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FROM RIGID TO ARTIC

Investigating the facilities for driver conversion courses in Britain by E. JAMES MILLEN WHEN an operator has a driver that he wishes to switch from a rigid vehicle to an articulated unit what does he do? There are various possibilities. He can sidetrack the problem by hiring a new driver with the type of experience required. If he is a large operator with a mixed fleet (including artics) he can possibly arrange for one of his rigid drivers to be trained by an artic driver already on his payroll. If be carries on business in the London area he can conveniently arrange for his man to be tutored by the Commercial Division of the British School of Motoring. If he is a customer of Scammell Lorries Ltd., Taskers of Andover (1932) Ltd., or York Trailer Co. Ltd., there is a ready-made solution—he can take advantage of the training courses that these companies operate for this rigid to artic conversion. The dreadful alternative—which, unfortunately, may be all too common—is for the operator merely to inform his driver that he will in future be driving an articulated outfit—and let him get on with it.

Now, all of these solutions to the rigid-to-artic conversion problem appear perfectly satisfactory apart from the last one. But the situation does look rather bleak for the small operator who lives well outside the London region. How can he be helped? Basically, it would seem, in one of two ways. Either more manufacturers of semi-trailers should follow the example of Scanrimell, Taskers and York by offering conversion courses as a service to their customers, or more driving schools in large cities throughout the country should follow the lead of B.S.M. by offering the appropriate facilities. If conversion courses can pay —one must assume that they do—in London, why not in Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow and in other busy industrial centres?

A big danger is that the small operator who suddenly decides to take an artic into his fleet may not be aware himself of the differences involved in the handling, maintaining and loading of this type of vehicle—being ignorant of the inherent difficulties he assumes that his rigid driver will be able to cope. And doubtless there are many drivers with too much pride, optimism—and, perhaps, concern for their jobs—to decline the invitation to "have a go ".

Is much involved from the driver's point of view in this particular transition? And how long does it take? The best answer I can give to these questions is that Scammell —who run the most comprehensive conversion course I know of—expect to give an experienced rigid driver four to five full, days of intensive training before they decide whether or not to pass him. The course run by Taskers lasts two or three days and York operate a two-day course.

B.S.M., however, estimate that a good rigid-vehicle driver should require only four to six hours to make the change-over—and a "not too hot" driver from nine to ten hours. These estimates include tuition in coupling and maintenance. This certainly seems to bear out the view of the manager of the Commercial Division of this school that there is very little difficulty in this artic conversion. But obviously this is a matter of opinion—and circumstance. Much will depend on the experience, intelligence and outlook of the individual driver.

And much will also depend upon the extent of the change he is proposing to make. For example, if a certain driver has several years' experience of driving rigids of from five to eight tons then he is liable to experience comparatively little difficulty in learning how to handle an artic in the same weight range. But if, on the other hand, he were asked to take over a tandem-axle outfit weighing, say, 30 tons (remember that under the new Construction and Use Regulations the length of artic outfits can be as much as 42 ft. 7.75 in.) then that would obviously be rather a different matter. So how long should the conversion take? My view in this matter coincides with that of ScammelLthat where heavy artics are concerned a man should have a full five days' training. This must surely be in his own best interest, in that of his employer—and in that of the general public.

How much does this type of training cost? Customers of Scammell, Taskers and York are not charged at all for the training given by these firms. And B.S.M.? To operators under contract to them the charge is as little as a guinea an hour—for customers not under contract this is raised to £1 5s. an hour. But under the B.S.M. scheme the customer must supply the vehicle; an instructor is sent along to the client's premises to put the driver through his paces. THE SOAMMELL COURSE With the courses operated by the semi-trailer manufacturers, vehicles are, of course, made available for -training purposes. On the course run by Scammell Lorries Ltd., as you would expect, Scammell tractive units are mostly employed. Scammell, in fact, operate two courses—one light and one heavy. On the light course (from 3 to 12 tons payload) the Scarab Mechanical Horse is used with semi-trailers having the Scammell Mitt retractable-undercarriage coupling; or, of course, four-wheel tractive units fitted with this coupling gear.

Training on the light course, which takes place at the Scammell trailer factory at Moor Park, is in the capable hands of instructor Tommy Davies.' The routine here, as on the heavy course at Watford, is to start instruction on Monday morning and to work through to approximately 5 p.m. on the Friday of the same week.

The heavy course covers articulated units of over 12 tons load capacity. Handyman and Highwayman tractive units are commonly used, coupled to a range of platform semi-trailers and tankers. Facilities are also available to give instruction on machinery transporters and on tractordrawbar trailer combinations. Training can also be given on the Scammell Mountaineer tractive unit for "off the highway" operation.

I was told when visiting Scammell that a Handyman Mk. Ill tractive unit isexpected to be made available especially for training purposes in March—this has been held up, I understand, because of delay in delivery of the triple-diaphragm braking chambers. An interesting point this, because at Taskers the following day I heard concern expressed about delay in delivery of component parts— the triple-diaphragm braking chambers again being mentioned.

