British Commercial Vehicles 1950 - Battery-Electrics on view, page 2

            In the days before major concern about global warming and vehicle emmissions it seems odd to recall that many vehicles seen on city streets in the UK were actually battery-electric powered and were used on short, intensive delivery routes that made them very common on milk delivery rounds and for bakers and groceries. Rather puts the diesel vans of the numerous Asda, Tesco and Ocado vans we see so many of today to shame! Page 2 of the article shows;

The Jen- Helecs 'mechanical horses' or tug was very much the battery electric version of the Scammel motored truck that was so popular with British Railways at the time. This example shows the changeover from the privately owmed 'Big Four' railways to the nationalised British Railways! Jen-Helecs were constructed by Hindle, Smart & Co Ltd in Ardwick, Manchester. Electric trucks were popular for mobile shops or grocery deliveries and Batley Co-operative Society's example of a Brush 2-ton electric truck would at the time have been a common sight. Brush were, of course, the large concern in Loughborough who constructed a wide range of elctrical vehicles and bodywork. 

Bradford's bread - well, I remember this company when living as a child when we lived in West Bromwich. This was once a typical suburban scene - the baker's man on his daily delivery run. From memory the bakery was almost on the boundary between West Bromwich and Birmingham, and Bradford's appear to have gone to the latter city to register the vehicle. This truck was constructed by Midland Vehicles of Leamington Spa. The Tomlinson Roadster was one of the type that was not driven but steered by a pedestrian and this example is in a Dutch or Flemish speaking area of the Benelux countries, pounding pavements some way distant from where it was built in Witney, Oxfordshire. A similar hand-steered vehicle is the Harbilt milk float 'pram', again constructed in Loughborough by Harbilt. I must admit, milk truck and float I have heard of but never a 'pram' but I suppose the root is permambulator.

Taken on: March 22, 2019

Tags:

electric trucks

battery electric vehicles

c1950

Jen-Helecs

Hindle Smart & co Ltd

Manchester

Ardwick

Batley

Batley Cooperative Society

mobile shop

milk float

milk pram

Brush

Loughborough

Brush Coachworks

Bradford's Bakery

West Bromwich

Birmingham

Midland Vehicles Ltd

Leamington Spa

Tomlinson Electric Vehicles Ltd

Witney

Munster Lovell

Benelux

Dutch

Harbilt

bread delivery

Mike Ashworth Collection « less

Sets appears in: • Everything Electrical • The British Commercial Vehicle Industry annual, 1950

Groups appears in: • UK Flickr users • Period Photographs of Transportation (pre-1980) more » • Vintage Advertising • Transport In The Frame • BIRMINGHAM, THE WORKSHOP OF THE WORLD • Classic Transport • PLANET EARTH TRANSPORTATION • PLANET EARTH BACK IN THE DAY • Vintage Electric UK • Industrial and Trade Catalogues • Leamington Looks Back « less

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