No. 62 June 2010 The Roads and Road Transport History Association www.rrtha.org.uk Scout Motors Ltd Roy Larkin Scout Motors Ltd., established in 1902 in Salisbury, and manufactured worm drive rear axle replaced the Wiltshire initially produced 10,15 and 20cwt light vans chain drive used previously. with 2 and 4 cylinder engines. In 1910 the range was extended to include 2 and 3-ton models with 32 and Production of vehicles was suspended between 1914 and 38hp engines. 1918, when the manufacture of mines and bombs for the Ministry of Munitions took all of the factory's capacity. An unknown number of the larger chassis were supplied with bus and charabanc bodies, mostly to local operators Production of road vehicles resumed in 1920, although in the Salisbury and New Forest area. Production few were made in the face of competition from War peaked at two vehicles per week in 1912, a figure that Office surplus lorries from Slough Dump and the included car manufacture and in 1914, a Scout designed company closed its doors for the last time in 1921. % ■Mi ALL-BRITISH | Low We are the actual Manufacturers, and NOT merely assemblers. 10,000 miles |Running guarantee Tor Lorry and Ii Costs ! ! i Tyres. Ball - bearing : Patent silent Transmission chain drive, throughout, enclosed in I: including cast alu­ ? road wheels. minium cases. I j Forced feed .; lubrication to Radiatorwith : Engine. \ cast top and bottom tanks Thermo - removable, syphon i enabling Cooling I ■ driver to get Any type body SCOUT 2-TON VAN (Our term of tonnage means to carry that weight in addition to the body). at tubes to to suit any PRICE ..........................................£585 stop leakages trade. 3-ton ditto (including tyres) £620 4 »» £670 Tyres on Each are fitted with four-cylinder engine, approximate running cost of either l;d. per ton per mile. slow payment : Smart i I Write for C.M. List. system, if deliveries. Established desired : SCOUT MOTORS Ltd. ( 1902 ), Salisbury. —*..j Advertisement for the Scout 2-Ton van, which proudly proclaims that they are the actual manufacturers and not merely assemblers, as they manufactured rather than bought in any components, which was probably a major factor in their demise, from The Commercial Motor, 1912. Editorial President relevant title, author, publisher Professor John Hibbs O.B.E. Welcome to the June Journal of details as per other reviews. Copper Beeches the Roads and Road Transport 134 Wood End Road History Association which I Erdington Like them or not, websites are hope you all enjoy. Birmingham an invaluable research aid. B24 8BN With widely varying content Thank you to all the [email protected] contributors, David Stewart- and quality, they sometimes David for his recollections on need careful consideration Chairman regarding their accuracy. Grahame Boyes road transport in Hull, Please consider contributing a 7 Onslow Road Christopher Davies and Peter Richmond Jaques for their comprehensive review of any websites, TWI0 6QH article on Leicester Green and whether academic or g.bo\[email protected] Midland Red and especially to otherwise, discovered during Tim Axten for his memories of your researching. Secretary two infamous Essex bus Peter Jaques operators. The rally season is now fully 21 The Oaklands upon us for another year and Droitwich whilst this wouldn't normally WR9 8AD I hope that Tim's article pjaq ues@l ive. co. uk encourages more members to attract the attention of your contribute their memories as Journal, there is one particular Treasurer these events would otherwise event that deserves mention. John Howie remain unrecorded and lost 37 Balcombe Gardens forever to future historians and The CVRTC, one of our Horley enthusiasts. members, is organising an RH6 9BY event at the Lincoln Farm Cafe, mygg3 [email protected] Thank you to all the book Kenilworth Road, Meriden, reviewers, particularly Richard B92 0LS, on 4 July 2010. This Research Co-ordinator event is notable in that it will Tony Newman Storey who contributed 21 Ffordd Argoed reviews of books not known to be entirely an event to Mold me. It is impossible for me to celebrate BRS. A growing CH71LY keep track of all new book entry of BRS vehicles in [email protected] releases, so if anybody finds a preservation and ex-BRS new book, please review it. employees gathered at one of Academic Adviser Just drop me a quick line to the few remaining traditional Professor John Armstrong Thames Valley University check that it isn't already being transport cafes is an event that St Mary's Road reviewed. Reviews are not can only be enjoyed and London long, but please include all the deserves all our support. W5 5RF Editor Roy Larkin Contents 19 Burnley Close Tadley Scout Motors Ltd................................. RG26 3NQ 1 01189 817924 2010 AGM Report .............................. 