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Motorway Vehicles Must Be All-rounders
Leyland Technical Director, Addressing I.R.T.E. in Yorkshire, Gives His Views on Vehicle Development by JANUS
WHAT is of benefit to the railways will also be for the good of the transport industry as a whole. This appears to be the view of Dr. Richard Beeching, chairman of the British Transport Comrnission, as set out in an address to the Institute of Transport earlier this month, and referred to in an editorial in The Commercial Motor last week. Road operators may wonder exactly what he means. This sort of language was not being relayed from the Ivory Tower even a few years ago, when the railways were full of complaints about road competition and there were strong hints that the growth in the number of vehicles on C licence was altogether too rapid for comfort.
There might be a cautious agreement with Dr. Beeching if he was deploring the unsettling effect on the rest of transport of a railway system in a chronic state of insolvency. The point is one that he makes himself. "Nothing could be more harmful to the industry," he says, "than to have a part as large as the railways struggling for survival, flailing around in its efforts to exist." Not content to stop here, he has some more positive things to say about the methods the railways intend to use in order to sail into calm water.
"We mean to survive by getting out of business which is unsuitable for us," says Dr. Beeching, "and by getting more and more of the business which we can handle best. And we intend to do it by handling it best." Apparently this bold declaration was buttressed by studies that he announced were to be made shortly after he took over as chairman. He is now able to say that costing methods are being used more and more to select and price traffic, and that other studies are being made to discover how much favourable business is available to the railways.
Perhaps all this is completely clear to the mandarins of the transport Establishment. The average road operator remains a little perplexed. He cannot see that Dr. Beeching is going beyond what any chairman of a business organization would say. The aim must always be to give the service or provide the product that is best suited to the undertaking, and in so doing to reach the highest possible standard. These are platitudes that too often weigh down the pages of company reports and do no harm so long as nobody supposes that they enshrine some new truth.
THE railways have had a century's experience in handling traffic of every kind. In fact, for most of that time their obligations as a common carrier have made it difficult for them to refuse whatever is offered. They should surely know by now which categories of traffic they prefer, or which they imagine they can handle best. From time to time there have even been lists compiled, sometimes by the Commission and sometimes by outsiders with a benevolent interest, of transport activities for which the railways are considered most suitable.
Except as an exercise in economics, there does not seem to be a great deal of point in this. The manufacturer who wishes to find out whether his product is better than any other does not carry out his inquiry within his own firm. He goes to his customers and, in fact, his sales graph usually provides a sufficiently exact indication for his purpose. In the same way, the transport operator cannot find much information by analysing his service. He knows that it is satisfactory because his customers choose it and stay with it in spite of competition. Admittedly, the circumstances of hauliers and of the railways are different. Partly from business prudence, and partly because of licensing restrictions, the haulier tends to build his undertaking outwards from a nucleus of traffic that he knows he can handle efficiently. The railways have a large organization designed to carry more traffic than is now available. They are compelled to cut away some of their services in the hope that they can run what is left on a more economic basis. They may like to think they are still masters of their fate and can decide exactly what traffic they can relinquish and what retain.
What is expected to happen in most cases is that the railways will abandon a particular stretch of line or will close a station. In each case a wide variety of traffic will no longer flow in the accustomed channels. There may be some portions of it that the railways would wish to retain, because it is of the kind that they believe they "can handle best." There is no certainty that they will succeed. Once disturbed, the traffic may go to another form OZ. transport and not return—a lesson which they, above all people, should surely have learned by now.
HAULIERS as well as traders will be curious to know what happens in such circumstances. If there is a considerable volume of traffic and it is offered to a haulier, he may have to apply for extra vehicles. He would expect to encounter strong railway objections, fortified by the new doctrine that the railways know what they are best able to carry. On the other hand, the railways might be expected even to encourage the haulier to carry that part of the traffic that they themselves do not want.
Traffic court battles and treaties of this kind may at least help the public to find out where the dividing line is drawn between what the railways want and what they would prefer to do without. Understandably, they may have no wish to make any precise announcement on this. Any traffic they specify as desirable will at once be marked down as competitive, which in transport seems invariably to mean a depression in rates. On the other hand, traffic the railways may reject may command a higher price. especially if the trader has difficulty in getting anybody else to carry it.
Rates and costs must enter the picture. The railways' own conception of the business they can best,handle may be somewhat idealistic. It may concern itself solely with service. There may be certain traffic that will travel more quickly by rail without special treatment. Unless a sufficient quantity is offered, however, the proper economic rate may be high and there may be no way of reducing it. In such a case the railways can keep to their ideal only by carrying below cost. Otherwise the traffic will go by road.
Carrying below cost has obviously been the bane of the railways. It has been their practice for ten years or more. If they are to reform they must, indeed, become more selective. What this means in plain language is that their rates schedules will be designed so as to encourage certain kinds of traffic and discourage others. This is how any sensible transport business operates. It seems strange how reluctant the spokesmen for the railways are to admit the fact and act upon it without attempting to dignify the process by carrying out a whole series of high-sounding inquiries.
