PUTTING ON THE SPOT
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Alfred Woolf, B.A., Discovers How the Transport Department of the British Broadcasting Corporation Makes Sure that the Varied Transport Needs of Sound Broadcasting and Television are Dealt with
Efficiently Wherever They Arise
IN examining the work of the transport department of the British Broadcasting Corporation., one is impressed, not so much by the mere mechanics of fleet operation, which are, not unnaturally, common to all operators, as by the way in which the tradition of the large organization permeates even this small branch. In the work of the department one sees the ;ame consciousness of the B.B.C.'s responsibility to the Nation as one expects to find in its broadcast programmes.
Forming part of an equipment and transport department—in a way, equivalent to the Ministry of Supply of, a government—the unit acquired its first vehicle in 1924, when the British Broadcasting Co. was still too young to have 'attained to the dignity of a corporation Since then, vehicles finished in Burlington green and grey have been seen in mit countries of the world Their duties vary from the carriage of goods and equipment to the provision of regular passenger services to 4 inaccessible outposts of the corporation.
Vehicles operate from 34 bases in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the corporation employs 140 irivers, mainly men. Including the private cars, which comprise about 50 per cent. of the total, the fleet numbers 250 vehicles, of which 120 are run under C licences. Many of these vehicles may run only a few hundred miles in a year, but the annual mileage exceeds 2irn.
About 70 of the vehicles are based in London to meet the transport requirements of headquarters. Difficulty of finding suitable accommodation in the city itself led the equipment department to occupy, in 1947, premises in Weir Road, Balham.
Three pits are maintained, one in the fore part of the garage, immediately behind the administrative building, and between the double entry and exit doors. This is c8 used for servicing purposes, routine greasing, spring spraying, and so on. Behind the garage itself are the workshops, which contain the two docking pits, and a small machine shop.
During the war, a time of great difficulty for the B.B.C. and its transport department, this shop carried out all reconditioning work, including the fabrication of new parts. Even now, when manufacturers' spares and reconditioned units are more readily obtainable, delays in obtaining particular engines, for example, can be overcome in the shop.
Adjoining it is the washing bay, which is kept fully occupied, in view of the department's obvious desire to maintain the high standard set by the corporation in everything.
The B.B.C. is unusual in possessing a wide variety of special-purpose machines. There are, for example, Humber four-wheel-drive utilities which have been found most adaptable for many uses.
Designated commentators' cars, they depart from the usual modesty of 11,13.C. vehicles in that they each bear on the near-side door a full-colour representation of the B.B.C. coat of arms. This is explained by the fact that they saw servico in South Africa throughout the 1948 tour of the Royal Family in that part of the world, where they were used as recording cars. They were intended for use in Australia when a second Royal Progress through the Antipodes was proposed.
The roofs of these utilities have large carriers for camp kit and luggage, and the interiors are fitted with beds, lockers and fittings for storing the recording equipment. Despite the large mileage covered and the high average speeds required to keep up with the Royal trains, the South African reliability record of the Humbers was excellent.
In all, the B.B.C. owns 9 ex-W.D. Humbers of this type, although some have been converted by the department to normal drive. Four are fitted with attractive van bodies which are unusual in having no metalwork above the waist line. The body has an ash frame and is panelled in hardboard. Even the windscreen frame is only partly of metal, the corners being of Bakelite. This departure from modern technique was made to avoid the presence of metallic loops in the body, so that optimum radio reception cOuld be ensured in the vehicles.
Known as the field-strength measurement vans, their function is to establish the strength of reception available at any point in the country. Furthermore, if complaints be received about poor reception in any area, the van is dispatched with a crew of two, who spend three or four days away from base measuring the available strength of reception.
Latterly, these vehicles have been of great value, making tests of reception conditions in areas likely to be served by the new television transmitters. It is on the • basis of the results recorded by these machines that ideal sites for these transmitters can be selected. The ability of the Humber to travel across country is invaluable, for it frequently operates far from the main roads. The independent front suspension is another worthwhile feature, having regard to the delicate nature of the equipment carried. This normally consists of two instruments which measure the field (or transmission) strength and one which records the findings on a graph. Re-calibration of these instruments is necessary after • 200-300 miles, despite the smoothness of the ride and the sorbo-rubber mountings which cushion the instruments.
