The Unofficial Shelvoke & Drewry Website.

LITERATURE.

	Kaleidoscope of Shelvoke & Drewry. Nick Baldwin & William Negus. Marshall Harris & Baldwin 1980 ISBN 0906116 17 1 This is the definitive history of the Company up to the end of the 1970's. Using the unique collection of glass negatives from Clutterbucks, Commercial photographers of Letchworth, who recorded every vehicle that left the works from the day they started until 1952. Richly illustrated the book details both municipal vehicles from the first freighter, through the Fore & Aft tipper, Pakamatic and Revopak models, and includes details of Fork Lift Truck manufacture and the Special Vehicle division created in 1979.
	Vintage Lorry Annual. Edited by Nick Baldwin. Marshall Harris & Baldwin 1979. ISBN 0 90116 07 4  This Annual contains an article by Nick Baldwin about the 1927 S & D Freighter restored by apprentices in 1968 to the 1922 specification. Nick is taught how to drive the vehicle by Jack Hubbard the company's chief demonstration driver for forty years from 1936. The vehicle carries the livery of the Borough of Folkestone. Preserved Vehicles. An article about Motor Panels (Coventry) Ltd. refers to S & D's use of their Mark III cabs.
	Municipal Refuse Collection Vehicles. Barrie C. Woods. Trans-Pennine Publishing Ltd. 1999. ISBN 0 9521070 4 X Barrie Woods is an ex-employee of Shelvoke & Drewry and Norba and he gives an informative history of British Municipal Refuse collection vehicles. Hardly surprisingly the largest descriptions are of S & D and Dennis vehicles.
	The Vintage Commercial Vehicle Magazine. Volume 6 No. 31 March/April 1991.  This issue contains an article by Bill Aldridge entitled "Municipal Workhorses - Refuse Collectors." The vehicles produced by Shelvoke & Drewry naturally feature prominently in this article. Volume 8 No.45 May/June 1993. An article "Bringing the Bricks to the Builder" by Bill Aldridge mainly concerns the road fleet of the London Brick Company. However reference is made to the fact that S & D supplied over 150 Fork Lift trucks to the company, and that some of these lasted in service for more than twenty years.
	Observers series. Trucks. Nick Baldwin. Penguin Books 1986 ISBN 1 85471 164 4 This small volume contains three photographs of vehicles produced under the Shelvoke Dempster name:- A PN Revopak. A Route Chief 623 with the American designed Dempster rear loading system. An SPV fire appliance chassis with Angloco bodywork.

	CLASSIC and VINTAGE COMMERCIALS Magazine. The May 1999 Issue, (Volume 4 Number 9) carries an article about the history of S & D by Alex Kermotschuk with photographs of a number of the company's products. The July 1998 (Vol.3 No.11), March 1999 (Vol.4 No.7),August 1999 (Vol.4 No.12) and September 19999 (Vol.5 No.1) carry an account of the restoration of the Bradford TBN Pakamatic under the title 'Common as Muck', by the same writer. The author of this website was able to purchase these as back issues in March 2003. Kelsey Publishing Group 01959 541444  The January 2006 issue has an article about Clive MacDonald's preserved Newham recovery vehicle, along with a brief history of S&D.
	BUSES EXTRA 49 October-November 1987. I'd been looking for this magazine for a very long time then at last I found a copy on E-bay for a very reasonable £2.50 plus postage and packing. Over fourteen pages David Kaye gives an exhaustive account of the fifty or so Freighter chassis that were fitted with bus type bodies. He gives an account of all the undertakings that employed SD Freighters and reports on their use when they were sold on. The article also features the low entry bus chassis from the SPV Division that appeared at the 1980 motor show. Subsequently it was bodied by Reeve Burgess with a centre entrance either side. At first used at Gatwick Airport as a car park bus by 1983 it had been reallocated to Heathrow for internal staff transport. Regrettably no further orders followed. For anyone interested in this aspect of the history of Shelvoke & Drewry this article is a  mine of information. So I hope you have as successful a search as I have.
	THE LONDON BRICK COMPANY. Bill Aldridge. Not only does Bill give a fascinating account of brick production but he also tells the story of handling and transporting the London Brick Company's products. Shelvoke's Freightlifter and Defiant forklift trucks feature in the story. So too do the Refuse Vehicles as the brick pits were used for landfill and L.B.C. became engaged in the waste disposal business. A thoroughly recommended read.
	An Anthology of The Worthing Tramocars. The Southdown Enthusiasts' Club. This book was published in 2002 by The Southdown Enthusiasts' Club. It tells the fascinating story of how, soon after the formation of Shelvoke & Drewry, W.R. Gates recognised the potential of the chassis as a passenger vehicle. The low entrance height made the Freighter suitable for sea front operations in Worthing. Gates gave his vehicle the name 'Tramocar', and built up to a fleet of eleven, before selling out to Southdown in 1938. The book contains 92 pages of text, with 12 black & white photographs with colour card covers. One section is a reproduction of an article from the November 1st 1924 edition of 'Modern Transport' in which the new S & D Freighter is described. Time Tables and Fare Tables are reproduced, and a full account of the Tramocar operation is given. Anyone with an interest in S & D will find a fascinating insight into a more unusual role for the Freighter within the pages of this book. For ordering details see: www.southdownenthusiastsclub.org.uk

