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Small-town Hauliers with Big-town Ideas

30th May 1947, Page 34
30th May 1947
Page 34
Page 35
Page 34, 30th May 1947 — Small-town Hauliers with Big-town Ideas
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

IT is not 'necessary to look in the big !cities of Canada to find the Dominion's most efficient road transport companies. Consider, for example, the small town of Granby, in the province of Quebec, at the end of a spur line of the Canadian National Railway. This place owes a great deal for its development to the transport firm of Messrs. Ball Brothers, who run a fleet of 50 lorries, including articulated vehicles.

In 191S, two brothers, Clayton and Loran Ball, started a small cartage business, picking upodd jobs and doing some work for the railway during the five winter months when all roads are snowbound. Later they proposed that the railway companies should supply them with a certain number of wagons each week which they could unload, and then transport the goods to Montreal and Sherbrooke on their vehicles. The railway company flatly -refused them, saying that it would do nothing that might help the hauliers.

Railway Dominated The brothers then realized that Granby would grow only as fast as the railway would allow, unless some means could be found for ensuring that Granby manufacturers received quick arid prompt deliveries of their goods to Montreal and other large centres.

With this aim in mind, they expanded their business in 1924 into that of a fully fledged road transport concern, which to-day operates over 50 units, making 15 round trips daily to Montreal and five to Sherbrooke. Twenty-five machines of this fleet are 12-14-ton tractor-trailer outfits, the remainder being 6-7-ton lorries. Whilst the chassis are of International make, all of the bodies and most of the trailers were made in the firm's own body-building shop.

The roads in the district are snowbound for five months of every year. Messrs. Ball Bros. opened the Granby highway in winter for the first time in

history, and have kept it open every year with their own snow-removal equipment. To do this requires four ploughs and two bulldozers working 24 hours a day.

Being located near the mountains and having wind-swept stretches, on a perfectly clear day the wind will pick the snow up and block the highway as quickly as the ploughs clear it. Seventyfive per cent, of all goods produced in the province and moved by road have to pass over this highway, and to keep it open is work of first importance.

After the firm had been maintaining the highway for four winters at their own expense, local manufacturers began to realize that they were progressive and had come to stay. To-day these traders, manufacturers, and the Provincial Government contribute 50 per cent. of the cost of clearing this highway.

The whole business of the firm depends upon its snow-moving equipment and keeping this serviceable is the responsibility of the fleet superintendent, Mr. M. F. Darcey, who also looks after the lorries.

The fine garage is equipped with much modem equipment. There is tyretesting and inspection apparatus, wheel aligning equipment, and electrical test Mg instruments with which to check the balance of the engines.

In the machine shop there are lathes, boring machines, and other machines for rebuilding engines. Many engine parts are also made in this shop.

The entire maintenance. of the fleet is taken care of in the firm's home garage at Granby. In addition, they have 10 vehicles in Montreal, Sherbrooke, and Granby, which act as feeders for the large semi-trailer machines, picking up and delivering goods to and from the various warehouses.

Clean Oil Pays

All components are thoroughly lubricated and a change of oil is made every 1,000 miles of running. This is done in spite of the fact that all units are equipped with oil filters. The firm believe it is cheaper to buy oil than to have equipment tied up for repairs.

All engines are given a thorough check every 3,000 miles, and a minor overhaul every 4,000, with a complete engine overhaul scheduled at 50,000 miles for the trunk units and 75,000 miles for the local delivery vehicles. The schedule calls for the engine change-over to take place during the night, so that the vehicle can be ready for duty the following morning.

The engine rebuilding and overhauling programme was instituted as A wartime measure, for the firm do not believe

in this type of maintenance. They claim that their trunk vehicles can cover an average of 40,000 miles annually, with practically no expenditure on maintenance for the first year. Messrs. Ball Bros. can sell a vehicle for a loss of $750 and buy a new machine, thus ensuring freedom from maintenance troubles. There will be a return to this system as soon as possible. Messrs. Ball Bros. are great believers in tyre retreading, and their tyre inspection is extremely rigid. Tyres come in for a thorough inspection before and after each trip, and after 25,000 miles of road service they are automatically changed and sent out to be retreaded. This system enables them to have two retreads on the same carcase before it is destroyed.

