GARAGES AND REPAIRS TO STEAM WAGONS.
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Our Contributor Does Not Think That Public Garages Will Derive Much Business from Repairs to Steam Vehicles.
By 44 Vim. f T, HE VERY • LARGE ntunber of steam-driven wagons in constant use the country over.would
• appear . to warrant special preparations for their repair by public garages that are intent on develoPing their commercial vehicle connection. The Peculiar suitability of the steam wagon for -certain kinds of hanlage work precludes ail possibility of its • becoming less popular, until Our inventors give us another motive power even better adapted for heavy transport than steam or petrol; indeed, there can be little doubt that its popularity will increase as time goes en, especially if the price of petrol continues tO soar. Every steam `wagon needs, of course, to be maintained in mechanical efficiency, exactly in the same way as a petrol lorry, and the natural inference is that here is a vast amount of potential business running to seed so far as the average garage is concerned. But inferences are often deceptive ; and particularly so, I think, in this instance.
The— petrol lorry is a development of the petrol touring car, and.the setting up of a special -department to deal With its repairs is merely a normal extension of the regular trade of a public garage. If the steam -touring 'car had not been, to all intents and purposes, wiped out by the internaI-combustionengined vehicle, no doubt the same thing might have been Said of the steam wagon, because every repairer would have been forced to employ men with knowledge of the steam engine. As matters stand now, there is not one garage mechanic in a thousand who knows the first 'thing about steamers, and scarcely one in a hundred-garage Proprietors who is any wiser. Therefore, to institute a clepartment for the purpose 'of attending to the mechanical deficiencies of steam. wagons _would mean starting what would aniount to an entirely fresh business.
The propfletor himself, probably would have to learn the a be of it, unlesahe were willing to put complete trust in a foreman, or -to employ a qualified
manager to supervise the new department.
A Separate Shop for Steam Wagons.
If it is desirable to se-parate touring cars from commercial vehicles in the repairing shop, it is many times more desirable to have asspecial. shop for steam wagons. Petrol And steam vehicles ought not to be mixed in any circumstauces. Many repairs would have to be put through in the course of a year to justify such an expense. Only in a few districts would there be the remotest chance of -enough work being obtained, to repay' the cost of fresh building operations or alterations to an extensive garage.
• Yet another point that counts against/the autoittobire repairer is the fact that, whereas the owner, of a petrol vehicle is generally content to employ.a man who is a driver only, and who may be abSolutely incapable of undertaking even minor running repairs, the driver of a steam wagon is usually a man of considerable, practical engineering experience. Much of the universal satisfaction given by rteamers• is attributable to the skilled attention lavished on
them by their drivers, who treat them as they should be treated---as :valuable machines. Because of the unremitting .care they -receive as a rule, steamers are not so liable to ttle -petty derangements to which petrol vehicles are subject, chiefly' through abuse or neglect'. The hest dais of petrol vehicle drivers will agree With this statement, I am confident.
The Two Adverse Factors.
On the. -whole, then, it would -seem to be anti certain that the majority of public garages may expect to make little or nothing -out of repairing 'Steamers, The cost of providing a special shop and staff, and of purchasing the extra stores materials, 'would give the enterprise a doubtful character, if business could be depended, on to come along; but when, in view-of the care given -by their drivers, it is realized that the giuota. of repairs to each wagon in the vicinity-would be small, taking petrol vehicles as the basis of comparison,the two adverse factors appear to me tO settle the question.
Steamers, :like petrol vehicles, require to be thoroughly overhauled from time to time, and since s'uch work cannot be properly carried out without suitable plant, it is really beyond the men who do the driving. Large jobs of this 'description could be undertaken by local garages that/possessed the men and plant to carry them through succeSsfully, but since overhauls would be 'few and far between, they would not be profitable business. Moreover, ad owner does not mind sending his vehicles ...some . distance when the repairs to be carried out make the journey' worth while, which explains the prosperous trade in repairs to steam wagons done by large .firms like Messrs. G. &amnia and Nephew, Ltd., who, being centrally' situated and widely-known through their advertisements, are able to draw on an extensive area for their customers.
Equip the Garage to Give Service.
Where .a garage holds an agency for a steam wagon, the -circumstances are somewhat different from those of the average garage; because no concern -should become agentS for an make of vehicle without equipping themselves to give service to purchasers, it follows that arrangements should be made for keeping in good running order the steamers sold by them. I think that the best way of bringing this about is to employ at least • one -really good mechanic, and to let him call at short intervals at customers' premises, to inspect the vehicles and rectify faults on the spot. This method avoids the necessity of bringing the steam wagons to the works , and of mixing them up with the petrol vehicles. Onlysmall faults can be dealt with by a visiting inspector. For overhauling work,' it would no doubt be possible to come to an understanding with the manufacturers, or With one of the big engineering concerns, to put such jobs through 'on behalf of the local agents on 'suitable terms.