The Motor Omnibus World.
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The project for a service of moLorbusesat Alfreton, Derbyshire, to which we made reference last week, is in the hands of Mr. H. R. Cleaver, an Alfreton solicitor, as secretary pro tern.
We are authorised to state, that the directors of the London General Omnibus Company, Limited, have decided to appoint a General Manager for the whole undertaking, at a commencing salary of Z1,5oo a year. Every deliberation will be exercised over the selection of a qualified man.
The flash boiler of the new FawcettFowler chassis is composed of drawn steel tubes, of 5-16 inch internal bore, and 9-16 inch external diameter, divided into three sections, and arranged crossgridwise. No less than 5o feet of heating surface is provided, in a very small space, and the box of the Bunsen-type burner has 2.,000 outlet orifices, each 1-16 inch in diameter, beneath the tubes, which are disposed in 18 horizontal rows. The illustrations make the general arrangement quite clear, but it may be mentioned that two water pumps are provided, of r-inch bore and
stroke, and these are worked off an eccentric at the forward end of the crankshaft. The introduction of a leather-faced, cone clutch is a novelty, whilst the decision of the manufacturers to leave the control, both of the water and fuel, to the driver, is at direct variance with the automatic systems of Clarkson and Serpollet. A full technical description of this system will appear in our pages hereafter, but we may mention, at this juncture, that arrangements for output will not be completed until September or October next.
L.C.C. Finance.
Mr. Allen Baker, in a recent issue of the " Daily Chronicle," writes : " On the earlier street widenings, where the tramways (sic) are already running, the tramways account has been, practically, charged with the entire capital cost. This was the case, for instance, in Harleyford Street, where the total cost of widening was L.,11,782. In Southampton Row, increasing the width by 25 feet, the entire cost of £28,706 was charged to the tramway subway capital account." He does not give any further examples. We find a few interesting examples on the other side, and give them, with the allocation of the cost. St. John's Street, Clerkenwell, net cost £79,400; tramway account relieved from liability to contribute. Battersea Rise, net cost £44,240; tramway account to be relieved of two-thirds of the cost. Blackheath Road, Blackheath Hill and New Road, net cost ,39,700; one-half the cost totre -borne by the Improvements Committee. Southampton
Row, between Vernon and Bloomsbury Places, net cost .146,500 ; the whole cost to be borne "by the Coon
cili LiOn -Street, South Street, Grarratt Lane, 'Defoe Road and High Street, Tooting, net cost £273,950; only L;63,000 to be charged to the tram.way account. Merton Road, net cost ,,218,coo; none charted against tramway account, Camberwell New Road, net cost ,4:„52,000; none chargedagainst tramway account. Hampstead Road, net cost ;6226,500; none charged against tramway account. Did time permit, we couldmake this list much more complete, but searching through the L.C.C. minutes is not a particularly exhilarating task.
Sir Charles Maclaren, Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway, stated, at the last annual meeting of shareholders, that the severe competition of motor omnibuses had adversely affected that company's receipts, especially between Baker Street and Willesden.
Shareholders in the Torquay Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, will receive back the full amount of their subscriptions in cash, as the result of the sale of eight Chelmsford steam omnibuses to the Harrogate Road Car Company, Limited, and the existence of a substantial depreciation fund, which was accumulated out of the profits for the years 1904-1906.
Circular motorbus routes, which are advocated, for London, by Mr_ Douglas Mackenzie, have been adopted in Edinburgh, with the General Post Office as a starting-point. Halfpenny fares have been introduced, and the circular service promises to be a great success. The Edinburgh and District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, which has decided upon the foregoing departure, has been successful in obtaining Licenses for the establishment of a service between Edinburgh and Leith.
The opposition of a conunittec of shareholders to the liquidation of the Manchester District Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, appears to have been, at least partially, successful. Following the assent of Mr. Justice Parker, in the Chancery Division, on the 22nd instant, the settlement. of various proposed compromises, between the liquidator and claimants against the company, will come before the shareholders, either in Manchester or London.
The illustration below is reproduced from a photograph which has been sent to the Beaufort Motor Company. Limited, of e4, Baker Street, W., from one of its Indian agents, the West India Motor Company, of Bombay. It represents part of a fleet of 13 2oh.p. Beaufort public-service cars which are doing splendid service between Poona and Mahableshwar. The service is a very exacting one, the gradients averaging i in m for many miles in succession. The length of trip upon which these vehicles are engaged is close upon 75 miles, and no vehicles, fitted with internal-combustion engines, have been found to suit the Indian conditions better than have these of the
Beaufort Company. One part of the service is continuous climbing for nearly 20 miles, and, in no case, has any trouble been experienced.
The article entitled "The Avoidance of Smoke," from the pen of Mr.. Douglas Mackenzie, which appeared in our issue of the 3rd instant, and our illustrations of the engine modifications which have been carried out under the direction of Mr, R. Bell, engineerin-chief to the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, appear to have attracted no small amount of attention. Apropos this article, and the question of who is responsible for the introduction of forced lubrication into MilnesDaimler vehicles, we must point out that this honour was never claimed for, or by, Mr. Bell, It is no secret that, at the instance of Mr. H. G. Burford, wile has devoted considerable time to the study of effective lubrication, Milnes-Daimler, Limited, has introduced a most reliable system of forced lubrication, and we mention this fact in order to guard against possible misapprehension on the subject, because it is clear that forced lubrication was, quite apart from any work done by the London Motor Omnibus Company, Limited, decided upon by MilnesDaimler, Limited.
Fares in Berlin.
Unlike the Berliner Omnibus-Gesellschaft, which commenced working its motorbuses on the " to-pfennig " tariff basis and, now, desires to have a more profitable scale of fares, the Grosse Ber liner Strassenbahngeseilscha ft, Berlin's electric tramcar company, is determined not to launch its fleet of motorbuses until empowered to charge to, 15 or, eventually, 20 pfennigs, according to the length of the section travelled over. No fewer than twenty omnibuses are " docked " at the Charlottenb-urg garage, and Berliners will not see them working until the powers have settled the fare question to the company's liking. The xo-pfennig system does not pay : the Berliner Omnibus-Gesellschaft has found that out, and the Strassenbahng,-esellschaft does not intend to go through the same costly experience. The Strassenbahngesellschaft has six lines mapped out. The buses will be fast ones, with stopping places at every 300 metres (328 yards). The Emperor, by the way, takes a keen interest in the development of the motorbus traffic. He, recently, asked an expert how it came about that Berlin was so shockingly backward in this respect compared with other big cities. " Your motorbuses are always full," said he ; "how is it that more vehicles are not put on.?" " Expenses," came the answer, "are not in proper proportion to the receipts. Tires cost a lot of money, and fares are far too low." "Oh, as to the rubber," observed the Kaiser, who has openly confessed to optimism and, hence, sees things in the rosiest of
" our Colonies will be supplying it shortly, and the price will drop." Meanwhile, whatever may become of German colonial rubber, Berlin motorbus companies are endeavouring to secure higher fares.