FROM LONDON TO SCOT BY BUS IN 35 HOURS.
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
'FN THE WONDERFUL story of motoring progress I the motorcar makes its first appearance at two miles an hour, preceded by the red flag. The mere notion of it raises a smile now ; but the humorous side of it was probably not so obvious to the enthusiastic pioneers of the earliest days of the movement who have helped to achieve such remarkable results from so unpromising a beginning. The mechanical difficulties and various other obstacles which barred the way to progress were successively tackled, with the result that the motorcar of to-day is proving indispensable to the commerce and industry of the country. Similarly, during the past few years the advance of mechanical transport has been so rapid that if, say, five years ago one had announced that he intended to travel from London to Scotland journeying only by the recognised bus routes, he, like the pioneers of the motorcar, would have been ridiculed.
The Bradshaw of the Broad Highway.
Such a journey, however, is possible to-day, and, further, the whole of the route can be previously planned and timed as easily and readily as any railway journey, by the aid of the official omnibus timetable—the " Travel by Road" guide, which can well be described as the Bradshaw of the Broad Highway, So complete are the particulars given in respect of every bus route of the country. The itinerary of the route taken by a representative of this journal was made from this guide, and during the whole of the journey a careful check was kept on the times given, and in no case was an error found, which in itself proves how valuable such a. publication is to the road traveller. Equipped with an attaché case and a rainproof, and armed with the good, if pessimistic, wishes of our friends, we commenced our trip from Finsbury Park on a recent Monday. Just as we were moving off the inquiring remark was addressed to us : "Have you got your air cushion with you ?" So, even now, with all the advances which have been made in the design of heavy transport vehicles, the average person would hardly appear to realize that the springing on the average heavy vehicle of to-day i.s nearly, if not quite, as good as on some of the modern light touring cats.
When Scotland is mentioned, one's thoughts alwaysfly to hills, and it was a remarkable coincidence that the first bus which we boarded was a singledecker with a Scottish conductor on duty. The singledeck vehicle is used by the London General Omnibus Co. on the road from Finsbury Park to Golders Green on account of the fact that many very steep hills have to be negotiated, and in consequence weight has to be considered. The route at the commencement was over the northern heights to the Highgate Archway, which is on a level with the top of St. Paul's, and from where a wonderful panoramic view of an extensive portion of London is tobe seen, with the view extending to the Surrey hills.
From Golders Green to St. Albans there is not much of scenic interest, but we heard a very delightful bit of the Cockney bus conductor's humour. We were carrying nearly our full complement of passengers on a double-decker when three more wished to get on, and were immediately informed by the conductor that. there was only room for two people. " One in the pit and one in the gods "—a comment which raised many a smile among the passengers.
At St. Albans the National Omnibus Company appear on the scene, and from here to Dunstable is considered to be one of the prettiest and most interesting routes over which this company's buses run, the whole road being in good condition and the country beautiful.
At Markyate a very good example of how the bus
• companies in the locality are co-operating is forthcoming. The St. Albans-Dunstable buses are so timed in the village that the Road Motor Co.'s bus from Luton to Marl;yate runs in connection with this National service. The next stage of the journey, from Dunstable to Leighton Buzzard, was unfortunately marred by rain, which, however, ceased before we left for Bedford on the 4.15 bus. This run was the longest of the day and took 2. hours ,.10 mins. to accomplish.
The question of fares here is worth consideration. By rail the fare from Leighton Buzzard to Bedford i.s 2s. 3d. single, whilst by road it is 3s. 4d. single and,
in consequence. of the difference in cost,•the number of passengers carried the whole journey by road is decreasing. Furthermore, the journey to Anipthill works out at about 2d. per mile, whilst from Ampthill to Bedford, a distance of 8 miles, the fare is only .10d., or just over Id. per mile. Surely something is wrong here. The route is via Woburn and Woburn Sands, therefore, there is what one may call 8 dead miles to traverse.
Competition from Privately Owned Fords:
At Bedford the Stony Stratford bus took us to Bavendon and on this route again we found another example Of " dearer than rail " fares. This, however, was only over a portion of the journey, viz., to Olney, Where ale fare is Is. 8d. as against the railway charge of is. 4d. This factor, coupled with the fact that there are quite a number of privately owned Fords operating on the routes, is seriously affecting the earning capacity of the National buses. There are two points in favour of these services. Firstly, the particular bus in which we travelled waited to pick up passengers from a train due to arrive within a few minutes of. the time that the vehicle is due to pass the station, and secondly, the service runs in connection with the Lavendon-Northampton service; so much so, that if the bus is behind time at a point before Lavenclon is reached the driver speeds up so as to make this centre at the scheduled time.
