Page
THE OLD ORDER CHANGES
IN INDIA
Operating Bedford Fleet On N. W. Frontier.
It was not until the early daya of the War that the Government of India began to realise the enormous possibilities of motor transport, writes Mr. W. J. Sex- -mour.
"In 1915 I believe there were only two Motor Transport com- panies in India, and the person- nel of both had been drawn from regiments stationed out there.
Then it was decided to get some more Motor Transport from Eng- land, and three A.S.C. Compantes (629, 693 and 694) were sent. The personnel of these, of course, consisted mainly of drivers who had enllcted for the job, rather than soldiers who could drive, as with the existing companies,
The three companies (I, by the way." was in 694) went out toge- ther, and we were told, both off- cially and unofficially, that we experiment. Nobody, apparently, was too sure whether mechanical transport would be a success in India.
were
an
We all went up to the North- West Frontler, where moblie transport is of more vital im- portance than anywhere else. 692 and 693 companies had solid- tyred 3-tonners. We in 694 had pneumatic tyred one tonners, which would do 40 miles per hour, (and a rattling good speed that was, too, for a commercial vehicle "of nearly twenty years ago!)
» A Ticklish Place. Now the North-West Frontier of India is a ticklish sort of place to look after. There is a pretty long stretch of it, which must be guarded in order to keep the trade routes open (and, of course. for other reasons. Other people besides Alexander the Great have thought of attacking India by way of the N.W.F.)
The task of guarding some seven or eight hundred miles of frontier is considerably compli- cated by the fact that it is thick with tribes Mahsuds, Moh- mands, Wazirs, and the 'rest-who Care eternally scrapping each other, or having a go at us. While the nature of the country (it is nearly all barren hills) does not make the job any easier?
There are several main points -Peshawar, Bannu, Kohat, Quet- ta, are some-and literally hun- dreds of small posts and block- houses. There is a whole army. one might say-the North-West Frontier Force-of English and native troops, spread over this 700-800 mile line. These troops. have to be housed, fed, clothed and taken from here to there as occasion demands.
It was not long before me- chanical transport began to prove itself invaluable. There is no need to explain how.. We just got the goods to where they were wanted regularly and unfailing- 17!
T
"Regular" Service.
While the other two companies, with their heavy lorries, deve- loped what one might call the "regular" services, It
894 was which was subjected to most ex- periments. We became recognis- ed as the flying column. Wher- ever a spot of bother broke out along the frontier. we were the fellows to be called upon first. Not only did we operate from our headquarters at Peshawar, but sections went here, there and everywhere. Whenever there was a threat of trouble-as, for in- stance, during the Amritsar riot- ing-we "stood by day and night, snatching sleep Es we could, without undressing. Dur- ing the War with Afghanistan I. lived for alx months in a tent in the middle of the Khyber Pass. Every time we went out our lor- ries drew bullets, and we breath- ed many prayers of thankful- ness that the shooters weren't exactly King's Prizesmen.
Before we had been, in the. country a couple of years, the strength of our company
was doubled The Government of In- dla was not slow to recognise the many advantages of the speedy. light lorry:
All that is but the beginning of a story, and, as I say, it goes back nearly twenty years,
To-day the Government of In- dia still finds the light lorry in- valuable on the Frontier, and ex- ploits it pretty fully,
for the last five years, and have been operating mall-carrying contracts for the last eight years. He was running a feet of Afty vehicles of mixed makes.
The work was all 'Government haulage--carrying rations; rond materials, ammunition barbed wire, and a the other hundred and one essentials. And. (as in those old pioneering days) when some firebrand dr other started a part of the frontler blazing. the lorries "bussed" troops to the spot.
This "busking" of troops Is, of course, a great advantage,” said Mr. Herbert. "It may save -well, days, perhaps, and is quite. likely to enable the authorities to stamp out a small ‘outbreak that
without prompt action. might set the whole Frontier alight. In addition, to transport troops in this way anyes money
and men, for a long march will turn scores of At fellows in- to 'non-effectives.'"*
Bagai Stewardship.
