BIRD'S EYE
Page 45
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By The Hawk VIEW
4itilatui Red's Holly'wood-bound D.7, (See 'Midland Red to U.S.A.')
qernarkable, Tester Percy "Gad" Hugh, news of
lose death has only just reached me, will be remembered, am sure, by all those in the manufacturing and operating ridustries who ever met him.. Certainty his name is still omething of a byword at Scammell, where he was chief .ngineer for many years. Not tray was he a first-class lesign engineer, with a big hand in the development of he mechanical horse, the famous six-speed gearbox and the kpicyclic axle (still being made after all this time) but he vas also a remarkable tester. , He could take a prototype and flog it until it protested, vhen he would diagnose the probable fault before going in until it actually broke down. He would repeat this ;ort of treatment, with each improvement, until he got what he wanted—which was a thoroughly reliable product.
Percy Hugh was quite a character in many ways, and a over of boats. I believe he lived on a houseboat at Iurnham-on-Crouch for a time; certainly he retired to Iurnham when he left Scammell, and it was there that he lied on April 24.
Vlichand Red to U.S.A. One of Midland Red's D.7ype buses made a rather longer journey than usual last veek. From the Carlyle Works, Edgbaston, to the good rld U.S.A., in fact. This 10-year-old 63-seater, which has reen purchased by The Music Corporation of America ncorporated, is to break into the film business. It is to
)e used as a film "prop "—and also for transporting sight.eeing visitors around the studio sets at Universal City, iollywood, California. One thing I was particularly pleased o hear--the vehicle is to retain its Midland Red livery.
.. and a Titan This was not the only well
ised British bus to cross the Atlantic last week. Another ;Lich one was an open-top Leyland Titan double-decker, which for 17 years has carried thousands of holidaymakers
n Southport. But this old-timer is not destined to break nto the movies. It is going to Cooperstown, New York's dllage of museums. There, it is estimated that it will carry lame 309,000 visitors a year on the.picturesque three-mile ourney to the Woodland Museum, the newest of five near his town which was founded by Fenimore Cooper's father
n 1785, and named in his honour.
Wiling the Beans? "From. the way they talk,
fou'd think the bosses were absolute fools," said the driver
)f a .C-licensed vehicle to a member of our staff who was laving his breakfast (pint mug of tea and all) at the new ransport café still under construction at the. northern end
of the Grantham by-pass. He was referring to the conversation of other drivers in the café, and went on: "How the bosses make any money at the haulage lark, I don't know, with their drivers fiddling a night here and ' working '
a blank receipt there 33