Online Catalogue last updated 25th of June 2012
The Highways Act of 1896 led to the development of a whole new breed of light steam vehicles. Amongst these were the Simpson-Bodman, later to become the Simpson-Bibby.
Alley & Macllelan of Glasgow had been making marine steam engines, air compressors and other ships machinery for more than 30 years before they bought the Simpson-Bibby patents and built the first 'Sentinel' steam waggons in 1905.
In 1915 Alley's moved the steam waggon manufacturing to a new factory at Shrewsbury and in 1918 Stephen Alley sold all his shares in A & M and bought the Shrewsbury works.
The original 'Standard' Sentinels continued to be made until the introduction of a new model in 1923 known as the 'Super-Sentinel', Developments of the Super included tractors, stationary engines and rail locomotives,
Later the Company went on to build the 'DG' (Double Geared) and 'S' model steam waggons; they also tried I.C. (Internal Combustion) engined vehicles with the acquisition of Garners in 1934, which they sold in 1937, and again after the war with their own diesel lorries and buses,
This first photograph album covers the Simpson-Bodman and Simpson-Bibby waggons, the Glasgow and Shrewsbury built Standards, and the Super-Sentinel waggons with their tractor and stationary engine derivatives, the last of which was made in 1930.
Written by Anthony R Thomas, using material from his fathers lifetime collection of Sentinel material, this book contains 155 pages and over 200 Sentinel works photographs with detailed captions with a brief history of each waggon.
The appendix contains a listing of every known Standard and Super-Sentinel and trailer built with, Works Number, Registration Number, Registration Date, Model, First and Subsequent Owners and their Town, County & Country, amounting to over 7100 lines of data.
Chapter 1 begins with the Simpson-Bodman then Simpson-Bibby wagons, predecessor of the fist Sentinel waggon built in 1905. Each chapter has up to two text pages followed by unique photos illustrating the different models built with captions to show the range of customers and what they were use for.
Also included are the various varieties of the Super-Sentinel tractors built, including the timber hauling, ploughing and trailer hauling versions. Special tractors such as the Roadless (tracked) and Rhinocerous are included and also portable engines.
Sentinel built trailers from the first for use with their waggons and tractors and these are also included.
Code No. 004720, 155 pages, $43.00