An unusual steam powered vehicle

Casting your minds back to last December, did any of you see a collection of steam-powered vehicles in Tickhill during the afternoon of the 27th? One of them is shown here, parked near the Mill Dam. This steam-powered lorry was made by the Shrewsbury-based firm of Sentinel; it has the Sentinel emblem (shown left) in the middle of the windscreen. A new production line for steam-powered lorries began at the Sentinel works in 1923. The Sentinel S6 model seen in Tickhill was launched in 1934 but was only manufactured until 1938, succumbing to competition from diesel lorries with their greater convenience and payload capacity.

This lorry, first registered in Sheffield in February 1934, has been customised to provide a look-out platform for the driver’s dog. Perhaps not many people would be keen to drive a vehicle with a fire burning below the cab even if it kept their feet warm.

For further details see these two websites: shropshirehistory.com/industry/sentinel.htm and sentinelmanufacturing.co.uk/our-history