November/December 1997
J.C.B. MacKeand
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A Leland of 1919 vintage. Rated as a 5/6 tonner, it is here shown drawing a semi trailer with an outsize container body.
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115 S. Spring Valley Road, Spring Valley, Wilmington, Delaware
19807.
The following article is reprinted with permission from a
1955 issue of Commercial Motor Magazine, Quadrant House, The
Quadrant, Sutton, Surrey, England SM2 5AS.
In 1906 there were 24 prominent makes of steamer in Britain.
These included Foden, Leyland, Thorny croft and Sentinel, whose
internal combustion engined vehicles stand in the front rank
today.
Excluding an order for 112 steamers built by Sentinel in 1950
for the Argentine Government, this type of vehicle was not produced
in this country much after 1933. The main reason for its demise was
the restriction of gross laden weights.
There were two principal classes of steamer, known respectively
as the overtype and under type, the former having its engine on top
of the boiler and the latter with its engine under the boiler.
Boilers, too, were classified as being either of the vertical type
or locomotive pattern and throughout the years the subject of
boilers was keenly debated.
It, one of a famous line of steamers, this Yorkshire 5 tonner,
whilst not a thing of beauty, was notable for its consistent
performance. The design of the boiler was one of its outstanding
features, being a double-ended locomotive type.
This Foden model attained great popularity in 1926. It was
followed by the Foden Speed Six fitted with giant pneumatic tires.
It sold well up to 1931.
The last models to be produced by both Foden and Sentinel were
of the under type with vertical boilers, although up to 1927 these
makers, along with numerous others, had adopted the overtype engine
with locomotive or horizontal boiler. Although the locomotive type
boiler was a good steamer, it suffered from the disadvantage, when
used in a road vehicle, that in climbing or descending a steep
gradient the fire tubes would temporarily be above water level.
This drawback did not apply to the vertical boiler or to the
special type of steam generator fitted to the Yorkshire steamer.
This was of the double ended locomotive type and, being mounted
transversely, was not affected by road gradient.
One of a batch of 112 Sentinel steam vehicles built for the
Argentine Government in 1950. A road-test report of this model was
published in The Commercial Motor on January 6, 1950. The payload
was 13 tons.
One of the most famous makes of steamer was the Yorkshire, and
this is a typical 5 ton model of the 1905 era. It ran on cast-steel
wheels, and because its gross weight was over 8 tons it was
restricted to a maximum speed of 5 mph. All Yorkshire steam wagons
had a double-ended, fire tube boiler placed transversely across the
frame, and this particular vehicle had twin cylinders, one on each
side of the frame underneath the body floor.