Sentinel Waggon Works - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was a British company based in Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury is the county town of Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England. Lying on the River Severn, it is a civil parish home to some 70,000 inhabitants, and is the primary settlement and headquarters of Shropshire Council...

, Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

that made steam-powered lorries

Lorry

-Transport:* Lorry or truck, a large motor vehicle* Lorry, or a Mine car in USA: an open gondola with a tipping trough* Lorry , a horse-drawn low-loading trolley-In fiction:...

, railway locomotives, and later, diesel engine

Diesel engine

A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...

d lorries and locomotives.

Alley & MacLellan, Sentinel Works, Jessie Street Glasgow

The company began life about 1875 as Alley & MacLellan based in Polmadie

Polmadie

Polmadie is a district of Glasgow, a city in Scotland. Polmadie is situated south of the River Clyde, and adjacent to the Gorbals....

, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. They moved from Polmadie Road to the nearby Jessie Street where they continued in operation until the 1950s. Alley & MacLellan began producing steam road vehicles in 1906 when they introduced a 5 ton vertical-boiler wagon, which featured a 2-cylinder undertype engine and chain drive. Around 1915 Alley & McLellan moved the steam wagon production to a new factory in England and it continued under a separate company (see below). However, Alley & MacLellan continued to operate in the original Sentinel Works in Jessie Street, Glasgow until the 1950s. They produced a wide range of engineering products including compressors, valves, etc. The 'Sentinel' name continued to be used for the products of the original Glasgow works until the mid 20th Century.

Perhaps the most surprising fact is that the Sentinel Works in Glasgow, though a significant distance from the River Clyde, produced almost 500 small ships and boats. The vast majority of these vessels were built as 'knock downs' – i.e. assembled at the Jessie Street works using nuts and bolts, then dismantled and shipped as parts in crates to their client destination where they were re-assembled using rivets. At least one Alley & McLellan ship still exists – the motor vessel (originally steam ship

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

) Chauncy Maples built at Jessie Street in 1899 and reassembled on Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi

Lake Malawi , is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the Great Rift Valley system of East Africa. This lake, the third largest in Africa and the eighth largest lake in the world, is located between Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania...

) in 1901. Alley & MacLellan continued in operation, though owned firstly by Glenfield & Kennedy, Kilmarnock, then G & J Weir, Glasgow, until the 1950s.

The original Sentinel Works in Jessie Street, Glasgow is still in existence in 2009 though now in a very derelict condition. The design offices and pattern shop is listed category A as a building of significant national importance. It was the first steel-reinforced concrete building in Scotland.

Move to Shrewsbury

A new company Sentinel Waggon Works Ltd was formed when steam wagon production was switched to a new factory, opened at Shrewsbury in 1915. There were several other slight changes to the name over the company's lifetime when further infusions of working capital

Working capital

Working capital is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organization or other entity, including governmental entity. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is considered a part of operating capital. Net working capital is...

were required to obviate financial problems.

Alley & MacLellan's early wagon was so successful that it remained in production with relatively few updates until the launch of Sentinel's famous Super in 1923. The company also produced steam railway locomotives and railcar

Railcar

A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...

s, for the LMS

London, Midland and Scottish Railway

The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

railway company and industrial customers.

In 1917, the company was bought by William Beardmore & Co., Ltd

William Beardmore and Company

William Beardmore and Company was a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding conglomerate based in Glasgow and the surrounding Clydeside area. It was active between about 1890 and 1930 and at its peak employed about 40,000 people...

Sentinel Waggon Works (1920) Ltd

In 1920, after financial problems, the company was reorganized as Sentinel Waggon Works (1920) Ltd. The Sentinel ‘Super’ model that followed in 1923 was assembled in a radical new plant at Shrewsbury, with a flow line based on Henry Ford

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...

’s Model T factory at Highland Park, Michigan

Highland Park, Michigan

- Geography :According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 16,746 people, 6,199 households, and 3,521 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,622.9 per square mile . There were 7,249...

, with 1,550 vehicles produced.

Sentinel, along with Foden

Foden

Foden may refer to:* Ben Foden , English rugby union player* Giles Foden , British author* Wendy Foden, South African conservation biologist- See also :* Edwin Foden, Sons & Co., a former British truck and bus manufacturer...

, dominated the steam market, but the 1930s saw the demise of both companies' ranges as new legislation forced the development of lighter lorries, Sentinel surviving the longest.

