Bird's Eye Viel/V BY THE HAWK
Page 44
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Justifiable Suspicion
TT is now clear that the chief peg on which Mrs. Castle intends to hang her plans for quantity licensing control is the alleged lack of use of Freightliners by hauliers. She has been plugging away most significantly on this theme. How justified is it? Well, strangely enough, a week after her licensing plans became known I received a Press release from BR at Manchester stressing how three of the largest hauliers in the North West have been putting their trunk traffic on to Freightliners—and this is certainly not an isolated example.
What does the chairman of the RHA think? He told a colleague last week that the haulage industry was by no means convinced that the railways intended to make a proper charge for c. and d. He pointed to announcements by BR executives that the railways intended to make no profit on the road haulage element of the service —while Sir Stanley Raymond had said that this was quite wrong, and that he was looking for profit in every place where capital was employed. If this could be established, thought Mr. Turner, then the haulier would have the protection he required and would put his goods more freely on to Freightliner. But in any case the chequered history of the terminals had hardly encouraged operators to invest large sums in equipment which could not be used for other purposes.
He thought the Freightliner was a viable proposition, run on commercial lines, but at present the rates seemed to be cut without rhyme or reason and without any real assurance that the rate eventually quoted represented a profit.
As others have said before: It's no way to run a railway.
On Location!
DAVE HURLEY, of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Club, describes some fun they had on location recently with the club's vintage Leyland Titan. Writing in the July Newsletter, he tells of strange goings-on in the Strand on a July Sunday morning during shooting for 20th Century Fox's new film "The Star", which tells the life story of Gertrude Lawrence, the famous music hall star. At 5 am there was a collection of vintage vehicles such as had probably never been seen there since before the war. It included a Thornycroft truck, an old Dennis and the Museum of British Transport's ST double-decker, as well as the Titan and many vintage cars.
Dave Hurley and his party were first on the scene, having driven happily over Waterloo Bridge at 4 am. After half-an-hour, as there was no movement, they were offered a cup of tea. The location—Bow Street police station. And the transport—a Black Maria!
The practice runs began at 7 am with about 150 film extras on bikes, pushing prams or alternatively darting across the road. Dave says it was worse than the rush-hour. After passing the Law Courts the vehicles were sent along Fleet Street to turn at Ludgate Circus and the traffic police almost went grey at the sight of the ST and the Titan doing U-turns. A total of seven runs was made.
"The Star" is due to be released some time towards the end of the year and included in the cast are Julie Andrews, Hayley Mills and Michael Caine.
Port Rivalry!
HE first British-built Paceco-Vickers Portainer gantry crane 1. was put through its paces last week at Felixstowe when the Container Marine Lines Container Forwarder docked there for the first time.
Felixstowe Dock and Railway Co. deserves congratulations for its enterprise in opening what was described as "the first sophisticated transocean container terminal", but the Vickers publicist who claimed, "The port of Felixstowe will be the major Transatlantic Container Handling Terminal in the United Kingdom" was, perhaps, pushing his luck too far.
Vickers has sold four Portainers to the PLA for the Tilbury container terminal now approaching completion. If the claim for Felixstowe is believable there are alarming implications for productivity of the six container berths at Tilbury!
Experts—and More Experts
THE Ministry of Labour believes the passing of the Industrial Training Act puts Great Britain right ahead in the comprehensiveness of its objectives in industrial training.
But the House of Commons Estimates Committee has its doubts in the report Manpower Training for Industry (HMSO 30s). There is danger in perpetuating obsolescent crafts and skills, it says. At least that leaves the Road Transport Board in the clear. Operational-wise, its problem until now has been that existing training schemes are so thin on the ground, they have virtually a blank sheet on which to start.
So for "problem" now read "advantage"!
No Dodging
TF we hadn't already spotted it ourselves, the number of letters 1.we've received would by now have made it crystal clear that the tractive unit pictured on page 95 of July 28 issue was a Dodge, not a Leyland as stated. We do know the difference but the slip arose during caption-writing: this outfit is normally hauled by a Beaver. OK now?
Definition
OVERHEARD last week: "Ah, but Mrs. Castle is one of Harold's most committed left-tenants." No comment.