20 Years Without Damage to Load
Page 51
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TO operate a fleet of vehicks for over 20 years without a single mishap to the goods carried is
certainly an enviable record. The operator concerned..is Norman Transport, Ltd., of Canada, and the customer is Courtaulds Canada, Ltd.
Mr, Norman Emblem, president of the company bearing his name, started in road transport in 1917 with one small vehicle which he himself drove for an average of 18 hours a day. Such was his faitlt in the future of road transport, that, for the first 10 years as a haulage contractor, he purchased one new vehicle a year.
In the early days of his business, his vehicles were ancillary to the railways, but he eventually decided that it would be a much more profitable proposition were he to deliver his customer's goods direct to their destination instead of turning over the bulk of his loads to the railways.
A Fleet is Acquired
In 1927, therefore, Mr. Emblem changed the name of his company to Norman Transport, Ltd., and proceeded to acquire a fleet of high-powered tractors and semi-trailers with van bodies_ In the same year, he started the first road transport service between Montreal and Cornwall, Ontario. This meant the training of drivers, the working out of schedules, and the installation of a large service garage equipped with modern appliances. A year later, the new company carried out its first job of haulage for Courtaulds Canada, Ltd., following which the operator was offered a contract to handle all Courtaulds's road haulage between Montreal, Cornwall, and St. Hyacinthe. and other centres. To-day, this one customer keeps a large fleet of tractors and trailers fully occupied. When Mr. Emblem embarked on his project, it was regarded as a wild venture, because of railway competition. The operator's success may be gauged from the fact that no fewer than 118 outfits are now in regular service. Referring specifically to the haulage carried out for • Courtaulds Canada, Ltd., the spools of rayon yarn which form the load,each weigh about 11 cwt., and these are loaded into specially constructed trailers. There are two sets of steel rails on the trailer floor, on to which the spools are automatically loaded and rolled, after which they art securely strapped in position. The laden weight of each semi-trailer is 10 tons, and two round trips are made nightly. Other trailers, not specially constructed, carry 2 cwt. cases, or 7 cwt. bales of stable fibre: At halfdistance between the factory and the delivery point, the drivers are changed, the maximum time spent at the wheel by any driver being three hours. This, it is claimed, is one of the major factors contributing towards the operator's safety record. An interesting feature of the Courtauld contract is that the vehicles con• cerned run on rayon tyres, and their behaviour on this service provides valuable inform Ilion for the tyre makers. In this shuttle service a driver always keeps to one vehicle, and this policy is maintained even when the machine is in for overhaul: the driver remains in the garage and supervises the work as it is carried out by skilled mechanics.
AU vehicles are subjected to a rigid inspection every day, and a complete oif change is made weekly. After 50,000 miles, each vehicle comes in for a complete overhaul, and both tractor anJ trailer are repainted annually in the operator's body-building and repair shop.
During certain periods of the year, operating conditions become severe and, to meet them, all machines engaged on long-distance hauls are equipped with electrical sanding gear. Engines are governed to permit of a maximum road speed of between 35 m.p.h. and 40 m.p.h., and it has been found that at these speeds fuel-Consumption figures are the most economical obtainable. The system of training drivers is
particularly thorough. All new men, regardless of their driving experience, start as helpers on vehicles engaged in city pick-up work, and later they are made drivers of those vehicles.
The next step is to make them helpers or assistant relief drivers on longdistance work, and finally they become drivers on that duty. The accident-free record of the company is, undoubtedly, mainly due to this simple routine method of training.