In 1934 Sentinel launched a new and advanced steamer - the S type which had a single-acting 4-cylinder underfloor engine with longitudinal crankshaft and an overhead worm-drive axle. Their Sentinel Waggon Works' design of 1935 led to the production of 3,750 Sentinel 'Standards’ in the seventeen years that followed, the biggest selling steam lorry ever. It was lighter and featured a modernized driver's cab with a set-back boiler and was available in four, six and eight-wheel form, designated S4, S6 and S8. In spite of its sophisticated design, however, it could not compete with contemporary diesel trucks for all-round convenience and payload capacity, and was phased out in the late 1930s. It was not the end of Sentinel's involvement with steam, however; the company built about 100 "S" type vehicles for export to Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

as late as 1950, for use by the Río Turbio

Río Turbio (Santa Cruz)

Río Turbio is a town and municipality in Santa Cruz Province in southern Argentina.-References:...

coal mine. It has been stated that Sentinel were never paid for the last batch of the Río Turbio production run. At least two of the Río Turbio waggons survive in Argentina to this day.

In 1946 Thomas Hill's

Thomas Hill (Rotherham) Ltd

Thomas Hill Limited was a company which repaired and sold steam road vehicles, diesel and electric road vehicles and railway locomotives. It later made its name building and rebuilding diesel locomotives.-History:...

signed an agency agreement with Sentinel for repair and maintenance of diesel vehicles. In 1947 Sentinel offered to extend the agreement for diesel vehicles to include the steam locomotives and an agency was accepted by Thomas Hill for sales

Sales

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity....

and servicing.

Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Ltd

In 1947 the company became Sentinel (Shrewsbury) Ltd, and had developed a new range of diesel lorries. Despite Sentinel's superbly engineered vehicles, sales diminished throughout the 1950s, and by 1956 the company was forced to cease lorry production. The factory was acquired by Rolls-Royce

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....

for diesel engine production, and the remaining stock of parts and vehicles was taken over by Sentinel's chief dealer, North Cheshire Motors Ltd of Warrington, who formed a new company, Transport Vehicles (Warrington) Ltd, in 1957 to produce Sentinel-based designs under the TVW name.

In 1963 Thomas Hill's decided to renew the loco agreement and relinquish the diesel vehicle agency, concentrating all efforts on the steam locomotive work.

Rolls-Royce agree to build diesel locomotives

Despite the various interesting developments, Rolls Royce did not consider railway locomotives to be part of their core business. They had agreed to complete all steam locos on order, and four steam receiver locos ordered by Dorman Long

Dorman Long

Dorman Long, based in Middlesbrough, North East England, was a major steel producer, which diversified into bridge building, and is now a manufacturer of steel components and construction equipment for bridges and other structures...

in 1956, but only after much consideration did Rolls-Royce finally agree at the end of 1957 to design and build a diesel locomotive of similar weight and power to the 200 hp steam loco that had sold so well. Thomas Hill's would assist in the design and development of these diesel machines and would be the Sole distributor.

Last steam locomotives

In 1958 the last two Sentinel steam locos were delivered marking the end of an era. Two of the newly developed steam receiver locos were delivered and proved very satisfactory in service, but Dorman Long were not happy. There had been a change of heart among their engineers as well as a change of circumstances, and they were now favouring diesel locomotives. The last two steam receiver locos were built but never delivered and ultimately all four were converted to diesel hydraulic.

Diesel production commences

The prototype Sentinel diesel locomotive was built and ready to commence trials on the former Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Railway (then under military control) early in 1959. It met with the approval and enthusiasm of the Company's prospective customers and before the end of the year 17 locomotives had been sold and delivered. The company was ready to produce a maximum of four locomotives a month.

By 1963 four different Sentinel diesel models were being produced, commencing with the 34 ton chain drive

Chain drive

Chain drive is a way of transmitting mechanical power from one place to another. It is often used to convey power to the wheels of a vehicle, particularly bicycles and motorcycles...

0-4-0 powered by the Rolls-Royce C6SFL six-cylinder engine of 233 bhp (gross) (later uprated to 255 bhp). This was followed within a year by a 48 ton 0-6-0 rod coupled machine, fitted with a Rolls-Royce C8SFL eight-cylinder engine of 311 bhp (gross) (later uprated to 325 bhp)

These Sentinels demonstrated their suitability for heavy work, but heavier and more powerful locos were called for, particularly by the steel industry, and before the end of 1963 a 74 ton 0-8-0

0-8-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-8-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and no trailing wheels...

