Merryweather – The Final Years.
In the November issue of Vintage Roadscene Ron Henderson
wrote about the final years of the well-known fire engine builder. In March
1980 the company vacated its Greenwich Works and moved to a new factory in Ebbw
Vale, Wales, taking advantage of grants available to encourage employment of
former coal miners. The company secured an order for two Musketeer crash
tenders on Shelvoke chassis powered by Rolls-Royce engines for Norwich Airport.
I was pleased to find a photo of one of these.
This
is a Johnathan Wade photo. Ref: 41921
MPW 220 V
was seconded to the Royal Aerospace Establishment site at Farnborough during
the 1992 Farnborough Airshow. By 1997 was based at Cranfield Airport in whose
livery it is shown. Photo taken 12/09/1992 outside the fire station. The crash
tender was last taxed until the end of June 2002.The second vehicle went to
Derry airport.
VIDEO.
Shaun
Taylor found a video of the arrival in Poplar in April 1932 of a fleet of SD Freighters
fitted with dustless shutters. The scene appears on the dust cover of
Kaleidoscope of Shelvoke & Drewry and also as caption 62. The arrival of
the Freighters marked the end of horse-drawn refuse collection in the Borough.
Go to:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytvF0iNSp4A
Colin Humble Remembers.
The photo in the last issue of Barrie Woods demonstrating a TN Pakamatic in Barnstaple reminded Colin Humble, who was SD’s South West Area Sales Manager, in a telephone conversation with me that this demonstration resulted in an order from Barnstaple. This replaced a pre-war SD Freighter. The narrow roads had meant that Barnstaple couldn't find anything to beat the Freighter in terms of width until the TN came along. Colin recalled that Managing Director, Morris Davenport, took a lot of persuading that a narrow version of the ‘T’ type chassis with a Pakamatic body was a sensible option, but eventually agreed to its introduction. It was an immediate success as Councils in the West Country realised its advantages for use on the narrow country roads. It also proved popular for towns and cities that had very narrow roads running at the rear of properties.
A Bill Smith photo from about 1970 of
production of a ‘T’ type cab fibreglass front panel.
The Type ‘T’ type utilised a fibreglass front panel and
roof. Colin told me that he had been able to arrange through a Brighton Guy
vehicles agent for Ernie Hill to visit Guy Motors at Wolverhampton. Ernie was a
long serving SD employee and had been entrusted with exploring the
possibilities of fibreglass panels for SD vehicles. Once Guy were satisfied
that Ernie’s interest was genuine they couldn’t have been more helpful in
showing him how the panels were made. Ernie stated on in Wolverhampton for a
further three days and was allowed to work on producing the Guy panels. I find
these little details so fascinating and am glad to be able to record them here.
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SD Enthusiasts’ Club Facebook Group. |
Membership of the Group has steadily grown to 429 of whom
321 are ”active members”. 96% of our members are male with a very welcome 4%
female. Approximately 83% of our members are from the U.K. with 9% from
Ireland, 3% from Malta, 3% from Hong Kong and 2% from the U.S.A.
A small but highly valued members regularly contribute
photos and comments and I try to ensure that all photos have an explanation of
the subject shown. The early days of “Lock Down” showed an upsurge in postings
and things have now returned to their previous level The Facebook Group has
uncovered many new aspects of the company. We have managed to avoid the unpleasant
postings that can detract from the interest of some Facebook Groups.
I have been grateful for the rich variety of photos that have been posted an have a stock of at least thirty photos which I wish to include in future Newsletters. The one below shows a mixture of TW and W type Fore & Aft tippers at White crook, Clydebank apparently ready for a day’s work and was posted by Brian Jones.
The December 2020 issue of Vintage Roadscene,
which is now on sale, carries the second part of Malcolm Bates’ account of
Shelvoke & Drewry. Part One was in the August issue. Over five pages
Malcolm recounts the story of the formation of the Special Purpose Vehicles
Division (SPV) and the part he played in its development, along with the struggle
to give the SPV’s a corporate identity.
I hope you’ve noted Gaydon Saturday
11th June 2022 and Sunday 12th June 2022 for a Grand Display of SD Vehicles to
celebrate SD’s Centenary.
Details of a celebration in Letchworth will follow in 2021.
To My Readers
My best
wishes
for Christmas
and the New Year
HELD OVER MATERIAL.
I had three articles ready to include in this issue
that have had to be held over for future use.
Derek Coulson wrote about the years he spent servicing
SD vehicles for Stockton Council.
Michael Waldock has written about working for
Marshalls of Cambridge in the 1990’s preparing vehicles for export to St. Lucia.
And Roger Morrisroe has told us about his experience
of SD Freightlifters whist doing his National Service with the R.A.F.
My apologies to these three correspondents and I’m sure you’ll enjoy their memories in future issues of the Newsletter.
Thanks.
The publication
of this quarterly Newsletter is only possible through the generosity of many
people in providing material to your Editor. For this issue I want to thank Tom
Colville, Mike Mullarkey and Barrie Woods for substantial articles, not forgetting
Colin Humble who provided a couple of good stories when speaking with him on
the phone, and Shaun Taylor for a link to a historic video.
I also have to thank the following for providing photos shown in this issue :- Malcolm Bates, Roger Morrisroe, Aled Rees, Roy Rudge,n Bill Smith, Tom Colville, Josh Tidy ( The Garden City Collection ), Michael Cooper, Campbell Spence,Eric Voytko (Classic Refuse Trucks ), Johnathan Wade and Brian Jones.
Brian
Carpenter -
Editor
The Shelvoke
& Drewry Enthusiasts’ Club Newsletter is published four times a year on 1st
March, 1st June, 1st September and 1st
December. Items for inclusion may be e-mailed to me at:
pinnerboy[at]btinternet.com
Next Issue :- 1st March 2021 Spring Issue.