'Elizabeth' the Steam Bus.
Seen working on a Town tour of Whitby, 'Elizabeth' is Britain's only working steam bus in passenger service. This unique steam powered vehicle is a Sentinel DG6, which and started life in November 1931 as a flat bed lorry, with the Cement Marketing Company Ltd, London. In 1948, she passed to Bituminous Road Products Ltd, Middlesbrough where she was fitted with a Tar-spraying tank and named 'Joyce'. In the mid 1950s, she passed into the ownership of W&J Glossop at Hipperholme, where she continued in use as a road tar sprayer.
By 1962, she had become life expired as a tar sprayer, and was sold to FC Lambe of Bromsgrove for £50, who saved the vehicle from the scrap yard fate. However, she was again sold in the same year to RJ Heugh of Boston, who completely rebuilt and restored the Sentinel.
Following her rebuild, she passed to several other owners until she was bought by her current owners Vernon and Viv Smith, who in 2005, converted the Sentinel lorry into a bus, and through challenging the Department of Transport in regard the Construction and Use of Passenger Vehicles, eventually got the law changed to allow the use of Steam buses in the UK. Steam powered vehicles, unlike normal buses, exhaust from the front rather than from the back of the vehicle, which up until the change in Law, made the use of such a vehicle as a bus illegal in the UK.
Since 2006 Elizabeth has become a major attraction in Whitby, where for the princely some of £3.50, you can take a ride around the streets of Whitby and sample the delights of this unique vehicle.
'Elizabeth' the Steam Bus.
Seen working on a Town tour of Whitby, 'Elizabeth' is Britain's only working steam bus in passenger service. This unique steam powered vehicle is a Sentinel DG6, which and started life in November 1931 as a flat bed lorry, with the Cement Marketing Company Ltd, London. In 1948, she passed to Bituminous Road Products Ltd, Middlesbrough where she was fitted with a Tar-spraying tank and named 'Joyce'. In the mid 1950s, she passed into the ownership of W&J Glossop at Hipperholme, where she continued in use as a road tar sprayer.
By 1962, she had become life expired as a tar sprayer, and was sold to FC Lambe of Bromsgrove for £50, who saved the vehicle from the scrap yard fate. However, she was again sold in the same year to RJ Heugh of Boston, who completely rebuilt and restored the Sentinel.
Following her rebuild, she passed to several other owners until she was bought by her current owners Vernon and Viv Smith, who in 2005, converted the Sentinel lorry into a bus, and through challenging the Department of Transport in regard the Construction and Use of Passenger Vehicles, eventually got the law changed to allow the use of Steam buses in the UK. Steam powered vehicles, unlike normal buses, exhaust from the front rather than from the back of the vehicle, which up until the change in Law, made the use of such a vehicle as a bus illegal in the UK.
Since 2006 Elizabeth has become a major attraction in Whitby, where for the princely some of £3.50, you can take a ride around the streets of Whitby and sample the delights of this unique vehicle.