G.W.R. Plans for 1932
Page 56
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02,000 to be Spent on 227 New Road Verhicles DRING 1932 there is likely to be a considerable extension of the road services operated by the Great Western Railway. The company has decided to purchase 227 new motor vehicles, the cost of which is estimated at £92,000. About 100 horses are to be replaced by motors, including Karrier Cob ("mechanical horse ") tractors and trailers, and the whole of the transport arrangements for the new parcels depot at Paddington are to be undertaken by motors.
The country lorry services are to be strengthened. There are now 135 of these services and they radiate 12 to 15 miles from railway centres scattered all over the G.W.R. system. In this connection the company is anticipating some increase in agricultural traffic.
The railhead distribution schemes also are to be developed. More than 160 companies now utilize schemes of this kind by which they can dispatch goods by rail in bulk to railheads for distribution thence by G.W.R. road services. Similar arrangements are in force for collection.
Some of the new vehicles will be employed in the company's scheme for undertaking the whole of the transport of large trading concernsincluding rail-borne and road-borne triaffic.
Another important line of development is the entry of the G.W.R. Co. into the difficult business of conveying loads of exceptional size and weight. In cases where such loads cannot be transported by rail, the company is arranging for special vehicles to transport them by road. This railway company is also making a feature of the conveyance of all classes of material in connection with big road-drainage and electricity schemes, such work involving the provision of special tractors, etc., because loads have to be carried across fields and swamps and up hill sides. At present the G.W.R. Co. has a fleet of 1,486 road vehicles for goods transport.