When the five years' contract, expired, the authorities evident- ly studied the record of the Ba- gal Stewardship, and found it good. For they offered another contract-provided the company would guarantee to operate sixty lorries. on the normal work, and be ready to turn the whole feet out, if necessary, at 48 hours' notice.
So Mr. Herbert placed an or der for sixty Bedfords." Forty 30 cwts, and twenty 2-toaners. And while he was in England he or- dered two Light Delivery vans, and a special mobile workshop.
"Why did you choose Bedfords, Mr. Herbert?" I asked him.
"There were five 'makes in the running" he answered, "and needless to say, the representa- tives of each firm were pretty keen to demonstrate, I tried them all," and the Bedford seem- ed the most suitable,
That, however, was not the only, reason. One of my jobs is to inspect, at regular intervals, all the lorries that travel over the roads of Northern Waziris- tan. It is a Government order that they shall be inspected in this way, for the sake of safety.
"Eighteen months before I had to place my order, three" Bed- fords began running on private work. I kept a very close watch on the way they stood up to the conditions. That is what really made me buy Bedfords.”
Mostly Frontiersmen.
The drivers of the Bagal feet are all inhabitants of Northern India, largely frontiersmen. They are, Mr. Herbert tells me, the only type of native who can stand up to the conditions on the frontier. Although there has been one big change-the roads are very considerably better than when I was out there-Mr. Her- bert tells me that otherwise things are much the same. You still, at times, get odd bullets coming at you from-well, you can never really tell. "
HOW
Now and again a stretch of road is declared closed-because It would not be healthy to travel along It. And, of course, there is always the likelihood of a big scrap anywhere at any minute,
And there are also still crooks to be met-loot-wallahs we used to call them who won't stop at murder if there is anything worth getting hold of.
So that although life on the Frontier is hardly as thrilling as the romantic novelists
tell us, there is no doubt that if you are travelling about in the district you need a reliable vehicle..
You need ample power, for the Frontier is rich in gradients that call for it; and you need light steering, with an exceptional Jock
In addition you need an effi- cient cooling system, for,, on a Afty-mile run you may pass from tropical heat to extreme cold.
But, to end by quoting Mr. Herbert's final words to me the thing is reliability."
RECORD AIR MAIL
50 Per Cent. Bigger Than Last Year
(Special Air-Mail Service)
HONG KONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, JANUARY 9, 1934.
MOTOR JOTTINGS
NEW SAFETY LEYLAND TITANS RANDOM NOTES
GLASS
For 1934 Models of ⠀⠀
British Makes
An entirely new type of safety glass has been introduced by the Triplex Safety Glass Com- pary, and is already being atted to 1034 export models of several well-known British makes.
This new glass is made by a special electrical heat treatment process which transforms its texture..
The glass does not fly when broken like ordinary glass; it merely crumbles. away into cry stals, suggestive of coarse sugar" and so shaped that they can be handled.
Known as Triplex Toughened, it is remarkably strong and fle- xible, and will resist wide extre- mes of climate. It is not harm- ed by sudden changes in the weather, and the sun's rays will not affect its appearance or its physical qualities.
Triplex Toughened consists of one pane only, and can thus be guaranteed against discoloration, blisters. and other defects which may arise in laminated types of glass when used in hat countries.
Within wide limits, this new glass can be twisted and bent without breaking. It will bear
a load three or four times as great as that needed to break or- dinary glass, of, the same" thick.. ness, and in actual tests a pare measuring 45 inches by 10 inches and only one-quarter of an inch thick, supported the weight of Ave girls. A steel ball which smashed ordinary glass when dropped from a helght of only nine Inches had to be dropped from a height of 156 inches be- fore it smashed a pane of Trip- lex Toughened of exactly the same thickness.
In a heat test: molten lead re-
·gistering a temperature of 620 degrees Fahrenheit, nearly three times that of boiling water, was poured on one side of a test sheet of glass, and as soon as it had
T
Madrid Orders British Oil-Engined Buses
Having found that the British double-decker provides a satis- factory solution to their tranING. problems, the Madrid Tramway authorities are rapidly making plans to extend their undertak ink and have recently placed & further order for 12 Leyland Titans.
