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| WEB NEWS 45 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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In this issue of WHOTT Web News we take a brief at Pangs of nostalgia and North Devon in Pictures. |
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Pangs of nostalgia …as Bert looks back
- Much has been written
about the hardships experienced during times of war, when bus and
coach operators struggled to keep services going under very
gruelling conditions. In part one of this story Bert describes the
start of experiments and implementation of gas propelled buses in a
National attempt to save petrol. Every nation of the world has
used the motor vehicle as a most convenient and useful way to
transport goods and passengers. It is no surprise that in times of
international crises and hostilities the easiest way to inflict
inconvenience is to paralyse the supply of fuel (petrol or diesel)
to the internal combustion engine. During World War One supplies of
that precious commodity was under severe threat and although there
was o If you want to read the full story, and see all the pictures, then become a member and receive the quarterly newsletter. |
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| North Devon Ltd, part of the Cawlett group, had operations that encompassed a large area of Devon using a variety of fleet names and liveries, including green buses proclaiming to be a Red Bus! That was until the sale to First in 1999 and the advent of First corporate livery | ||||||||||||||||||||
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 Plus:Just the Ticket - 18 Points of View Recent WHOTT Presentations
EFJ92, the Trust’s Bedford WTB is seen here in service with Vic’s Tours at Hughtown, St Marys, Isles of Scilly on 19th August 1971. A few months later she would cross to the mainland to begin a life in preservation. |
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Would you like to see the full magazine? If so, please consider becoming a Member and we’ll send current year copies right away. Alternatively individual back numbers can be purchased at £2 each by request. Our Shop postal rates apply. |
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© Copyright The West Country Historic
Omnibus & Transport Trust |
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nly
a fraction of the vehicles on our roads in those days, it still
nevertheless had an impact. Experiments were made to convert petrol
engines to run on a form of town gas, some of which was carried in
an inflatable bag on the roofs of vehicles, making them look hideous
indeed, as well as reducing the seating capacity of open-top
double-deck buses. Thomas Clarkson, who had done much to develop the
steam bus, found that supplies of paraffin, his boiler fuel, was
becoming very hard and expensive to obtain. Stretching his inventive
mind he modified his buses, of which there were 150 on the streets
of London, to run on coke instead. This involved the conversion of
the boiler feed system and the provision of an automatic hopper to
keep the vehicle in service
with the minimum of disruption. When the war ended these ideas were
not totally abandoned and although the supplies of traditional fuel
began to improve, it was necessary to console oneself with a plan B
if ever the same situation was ever to arise again. Of course, it
did, and due to continued research and trials by several different
manufacturers such as Gilford HSG, Britain was quite well prepared
to introduce an alternative fuel to petrol or diesel in World War
Two. In 1937 the Government set up a committee to explore the
manufacture of a suitable producer gas plant for vehicles. Nine test
vehicles were used, fitted with nine different types of producer
units, between them testing 120 brands of fuel. The best outcome was
a cross-flow type with air inlet tuyere and gas outlet opposite each
other close to the base of the hopper. In the late ’thirties when
the feeling of another conflict was brewing, some of the trials and
experiments conducted in the past was put into practical
application. The Ministry of Transport needed to be sure that the
alternatives would work and if so, what extra training would be
required to enable the system to perform effectively. By 1939 actual
tests began taking place in England and Scotland, and although these
were confined to less than 100 examples, far more was taking place
in France with 10,000 units and 2000 in Italy. Not surprisingly some
of the components in the gas production plants being tested were
made in France. London Transport conducted its own experiments and
in the provinces the Tilling Group was used as a testing ground with
a bus each being converted in the Eastern Counties Company at
Cromer, the North Western Road Car Company at Stockport, the Eastern
National Company at Chelmsford, the Western National Company at
Plymouth, the East Midland Motor Services at Chesterfield and with
the Bristol Omnibus Company which trialled their bus along the
Bristol – Bath corridor. North of the border the Scottish Motor
Traction Company tested vehicles in their territory and the Highland
Transport Co Ltd, an associate of the LMS railway, earned the
distinction of being the first to run regular services on producer
gas before the outbreak of war. Before long every major bus company
in the country became involved. The railway companies also adapted a
lot of their road delivery vehicles in the same way. 
