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Firestone Party for Veterans
nN a recent Saturday, special coaches brought 60 disabled servicemen from Queen Mary's Hospital, Roeharnpton, and the Star and Garter Home, Richmond, to the Firestone Athletic Club, Breritford. Here its members had arranged their 13th annual party in this excellent cause.
Many stars in the entertainment field gave their services free to entertain the men. These included Alma Cogan, Winifred Attwell, Max Geldray, Simone Silva and Jack Warner: Other clubs and concerns might well follow this good example. Some of us are apt to neglect these crippled veterans who have given so much for their Country.
Luxury Coaches to Beat .Cars
A RTICULATED coaches built by the German " concern Kassbohrer are being put into service by the Transcontinental Bus System for their Pikes Peak scenic route between Denver and Pueblo, Colorado. Each is 60 ft. long and carries up to 64 passengers, and the outfit will include a hostess in red uniform, a snack bar, rest rooms and music from records. Smaller refinements of these vehicles are altimeters, inner-temperature thermometers and illuminated clocks.
The articulation is at the centre, where there are a large turntable and accordion pleating instead of the usual panels. It is claimed that these coaches have an inner turning radius of less than 40 ft.
The importance of Transcontinental can be gauged by the fact that they operate 1,500 buses over 46,000 route miles. The new vehicles are designed purely for travellers who wish to ride in luxury and each coach costs about £20,000.
The company are also buying 50 or so smaller but just as lavishly finished coaches by the same makers. They are for the Golden Eagle service and, appropriately, will be gold coloured.. Half of them will
A30 be employed on existing luxury routes, the others for opening up new areas. It is believed that these vehicles will be able to attract passengers from private cars. They were exclusively described and illustrated in The Commercial Motor dated October 12, 1956.
In Britain the use of articulated vehicles for carrying passengers is not permitted by law, but experience abroad with special centrally pivoted types has been
quite satisfactory. The question of overall length would be another difficulty in our case.
Careful Maintenance by Southdown
AVISIT to the Portslade works of Southdown Motor Services, Ltd., was paid recently by a party of members of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers; they being received by Mr. H. R. Lane, the chief engineer. Here is maintained and completely overhauled, including the bodywork, the fleet of nearly 1,000 vehicles, of which 950 are of Leyland make, the others being Guy, Dennis and Bedford. It includes a number of coaches.
Admiration was expressed at the capacity, equipment and cleanliness of the shops, and particular note was taken of the co-operative spirit shown by all workers, who seemed most pleased to explain what they were doing and why. The machine tools, test rigs and other equipment are of first quality, and many have been devised or modified to suit particular jobs.
Naturally, much attention is paid to injection equipment for the oil engines: for this there is a Hartridge tester and often two hours aregiven to obtaining accurate adjustment. There is also a Merlin injectorneedle grinder and a " Southdown" spring-pressure tester, any difference between spring strength being adjusted by thin washers. Needles are honed with "abrasive tallow" comprised of buffing soap rendered-down with oil.
An Octopus electrical bench tests dynamos up to 50 amps., the normal full load when on the vehicle being 42 amps. with all lighting and heating on a double-decker with a 24v. circuit.
Another " home-made " device with ammeter is used for testing screen-wiper motors. This can apply a resistance equal to the wipers working on dry glass.
Other 'interesting points• noted were that brake 'facihgs are ground in position by a rig pivoted on the hubs; worn camshafts are built up by welding, using hard alloy; any deposit on engine valves is removed by sand blasting, and all oil-engine cylinders are tested under water, as leakage sometimes occurs under the injector sleeves..
A Truck Harvest
FIFTY years ago last month, the International Harvester Company of America-produced its first motor vehicle, referred to as an " autowagon," to help farmers carry their products. The truck was of the buggy type with large spidery-looking wooden wheels of the type associated with that class of horsed conveyance.
Since that time the company have made great progress and are now said to be the third largest producers of commercial vehicles in the U.S.A., the
upper positions being held by General Motors and Ford. Actually the largest makers of farm equipment, International Harvester obtain more revenue from lorries than they do from the former, the receipts from trucks in 1956 representing 46 per cent. of their total sales, other products, making up the balance against farm machinery.
The picture is, however, not quite so bright this year partly because of a long strike suffered by the Eaton concern who supply axles to them.
Road and Rail in U.S.S.R.
BRITAIN is not the only country in which there are sometimes complaints of unladen running by goods vehicles. Despite that, compared with 1955, the transport by road of goods in the U.S.S.R. increased by 50 per cent. last year, it is said in a recent report that the idle time and empty running continue to be substantial.
Incidentally, goods traffic by railways in Russia increased by only 11 per cent., although that hauled by electric and oil-engined locomotives rose by 35 per cent., but represented only 17 per cent. of the total.