At Lavendon we parted company with the L.G.O. Co. and we must say that over the whole of this part of the journey North, comfort, courtesy and punctuality were the three aims which had been followed to the letter by this company. The Northampton Motor Co.'s vehicle which was to carry us to Northarnpton and thus complete the first day's run .viras a 14-seater saloon bus, the body of which was by London Lorries, Ltd., of Kentish Town, N.W., and the chassis a 15-cwt. Vulcan fitted with pneumatic tyres. About two miles out of Lavendon we turned off to Bozeat a distance of 2i miles from the main Northampton road. After running to the village the bus turned back and came over the same ground again, thereby covering 5 miles in addition to the journey on t':al rarri if road. We were cora
fortabiy jeaded all the way, and on arriving at Den-, ton found a crowd of people waiting. • Apparently the week of our trip was the week of the year, for there was a fair in the village and the bus Was so much in demand thatby judicious handling and careful packing our driver-conductor succeeded in getting Si people on board-3I people on a saloon bus licensed as a I4-seater! The driver, whom we have mentioned also acts as conduetor, had a busy time, but successfully and safely got us to Northampton only 10 mins. over schedule time. Here we stayed for the night.
The Second Day's 'Itinerary.
The opening run on the second day was from Northampton to West Haddon. This took an hour, and we were again conveyed by a vehicle in the service of the Nortitarrptosa Motor Co., the body, mounted on a
Maxwell chassis, being of the same type as that on the Vulcan we had already used. The run itself was more or less uninteresting, and the bus, • which was draughty, vibrated somewhat, giving us cause to continue our northward trip with a heavy heart.
. At West Haddon we received our first introduction to the Midland Red service. Practically all the chassis run by this company are of Tilling-Stevens make, some having bodies of the saloon type and others being double-deckers. The single-deckers possess near-side front entrances and have a smoking ,compartment at the rear. The outside seats on the company's double-deckers are set end-to-end and not, as is usual, side-by-side With a gangway down the centre. On this type of bus the driver is situated beside the engine in an enclosed cabin, • immediately behind which is the stairway leading to the upper deck.
At the rear of all these Midland Red buses (both single and double-deckers) is an emergency door which is clearly shown in one of our illustrations. This is a very necessary provision which is insisted upon by the authorities in the case of front-entrance vehicles, to enable escape in case of fire, etc
. Special Fares and Concession Tickets:
The Midland Red Company have also given considerable attention to the subject of fares for the benefit of road travellers. On all their routes return fares are in operation, the charges being cheaper than two single fares over the same journey. For example, West Haddon to Rugby is is. single and Is. 6d. return, and Coventry to Birmingham, 2s. single and .3s. 6d return. The tickets are not, as on the railway. dated, so that the return journey over the route can be undertaken at any period. "
Moreover, on application at the company's head office or garages, or to their inspectors, two special kinds of ticket are issued, these being " discount tickets" and " anywhere tickets." Discount tickets are really books of tickets for a given fare, and when taking the journey the fare is paid for with these tickets. Four examples will suffice to show the saving which is effected by their use :—
Anywhere tickets are issued on Tuesdays and Fridays only and cost 5s. With this ticket a passenger can travel anywhere on the Midland Red system for the day of issue, a typical journey being Tamworth-Leicester-Nuneaton-Tamwerth, for which the usual fare is 7s. 2d., and the fare of the privilege ticket, ,5s.
tirtfortunately we were not aware of the existence of those tickets until we arrived at Tamworth after ccmipleting the day's journey. Many will say that Tuesday's route was not the direct route to the north. We agree, but unfortunately it was impossible to travel via Northampton, Market Harboro' and Leicester when we needed to, as same portions of the road buses only run on certain days, and this would have necessitated waiting for a bus for at least a day.
.However, the country through which the Midland Red took us from West Haddon to Tamworth was very charming and the road surface in good condition.
The journey through industrial Warwickshire was not without interest. The two hours in Rugby were spent in exploring the town and going over the famous school, whilst in Coventry we had just time to see the beautiful St. Michael's Cathedral. From here through Stonebridge, Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield to Tamworth we were able to get a splendid idea of the Warwicksire countryside and appreciate to the full the reason for the county meriting the appellation "Leafy Warwickshire." Tamworth formed our headquarters for the night.
We continued our journey at 8.15 on the Wednesday morning by a Midland Red bus to Ashby and then on to Burton. We were told that the TamworthAshby route is not a good passenger-carrying route whereas that from Ashby to Burton provides the vehicles running over it with considerable revenue. This inequality can be easily accounted for by the fact that on the former service we only passed through one village-Meashani-whilst on the other route eight or nine villages are served by the buses.
Tramcars, however, run from Ashby to Burton, but the buses are more than holding their own and are well patronized by the coal miners who, form the bulk of the passengers. At Burton we are handed over to the care of the Trent Motor Traction whose
vehicles will carry us through to Derby and Co.,hen on
to Ashbourne-the day ending with a tramcar journey from Stockport to Manchester,