An Afternoon with a Delivery Van.
Page 6
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Thanks to the directors of the old-established firm of :Messrs, Peek, Frean and Co., Ltd., one of our statt was enabled, a few days ago, to take a typical afternoon's run on a light delivery van. No special departure was made in any way from the usual methods of delivery, therefore the work done was interesting in proving the capabilities of the petrol van for general daily runs at all tunes. tsveryone is familiar with the square tins in which Messrs. Peek, Frean and Co.'s toothsome biscuits are packed. "[nese tins are delivered to the lirm's customers in all sorts of quantities, exactly as they are ordered, and requirements, even of a particular locality or street, are of an ever varying character. We left the works at Drummond Road at 1.30 p.m., with a fairly full load, for a round of the southern suburbs, our route commencing with a call at a grocer's shop in the Old Kent Road. Six stops for deliveries had to be made within the first 2i miles, these stops averaging about five minutes each. One shop would only need a couple of tins, whilst a near neighbour required 25 or 30. At each stopping place (some only a dozen yards apart) the empty tins were collected, a smart lad doing the delivery work, leaving the driver to give his sole attention to his proper duty. After perambulating many of the by-streets in the neighbourhood of savoury Depttord and New Cross, and whilst making a short cut to get across to Lewisham, an object-lesson was afforded of the marked superiority of mechanical over animal traction. Part of the usual route was under repair, and necessitated a detour which took in a short steep rise known as Morden Hill, with a very loose surface. As we rounded the corner we found a pair-horse team attached to a cartload of flour in sacks, with the cart drawn right across the highway. From the way the surface was cut up by the horses' hoofs they had evidently been struggling for some time prior to our arrival in a futile attempt to pull the load up. After a few minutes the cartdriver turned his team down a side turning, whilst we sailed up on our lowest speed into the busy Lewisham Road. With another call at an out-of-the-way spot near Lee, we then made a smart run into Bromley via Sundridge Park. Three deliveries were made here at the extreme limits of the town, and thence down the steep hill to Shortlands and Beckenham we went across to Sydenham. Sundry calls here completed the round, and a bee-line was made for home, the works being reached on the stroke of six o'clock, just as the 2,000 and odd workpeople were leaving for the day. The distance shown by the odometer was 22/ miles, but we should be inclined to add at least two more miles to this from our own knowledge of the roads; perhaps the wrong size odometer has been fitted. Thanks to the skilful guidance of our driver for the afternoon, who showed the greatest consideration for other road users, the trip was without incident so far as the van was concerned. We had no narrow shaves or hairbreadth escapes, and although the van can attain a good 16 to 18 an hour if required, there was no attempt to "show off," a fair average pace being sustained. The roads we covered were quite sufficient to bring out the hill-climbing capacities of the van. It is fitted with a 12-14h.p. two-cylinder engine, with electric ignition, three speeds, and reverse, and is the production of Messrs. Dennis Brothers, Ltd., of Guildford, We were particularly struck with the extreme quietness and ease of running both of engine and vehicle. We went over some rough country and town surfaces, but so well is the van sprung that we might have been riding on the most luxurious of pneumatic tyres instead of upon substantial solids.
Messrs. Peek, Frean and Co., Ltd., were early in realisinothe advantages which mechanical traction would offer to their enormous business, but their first experiences of a steam vehicle in 1897 were somewhat unfortunate. This was found unsatisfactory for their work, partly from faults of the vehicle, and partly the result of careless drivers. How ever they did not lose faith, and in 1903 they used a number of petrol vans on hiring terms for trim purposes, one eventually purchased a two-cylinder roh.p. Motor Manufacturing Co.'s van, capable ot carrying about 25cwt., and this has been doing consistently good work ever since. line van upon which we had a trip has been in use some three months, and a similar one is on order for early delivery, in addition to a more powerful, four-cylinder engined car, by same makers, to carry 2-ton loads. So far no economy has been found in using motor vans tor what may be termed door-to-door delivery, but we are inclined to believe that further experience and better knowledge on the part of the various drivers will alter the opinion of the directors. In some busy neighbourhoods they have customers every eight or ten doors, and of course, if the engine is kept running during all and sundry stops, whether for one minute or twenty, no economies could ever be effected. But if all drivers followed the excellent plan adopted by our pilot recently, of stopping the engine opposite each delivery place, there would be a saving all round. Hitherto the best results have been obtained from journeys where the driver has to make a run of seven or eight miles to the first call, and in these circumstances, even under present conditions of training drivers for the firm's regulations, there is convincing proof of economy. Such services will be extended as occasion permits. It is in the, comparatively, long-distance runs that the advantages occur over nurses. For such a delivery round as recounted in the commencement of these notes a pair-horse van would have been occupied for the whole of the day, so that it will be seen that a motor van, carrying the same load, can cover double the distance, or, in other words, complete two rounds a day.
The company, with a desire to encourage their horse drivers to take an interest in up-to-date things, schemed out a plan of gradually initiating some of them into the new work, and so save displacing any of their old hands, if and when the modern vehicles came into use. But their early habits and prejudices could not be overcome, and it has been found better to rely upon men with some engineering training. The directors of the Company are fully alive to the advantages offered for quick transit, as they have in constant use for a few of their travelling representatives three light cars, which are all doing excellent service, and it is satisfactory to note that these may be added to at an early date. The encouraging experiences of such a firm as Peek, Frean and Co., Ltd., should induce numbers of our large trading companies to follow a worthy example.