Sentinel Steelman

A shaft drive 600 hp 0-6-0 machine was now being developed at Shrewsbury to use the new DV8T engine. Considerable interest in this loco was expressed by Stewart and Lloyds mineral division at Corby

Corby

Corby Town is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure...

who were operating more than 20 steam locos, mainly of the Austerity type. This new locomotive Steelman was eventually delivered to Corby in late 1967, about two years overdue. The prototype locomotive proved satisfactory and three more were ordered by Stewart and Lloyds and one by Richard Thomas and Baldwins, Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe

Scunthorpe is a town within North Lincolnshire, England. It is the administrative centre of the North Lincolnshire unitary authority, and had an estimated total resident population of 72,514 in 2010. A predominantly industrial town, Scunthorpe, the United Kingdom's largest steel processing centre,...

. With Stewart and Lloyds' programme to replace more than 20 steam locos over the next few years the future for Steelman looked good.

Unfortunately for the Company and Rolls-Royce, British Railways, seeing a potential for their Swindon

Swindon Works

Swindon railway works were built by the Great Western Railway in 1841 in Swindon in the English county of Wiltshire.-History:In 1835 Parliament approved the construction of a railway between London and Bristol. Its Chief Engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel.From 1836, Brunel had been buying...

-built class 14

British Rail Class 14

The British Rail Class 14 is a type of small diesel-hydraulic locomotive built in the mid-1960s. Twenty-six of these 0-6-0 locomotives were ordered in January 1963, to be built at British Railways Swindon Works. The anticipated work for this class was yard shunting, trip work and short distance...

diesel hydraulic locomotives made Stewart and Lloyds an offer of 26 locomotives around three years old at a fraction of their original cost. The Class 14 locomotive had proved rather a white elephant

White elephant

A white elephant is an idiom for a valuable but burdensome possession of which its owner cannot dispose and whose cost is out of proportion to its usefulness or worth...

for B.R. but powered by a 650 hp Paxman

Paxman (engines)

Paxman is a major British brand of diesel engines. Ownership has changed on a number of occasions since the company's formation in 1865, and now the brand is owned by MAN SE, as part of MAN Diesel & Turbo. At its peak, the Paxman works covered 23 acres and employed over 2,000 people. Engine...

, Voith Transmission, a rod coupled 0-6-0 capable of doing the work required, it was an offer that Stewart and Lloyds could hardly refuse. New locomotive sales were declining anyway, and the release of such locos onto the industrial market at such prices was disastrous, and regrettably no further "Steelman" locos were built at Shrewsbury.

This was not to be the end of the Steelman. Some 12 years later ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

Billingham wanted two heavy locomotives to replace their ageing Yorkshire Janus

British Rail Janus

Janus and Taurus were two models of diesel shunting locomotives by the Yorkshire Engine Company; one prototype of each being loaned to British Railways for demonstrations. However, BR did not buy any production versions after testing...

locomotives. Their stated wish was to buy the best and most up to date equipment available and in their efforts to achieve this aim, their engineers visited many industrial sites, and steelworks in particular. Their requirements were discussed with all UK locomotive manufacturers, and the final outcome of their investigations was an order for an updated version of the "Sentinel Steelman locomotive". This order was subsequently increased to two machines which were delivered toward the end of 1981.

UK sales of Sentinel locos were now fewer than 10 per year, their only overseas success had been to license the build of 36 0-6-0 locomotives for the railways in Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

in 1965/6.

Road vehicles

Steam waggons

Alley & MacLellan 5-ton waggon (1906) - now commonly referred to as the "Standard" Sentinel
Super Sentinel (1923)
Sentinel DG4 (1926)
Sentinel DG6
Sentinel DG8 (1929)
Sentinel S4 (1930)
Sentinel S6
Sentinel S8

Diesel lorries

Sentinel DV44 (1947)
Sentinel DV46
Sentinel DV66 (1952)
Sentinel aircraft tug

Railway vehicles

The locomotives and railcars (with a few exceptions) used the standard steam lorry boilers and engine units.

100 hp Steam Locomotives

Works no. 6515/1926, Isham Quarries, Northamptonshire, (ex-GWR no. 12)
Works no. 6520/1926, "Toby" 0-4-0VG; Port of Par, Cornwall
Par, Cornwall
Par is a town and fishing port with a harbour on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town is situated in the civil parish of Tywardreath and Par and is approximately east of St Austell. Par has a population of around 1,400.....

