Tag Archives: Lorry

GWR Steam Motor Road Vehicles

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The Railway Magazine of December 1905 included a photograph of a road vehicle powered by steam. The picture in The Railway Magazine is the featured image for this short article.

The Railway Magazine entitled this image, “Great Western Railway Enterprise.” It shows a steam motor wagon and trailer which was used for collecting and delivering goods at Henwick. [1: p480]

It seems as though the editor of The Railway Magazine removed the background from a photograph to prepare it for the magazine. The original photograph is shown immediately below.

An archive image from the GW Trust archive of road motors at Didcot. It is clear that this is the original image from which The Railway Magazine took their illustration. [2]

An article about GWR Steam Road Motors was included in Going Loco, May 2022. [2]

The two photographs show the same vehicle, No. U 308, built by the Yorkshire Patent Steam Wagon Co of Leeds in 1905. “The novel double-ended transverse-mounted boiler was used to avoid problems on steep hills. With a horizontal boiler mounted fore and aft, skill is required to keep the inner firebox crown covered with water when descending a steep hill.” [2]

The same photo can be found on the Leeds Engine Builders webpage. [3]

The novel double-ended transverse-mounted boiler was used to avoid problems of tilting when climbing hills. Internally it resembled a locomotive or Fairlie boiler with a central firebox and multiple fire-tubes to each end. In the Yorkshire though, a second bank of fire-tubes above returned to a central smokebox and a single chimney. [9]
More typical of the steam road motors was this vehicle which Hattons identify as “a Sentinel Dropside Short-wheelbase Steam Wagon which Corgi have produced in GWR Livery in 1:50 scale.” [4] This is actually Corgi CC20204 – Foden C-Type Dropside Wagon. [10]
A model of a Foden K Steam Road Motor Lorry. [5]
The full size version of the Foden K Steam Road Motor Lorry. [6]
Series Two Foden Steam Traction Lorry – Okehampton 1929, © Public Domain. [7]
GWR 4 Ton Thornycroft Lorry, 1929. [8]

Further Reading

References

  1. The Railway Magazine, London, December 1905.
  2. https://didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/article.php/514/going-loco-may-2022, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  3. https://www.leedsengine.info/leeds/gallery.asp?section=/leeds/images/Yorkshire%20PSWCo, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  4. https://www.hattons.co.uk/213735/corgi_cc20204_sentinel_dropside_steam_wagon_with_sack_load_in_gwr_livery/stockdetail, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  5. https://www.constructionscalemodels.com/en/foden-k-steam-wagon-south-eastern-finecast-sefte10, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  6. https://fortepan.hu/hu/photos/?id=228651, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  7. https://www.ebay.ph/itm/235633691321, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  8. https://www.steampicturelibrary.com/gwr-road-vehicles/road-motor-vehicles/gwr-4-ton-thornycroft-lorry-1929-536382.html, accessed on 10th October 2024.
  9. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkshire_Patent_Steam_Wagon_Co.#:~:text=The%20Yorkshire%20Patent%20Steam%20Wagon%20Co.&text=Their%20designs%20had%20a%20novel,was%20finally%20dissolved%20in%201993, accessed o. 10th October 2024.
  10. https://www.chezbois.com/corgi/modern_corgi/Model_97124.htm, accessed on 15th February 2025.