Originality in Bus Overhaul Methods.
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IT HAS been a source of great pleasure to us to have been able to inspect and to describe, as we do in this issue, the methods now in operation fo-2 the overhaul of the London General Omnibus Co.'s fleet of vehicles. The works are being "officially opened" to-day (Tuesday), but they are in active operation, turning out '75 overhauled buses per week, and they have displaced the overhaul departments of over 30 bus garages and the three coach factories formerly run by the company. They employ 2,000 men, and represent one of they greatest achievements in engineering standardization.
That this remark is justified will be apparent when we record the fact that a bus arrives from its garage one morning, is dismantled until a bare frame only is left, which, after examination and rectification, if necessary, is placed upon a second moving platform, receives overhauled components, and by lunch-time is able to move off under its own power ready for testing, painting, and being fitted with a 'body. The time taken for paint and varnish to dry constitute the greatest consumption of time In four days from entering the premises it is again ready for police examination and to go into service.
An engine takes 29 hours to overhaul ; a body is a few days in the repair shop and then three days in the paint shops ; a gearbox is entirely renewed in four hours. The differences are made up by increasing the "float" of components ; the longer the time of overhaul the larger the " float " of that particular part.
No two parts of a bus or its mechanism may ever come ,together again, and no attempt is ever made to effect this, standardization providing the initial accuracy and the adoption of a certain set of standards covering wear. Each part leaves the repair benches as .good as new and as clean as a new pin, and in the reassembling of components only the smallest tolerance is allowed. , This is why it is possible to re-erect a chassis on a moving platform, and, without testing it, to drive it away to the testing shed within four hours of its arrival at the works in the guise of a bus requiring overhaul after a year in public service. The whole thing is a marvel of organization and efficiency. We beard a well-known American engineer say, after a visit to the Chiswick overhaul factory, that what he had seen was onemore factor in compelling him to alter an his preconceived notions of the state of engineering in this country.
Prospective Coach Owners and Vehicles Without a Pedigree.
IT is, only a matter of weeks now and the 1922 motor coach season will be upon us. It is to be anticipated that many newcomers to the industry will fall into the places of those who vacated the business last season through inexperience, and, in order that they shall not meet the same fate at the end of the forthcoming season, it is as well to offer a few words of warning and advice.
The keynote of all motor coach operation is to establish favour with the public, and this can only be effected by providing comfortable and efficient vehicles. For passenger work, only the best will suffice, and it is a mistaken policy for any owner or prospective owner to assume that,. because he is able to purchase a second-hand vehicle at a comparatively low figure, he will recoup himself all the quicker. We have nothing to say against the vehicles sold with a guarantee by established second-hand dealers, but what we do say is that the past his tcry of a vehicle should be correctly ascertained by the prospective buyer.
A machine offered at a tempting figure may have been previously engaged for a year or two on heavy haulage work, often carrying more than its rated load, and, in spite of the fact that it may have been completely overhauled and parts liable to wear replaced, it is not to be recommended for pas,senger work, although it would probably give satisfaction were it to continue to be employed on goods haulage.
• If a vehicle has been previously used for passenger work, and is in good order, it is more suitable ; but it is well to know the mileage which it has covered and the class of work upon which it has been engaged. For instance, if a, motor coach has traversed 10,000 miles in a season, on short tours, it would probably be found inadvisable subsequently to employ it for long-distance touring. Public confidence can only be gained by a complete absence of breakdowns, and the latter can be avoided if the vehicles are maintained in sound mechanical cendition.
Another point which we would impress upon prospective coach owners is the need for joining the Commercial Motor Users Association or one of the many char-k-bancs owners' organizations which aro already in existence in most of the districts from which regular tours are run. By such action they will receive much helpful advice from old hands, and, incidentally, secure protection from piratical and unprincipled owners who adopt grossly unfair methods of business, particularly in regard to cut rates. It is a. suicidal policy for any owner to cut rates, its effects being in the nature of a boomerang.
Railways and the Road: Crowing Volume of Protest.
THE volume of public protest against the attempted railway monopoly of inland transport is swelling rapidly. There is, as has rightly been said in a statement on the whole subject issued by the North-Western group of Commercial Road Transport Associations, no public demand for the powers sought by the railway companies, who admit that the powers are required for their own purposes in order to protect their traffic from diversion to other means of transit. In other words, the railway companies object to the ,existence of competition.. On the other hand, competition is of material benefit to the public and a safeguard of their interests, to which a monopoly must unfailingly be injurious.
The few railway companies which possess the powers now being sought by thaa,North-Western and Midland group have not developed road services in the public interesct, athough those powers, in some cases, date back to 1904.
02 , Under. the Railways Act of last year, there is sot up a grouping system which almost completely eliminates competition amongst the railways. Traders accepted this, not without misgivings, but confident that they would not be deprived of other competitive means of transit. The experiences of traders during the period when the railways were under control do not encourage them to desire a repetition of the difficulties that then fell to their lot. ° .
The operations of the railways on the road should be limited to the collection and delivery of rail-borne traffic. As was strongly shown at the conference convened last Thursday by the Mansion House Association on Railway and Canal Traffic, the granting of the powers sought will inevitably deprive the trading and consuming public of valuable facilities.
The Time Fact& in Road Transport Efficiency.
IN many quarters, the importance of the time factor in connection with mechanical road transport is seldom, if ever, realized, and yet it is obvious that it is upon this that a great part of the cost of transporting goods depends. Delays in loading and unloading may handicap a vehicle, to such an extent that what should be a day's journey occupies two, and this is particularly the case now that the eighthour day is in operation.
It should always be remembered by users of commercial motor vehicles that all time spent otherwise than in running loaded is not only so much time lost, but actually represents a considerable amount of capital lying idle, apart from the continual expense of that proportion of the overhead charges which must necessarily be allocated to each vehicle. Where the total time occupied by stops is large in relation to the running time, the possible daily mileage of a vehicle is considerably restricted. This may not be of great importance in the case of a vehicle operating within a very limited radius, and making a large number of stops for picking up or dropping goods, but it certainly affects the tong-distance vehicle very considerably, increasing the hire charges and entailing expense for the accommodation for the night of the driver and his assistant..
Many goods of a perishable nature deteriorate exceedingly rapidly, and may quite easily become
almost valueless if delayed for-even a few hours. ..
In order to make up for the loss of the time durtng stops some users of commercial vehicles cause them to be run at higher speeds than those for which they were designed ; also, in some eases, they are grossly overloaded on the assumption that it is possible. to transport more goods at the same cost per vehicle mile. Both these practices are to be condemned.
In view of these facts, it will be realized that the only efficient way of dealing with road transport is to reduce the loading and unloading delays to the absolute minimum, and for this reason all those mechanical devices which expedite loading and unloading of vehicles should receive the closest 'con-sideration.
In certain cases, the time taken to load a large motor lorry may be reduced from one and a half hours to half an hour, or even less ; this means a direct gain in the possible radius of action of the vehicle of something like 12 miles. If the unloading of the vehicle is also performed with the same despatch the total gain may be 20 miles or even more, an increase which might quite easily mean the difference between a paying and a non-paying proposition. .
The considerable competition between the commercial motor users of the roads and the railways, and between the road 'transport contractors themselves, has resulted in large reductions in the freight rates, and the time has latvc been reached when the margin between profit and loss is so small that the, utmost attention must be paid to even the smallest points which will assist in adjusting the balance in the right cl irection.