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New Public Utilities Trucks from Osborne
Page 74
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I–V A SPECIAL design employed for a fleet of seven 30-cwt. Austins recently introduced by the Cambridge division of the Eastern Gas Board is to form the basis of a whole range of similar bodies to be offered by R.. W. Osborne and Son Ltd., coachbuilders, of Saffron Walden, Essex. The design was developed in conjunction with the Board for vehicles used by service layers; previously 15-cwt. vans with roof racks and trailers had been employed.
The chassis of the new vehicles, are standard FGK 30, 9-ft. 6-in.-wheelbase models fitted with 2.2-litre diesel engines, which allow the fitting of 11-ft. 3-in.-long by 6-ft. 4-in.-wide bodies without modification. The front half of the body is built as an integral van body 6ft. long by 6 ft. high, whilst the rear half is a frame-sided truck body.
Seating for three men is provided on the nearside of the van portion, whilst the front bulkhead houses safety equipment and road lamps. Behind the bench seat is a built-in rack which carries all the required road signs. On the offside is a built-in tool rack, to hold a pneumatic breaker head, picks and shovels, brooms. and so on, and a steel storage bin to carry general pipe fittings is mountedat cant level. Ample daylight to this compartment is provided by fitting a 3-ft. 6-in. by 2-ft. translucent glass-fibre panel in the roof, together with windows in the rear doors.. ' .E2 The truck section of the body has a drop tailboard, fixed nearside and drop offside sideboard& A built-in pipe rack runs the full length of the nearside of the body and a further rack is built in between the frame runners to carry bigger pipes. The floor of the truck itself is lined with 16-s.w.g. steel sheet and is normally used only to carry road reinstatement material such as tarmac, or to carry away any surplus soil from a service installation.
An overall body length of 11 ft. 3 in. was chosen to allow the Frandom lengths of pipe to be carried ex-stock, these being approximately 10 ft. 8 in. long. The rollers on each tier are in three sections to enable pipe to be loaded or withdrawn in most cases by rolling it out on a free section.
Pressed-steel channels fitted over the existing chassis and finishing flush with the end of the body provide the necessary extension to the chassis. The bodywork is of composite construction, with hardwood framing, steel flitches and gussets at all stress points, and Plymax panelling to the van section. The front canopy is a glass-reinforced plastics moulding, whilst the body sides to the truck section are framed up in hardwood and clad with 1-in. t. and g., with steel capped tops and ends.
Eastern Gas Board themselves fitted out the vehicles, which are finished in the Board's colours of dark blue, With chassis frames painted in biturnastic black.