Bird's Eye View
Page 48
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Link with the Past
By The Hawk
THE proposal to build a mono-rail between central London 1 and London Airport recalls the old Karrier road-rail coach with which the former L.M.S. Railway Co. experimented unsuccessfully in the early thirties. The mono-rail rolling stock would operate on the roads at the terminals and be similar in appearance to a Continental coach. On rail it would be capable of 100 m.p.h.
The day before these details were released a colleague travelled by coach from London Airport to the centre of London in just •under half an hour. Mono-wheel transport, he commented.
In Cipher
nEALERS are complaining of delays in the deliveries of a popular make of vehicle. They cannot, they say, even ascertain a firm date, no matter how distant it may be. They also sigh over a new system of ordering which has been introduced, whereby the dealer does not describe the vehicle but uses a complicated code which includes every possible optional fitting. One wrong letter or digit and he receives a vehicle of a kind that he did not want.
Perhaps the decoding department at the works has lost the cipher book, hence the delay in deliveries.
Buses Anonymous
AREPRESENTATIVE of B.E.T. the other day telephoned an acquaintance in a well-known manufacturing concern. The man to whom he wished to speak was out and the call was taken by a deputy.
"Who is B.E.T.?" asked the voice.
Fishing by Rail
DECAUSE of a last-minute repair. the 3.5 King's Cross
Newcastle freight train was 23 minutes late in starting. The driver knew that unless he got his skates on, the 3.40 passenger train to Leeds and the Talisman would catch hirit before Peterborough and the 4.50 before Grantharn. By Hitchin he had got his train well on the swing and he ran the 27 miles from Hitchin to Huntingdon in 20 rniuutes at an average of 75 m.p.h. He had overdone it. He ran an axle hot on one of the wagons which had to be detached at Peterborough
And there the insult occurred. He was held for the 3.40 and the Talisman to co by. When the signal came off, nothing daunted, he set off after them and he caught the Talisman at Retford. He was ahead of time at Doncaster. That is Mr. G. F. Fiennes' story and he is sticking to it. As line traffic manager of British Railways' Eastern Region he is. I suspect, also a 4herman.
No Parrot Cry
IS a parrot a lawful passenger on a company-owned bus? Mr. 1 B. C. Clarke, of Leicester Transport Department, believes that it is—so long as it restrains its language.
He made that deduction in discussing the discretionary rights of conductors in a paper read to the East Midlands Centre of the Institute of Traffic Administration. He was competing for the Institute's award.
Cooling Off
A N innocent-looking applicant was explaining to Brig. R. J. 0. Dowse. Metropolitan Licensing Authority, why he was so
anxious to enter the haulage business. 1 had been inside for a spell, you see." Brig. Dowse leaned forward with renewed interest.
" It was quite a stretch and I was badly in need of fresh
air for a change." The thought of the " cooler " was now imprinted in the mind of everyone present. " I had been in hospital, sir." Honi soit,
Tantrums
INFURIATED by the heavy oil consumption of his car, an 1 American parked it on the railway to be demolished by a train. British Railways also complain of having dumped on them the goods that nobody else wants.