Garage Built for Less than 500 a Bus
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THIS is the reverse of those buildings which on opening day are eulogized in such terms as ` no expense spared.' Here, it is a case of ' every possible expense spared.' Perhaps some of my expert and critical friends will remember that when they walk round and start pulling our design to pieces."
These comments on the new bus depot of the Potteries Motor Traction Co., Ltd., in Clough Street, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, were made by Mr. R W. Birch, M.I.Mcch.1E., chairman and managing director, before the depot was officially opened last Friday by Mr. W. P. James, 0.B.E., West Midland Licensing Authority. Mr. Birch gave the cost of the garage, which can accommodate 126 8-ft. by 30-ft. buses, as less than £500 a bus, including all equipment. .
The garage is built in three bays, each 228 ft. long and having a span of 65 ft., a form of construction requiring little more than half the steel that would have been used for a structure with a single span of 200 ft. It is claimed that the multiplication of bays will have operational advantages. The site area is 12,536 sq. yd. and the floor area for vehicles is Qvcr an acre.
The garage is equipped for routine maintenance, minor repairs and intermediate overhauls. Two double-length pits with a common underfloor servicing bay are provided in the centre of the floor. They are specifically for oiling and greasing, the equipment including the latest type of Wakefield pressure greasers with automatic-return self-locking hose reels.
The pits are lined with brick having an acid-resistant granolithic finish. Four buses can be serviced together.
• Fluorescent lighting is employed and the pits are heated by hot-water pipes covered by guards. Another pit is used for vehicles being repaired.
Fuel is stored in four above-ground tanks with a total capacity of 5,000 gallons, and is delivered by an electrically-operated pump through a BrodieKent flowmeter to fuelling stations at the bay entrances. The rate of filling by trigger-controlled hose nozzles is approximately 20 gallons a minute.
Three Essex washers near the doors are each located above channels in the concrete, which drain the water to a central gully and act as guide rails to ensure correct positioning of the bus under the washer.
Workshop Block
The workshop block is built along the opposite wall and includes a general stores, an electrical shop, an oil store, a heating chamber and a cleaners' room.
The site of the garage could not have been more advantageously located. Hanley is the geographical centre of the Potteries and is the terminal point for many of the P.M.T. services. Formerly over 100 vehicles were parked in the open, which greatly added to the difficulties of maintenance.