" That" Madrid- is seriously and quickly tackling its transport difficulties i obylous from the fact that 18, months ago a doù- ble-decker
been had never seen in Spain, until B Ley- land. Titan" made its appearance on the streets of Madrid, a bus which, by the way, differed in no way from the English stan- dard type, except that the en- trance' was arranged on the off- side..
So successful were its trials that further orders for British double-deckers were soon placed, including one for a fleet of Ley- lands. In order that comparative data could be obtained it was specified that several of the vehi- width, the legal maximum in cles should be of 8 ft. overall
Spain, the others being of the standard English ft. 6ina, width.
The Madrid authorities did not "disregard the possibilities of the oil engine and were amongst the earliest to try out the Leyland 8-litre unit.
The last order, therefore, forms an interesting reflection on the trafic conditions of Madrid and the performance of the Leyland oll engine in sunnier dimes." In that it calls for each of the 12" new Titan double-decked chassis to be fitted with the 8- Litre oil engine and to be of 716. Bins. width
set. cold water was poured on the other side without damaging the pane. The glass has been successfully tested to 15 degrees below zero, or 47 degrees of frost.
A WEEK OF BRITISH FLYING NEWS
London-Melbourne Race Plans
LONDON-MELBOURNE
RACE PLANS
A new twin-engined transport. 'monoplane, which is now taking shape on the drawing board, may carry British colours in the Lon- don-Melbourne speed race next October. Mr. T. Neville Stack, an aviator of high reputation who' made in 1926. the first light aero- plane flight from England to In-:. dia, has ordered the first ma- chine and hopes to be able to fly it in the contest. Special fuel tanks and other equipment demanded by the event will be installed.
Styled the AS.7, the craft is a development of the fast, single- engined Airspeed "Courter"" mo- noplane which was placed, on the market. this year. Two Siddeley 'Cheetah" air-cooled motors," each developing up to 300 h.p., will provide the power." Cruising speed, thanks to notably "clean" design, and à retractile landing. chassis, will be of the order of 170 miles an hour, which will go,”- in Mr. Stack's special machine," with ability to fly up to 3,000 miles non-stop on one fuel load: In commercial form the cabin is planned to carry, a pilot and nine passengers ör, alternative- ly, the space available can be arranged to house two pilots, five passengers and a large lava- tory. Luggage will be carried in a large hold aft of the saloon.
Wheels that Lift.
milght forget to wind down the undercarriage before landing or, in a hurried forced landing, might not have time to do so. The chance of omission is prac- tically eliminated by installation" of lights which indicate on the dashboard the exact position of the landing wheels. Further, when the pilot closes the throt- tle with the undercarriage re- tracted, an electric horn sounds "in the cockpit.
·AERIAL “PULLMANS"
Early in the new year, perkapo within the first fortnight of January, the first of the two new airliners which are being built at Rochester by the Short company for Imperial. Airways will take the air. The second machine is expected to follow a few weeks later, and both craft should be ready in the spring for work on the cross-Channel air routes,
Additional details of the craft The may now be published. thirty-nine passengers will be accommodated in three cabins, of which the forward: cabin, with seats for twelve, will be the smoke-room. Twelve, passengers. will find seats in the centre ca- bin and Afteen in the after sa- loon. Three entrance doors pro- vide access to the interior, one for the pilots near the nose.of the fuselage, one just aft of the for- ward cabin and another aft of the rear saloon.
Maximum "attainable speed" "of she new craft,, which have been styled by Imperial Airways the "Scylla”” class, will be in the neighbourhood of 140 m.p.h. Nor- mal cruising speed is expected to be 108 miles an hour, with the aeroplane fully laden to its gross weight of more than fourteen tons. Maximum range, attained by a certain reduction of the passen- gér and cargo load, will be about 700 miles. A second alternative loading provides for she carriage. ot 33 passengers, Instead of 39, and no less than 1,850 pounds of maile and 'freight, we
Each of
Seven of the smaller "Courier' "seroplanes have been sold with- in the past few months. Power- ed with a Siddeley : "Lynx" 240 h.p. engine, the craft will carry pilot and five passengers for five hours on one, fuel load at cruia- ing speed of 1,43 mph. Like the new twin-engined machine, the London, December 20.