. (Replaced 1876 Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...

0-4-0ST "Punch". Replaced by Bagnall 0-4-0ST "Alfred" and "Judy").
Works no. 6807/1928, "Gervase"; rebuilt as a vertical-boilered geared locomotive from 1900 Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle
Manning Wardle was a steam locomotive manufacturer based in Hunslet, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.- Precursor companies :The city of Leeds was one of the earliest centres of locomotive building; Matthew Murray built the first commercially successful steam locomotive, Salamanca, in Holbeck, Leeds,...

. (Moved to Kent & East Sussex Railway in 1972, and to the Elsecar Steam Railway
Elsecar Steam Railway
The Elsecar Heritage Railway is located on the southern part of the former South Yorkshire Railway freight-only branch which ran from Elsecar Junction on its Mexborough to Barnsley line...

in 2008.)
Works no. 7026/1928, British Quarrying Co., Criggion, Montgomeryshire
Works no. 7299/1928, Corby Quarries, Rockingham Forest, (ex-Phoenix Tube Works)
Works no. 9365/1945, "Belvedere"; Isham Quarries, Northamptonshire, (ex-Thomas Hill, Rotherham): preserved at Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
The Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust operates a mile long heritage railway line at Hunsbury Hill, south-west of Northampton. The line is mainly dedicated to freight working, featuring many sharp curves and steep gradients which were typical of the industrial railway, but rides are...
Works no. 9369/1946, "Musketeer"; Isham Quarries, Northamptonshire, (ex-Williams & Williams, Hooton): preserved at Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust
The Northamptonshire Ironstone Railway Trust operates a mile long heritage railway line at Hunsbury Hill, south-west of Northampton. The line is mainly dedicated to freight working, featuring many sharp curves and steep gradients which were typical of the industrial railway, but rides are...
Works no. 9615/1956, Oxfordshire Ironstone Quarries, Banbury
LMS Sentinels 7160-3
LMS Sentinels 7160-3
London Midland and Scottish Railway Sentinels 7160–3, later renumbered 7180–3 and by British Railways 47180–3 was a class of small vertical boilered chain-driven shunting locomotives.- Overview :...
LMS Sentinel 7164
LNER Class Y1
LNER Class Y1
The LNER Class Y1 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1925...
LNER Class Y3
LNER Class Y3
The LNER Class Y3 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1927. They passed into British Railways ownership in 1948 and were numbered 68154-68185....

200 hp Steam Locomotives

LNER Class Y10
LNER Class Y10
The LNER Class Y10 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1930. The LNER numbered them 8403 and 8404 but they were later re-numbered 8186 and 8187....
S&DJR Sentinels
S&DJR Sentinels
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Sentinel locomotives were two small vertical-boilered, chain-driven steam locomotives for shunting. They were built by Sentinel Waggon Works, who also produced similar designs for industrial customers.- Service :...
Works no. 7109/1927, Croydon Gasworks No. 37 "Joyce", preserved

Railcars

In 1925 the New Zealand Railways Department
New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...

bought one Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar
NZR RM class (Sentinel-Cammell)
The NZR RM class Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar was a steam-powered railcar operated by the New Zealand Railways Department . It was the only one of its type to operate in New Zealand, and one of only two steam railcars trialled in the country; the other was the Clayton steam railcar.-Overview:In...

which became part of its RM class
NZR RM class
The RM class is the classification used by the New Zealand Railways Department and its successors given to most railcars and railbuses that have operated on New Zealand's national rail network. As NZR and its successors has operated many diverse types of railcars, alternate names have been given...

.

Between 1925 and 1932 the London and North Eastern Railway
London and North Eastern Railway
The London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...

bought 80 Sentinel steam railcars
Railmotor
Railmotor is a term which was used by several British railway companies for a steam railcar.-Overview:William Bridges Adams started building railmotors as early as 1848, but only in small numbers...

and four were supplied to the LNER-controlled Cheshire Lines Committee
Cheshire Lines Committee
The Cheshire Lines Committee was the second largest joint railway in Great Britain, with 143 route miles. Despite its name, approximately 55% of its system was in Lancashire. In its publicity material it was often styled as the Cheshire Lines Railway...

.

In 1928 Palestine Railways bought two Sentinel-Cammell articulated steam railcars for local services. Each unit had two cars articulated over three bogies. Palestine Railways found the railcar format inflexible, as if passenger numbers exceeded the capacity of a train it was not practical to couple up an extra coach. In 1945 PR removed the Sentinel engines and converted the railcars to ordinary coaching stock.

