Now I venture into the world of steam powered vehicles with some trepidation, fearing that those who embrace the subject will have a vast reservoir of knowledge and enthusiasm to knock the socks off me.
They will talk with authority about “5 ton vertical-boiler wagons which feature a 2 cylinder undertype engine and chain drive” and that leaves me in total awe.
So, well aware that whatever I say will either be wrong or so superficial it will result in a tirade of scorn from them that no better I shall confine myself to showing the pictures from a steam cavalcade sometime in the
early 1980s which trundled through Manchester.
They were a common enough sight on our streets from the beginning of the 20th century and some steam road vehicles were still being built as late as 1950.
But they were heavy and legislation during the 1930s forced companies to make lighter steam vehicles which in the end couldn’t compete with the petrol powered alternatives.
And that brings me to the Sentinel lorries which were produced by the Sentinel Wagon Works and after 1947 Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Ltd.
There will be someone who can tell me when both of the lorries were built and will also throw in some informative comments about that other steam vehicle which leaves me to end with a description of the day.
I can't remember exactly when the cavalcade made its way through the city.
But it will have been sometime in the early 1980s and I think it went down Princess Street and maybe rolled on to All Saints.
But the details are now lost in time.
That said I do remember it was warm and sunny and there was a carnival feel to the day.
Back then I was more interested in the line of vintages buses and cars which squeezed between the big and smelly steam vehicles, including a fine collection of Manchester Corporation and London Transport buses.
Of course there is actually nothing smelly about steam which for many of my generation remains magic.
That mix of warm oil and steam take me right back to railway locomotives and the start of another adventure which is a good enough point to stop.
Location; Manchester,
Pictures; steam vehicles in Manchester, 1980s from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The 1906 steam road vehicle produced by Alley & MacLeean, Sentinel Works, Jessie Street, Glasgow.
So, well aware that whatever I say will either be wrong or so superficial it will result in a tirade of scorn from them that no better I shall confine myself to showing the pictures from a steam cavalcade sometime in the
early 1980s which trundled through Manchester.
They were a common enough sight on our streets from the beginning of the 20th century and some steam road vehicles were still being built as late as 1950.
But they were heavy and legislation during the 1930s forced companies to make lighter steam vehicles which in the end couldn’t compete with the petrol powered alternatives.
There will be someone who can tell me when both of the lorries were built and will also throw in some informative comments about that other steam vehicle which leaves me to end with a description of the day.
I can't remember exactly when the cavalcade made its way through the city.
But it will have been sometime in the early 1980s and I think it went down Princess Street and maybe rolled on to All Saints.
But the details are now lost in time.
That said I do remember it was warm and sunny and there was a carnival feel to the day.
Of course there is actually nothing smelly about steam which for many of my generation remains magic.
That mix of warm oil and steam take me right back to railway locomotives and the start of another adventure which is a good enough point to stop.
Location; Manchester,
Pictures; steam vehicles in Manchester, 1980s from the collection of Andrew Simpson
*The 1906 steam road vehicle produced by Alley & MacLeean, Sentinel Works, Jessie Street, Glasgow.
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