A dynamo driven from the power take-off charges the batteries which feed the receivers and a special aerial is carried in an internal compartment. A heater fitted in the cab is necessary to combat the earlymorning and night-time conditions under which much of the work is done. All-up weight of this vehicle exceeds 21, tons, but a Solex governor carburetter returns an average fuel-consumption rate of 12-14 m.p.g.
F.W.D. Breakdown Vdhicle The need for B.B.C. vehicles to penetrate into areas off the road has to be catered for by special provisions. Among these is the Karrier four-wheel-drive breakdown vehicle which is located in London. This, too, is an ex-wartime machine, which combines with its breakdown functions the duty of towing mobile generators for use in emergency, and the mobile 80-ft. aerial,
Among the largest and smartest vehicles in the fleet are six A.E.C. Regals, purchased new in 1937. An experienced operator would be astonished at the tyres, as they are obviously of pre-war type, and show little sign of wear. In fact, up to the end of 1949, the total mileage of the vehicles in most cases scarcely exceeded 12,000. This is explained by the fact that they were constructed for use by the outside-broadcast section of the television service. Television, of course, was closed down from 1939-1946 and the vehicles were stored away. Furthermore, the hitherto restricted range of television reception severely limited the possible radius of operation for these machines.
Two of the Regals are equipped as "scanners," two as television transmitters and two as power units. Normally they worked in teams of three, where outside sources of power were not easily available.
Post-war television outside-broadcasting units, now a familiar sight in the Home Counties and the Midlands, a re much. lighter, more adaptable and more manoeuvrable. Three are in service and are all based on Bedford-Scarnmell articulated outfits. Six semitrailers are employed, fitted with E.M.I., Pye and
c 10 Marconi equipment. In view of the changed nature of post-war television service, they are described as mobile control rooms and can operate individually wherever a suitable source of power can be obtained. Two mobile aerial vehicles are operated.
Fire-escape Aerial One is based on an Albion chassis fitted with a Merryweather 80-ft. telescopic fire escape. The aerial itself is accommodated in the sides of the body. When it is to be set tip, it is assembled, mounted on the uppermost section of the escape, while it is retracted. The escape is then extended to its full 80 ft. Beamed on Alexandra Palace, the programme is transmitted from the aerial to Alexandra Palace, whence it is re-transmitted to viewers.
Some of the converted single-axle-drive Humber vans are used as camera vans. Here, again, the independent front suspension is invaluable. The interior of these vans is divided into compartments which contain the Ernitron television cameras. Each section is lined with sorbo rubber and runs on rails in the body, so that the cameras can be smoothly and easily moved about despite their weight.
Such specialized vehicles form a small proportion of the fleet, which is composed largely of more conventional utilitarian types.. For example, there are 61 Morris-Commercial vehicles ranging from 10 cwt. to 3 tons, which perform a wide range of duties.
Postal delivery is entrusted to the 10-cwt. models. They are necessitated by the corporation's practice of receiving most of its immense correspondence at Broadcasting House. There it is sorted and dispatched to the numerous B.B.C. &Bees all over London. First deliveries commence at 8 a.m. and regular trips are made throughout the day with mailbags and small packages—recordings of programmes, for example— until 7 p.m. Thereafter the courier service is carried on by two private cars until the following morning.
The larger Morris-Commercial models perform similar functions with loads of a different nature. The basis of the B B.C. fleet is the passenger-goods vehicle, for not only are there constant calls from studios and offices for equipment of many kinds, but there is also a continual movement of staff from place to place. This is careied for by the combination vehicles, the majority
af which seat 12 in facing-forward seats, leaVing ample room for the stores and equipment which are also earried.
Outside-broadcast vans are generally similar. Here again, the emphasis is on storage space for equipment and seating for commentators and engineers. Two types of van are used, the majority being based on Morris-Commercial chassis, mainly of 30-cwt. capacity, and some with extended wheelbases. One type is known is the control point and the other as the commentator's van. Both have reinforced roofs which can be used as mobile vantage points for commentators and :amera-men.
