Sentinel Steam Bus

Purists may say this is cheating for this site but I think it is worth sharing. KG 1132 was originally a 1932 lorry, used by the Cardiff Gas Light and Coke Co. After further use elsewhere she was eventually bought by steam enthusiasts Stuart and Chris Harrison who rebuilt 'Martha' to replicate the final steam bus built by Sentinel on a DG chassis. It is seen here at the 2014 Great Dorset Steam Fair.

Les Dickinson

01/09/14 - 18:54

I've seen this at other events, and accept it for what it is - a replica. We can't have the original, so well done to the owners in their hard work to achieve a presentable vehicle. The Dorset Steam event is a perfect place for it to show it's paces. Even the original must have been an oddity when it was new.

Michael Hampton

02/09/14 - 06:49

There is a similar Sentinel Steam Buses running around Whitby. http://www.whitbysteambus.co.uk/ KG 1123 used to be the one which ran around Ambleside and Windermere a couple of years ago, and was named "Martha". You can see a picture of it in that guise here www.smoothhound.co.uk/blog/

Stephen Howarth

02/09/14 - 06:51

There is a video on YouTube of this machine chugging up a Cumbrian hill at www.youtube.com/watch?v1 There is also a video of a magnificent tri-axle Sentinel DG6 steam bus operating a regular tour of Whitby at www.youtube.com/watch?v2
.....and a history of same on the Whitby Steam Bus and Charabanc web-site: http://www.whitbysteambus.co.uk/elizabeth.html

David Slater

02/09/14 - 17:00

David and myself have been thinking along the same lines. You can tell we went to the same College together studying for the RSA Diploma in Road Passenger Transport (all those years ago David), and come from the same neck of the woods. David at Yelloway Motor Services, and me at Oldham Corporation Passenger Transport.
I have recently put a short video on YouTube of the Yelloway Mobile Museum - it can be seen here. youtube.com/?hl=en-

Stephen Howarth

04/09/14 - 06:49

Here is a photo of this Sentinel DG4 steam bus during its stay at Bowness, Windermere about ten years ago. I rode on it at the time, and, while transmission engagement seemed a bit on the jerky side, it was remarkably lively on the move. I suppose if legislation hadn't killed of the steamer in the 1930s, modern EC emissions would have done so later. What would a steamer complying with Euro 6 regulations look like, I wonder? No doubt it would be fired by natural gas and have miles of condensing tubing but it wouldn't need an Ad Blu tank.

Roger Cox

08/09/14 - 06:30

Having ridden on the Whitby Steam Bus, I was rather disappointed to find the ride is very quiet inside the bus. I hate to say it, but I found it more interesting to watch this vehicle from outside than to ride on it! However, it is essential that we should support these vehicles by riding on them

Don McKeown

08/09/14 - 18:00

I agree the Whitby Sentinel is more appealing to look at, a couple of views taken in 2007 might illustrate.

Nigel Edwards

09/09/14 - 07:00

What was the legislation which killed off steam road vehicles, Roger?

Chris Hebbron

09/09/14 - 18:00

The Whitby steam bus is not currently likely to reappear in the town due to a dispute about coaling facilities between the owners and Scarborough Borough Council. It could also mean that the ex Llandudno Dennis toastrack is also no longer used.

Chris Hough

09/09/14 - 18:00

I always remember the badge which Sentinel used, a Crusader, with associated motto: "ALWAYS WATCHFUL AND ON THE ALERT". They appear to have been the most advanced vehicles, technically, having a particularly efficient boiler compared with competitors. I recall seeing steam lorries around until the mid 1950's, usually tankers which spread liquid tar on the roads prior to the road being re-surfaced. I suppose they were well suited to crawling along very slowly. I never saw any traction engines at work, but they were more a countryside vehicle, but did see steam rollers.

Chris Hebbron

10/09/14 - 07:00

Chris, the steam road haulage vehicle (passenger steamers had effectively disappeared after the withdrawal of the last Clarksons in 1919) was heavier than its petrol engined equivalent, and throughout the 1920s and 1930s, concern was expressed in official circles about the extra wear and tear such machinery imposed upon the road surfaces of the day. Restrictions on speed and also on smoke and vapour emissions were imposed on steamers, and a curious tax based upon the wetted area of the boiler further undermined the competitiveness of the steamer against the petrol and diesel engine. The Salter Report of 1932 looked into the costs and benefits of the domestic highway network at a time when road traffic was increasing at a prodigious rate, and, amongst a number of recommendations, suggested an axle weight tax which particularly militated against the heavy steamer. The then Conservative Minister for Transport, Oliver Stanley, undoubtedly under a degree of pressure from the railway companies who feared for the loss of heavy freight business to lorries, incorporated this charge into the Road Fund licence fee. Then, in 1934, Stanley cut the taxes on imported fuel oils and raised the Road Fund fee for steamers from £60 to £100 a year, a huge sum for the time (the present day charge for a haulage vehicle up to 15 tonnes is £200). This was instrumental not only in the steep decline in the numbers (and manufacturers) of steam powered road haulage vehicles, but also in increased unemployment and poverty in the traditional coal mining communities which had benefited from the annual sale of around 950,000 tons to the steam road haulage industry. If this consequence of the policy engendered any concern in government circles of the time, it remained indiscernible.

Roger Cox

11/09/14 - 18:00

Thx, Roger, for you very detailed and interesting tale of the demise of steam vehicles. It explains what I'd long observed; that vehicle production seemed to stop around 1934. The sad tale at the end, an example of the Law of Unintended Consequences' continues relentlessly! The most obvious recent one was of Ed Miliband announcing an intended freeze on fuel prices when (if) Labour get back into power, just after the incumbent government had applied pressure to get fuel prices reduced, with one success up to then. Of course, further price cuts have not happened, since to do so and then suffer a price freeze, would be a foolhardy business decision! I'll stop now, for there's steam coming out of my ears!!!

Chris Hebbron

14/09/14 - 07:45

"Elizabeth the Steam Bus" and "Charlotte the Charabanc" were both up and running at Whitby on Tuesday the 9th, but Elizabeth is for sale.

Mike Davies

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