DESERT MOTORS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 32, 7 February 1934, Page 5

DESERT MOTORS.

HUGE NEW CARS. LARGEST IN THE WORLD. NAIRN BROS.' ENTERPRISE. The Bagdad correspondent of "The Times" describes the latest type of motor carriage put on to the DamascusBagdad service by the Nairn Bros., the Few Zealandera who pioneered this route:

The conquest of the Syrian desert by the motor car is now complete. Since two young New Zealanders opened a regular passenger service between Damascus and Bagdad in 1923 the desert route has been more and more used by motor traffic, until to-day some 25,000 passengers and 10,000 tons of freight cross the desert annually. These figures, it is true, cover both air and camel transport, but they give some indication of the way in which the desert, formerly regarded as an almost impassable barrier, has been overcome.

The Nairn Transport Company still provides the most efficient and up-to-date equipment. They are just putting into the desert service a new type of passenger coach, said to be the largest in the world. It has been specially built to Mr. Nairn's design at Indianapolis, and embodies principles which were successfully tested in some of the pipe-carrying units employed in laying down the I.P.C. pipe-line. The coach is 66ft in length, with accommodation for 32 passengers, including buffet and lavatory, and room for a ton of luggage. It is hauled by a Diesel engine developing nearly 200 horse-power, and with a drive on all six wheels. The coach itself has only.four wheels, placed right at the rear. It is attached to the tractor by a carefully sprung universal-joint coupling, so that the jolting of the coach is reduced to a minimum. This unit is expected to do a non-stop journey from Damascus to Bagdad in 18 hours. The journey cannot at present be done by car in lessihan-24. Tie same company;

is also using a freight car carrying a 20-ton load hauled on the same principle. With these achievements in.evidence it is interesting to speculate how the Palestinian and Mesopotamian campaigns against the Turks in the Great War might have turned out had the possibilities of motor transport, in the desert been realised at the time. The expeditionary force , which landed at Basra was expected to have to rely entirely on river transport for its supplies. Accordingly, it was not equipped with cars. Had armoured cars and light lorries been used the Turkish flank might easily have been turned and Bagdad possibly taken in a few months. The same applies to the position at Gaza.