The man in charge of the Scam-tell heavy course is driver-instructor-demonstrator Dick Batten, who has been with the company for 24 years. He strikes you immediately as being the ideal man for this kind of job—solid, firm, understanding, kindly. When he takes his place behind the wheel he really does seem to be part of the vehicle.

Both Scammell courses are conducted on roughly the same lines. When the trainee arrives he is given the appropriate drivers' handbook for the type of vehicle he will be handling. This is not just a formality—he is expected to digest the contents very quickly. On Monday morning work starts in the garage office with a general discussion on the job in hand. At an early stage Dick produces his toys (model artics) and uses these to illustrate some of the problems in manceuvring. Then it's off to the works. Here vital component parts of both tractive unit and semi-trailer are examined. The trainee is familiarized with vehicle controls and instruments, locating these by reference 'to his handbook. Special attention is paid to essential points of maintenance. Then there is a talk on :oupling systems, followed by practical demonstrations of :oupling and uncoupling.

Tuesday starts in the works yard with the driver being shown the exact location of everything that matters on us outfit. He is taught how to locate faults and shown 'low to take practical steps to remedy these.

The Scammell three-cylinder air compressor and air mparator are inspected and operating instructions for pres;tire and vacuum working are gone over. Next comes a 'lecture " on correct brake application and adjustment for artics—and trailer brakes and air pressure braking systems are discussed.

The driver then has a brief respite to take all this in while 'Dick Batten climbs into a vehicle and proceeds to give A demonstration of exactly how it should be done.rhen the trainee, for the first time, takes his place behind the-wheel of an artic—and practises manceuvring in the works -yard.

On Wednesday the driver graduates onto the road— first with an unladen vehicle, then fully loaded. Every thing 'is thrown in including hill climbs, steep descents, , re-starting on gradients, emergency brake stops—and

working in. heavily congested streets. The customer's own vehicle normally arrives on the Thursday. Its specification is fully discussed before the driver is allowed to give it a Workout in the works yard.

All that really remains then is for the trainee to face the moment of truth "—the driving proficiency test. On the light• course this normally takes place on Thursday afternoon—on the heavy course it is given on Friday. It takes from an hour to an hour-anda-half. If he is successful the driver is given a proficiency certificate to take away with him. To date, I was told, no driver has failed. But in the event of a failure arrangements would be made for further tuition to be given.

Scammell have apparently been operating a driver conversion course of some kind for many years; but the course in its present form has been in existence for some six years.

One of the last two drivers to train at Scammell was Mr. L. R. Cook, who is employed by W. Viney Ltd., haulage contractors of Bruton, Somerset. When I asked him what he thought of the tuition he'd received he told me he was very pleased with it. "I could only be at Watford for two-and-a-half days," he said, " and I thought that would not be enough to master the change-over. But I came away from Scammell confident in my ability to handle my new machine without encountering any major problems." Managing director of Viney, Mr. T. H. Amblin, said he was delighted with the training his driver had received. He told me that his firrn, which runs 29 vehicles from Bruton, had taken delivery of an artic only because one of their fleet of rigid vehicles had been smashed—the artic was the only vehicle they could get in a hurry. "Now ", he says, "we shall probably get some more in due course."

TASKERS COURSE

The conversion course operated by Taskers of Andover (1932) Ltd. came into being some three years ago. It started quite naturally, I was told, as the result of a customer remarking that his drivers couldn't drive arties. "All right ", said Taskers, "send them along and we'll show them." Subsequently other customers complained in the same vein--their drivers were sent along for training--and in this way the scheme was gradually built up. In due course, Taskers' sales staff were told to make the training course a positive offer—and it was incorporated in the company's trade advertisements.

A cross-section of prime movers is used here, including Thames, B.M.C., Bedford and E.R.F. Some are fitted with automatic couplings and some with fifth wheels—but they arc all coupled. of course, to Taskers semi-trailers.

Where possible it is arranged for the trainee, at the completion of his training, to drive away the unit he will be working with in the future. For this to be a practical proposition the driver has to report for training some three days before his company is due to take delivery of a tractive unit—by the time his training has finished the unit has been delivered to Taskers and the "converted driver can take it away.

The sales director of Taskers, Mr. F. W. Knight, told me that about 50 drivers have passed through the course to date—and there have been no failures. The reason for this, he thought, was that "the only people who start on this course are good drivers anyway. It is really merely a question of teaching them virtually a steering action plus the fairly simple mechanical processes involved in coupling, uncoupling and parking semi-trailers."

When I put it to Mr. Knight that a rate of about 17 drivers a year--or 11 per month—seemed very few in view of the facilities offered, he agreed that it didn't sound very many. "But ", he said, "in the first year we had perhaps only five or six drivers. The scheme has grown a little since then—but I don't anticipate that it will grow very much more."

The reason for this, he explained, was that, as far as driver-conversions were concerned, Taskers were not a commercial enterprise seeking new customers—" all we are doing is providing a service for those who need it ". And in his view: "So many big firms nowadays have, in fact, got articulated fleets that the need to train their drivers doesn't exist."