THERg would be no advantage in designing a commercial vehicle solely or operation on motorways of which, :yen after the next 10 years' developtient, there would only be a few hundred niles in the United Kingdom, said Mr. J. W. Pilkington, technical director of cyland Motors, Ltd., in an address to L meeting of the I.R.T.E. Yorkshire :entre last week. A single unit had to to capable of running economically on he motorway and with equal efficiency
m other roads and in city streets. The notorway vehicle visualized had to be ible to work internationally and be uitable for sale in the Common Market nelsewhere.
70 m.p.h. Maximum Experience in Europe and • America uggested that effective speeds would not trdinarily be in excess of 70 m.p.h. so hat there was no great gap between the .apabilities of present models and what vas likely to be required in the future. With the extra speed, however, there iame the need to examine more closely luestions relating to brakes, steering and ransmission. A power unit of 200-250 t.p. might be regarded as desirable for his type of operation. If one considered he amount of probable motorway unning in relation to the rest of the rehicle's use there was no point in proriding a power installation that would ;lye speeds much in excess of 70 m.p.h.
As the road occupation of motorways ncreased, the reflex time of the individual 'river became of greater importance and hey had to remember the human factor; bete was not a standard model of driver or all types of vehicle who would espond equally to high-speed actions under all conditions. By careful planning tf motorways between city and city, as n the United States, the roads could iecome virtually self-supporting. Such vas the case with the American turnpikes vhere the vehicles paid their tolls and used the highways for the appropriate listance.
Highest Possible Payload
Whether for goods or passenger transtort, the motorway vehicle should have he highest possible payload in relation o unladen weight. Provided one had tower, reliability, retardation and good uspension, the capital cost was not of upreme importance. Neither was fuel orrsumption, as further improvement in he standard of specific consumption ould be only fractional. Much had been said about the possible uses of the gas turbine but this would require a revised approach to the transmission problem and by the time adequate heat exchange had been incorporated to improve the specific consumption, the weight and complication would debar its use in the group they were considering for some time to come. British manufacturers had, of course, fitted gas turbines to road vehicles but for reasons of economic operation it was not possible to do other than employ the piston engine, with its sUpplementaries. for the type of duty they were considering. Mr. Pilkington said he could not see the gas turbine coming into use in this way for at least another decade. All the tests that had been made had not shown up anything better than the traditional shift system for goods operation.
Use of Supercharging
Although specific consumption could be only fractionally improved, the normal oil engine's speed range might still be increased. Output from a well-designed power unit could be materially assisted by a turbosupercharger and one approach could be seen in the B.M.M.O. motorway coach which had been operating successfully since M1 had been opened. Although valuable for constantload, constant-speed operation, this vehicle was not so attractive when brought down to city services with a low average power requirement and many stops per mile. The B.M.M.O. coach engine's output was given as 130 b.h.p. with turbocharger.
• Transmission Problems If a passenger vehicle were to operate only on the motorways the gradient requirement would be of minor importance. If gear steppings lay in the order of 1.6/1.8 the power fell away rapidly down to the change point but with close steppings such as 1.2/1.3, maximum power could be sustained. When touring the passenger vehicle left the motorway and therefore design could be commercially acceptable only if general availability were given, with a climbing capacity of say 1-in-4. This would necessitate a fivespeed box, preferably with a range-transfer. Whether the transmission should be the simple clutch-synchromesh-gearbox combination was open to argument; conditions on the motorway and on tour made quite different demands. On passenger vehicles a growing tendency was seen for use of a combination of a planetary transmission with fluid flywheel for
easy starting and a lock-up clutch for economy. Capital cost was higher but the ability to return high performance under varied conditions warranted close attention for the arrangement.
The energy involved with a goods vehicle of 24 tons or a passenger vehicle of 14 tons gross weight, at 60-70 m.p.h., was considerable so there must be no question of erratic braking performance or of fade at any time. The main consideration in choosing the system must be to retard a vehicle safely, including weight transfer, especially in the case of emergency. The drum brake, which had been brought to a high state of development, offered the most scope whilst air appeared to be the most suitable form of actuation.
Disc Brake Developments In response to questions on the subject, Mr: Pilkington said that his company had been investigating disc brakes for six years and not until now had they been able to achieve what he regarded as a satisfactory performaneer The number of times a driver used his brakes on the motorway was relatively low, whereas the racing driver might be said to "live on his brakes." Perhaps discs would be used in the front and drums on the rear but he looked to development of disc brakes Which would make them more readily usable all round.
Under road conditions likely in the future, particularly on motorways, independent suspension for either front or rear did not appear to be necessary. For motorways roll stability was vital. With passenger units the design of air suspension should be such that the vehicle would not roll in the direction of motion. • A fairly stiff suspension was needed for goods units in which the centre of gravity probably was higher than with coaches. There should be a natural feel to the steering which should not be too highor too low-geared and could well be power-assisted. Study should be made to overcome jack-knifing of articulated units in a sudden halt and, even at the cost of a little extra weight, some protection at the tail end to prevent small cars and motorcycles from running beneath the overhang would be worth while.