Railways and the Commercial Motor.
Page 44
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Widespread Use at Home and Overseas.
The year 1913 has served to remove any traces that remained of disbelief concerning commercial motors on the part of railway companies. Recurring labour troubles may or may not have had their influence; we are inclined to attach less importance to this aspect of the situation than to effects of the inherent merits of motor transport upon the various
departments of railway activity. Spend counts as much as cleanliness, and low working cost above all. The absence of necessity for holiday and Sunday attendance also tells its tale.
The lead of the Great Western Railway Co. in the matter of passenger transport, which dates back more than 10 years, has put that prominent British line in a very powerful position as regards accumulated experience. The year 1913 has seen very large additions to its order list, both for country-motorbus and towndelivery-van purposes. The London• and North Western Railway Co. has sinailarly placed very considerable orders, but the bulk of these concern the goods side. The Caledonian, the Great Central, the Glasgow and South Western, the Great North of Scotland, the Great Southern and Western of Ireland, the Great Northern, the Great Eastern, the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the Midland, the North Eastern, the North Staffordshire, the North Britigh, and other Home railways have also again come into the market as buyers, in many cases after considerable periods of experimental running. It is, in fact, generally accepted in railway circles, that motorbuses and motorvans must be ordered for " feeding" purposes. The two-horse van is already shown to be uneconomical, as compared with motorvans, for town collection and delivery purposes, and the one-horse van is seriously challenged. A motor van, in average traffic, wants six minutes per mile and 2minutes per parcel. In common with other large owners of horse-stock, the leading British railway companies are allowing their animals to grow old in service, and are not renewing on any considerable scale. Whereas, a few years ago, the cutting down of renewals was as far as the change was allowed to proceed, one now finds replacements by the purchase of commercial motors to be approved by the managements. The space at our disposal does not allow us to make detail references to the machines in use by particular companies, but we should not like it to be thought that only companies which work lines in the United Kingdom have made purchases from British or other approved makers of commercial motors, In the case of Overseas purchasers, the inspection car for officials and the railcar for passengers are greatly in favour. Good examples of these types are, in common with representative passenger and goods vehiclesentioned and illustrated in diffeient parts A of this Annual. Geared locomotives for shunting purposes are selling well. Of Overseas railways we have to include the following as owners, the full title•in each case being cut down to economize text: Antofagasta, Arica-La Pas, Australian Government, Benguella, Bombay, Baroda and Central India, Burma, Canadian Grand Trunk, Canadian Pacific, Canadian Northern Ontario. Cap Government, Ceylon 'Government, Doranda Extension, Eastern Bengal, East Indian State, Federated and Malay States, Gold Coast, Great Indian Peninsular, Indian State, Havana Central, La Guaira and Caracas, London Gold Fields, Egyptian State, Manila, Moscow, Windau, New Zealand State, New South Wales, Nigerian, Sudh. and Rohilkuncl, Sierra Leone, South African, South Australian, South Indian, Southern Punjab, Uganda Government, Venezuela Central.