Taskers' factory yard at Andover is fairly large and it is here that the trainees learn the basic rudiments of manceuvring artic combinations. The man in charge of the training here is Jock Boyd, a Scot with many years' experience both as an artic driver and instructor. He has been with Taskers for some 15 years and, according to Mr. Knight, "has the knack of conveying information to other people—and is a man of endless patience ". First he teaches a driver to move a vehicle forward with confidence. Then he passes on to the rather more tricky business of reversing—striving to keep the semi-trailer moving backwards in a straight line. When the driver has mastered this he is asked to try to back his combination round a corner—then into simulated bays.

He is, of course, shown how to couple and uncouple Taskers automatic coupling and fifth-wheel coupling. And in due course he is allowed to take a combination out on the road. The trainee is generally given at least one trip with one of Taskers' own regular drivers so that he has experience of handling a vehicle on the road under actual operating conditions before he is released from the course. At present no certificate of proficiency is given to a driver at the end of his training here; but I understand that thought is being given to the desirability of such an award.

THE YORK COURSE

The conversion school operated by York Trailers Ltd. is the most recent to be set up by .a semi-trailer manufacturer. It started in June, 1963. York like to train one driver at a time over a period of two days. The company finds that this is a convenient arrangement for operators because they can rarely spare more than one driver at a time--also in this way a driver gets more individual attention. It is expected that any driver sent for training will be thoroughly used to driving rigids.

In the first instance trainees are shown the fifth wheel— how it works, how to operate it, and how to make sure it is coupled. Then follows an explanation of the landing gear, singleand two-speed—the sort of loads it imposes, and to avoid the danger of the landing gear sinking into soft ground. Then there is a discussion on trailer brakes, single-, two-line and three-line air systems, vacuum brakes —singleand two-line and upright, inverted arid combination air vac systems. Some attention is then given to warning devices and minimum working pressures. There is also a session on fault Ending—and how to deal with the faults that are found.

So far as the driving • itself is concerned, if the pupil lacks confidence this first takes place at an aerodrome near H42 York's Corby factory. Here a man has ample opportunity to practise braking at speed. He is taught to negotiate corners with long semi-trailers and to become proficient at length judgment. Rockingham Hill, which is near at hand, provide§ good practice for prolonged hill descents.

Basic manceuvring is taught in the York trailer park. Here the trainee has ample facilities to practise backing-up until he gets the hang of the new steering technique. It is usual for a new man to be given a unit with a platform trailer to start with; from this he will graduate to manceuvres with a box semi-trailer----which is, of course, rather more difficult to handle.

A variety of tractive units are used for training purposes. I was told that drivers generally "cut their teeth" on the yard shunting units—these are normally B.M.C. vehicles or Traders. Automatic work is done with a B.M.C. unit. Opportunity is given to drivers to work with both single and tandem-axle trailers.

A good deal of attention iS paid to the loading of semitrailers on this course; for example, where to position dead-weight loads, when to use bolsters arid so on. Time is devoted, too, to explaining essential points of maintenance in the upkeep of an articulated unit—each driver is given a .'copy of the York service manual for reference purposes. The instructor in charge of, this course, incidentally, is Ron Carter, a foreman driver on York's own transport staff.

In the 19 months the York school has been in existence, 54 drivers have had training there. A certificate of proficiency is given to all drivers reaching the required standard at the end of their training.

York's own view on the function of their conversion course is expressed as follows: " We find that by giving drivers instruction in the various facets of artic driving, we can make sure that they start off on the right lines, No one can, in a short course, make a man who is skilful with an. eight-wheeler equally skilful with an artic—only practice will bring this. We can ensure confidence and safety by giving them a full understanding of the equipment they have to handle."

Drivers who have been trained under the York scheme have come, in the main, from C-licence operators Prominent among these firms are Jacobs Biscuits. Victory Tyre Works, Dunlop Footwear, Wilkins and Mitchel] (makers of Servis washing machines)—all of them, incidentally, operators of Freightnnaster semi-trailers.

The fact that operators. appreciate the facilities that this type of training school offers are borne out by observatiorn made in a letter from transport specialists N.M.U. (1953', Ltd., of York, who wrote to York Trailers last October "Every one of the drivers who has attended the courst has expressed complete satisfaction with the experience ht has gained.... We are most grateful for your co-operation in this training.. .."

I am quite sure that many other operators must bt grateful to Scammell, Taskers and York for the samt reason. But it seems to me there could and should be many more. For in making these inquiries about the drive] conversion facilities I have described, I have been surprisec to find that these training courses appear to be so ad.( used. Perhaps the reason for this may be that many operators are totally unaware that such facilities exist.

I do not doubt that in themselves such conversion course! are eminently desirable. As the movement from rigid tc artic gathers momentum let us hope that those operatim them wilt, from year to year, see their facilities as fully utilized as they ought to be. And let operators not forge that the Industrial Training Act and the possibli reintroduction of heavy goods vehicle licences may mak( proper driver instruction a legal necessity.