Lorries and trailers are inspected every day by the carpenter to see whether body bolts have worked loose or woodwork has been damaged. This is repaired immediately and scratched paintwork is retouched.

Once a year every lorry and trailer body is returned to the body-building shop for complete reconstruction. It then passes on to the paint shop, where it receives its yearly painting before it is put back on the chassis. Lorry chassis and tractors are also painted annually.

Individual Body Features Messrs. Ball Bros.' body design is robust in construction, and smart in appearance. Amongst its features are specially designed sunken tail-lights. The rear bumper is a solid wood member measuring 4 ins. by 6 ins., in which the lights ac installed

The special colour combination, now well known in the Granby area was evolved as a necessity. They originally favoured a rich maroon shade, but, because of poor visibility in the blinding snow, a combination of bright orange and black was found to be -far superior to any other colour scheme. It is said to have reduced the number of road accidents. During 1945 the Provincial Transport Co., which was operating a system of bus routes, asked permission to use the same co1i3ur scheme on its buses, for the same reason.

All trunk units come in for a weekly wash and polish, and it is believed that the vehicles not only advertise the firm, but the community which they serve.

Convoy Operation

This undertaking runs several special convoys, and it is common to pass a tobacco, silk, or woollen convoy heading for Montreal. During the war the fleet was responsible for keeping Montreal from a famine of cigarettes, for the railway refused to handle tobacco shipments, and the Imperial Tobacco Co. depended on Messrs. Ball Bros.

Before entering the haulage business, the Bali brothers were farmers, yet they have shown more foresight in some ways than many city operators. For instance, to-day they are in constant communication between Sherbrooke, Granby and Montreal by modern teletype system. Previously, it was necessary for the driver bf a loaded vehicle to wait one to two hours for his bills to be made up. To-day he leaves immediately, and the bills are waiting for him when he arrives at Granby. Another feature of the teletype system is that it keeps a check on the drivers, and the running time has been reduced.

The firm are progressive in other ways. They were among the first operators to protett their clients on c.o.d. shipments by paying at once for all such deliveries by bank money orders, thus guaranteeing the client his money immediately. The usual practice of transport companies has been to deposit all c.o.d. monies into their own bank accounts and then pay by cheque.

Messrs. Ball Bros. maintain a separate money order account, and at all times have on hand in their office a book of bank money orders of a value of $4,000. Immediately the driver hands in his c.o.d_ money, the customer is posted a money order fc4 the amount, and the cash is deposited into the c.o.d. account. This service has brought in many new accounts to the firm.

The firm are at present investigating the possibility of a radio-telephone inter-communication system between lorries on the road and the terminals.

All drivers receive detailed instructions on road courtesy. They are instructed to respect the other man and pull over to the side when being overtaken. Night drivers must dim their own lights when approaching oncoming vehicles, and are under orders to report any other driver who is in trouble.

This policy has paid dividends in many strange ways. For instance, one day one of the fleet's semi-trailers lost its spare tyre. Another driver, belonging to a rival company, passing in the opposite direction, saw a farmer pick up the tyre and roll it towards his barn. The driver stopped at the next town and telephoned Messrs. Ball Bros. In less than two hours a lorry stopped at the farmer's door and a man asked for the tyre, much to the fanner's astonishment!

Another policy that has paid dividends is that of assigning a driver to one vehicle. He takes care of it as if it were his ovvn, and is held responsible for its safety and operating condition. Some of the drivers refuse to use anti-freeze, claiming that the cab will not heat up sufficiently. This is sanctioned by the firm, the driver knowing that he will be held responsible for any damage caused by freezing.

. All drivers are of long standing, averaging between eight and ten years' continuous service in their job. The rule for all new drivers is that they must start as helpers and serve an apprenticeship. It is considered that if a driver be not willing to do this, he does not seriously want the job.

Each year a driver receives a bonus for freedom from accident for 12 months. The first year he gets $10, the second year $15, and the fifth year $25. In addition, he receives a silver badge for the first year and a gold one on the fifth.

As the reader may judge, Messrs. Ball Bros. are a progressive finn, employing many up-to-date methods, although the system of replacing vehiclesfrequently to economize in maintenance may seem strange to British operators,


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