"Courler" "is fitted with landing wheels which can be withdrawi patched from this country left
within the surface of the wings London on Saturday by Imperial when the craft is in fight. Even Airways for Egypt, Palestine, in the fully retracted pocition, Iraq, India, Burina, and Malays however, about "one-third of the This Christmas mail weighed diameter of the wheels remains over one and a half tons and below the lower surface of the contained approximately 120.000 plane; they remain capable of Jetters cards and parcels It Tree rotation and can easily sup on the new Rochester aerodrom exceeded the previous record airport the full weight of the aero- construction of which has mail carted last Christmas by 60 plane. This arrangement meets begun. This part of the asso 'per ceff
the possibilities that the pilots Work will take about ven days
- Within the last few days I have had a long and interesting talk with Mr, R. Herbert, who is Gen- eral Manager of Bagal Motor Bervice, the Proprietor of which
Mr. K. B. Bagal The head-The largest air mail ever dis- quarters, are at Bannu (one of the main Frontier points, you will remember) and there are branches all over Waziristan, the territory between the North-West Frontier Province and Afghan-- istan. Wielu res
Fleet of Bity,
Mr. Herbert told me that his rm have had a contract with the military authorities in India.
of the two new machines will be finally erected in the open
WIRELESS ON CARS.
Sir Malcolm Campbell is the latest famous driver to follow the new fashion of installing a wire- less set in his car. He has order- ed a Rolls-Royce limousine, which. incidentally, is to be painted the same colour as his famous record- breaking "Bluebird," and the wireless set will be so fitted that when he feels like listening to the programme, all he has to do is "switch on."
Mome
Wireless sets in care are ex- tremely popular in America, but it is interesting to note that in small European countries they are banned, because it is feared that the programmes might distract the attention of the driver.
SHOWING THE SAFETY LIGHT
In case the driver might one day forget to replenish the oil in the Aump, the Talbot people fit a warning light on the dash. When the oil falls to the minimum safe level, this glows blue and the en- gine. literally says "More" oil, please. "
For emptying the sump on these cars it is only necessary to press down the dipstick and give it half a turn, when the old oil drains quickly away. Gone is the tire. some and messy job of crawling underneath the car in order to accomplish this important opera- tion.
T
fitting
MORE M.G. RECORDS... "Magic" is indeed name to apply to Capt. G. E. T. Eyston's M. G. Midget which, driven by Mr. A. W. Denly at Montibery on November 20th, sej up five new International Class "H" records:
50 kilometres"... 50 miles
***
100 kilometres 100 miles.....
1 hour
116 mph. 114.47 m.p.h. 113.50 m.p.h. 111 17 m.p.h. ............................. 110.87 m.þ.b. It is interesting to note that the one hour record was improved on this occasion by 9 .p.h., the pre- vious record also being established by the M.G. Midget," The later now holds all the International, Class "H" records in existence, and can claim to be the fastest car of 750 c.c. capacity in the world.
VAUXHALL IN AUSTRALIA
This photograph was taken on a tour sponsored by the Aus-
tralian National Travel Association and the New South Wales Government Tourist Bureau. The photograph gives an idea of the arduous kind of country" which Vauxhall cars have to negotiate in Australia-a part of the world in which this make of car is becoming increasingly popular. With this photograph the follow- ing caption was received from the Government. After leaving the junction we soon came upon the first crossing of the Cox's River, where we are charmed with the beauty of the many river glimpses that are quickly recorded by our busy cameras.
HEAVIER TRAFFIC
LARGER
THIRD PARTY CLAIMS!
WILL YOUR POCKET SUFFER?
A.A.U
SYMB
ASIA LIFE BLDG. 14, QUEEN'S RD. 0.
MOTOR CAR INSURANCE
TRUST A Thornycroft With Your Transport
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