In 1933 the Southern Railway
Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent...

bought a Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar for use on the Devil's Dyke
The Dyke railway station
The Dyke railway station was a railway station near Devil's Dyke in West Sussex, England which opened in 1887 and closed in 1939.- History :The Dyke Station opened as the terminus for the standard gauge railway line which ran from Dyke Junction Station to 200 feet below the summit of Devil's Dyke...

branch, in East Sussex. Although operationally successful, the single railcar was not large enough to meet the needs of this line. It was transferred away from the line in March 1936 and tried in other areas, but was withdrawn in 1940.

In 1951 Egyptian National Railways
Egyptian National Railways
Egyptian National Railways is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority .-1833–77:...

bought 10 articulated steam railcars. Each had three carriage bodies articulated over four bogies. One is preserved by the Quainton Railway Society at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre
Buckinghamshire Railway Centre is a railway museum operated by the Quainton Railway Society Ltd. at Quainton Road railway station, in the far depths of "Metro-land", about 5 miles west of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. The site is divided into two halves which are joined by two foot-bridges, one of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The Doble Shunter

LMS Sentinel 7192
LMS Sentinel 7192
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Sentinel No. 7192 was a geared steam locomotive. It was built in 1934 by the Sentinel Waggon Works of Shrewsbury, maker's number 8805 as lot 111. It had an Abner Doble boiler combined with a 4-cylinder compound arrangement, but an order for an additional...

– so-called as it was fitted with an Abner Doble
Abner Doble
Abner Doble , was an American mechanical engineer who built and sold steam-powered automobiles. His father was William Ashton Doble, inventor of the Doble water wheel, and his grandfather and namesake was the founder of the Abner Doble Company.Abner Doble began apprenticing at his family's factory...

boiler

The Double Locomotive

A special locomotive was produced at Sentinel, for Dorman Long

Dorman Long

and named "Princess". It consisted of 2 x 0-6-0

0-6-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...

chassis

Chassis

A chassis consists of an internal framework that supports a man-made object. It is analogous to an animal's skeleton. An example of a chassis is the underpart of a motor vehicle, consisting of the frame with the wheels and machinery.- Vehicles :In the case of vehicles, the term chassis means the...

coupled together to articulate. One unit carried the cab

Cab

The word cab has a number of meanings, most of which are abbreviations:In transport:* Cabriolet, a horse-drawn carriage* Taxicab* Cabin * Cab , the driving compartment of a locomotive...

, a 5 drum oil-fired Woolnough boiler and two 100 hp engines. The other unit housed the water and fuel tanks and also two more 100 hp engines providing a total of 400 hp. It was considered a magnificent machine by the staff but unfortunately was the only one of its kind ever built.

The Gyro locomotive

Another special was the NCB Gyro or Electrogyro Locomotive. Based on a 200 hp 4-wheeled 0-4-0

0-4-0

Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...

frame fitted with two "gyro units" (see Flywheel energy storage

Flywheel energy storage

Flywheel energy storage works by accelerating a rotor to a very high speed and maintaining the energy in the system as rotational energy...

) made by Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon

Brown, Boveri & Cie

Brown, Boveri & Cie was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies.It was founded in Baden, Switzerland, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 BBC took over the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon...

of Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. The gyros were principally a 3 ton horizontal flywheel enclosed in a vessel filled with low pressure hydrogen. A vertically mounted three-phase squirrel-cage electric motor/generator was directly coupled to each flywheel shaft. The motor took its power from a side-mounted supply at static posts via a four-contact swinging arm extended or retracted pneumatically by the driver. Power could only be taken whilst the loco was stationary alongside one of these posts. When the gyros had reached the required speed, the driver would retract the contact arm, switch the motor to generation and controlled the locomotive in a similar way to a diesel-electric loco. Charging posts had to be strategically placed around the site. A contact arm was provided on each side of the locomotive, although it is not clear if posts were installed on one or both sides of the track. Each gyro operated between 3,000 rpm when fully 'charged;' and 1,800 rpm before recharging. Recharging took 2½ minutes and the locomotive could work for around 30 minutes before recharging. It weighed 34 tons and had a maximum speed of 15 mph.

This machine was specially built for the National Coal Board

National Coal Board

The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

(NCB) at Seaton Delaval

Seaton Delaval

Seaton Delaval is a village in Northumberland, England, with a population of 4,371. It is the largest of the five villages in Seaton Valley and is the site of Seaton Delaval Hall, the masterpiece completed by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1727....

