John Isaac Thornycroft built his first steam lorry in 1896 at his Chiswick boatyard by the banks of the River Thames. It was powered by a small marine steam engine with chain drive to the front wheels. In 1898 as the Steam lorry business grew they transferred to a new factory built at Basingstoke. In this year Thornycroft built one of the Worlds first Articulated
Lorry. By 1902 they had started to build the new petrol engined lorries and by 1907 they had finished building
Steam lorries at Basingstoke, although a subsidiary Stewart and Co continued building them in Glasgow until 1910. |
