear traffic lights and interior lighting call for special batteries.