. The intention was to investigate the use of gyroscopic storage as a potential method for a flameproof and emissions-free underground locomotive. It operated very satisfactorily but was eventually taken out of service because of site development and its restricted field of operation. In April 1965 it was converted for the NCB to a diesel hydraulic machine.

The Receiver Locomotives

The Receiver Locomotives were another special type built just for Dorman Long

Dorman Long

and were based on the idea of a Fireless locomotive

Fireless locomotive

A fireless locomotive is a type of locomotive designed for use under conditions restricted by either the presence of flammable material or the need for cleanliness...

Steam locomotives used by UK Main Line Companies

LNER Class Y1
LNER Class Y1
The LNER Class Y1 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1925...
LNER Class Y3
LNER Class Y3
The LNER Class Y3 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1927. They passed into British Railways ownership in 1948 and were numbered 68154-68185....
LNER Class Y10
LNER Class Y10
The LNER Class Y10 was a class of 0-4-0 geared steam locomotives built by Sentinel Waggon Works for the London and North Eastern Railway and introduced in 1930. The LNER numbered them 8403 and 8404 but they were later re-numbered 8186 and 8187....
S&DJR Sentinels
S&DJR Sentinels
The Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Sentinel locomotives were two small vertical-boilered, chain-driven steam locomotives for shunting. They were built by Sentinel Waggon Works, who also produced similar designs for industrial customers.- Service :...
LMS Sentinels 7160-3
LMS Sentinels 7160-3
London Midland and Scottish Railway Sentinels 7160–3, later renumbered 7180–3 and by British Railways 47180–3 was a class of small vertical boilered chain-driven shunting locomotives.- Overview :...
LMS Sentinel 7164
LMS Sentinel 7192
LMS Sentinel 7192
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway Sentinel No. 7192 was a geared steam locomotive. It was built in 1934 by the Sentinel Waggon Works of Shrewsbury, maker's number 8805 as lot 111. It had an Abner Doble boiler combined with a 4-cylinder compound arrangement, but an order for an additional...

Preservation

A number of Sentinel steam waggons

Steam wagon

A steam wagon is a steam-powered road vehicle for carrying freight. It was the earliest form of lorry and came in two basic forms: overtype and undertype – the distinction being the position of the engine relative to the boiler...

and tractors exist in preservation in the UK (about 117, as of 2008). A number also exist in Australia and other countries.

There are several surviving steam locomotives located at various heritage railways around the UK, including: the Elsecar Heritage Railway, the Middleton Railway

Middleton Railway

The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd...

, the Foxfield Light Railway

Foxfield Light Railway

The Foxfield Light Railway is a preserved standard gauge line located south east of Stoke-on-Trent. The line was built in 1893 to serve the colliery at Dilhorne on the Cheadle Coalfield. It joined the North Staffordshire Railway line near Blythe Bridge....

and the Chasewater Railway

Chasewater Railway

The Chasewater Railway is a former colliery railway running round the shores of Chasewater in Staffordshire, England. It is now operated as a heritage railway.The line is approximately two miles in length, contained entirely within Chasewater Country Park...

.

Two Sentinel steam locos are still working and a third one is derelict at Amsted Maxion

Iochpe-Maxion

Iochpe-Maxion is a the largest global wheel maker company with twomain divisions in the auto parts and railwayequipment industries, which together accountfor nearly 14.0 thousand direct job positions at 23...

's railway equipments plant in Cruzeiro

Cruzeiro, São Paulo

Cruzeiro is a city in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is located about from the state capital...

, SP

São Paulo (state)

São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...

(Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

). All three were 0-4-0T locomotives built in 1931 to gauge:

Sentinel #8398 – ex SPR
São Paulo Railway
São Paulo Railway was a privately owned British railway company in Brazil, which operated the gauge railway from the seaport at Santos via São Paulo to Jundiaí...

#166 and EFSJ #166; kept its numbering after 1960 at FNV and continues as #166.
Sentinel #8399 – ex SPR #167 and EFSJ #167; kept its numbering after 1960 at FNV and continues as #167.
Sentinel #8400 – ex SPR #168 and EFSJ #168; kept its numbering after 1960 at FNV and at Amsted Maxion. After an unsuccessful attempt to convert it to diesel power, it was withdrawn and remains derelict at the plant's facilities.

External links

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