A LEEDS STEAM CONTRACTOR REMEMBERS
With the rejuvenation of the firm of Woodhead Brothers after World War 1, one of the first steam wagons the two brothers hired from their father, Fred, was a locally-built Mann’s which he had bought from Bentley’s Yorkshire Brewery at Woodlesford near Leeds, some time before 1921. This was No. 636 (U 1354) which had been new to the brewery in 1910 and was, by that time, past its best. The brothers hired it in for about six months and then their father sold it, on hire purchase, to Messrs Carr & Vamplew, East Park Road, Leeds for £450. It was last licensed in September 1926.
More engines came their way, and a lot of business was being done. During many trips on which he was engaged in the haulage of coal and coke into Sheffield, Bill came upon the firm of E. Vamplew in the city’s suburb of Woodseats. This firm was running overtype Robey wagons which bore a strong resemblance to the small number of overtype waggons built by Sentinel’s (Alley & McLellan) in Glasgow in 1911/1912. A suggestion was in being at the time that these wagons had been built using the patterns of the Sentinel overtypes which had been obtained by Robey’s from the Glasgow firm on its move to Shrewsbury - but this may have been merely conjecture or just idle gossip of the time.
Around this time, Fred Woodhead also acquired a Yorkshire wagon on rubber tyres - No. 239 of 1908 - from John Parkinson of Clitheroe, Lancashire. This one was hired to George Kendall of Leeds and a proper hire agreement was drawn up by the Leeds solicitors, Granger & Nield, dated January 20th 1920. It was a three/four ton wagon and on one occasion
