"Fowler wagon no 19708 registration no. UB8660 was built as a gully emptier and was purchased new by the City of Leeds Cleansing Department. When it was disposed of it went to Robinson and Birdsell's scrapyard in Leeds where it lay in a pile of scrap but almost complete. It was cut up before it was rescued and the parts were purchased by Tom Varley, who rebuilt it and had it running by 1971. Fowler wagons are unusual in having a compound V-twin engine which is arranged with the high pressure cylinder under the driver's seat and low pressure cylinder under the mate's seat. The gear box provides three speeds and the drive to the rear wheels is by prop-shaft and a worm driven differential gear. The boiler was of the vertical fire tube type, a type that had been abandoned by most wagon manufacturers due to its poor performance compared to the water tube boilers that were being used."
 |
 |
 |