|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| WEB NEWS 58 | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
In this issue of WHOTT Web News we take a brief at The Challenge of Steam Propulsion, Glover & Uglow and Charabanc for Bristol. |
||||||||||||||||||||
The Challenge of Steam Propulsion -
In today’s world of alternative power sources like compressed
natural gas, hydrogen cells, electric hybrids and all-electric
systems recharged from patches under the road or overhead wand, not
to mention regenerative flywheels, exciting experiments continue in
the quest for the most economical and best environmental form of
motive power. Some of these applications are not entirely new,
having been tried many decades before but abandoned due to cost or
th e
lack of technical advancement in materials. However, one alternative
not being considered today is that of steam propulsion which, had it
not become uneconomic and deterred by legislation, may have had
chance to succeed. One man who believed in this and stood firmly by
his convictions was Thomas Clarkson, and one town in Britain
continued to operate his steam buses longer than anywhere else. This
was no great city far away but right here in westcountry, in
Torquay.Clarkson was born at Salford in 1864 and after a grammar school education went on to study mechanical engineering and emerged in 1885 as Whitworth scholar of the year. In 1886 he attended the Normal School of Science, moving to the Royal School of Mines in February 1887 to study practical metallurgy. He then became a Government student at the Royal College of Science and acted as a laboratory demonstrator under the auspices of Professor Huntingdon. The following year Clarkson obtained a lectureship at King’s College. Playing around with natural minerals, liquid fuels and Bunsen burners led him into thinking how road transport could benefit from fossil fuel. The railways were already performing with heavy steam locomotives, carrying tons of coal and water to generate steam, but the sheer weight - size ratio was unsuitable for road vehicles, as discovered by inventors such as Hancock and Gurney whose vehicles were penalised at toll houses. Clarkson needed to design something that was lightweight, simple to operate and, most importantly, capable of raising working steam pressure in a very short time. His main challenge was the internal combustion petrol engine that had already emerged at the end of the 19th century but still unreliable and lacked power on hills and required some form of gear box to overcome gradients. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| If you want to read the full story, and see all the pictures, then become a member and receive the quarterly newsletter. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Glover & Uglow
- Glover & Uglow (pronounced
Yuglow), haulage contractors of Kelly Bray, Callington, joined
English China Clays (ECC) in 1961, bringing with it a fleet of 78
road haulage vehicles. With depots at Launceston, Liskeard and
Holsworthy, it had long been a haulage contractor to the Group’s
china clay and quarrying interests. The history of G & U extends
back to forty years before joining ECC, having been founded in 1921
by Walter Glover and Philip Uglow, as engineers and haulage
contractors. For operating premises in those years just after the
Great War they bought the former army camp at Kelly Bray. There the
company was established as electrical engineers and motor trade
machinists, body makers and coach builders, the latter activities in
the main having been set up to provide the company itself with
tailor-made vehicles for the road haulage business. Tailor made is right! One of the first vehicles, a Crossley, spent a work-a-day week as a general carrier vehicle but with a change of bodywork at the weekend became a charabanc, an open-topped passenger coach. The first six vehicles employed in the business were all government-surplus ex War Department types. Despite their unpromising origin the G & U business soon gained a reputation for well-presented vehicles as well as punctuality in operation. By 1930 the fleet had grown to 17 vehicles, comprising 8 AEC trucks and vans, one Daimler van, one Chevrolet truck, two Morris and two Peerless trucks, one Ford truck and two steam lorries of Foden and Garrett make. These vehicles met customers’ requirements, including specialised livestock carriers, flat and tipper bodies for general work and more specialised types for the Glover & Uglow furniture removals service. At least one of these had originally been a tipper lorry but with body removed became a tractor unit with fifth wheel coupling. The artic van trailer for furniture included a sleeping compartment at the front and above the coupling where customers could sleep with their household possessions when on a long journey. Electrical engineering was prospering too. By the late ‘twenties a number of villages and small towns had been equipped with generating stations, or power houses as they were called, and the areas wired up, all by G & U engineers. By 1926 the road haulage fleet had grown significantly, with Glover & Uglow having become the largest haulage contractor in the county of Cornwall. Walter Glover, the driving force behind the engineering side of the business, was a pioneer in the introduction of the technique that today is known as preventative maintenance. He was a stickler for detail and ever-ready to take pains, something which he expected from all who worked in the business – as evidenced by the following. It is told that one Saturday, at the end of the morning just as all drivers were preparing to leave work, he called them all together and lectured them on the spot about the possible faults of a magneto. Then he proceeded to dismantle one into its 53 different parts, to describe the function of each and demonstrate how to reassemble it! All in the interests of roadside first aid repairs. There must have been some cold dinners on the table that day when the drivers eventually got home, and perhaps more than a few wifely words spoken on the subject. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
New Charsbanc for Bristol
- “The Bristol Tramways company have built three charsabanc at their
works at Brislington to the designs of Mr Challenger, their Traffic
Manager. They are uniform in appearance, the front and sides being
open with a brougham shaped back, lighted by a large window, which
back will act as a protection from dust and adverse weather, as well
as to support the roof which extends from the back to the front,
well beyond the driver and passengers who sit beside him. The seats
are across the vehicle, with the faces of passen gers
towards the driver and are sufficiently high from the ground to
bring the view of passengers above walls and hedges. From front to
back the floor slopes somewhat so that the view of the hindmost
passengers is not obscured by those on the front seats. It carries
from 27 to 32 passengers. The entrance is at the side and near to
the rear and there is a convenient passageway down the centre for
the ready ingress and egress of passengers. The same arrangements
for lighting, as have proved so successful with the buses, have been
adopted – five electric lamps being employed, each of 5½ candle
power. The cars have been designed with a view to be run in regular
service at all seasons (except possibly in winter) on the town and
the suburban bus routes, but primarily for the conveyance of
excursion and private parties during the summer from Bristol to near
and distant resorts. The Somerset roads, on account of the steep
gradients are most trying to horses and, consequently, it is seldom
that excursions by road are undertaken to places exceeding in
distance that of Weston super Mare, situated 23 miles from Bristol.
It is hoped that such places as Wells, Glastonbury, Burnham, Frome,
Longleat, Gloucester and Cheltenham will be visited”. |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
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. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| Web News Index | ||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
© Copyright The West Country Historic
Omnibus & Transport Trust |
||||||||||||||||||||