3 Road Transport in Hull 3 [email protected] Leicester Green and Midland Red 6 Journal No. 63 A Tale of Two Pirates ....................... 15 Target date: September 2010 Members' Forum 16 Turnpike Accounts ........................... The 2010 subscription covers 17 Nos, 61 to 64 Book Reviews ........................ 18 Letters to the Editor .................. ©R&RTHA and individual authors, 2010 20 A company limited by Guarantee, registered in GirdWNo'53008731P°Fl HlSlor7 Association Ltd - ISSN 1750-9408 • ^00873; Registered Office: De Snlis Drive, Hampton Lovett, Droitwich, WR9 0QE 2 2010 AGM Report Ken Swallow told the Association's Annual General Tony had consulted the Annual Summary Lists of Meeting, held at the Coventry Motor Museum on 20 Accessions to Record Offices compiled at TNA so he March that the R&RTHA intends to publish the could assess two themes provided by the official "Passenger Companion" itself in 2011, rather than compiler: Bus & Tram Service Businesses, and Road making use of an outside concern. Association member Haulage Businesses. He found that these classifications Dr Martin Higginson is now editor of The Companion to failed to recognise all of the relevant accessions, and he Public Road Transport History in Great Britain and hopes to pursue this further with TNA. His longer term Ireland, but former editor Dr Corinne Mulley is still intention was to provide a list of locations of relevant writing entries to the work now that she is in Australia. archives, together with information about accessibility. In his report to the AGM on the editorial team's work, He told the AGM that the Contents List of the R&RTHA Ken said the aim is to complete the text by October this Newsletter, now the Journal, covers issued 1 to 61. year, and there are many thousands of photographs to Copies are available to any member on request. Asked choose from to illustrate the book. The Companion will whether this could be made available on the contain 835 entries on every aspect of the road passenger Association's website, he said that it would be possible transport business. So far 134 people, 32 from the to do so. Association, have contributed entries. Some entries were still outstanding, and Ken appealed for anyone Journal Editor, Roy Larkin, urged members to write with knowledge of night bus services to step forward. contributions to "Your Journal". Everyone had their own working life experience, so let us record it, especially if it Tony Newman, the Association’s Research Coordinator, can be illustrated. Asked by Ian Yearsley whether reported on his contacts with The National Archives articles on work in progress were acceptable, Roy (TNA) and Companies House in Cardiff. In an effort to replied that they were indeed, especially if it generated improve his catalogue of files at the National Archives input from other members. relating to road transport, Tony had approached Companies House, which allocated a member of staff to Professor John Hibbs said he would welcome a general check more than 400 queries against their records. Tony history of the road freight industry and suggested that said a copy of the resulting list of files is available to any perhaps the Association could put out a request for member on request. someone to write it. Road Transport in Hull David Stewart-David A semi-circular city of three hundred thousand across Hessle Road great crowds of bicycles had to wait population. Its southern chord is the broad River each side of the railway, blocking the trolleybuses on Humber, a barrier crossed by ancient paddle steamers. route 70, and the laden Bedfords and Albions bringing To the south east of the city are some of the busiest bales of cargo and boxes of fish from the docks to the docks in the country. This area is separated from the West Riding. city centre by the tidal River Hull, which runs south to the Humber, and is crossed by bascule bridges. Yet Social history, like anthropology, is greatly influenced these bridges are an insignificant barrier compared to by the prior experience of the observer. I arrived in Hull man made obstacles - more than a dozen busy level as a social science undergraduate in 1960. My prior crossings which take railways across the radial roads of understanding of transport came from being part of a the city.1-2 The dominance of the railway shows how railway family in the industrial village of Heysham - much more important the lines were than the roads dominated by ships and trains - and from some years when the crossings were built a hundred years before. spent living on Putney Hill in South London, where London Transport buses and a steady flow of goods By 1960, the railway was losing port cargoes to road vehicles were evident. In Morecambe I had watched vehicles, although Ro-Ro ferries and containerised traffic corporation buses run fully laden during the have yet to arrive.