Passing Comments
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IT seems that the experiments of the General Post Office with mobile post offices are proving successful, and the few built are engaged in a busy programme up to the end of June. One vehicle will be occupied exclusively at agricultural shows, and will be operating at such fat-apart events as the Highland Show at Paisley and the National Farmers' Union Show at Southampton. Another vehicle will be covering similar shows at Barnstaple, Shrewsbury, Birmingham, Bognor and Sandringham, also the Royal Horse Show at Richmond and the Royal Race Meeting at Ascot. Attendance will he put in at Wimbledon for the VVightman Cup and the championships, and at Marlow for the regatta.
Mobile Post Offices Win Success at Many Shows
Rubber, the Vital qizmiE interesting notes upon Material of Highway SOME
use of rubber in
Transport motor vehicles have recently been issued by the British Goodyear concern. They deal only with cars, but for commercial vehicles the statistics would probably be much highet, narticularlv if rubber suspension be employed, such as that now being tried out by the Midland Red." This year, cars ride on a cushion of 94-143 lb. of rubber, according to the model, hut witho!it counting. tyres and inner tubes, there are 350-400 rubber parts in almost every modern vehicle, these amounting to 70-100 lb., and ranging from windscreen wipers to radiator hose and floor mats. Only 25 years ago, the average car used about 3 lb. of rubber in.addition to that in the tyres. British Tornado Lifts nURING t h e recent Laden Bus from Ely I"' cyclone which swept Road through Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire and even felt in the Isle of Ely, passengers in an Eastern Counties double-decker of 1..3ristof make and only a few weeks old, had an amazing experience on the Ely road, near Sutton.. According to expert witnesses, the whole vehicle was lifted, with its four wheels clear Of the ground. When it returned to the road, a gust of wind, unfortunately, again caught it, airs.i turned it over on to its side. It was carrying 14 passengers, but only one of them was-slightly injured. The driver was unhurt, but the conductor became temporarily unconscious.
Remarkab e Perform
JISITING the workshops of
ance Figures from Munv a municipal transport
ieipal Vehicles . . department recently, we
observed a notice pinned up outside the foreman's office which read something like this : "It would be appreciated if more accurate details could be given on the time, mileage and fuel returns submitted to my department. Working on figures supplied for March, 1950, in respect of six vehicles, the following statistics were calculated : Morris 8 van—fuel consumption, 2.3 m.p.g., average speed, 106.4 m.p.h.; Thornycroft Nippy—I33.1 m.p.g., 2.7 m.p.h.; Standard Vanguard-63.9 m.p.g., 5.6 m.p.h..; I,and Rover-4.7 m.p.g., 73.8 m.p.h.; Coles mobile crane-102.1 m.p.g., 62.9 m.p.h.; Fordson 10cwt. van-77.4 m.p.g., 3.2 m.p.h. Signed, Chief Accountant." If one of the mechanics employed in the workshops were a tuning specialist, certain of the high speeds may possibly be explained for the chief accountant's benefit, but the cause of the heavy fuel consumption in some instances may be more difficult to detect. There was probably some slight clerical aberration. Agitated Woman Who pROCEEDING recently by Lost Her Boy Friend A bus between Oxford Circus on a Bus and Marble Arch, one of our
stall was interested in the great agitation displayed by a middle-aged woman as she entered the vehicle Almost wringing her hands, she informed everyone that she must catch the bus in front as her gentleman friend had been
swept away in it before she could get on. She asked everyone what could be done, and the conductor gently suggested that first she should take a ticket; he then inquired if her-friend knew their joint destination. She replied, " Yes, Barkers of Kensington, but he may get off before then, although I told him not to do so." Twice, at stops, she attempted to track down the bus in front, and succeeded in doing so at the Marble Arch stop, only to find that her friend had alighted at the first available halt, upon which she returned, still more upset. It was not until she mentioned that her boy friend was aged 94 that the grounds for this were realized: Some passengers remarked, sotto voce, that perhaps he preferred having an afternoon off on his own !