The Archives Department of the German Daimler Chrysler Group contacted us recently. They had some photographs of a Sheffield bus sporting a Mercedes star on its radiator, taken in 1930. The assumption was that the bus was powered by a Mercedes-Benz engine. Mercedes-Benz is part of their Group and they wanted to know more about this vehicle, of which they knew very little.

Fortunately we were able to help them - mainly because we have a copy of Charles C. Hall's very informative book, Sheffield Transport. Click on the thumbnail pictures below to see larger versions. Use whatever passes for a "back" feature in your browser to return to this page.

This bus carried registration number WE 3892. It was new in 1929 and had a Karrier WL6 chassis with Hall Lewis 37-seat bodywork. In the early part of 1930 there had been experiments with a new power unit for commercial vehicles. Instead of the highly volatile and expensive petrol engine with spark ignition, progress had been made with the compression ignition engine using a cheaper fuel, diesel oil, which at that period was free of excise duty payment. One of the Sheffield fleet of six-wheel single-deck Karriers, number 139, was selected for trial with a new engine of the compression ignition type, a German Mercedes high-speed engine of a pattern which was not available on the British market.

It is understood that the body was removed from the chassis, which was sent to Germany for the new engine to be fitted. It re-entered service on 9th March, 1930, and was put to work on the Sheffield to Doncaster through route (service number 77). It was the first diesel-engined bus to operate in Britain, if a slightly earlier conversion experiment by Barton Brothers is ignored. The first engine was not too successful, a replacement being installed in September/October 1930. When the bus was withdrawn in May 1933, the engine was sold separately and fitted into a canal barge on the South Yorkshire Navigation, where it continued to run for many years.

The fuel consumption figures were remarkable; the petrol engine was averaging only 3.9 miles per gallon during the period from the bus first entering service until it was removed in October 1929. With the first diesel engine the consumption was 10.9 miles per gallon!

These notes were taken from the book, Sheffield Transport, by Charles C. Hall. This was published by Transport Publishing in 1977 and priced at £12. A mighty 332 page tome, it has been out of print for many years and fetches a significant price (at least double the cover price) when it (very rarely) comes up on the second hand market.

Further information on WE 3892 would be most welcome - get in touch!

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