PASSENGER TRAVEL NEWS.
Page 62
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
The Latest Doings and Developments in the Bus and Coach World.
BRITISH BUSES FOR HONG KONG.
Some Details of a Fleet of Dennis Vehicles for Carrying Both First and Third Class Passengers.
rIONTEMPORARY with the rel_imarkable increase in the use of the motorbus in this country has been the development in the employment of this type of vehicle in countries overseas. It is satisfactory to record in connection with this expansion of the passenger road-transport industry abroad that )3ritish makers have received a share of the business which has been offered.
One of the latest fleets of British buses which has recently left this country for service abroad has been completed by Dennis Bros.. Ltd., of Guildford, which has built the vehicles for the Kai Tack Motor Bus Co. (1926), Ltd., for service in Hong Kong. A general indication of the build of the vehicles can be obtained from a picture of one of the machines, and in reading our brief deScription of this vehicle it should he borne in mind that it is similar in construction to the buses shown in the other picture which we reproduce.
The body is arranged to seat 2'7 passengers, and it has three doors, that at the front on the off side leading to the driver's compartment only. A partition -which is set transversely inside the main part of the body divides the latter into two sections, one being intended for use by first-class passengers and the other by those travelling third-class. iThe police authorities in Hong Kong lifeguards are fitted on both the near and off sides, whilst a driver's mirror is also mounted 'on the off side.
On the near side of the body there are four drop windows, whilst there are five which can be lowered on the off side. These have patent fittings which allow them to be regulated and locked in any position, and they are rattleproof. Pivoted ventilators are located above the main windows, and the ventilation of the interior is further assisted
by two Airvac ventilators which are situated in the roof.
The roof and its supporting pillars are painted white, and below the black belt which marks the waist line the groundwork is carried out in grey. the English characters which it bears being in gold, shaded black, and the Chinese ideographs in black: The chassis to which this body is fitted is the Dennis 15-ft. wheelbase model, the features of which are a fourcylinder engine developing up to 55 h.p., a cone clutch, four-speed gearbox and wormAriven rear axle.
The bus is shod with pneumatic tyres of 36-in. by 6-in, dimensions, singles being used at the front and twins at the rear, and it is interesting to note that a mileage recorder is incorporated in the near-side front hub-cap.