THE STEAM WAGON'S HONOURABLE CAREER.
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./8*: Brief History of the Progress of a Much Favoured Form of Transport Vehicle.
A LREA.DY, in 1905, the steam wagon 1-1..had established a soi aid reputation for heavy road transport which it has not only maintained but strengthened during the many succeeding years. At the time we commenced publication there were nearly 20 builders of steam wagons, among them being Foden, Yorkshire, Mann, Garrett and Lancashire (now Leyland), still familiar names in the trade, whilst among those now no longer manufactured were the Robertson, Coulthard. Hindley, Themes.; Turner-Atherton, St. Pancras, Savage, Londonderry, Jesse Ellis, Hercules, Straker, Thornycroft and Bretherton. As to their reliability, one of our first numbers recordedthe fact that a 5-ton vehicle of a road haulage contractor was earning 111 a week and had only lost four days in six months, whilst a London concern with the appropriate title of the Pioneer Cartage Co., Ltd., was running a fleet of 25. At this time the only rival to the steam wagon was the light steam tractor, of which large numbers were intik, amongst others, by Posters, of Lincoln, and Wallis and Steevens, of Basingstoke, these being a favourite form of transport with market gardeners.
During 1905 several new steam wagons appeared, including the Allehin from Northampton, the Rectory from Sunderland and the Carter from Rochdale, whilst 1906 saw the introduction of the Stewart and Halley and the Alley-MacLellan—now the Sentinel—in Glasgow, the Robey from Lincoln, and the Beyer-Peacock, the Manchester locomotive-building firm being led to take up their construction by reason of the big demand from La nc-ashire mill owners.
During 1907 various detail improvements were introduced, and Manna brought out a new model capable of hauling on the wagon body and in the trailer a load of from 10 to 12 tons. The following year, 1908, was notable for a discussion on the respective merits of the steam tractor and the self-contained wagon and the first proposals to use rubber in place of steel as tyres for the latter. .
By 1910 steam-wagon builders had introduced a lighter type of machine, with rubber tyres, for loads of 3 tons, which we regarded as a big challenge to the petrol vehicle for goods carrying. A new 3-ton super-heated steam wagon, built by the S.M. Car Syndicate, Ltd., of Willesden Junction, made its appearance, as did also a new 5-ton which 13urrells put on the market in 1912, in which year Garretts made a claim for a record in low coal consumption, one of their 5-tonners using only 0.925 lb. per net-ton-mile.
In 1912 the upward tendency Of petrol prices caused a further, demand for steam vehicles, the cost of running of which in 1913 we gave as 7d. per mile for a weekly ,total of 300 miles for 31-tonners and 10.1d. for 5-tonners on a 200-mile-per-week basis. In July, 1913, the use of the reversible steam e'ngine as a brake became permissible.
On the outbreak of war the military authorities appear to have regarded the steam wagon with disfavour, but in October, 19.14, Scamraells received an order for 25 5-ton Foden wagons and trailers which rendered yeoman service behind the fighting lines. The scarcity of petrol at home resulted in an increasing demand for 3-ton steam wagons, and in September, 1915, the Yorkshire Co. brought. out a new model with a loading line 11 ins. lower than: previously attained. It was in that year the Sentinel Co. removed from Glasgow to their present large works in Shrewsbury.
By this time the light steam tractor had practically disappeared, and early in the post-war period several improved wagons made their appearance, including a Garrett 6-ton undertype, a Yorkshire with unit engine and gearbox and a bevel and spur gear final drive in place of the more general chain transmission, an Atkinson 50-cwt. rubber-tyred machine, and an Allchin 6-ton, threespeed overtype. Recent developments are in the direction of flexible sixwheelers for loads up to 10-12 tons, whilst Clayton Wagons, Ltd., are now equipping all their steam wagons with front-wheel brakes. There was much rivalry between steam and petrolvehicle builders, and in November, 1922, we expressed the view that steam was the best for loads of 10 tons with trailers up to a radius of 50 miles.
To-day the steam wagon occupies as secure a place as ever in its special field of transport work, and on the score of reliability, longevity and economy, is second to none. In September, 1922, we reproduced a photograph of a 23year-old Thornycroft which had 150,000 miles to its credit, whilst Fodens inform us that there are many 24-year-old wagons of their make still in operation.
Fodens also point out that whilst. in 1901, they were proud of the fact that one of their wagons which took part in the War Office trials succeeded in hauling a load of 6 tons a distance of 9-10 miles at a speed of 6 m.p.h. on 1 cwt. of coal, to-day, for the same amount of fuel consumption, they can haul a similar load 25 miles at a speed of from 15 m.p.h. to 20 m.p.h. The steam wagon position was also well outlined at the recent annual meeting of the Sentinel Co. by Mr. S. E. Alley, who remarked that it forms the cheapest, quickest, and most reliable means of transporting loads of from 3 tons to 10 tons over distances up to 100 miles or more. He estimated also that the coal-using wagons in service in this country reduce the import of foreign liquid fuel, taking the latter at as low as 1s. a gallon, by well over 11,000,000 a year. This is a point which we referred to in a recent editorial, when we called the steam wagon "a national asset."