About a ton of equipment is carried in the control aoint, which has seats for three, including the driver. Illumination for the interior is provided by a window in he cab bulkhead, behind which there is a recordinglesk with storage space for equipment.
in the interests of economy, the usual system for )utside broadcasts is for a van to be loaded with several :ets of equipment and a crew of engineers, one of whom 'rives. They proceed to the site of a forthcoming Hogramme and set up their station. The van then ;ontinues its journey to a second site, where another Iation is established for a later broadcast. Returning o the first site, the engineers meet the commentator dad the. broadcast proceeds. The station is then lisrnantled and the procedure is repeated at the second tation. Programmes arc sent out over telephone lines.
Sometimes, especially for last-minute news stories, me of the 23 recording-cars is used instead of a van. al the main they are post-war Number Pullman eighteaters, the folding occasional seats behind the division reing removed to make way for the 600 lb. of equipment vhich each commentator requires to make on-the-spot ecordings. Extra leaves in the springs deal with this xceptional load but private cars are essential for this work, as commercial-vehicle speed limits would greatly lisorganize the business of news coverage.
Each car carries recording gear, an amplifier and nter-communication instruments, as well as storage pace and cases for completed records. The cars can ecord for five minuizs at a time, using aluminium liscs on a normal type of turntable. These discs have cellulose surface, in which the sound grooves are cribed by a needle.
Purely goods transport is frequently required during ie more ambitious 'outside broadcasts. For fetching nd carrying any tackle, spare parts and even spare ands, the department operates 39 vans of between 30-cwt. and 2-ton capacity. These are of Austin, Bedford, Commer and Fordson manufacture and perform many tasks. Six Bedford coaches are also employed regularly between places like Reading-Elstree, Aldenham-Edgware, in the latter case on an hourly 24-hour service.
Most of the work is of a shortdistance nature. Consequently all the vehicles are petrol-engined, the B.B.C. employing other operators for heavy or long-distance work.
Servicing is carried out in three stages, the first at 500 miles, when greasing is performed, levels are checked and brakes, tyres and electrical equipment inspected. At 3,000 miles engine oil is changed, shock absorbers—which are fitted to all vehicles—and steering boxes are refilled if necessary, tappets, plugs and distributor points adjusted, spring U-bolts tightened and the carburetters and fuel filters cleaned.
After 9,000 miles, gearboxes and back axles are drained and refilled with fresh oil, hubs replenished with fresh grease, if needed, and the oil filters cleaned Bodywork is repainted or revarnished as soon as it begins to look shabby—one reason why the whole fleet is so remarkably smart, despite severe conditions of operation. A travelling inspector supervises the maintenance of vehicles based away from London.
Normally vehicles are returned for reconditioning after 5-6 years and a new replacement is sent out from Balh a m. Standardized Lubricants Manufacturers' recommended lubricants are not closely followed, as the fleet is so mixed, but one standardized suitable grade of oil is used for all makes.
In the interests of prolonged valve and bore life, the fuel-storage tanks are diluted with per cent. of upper-cylinder lubricant.
The costing system employed by the department is conventional, daily running-sheets being used for each vehicle, from which weekly summaries of mileage are translated into drivers' hours of work and then into pounds, shillings and pence. Each month consists of four weeks reckoned from the first Sunday in the calendar month up to the last Saturday.
Each department of the B.B.C. is credited with a fixed annual transport allowance based on quarterly estimates submitted by the department. By means of the costing system the transport department can keep a check on the expenditure of each transport-using department, to see that no excessive demands are being made. A monthly statement of costs is prepared for the benefit
of the departments. In turn, the transport department has to present its own statement of costs to the
corporation's accountants for annual scrutiny "Economy and utility are the guiding principles of the department," the transport manager told me. No better compass points are needed to control an organization of national importance. With the 120 commercial vehicles at its disposal, the department ensures that however often the occasion demands, the B.B.C. is on the spot.