 

In 2010 Malcolm Bates, former SD employee, where he managed the sales publicity, was commissioned to write a series of articles about Municipal vehicles for Vintage Roadscene Magazine. Naturally Shelvoke & Drewry products featured prominently in these articles.

 

Issue 123 February 2010	In the first of these articles Malcolm looked at the early days of the SD Freighter and showed examples of the 'W' type with a moving floor type body and the Fore & Aft tipper.
Issue 124  March 2010	In the 1960's compaction type bodies were introduced such as S&D's Pakamatic and Revopak and the Eagle Compressmore.
Issue 125 April 2010	For this issue Malcolm turned his attention to the effect of 'competitive tendering' under the Margaret Thatcher led Conservative government. Also in this issue Ron Henderson wrote about S&D's SPV fire appliances.
Issue 126 May 2010	The growth of commercial waste companies was the theme for this issue.
Issue 127 June 2010	Standard commercial vehicles used by municipal operators were featured in this month's article.
Issue 128 July 2010	Liquid waste collection utilising gully emptiers and cesspool emptiers occupied Malcolm's mind for this issue.
Issue 129 August 2010	Roadsweepers were this month's subject. Appropriately in a separate feature a Drewry designed Lacre roadsweeper is shown on the 1970 HCVS London to Brighton Run.
Issue 130 September 2010	The bulk loaders that deliver waste to the landfill sites are the subject of Malcolm's article for this issue. We've come a long way from the time the local dustcart used to take each load to the tip giving the operators a welcome break.
Issue 131 October 2010	Prototypes that never made the market are the subject of this article. Included are photos of SD's ill fated Model 25/30 Fore & Aft tipper which failed spectacularly. Sketches of Malcolm's ideas for future SD products give a glimpse of what might have been. The less than succesful Freighter New Type also features.
Issue 132 November 2010	How did all those foreign designs take over the British market? In his inimitable style Malcolm recalls hoe Heil got a foothold in the U.K., and others such as Norba followed. He laments that even Dennis are now Spanish owned. It's a long way from the time when SD exported world-wide.

 

SOE the scientific secrets FREDRIC BOYCE AND DOUGLAS EVERETT

SOE - the scientific secrets by Fredric Boyce & Douglas Everett. Published by Sutton Publishing. Paperback edition 2004 ISBN 0 7509 4005 0 The story of the Special Operations Executive is told by one of the scientists who worked for SOE at Station IX - the Frythe at Welwyn Garden City during World War II. Among their many projects was the design of the Welfreighter which Shelvoke & Drewry was commissioned to build. An account of the Welfreighter occupies six pages and nine photographs are included.

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