This page is dedicated to a project which took place from 1930 until 1936 where engineers from Henschel und Sohn worked with Warren Doble on developing steam installations for use in road and rail vehicles.

This page should be seen as a global overview over the project whereas not all the details are not known at this time and as a starting point for further investigation.

The Project

In 1930 Henschel und Sohn and Borsig(Berlin) obtained a licence for using the patents of Warren and Abner Doble for use in road and rail vehicles. From 1932 until 1934 Warren Doble worked in Kassel with Richard Roosen and other engineers of Henschel und Sohn research and development department, called TB4 ”Studienburo”.

Warren brought Doble F31 with him when he started work in Kassel and Oscar Henschel bought Doble F35.

After a period of research the first busses were sold to Elberfelder Bahnen and Kraftverkehr Sachen AG

Over time more busses and trucks were build, the biggest order came from the Deutsche Reichsbahn which ordered 10 trucks which were used for delivering goods from railway depot Kassel

The Vehicles

This is a list of vehicles which were part of this project.

Doble F31

build on a Buick model 60 sedan in 1930, destroyed in an airraid during WW2.

Doble F35

upgraded from Chassis E12 by William Besler, destroyed in an airraid in WW2.

Delivered as a chassis, body built by Erdmann & Rossi, Berlin.

Sentinel S6

built in 1935 wit serialnumber 9196, used for many years as a mobile testing platform, was fitted with a mechanical stoker.

Steam Launch

built in 1933 as a testing platform

Bus for Elberfelder Bahnen Wuppertal

used from 1933 until 1942, then decommissioned due to fuel shortages, converted to front steer and rear mounted boiler in 1936.

Bus for Kraftverkehr Sachsen AG

built in 1933/34

Truck for Wickuler-Kupper-Brauerei, Elberfeld (Wuppertal)

Truck for Thuringia-Brauerei August Schmidt Muhlhausen

10 trucks for Deutsche Reichsbahn

built in 1933, two diffent cabversions are known, used from depot Kassel.

Truck for Kraftverkehr Nordmark AG Altona

triple-axle truck with 1 steam engine on each rear axle, built in 1934, ran between Hamburg and Berlin, decommissioned in 1937

Bus for Bielefelder Stadtwerke

delivered in 1935 and decommissioned in 1936 due to poor performance related to the use of the wrong fuel and increasing cost of fuel

Bus for Kasseler Omnibus Gesellschaft

built in 1935, converted to dieselmotor

Bus for Omnibusbetrieb der Bremer Vorortbahnen

built in 1936, converted to dieselmotor

Sources:

Here is a list of sources i currently have in my possession.

jaar van uitgave	bron	Naam	Auteur	ISBN
1934	Neue Dampffahrzeuge	Zeitung Verein Deutsche Ingenieure	Roosen en Imfeld
1934	“New Steam Driven Vehicles”	Steam Car Developments & Steam Aviation
1934	Der Dampfomnibus,	Verkehrstechnik	Uhlig, H.
1935	Der Henschel Dampflastwagen, Organ fur Fortschritte des Eisenbahnwesens	Organ fuer die Fortschritte des Eisenbahnwesens	Schleifenheimer, H.
1935	125 Jahre Henschel. 1810-1935
1937	Leichte Dampfantriebe an Land, zur See, in der Luft.		Münzinger, Friedrich
1941	Hochdruck-Kleinkessel mit Zwangdurchlauf für ortsfeste Anlagen	Zeitung Verein Deutsche Ingenieure	Roosen, R
1943	Versuche an einem kohlegefeuerten Dampflastwagen	Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift	Rüggeberg, G
1944	The Modern Steam car and its background + supplement		Clymer
1946	B.I.O.S final report 1748		Fitton, A. and Sharpe, G.C.H.
1946	The Steam lorry, Comprehensive German Tests on a Vehicle of British Design	Automobile Engineer, March 1946 pagina 117 -123	Nott, R.H.P.
1955	Steam Road Vehicles and Railcars in Germany, Chapter 3, Steam Busses, Lorries and Railcars By Henschel & Sohn, of Kassel		Walton, J.N.
1960	Henschel Heute, 150 Jahre Henschel
1975	The Undertype Steam Road Waggon		Maurice Kelly	978-0900404160
1976	Ein Leben fuer die Lokomotieve		Roosen, R	3-440-04309-6
1996	Alle Lastwagen von Henschel 1925-1967		Hesse, KH; H.A. Bauer	3-926071-12-5
1996	“Volldampf statt vollgas”	Last und Kraft, 4/96	Gottwaldt, A
1999	Das Lastwagen-Album, Henschel		Regenberg, B	9783861332046
2001	Neuartige Dampflokomotiven von Henschel in Kassel: Das Lebenswerk des Ingenieurs Richard Roosen	Zeitschrift des Vereins für hessische Geschichte (ZHG) Band 106	Gottwaldt, A
2006	“Henschel steam road vehicles”	Steaming 2006	Regenberg, B
2009	“Henschel Steam Lorries, Buses and Railcars from British Intelligence”	The Steam Automobile Bulletin
2012	Henschel: Lastwagen 1925-1974 (Typenkompass)		Gebhardt, W.H.	978-3-613-03403-7
2012	Doble shippinglist.doc James D. Crank		Crank, James D.
2016	Dampfselbstfahrer im deutschsprachigen Raum		Schmidt-Römer, Dr.-Ing. H.
	https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dampfwagen
	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doble_steam_car

Wanted

Based on the research i already have done i am looking for the following sources

1. “Betriebserfahrungen mit dem ersten Henschel-Dampfautobus”, Henschel -Hefte , Marz 1934, 3. Kraftwagen-Sondernummer, S.6.
2. “Der Dampfantrieb fur Strassenfahrzeuge”, Henschel-Hefte, Februar 1935, 4, Kraftwagen-Sondernummer, S.16.
3. Oldtimer Heft / Magazin Sonderheft 2 Maart 1986
4. From BIOS report 1748, appendix 1 Documents Evacuated, BIOS/DOCS/2651/2046/1 until BIOS/DOCS/2651/2046/17, these are drawings, documents and reports which are the basis of the BIOS report.
5. Darin: A. Reinsch: Versuchsfahrt mit heimischen Treibstoffen 1935, Sonderdruck aus: Zeitschrift des Vereins deutscher Ingenieure 79, 1935, Nr. 52
6. Articles from Die Strasse 1934 -1943
   

   Machemer, Heinrich	Technische Prüfungsfahrt mit heimischen Kraftstoffen	88-90	3	1935	Umschau
   Liese, Albert	Versuchsfahrt mit heimischen Treibstoffen	627-628	17	1935	Umschau
   Liese, Albert und Michahelles, August	Kraftfahrzeug-Winterprüfung 1936	121-124	4	1936	Umschau
   König	Kraftfahrzeug-Winterprüfung 1937	170-173	6	1937	Umschau
   König, Hans-Arnold	Kraftfahrzeug-Winterprüfung 1938	125-126	4	1938	Umschau
   König, Hans-Arnold	“Internationale Alpenfahrt 1939”	538-543	16-18	1939	Umschau
   Dittrich, Rudolf	Versuchsfahrt mit heimischen Treibstoffen 1935	462-463	12	1935	Umschau

If you know of other publications which cover this project in any way i would like to know.

Contact

if you wish to get in touch with me in regard to this research, i can be reached through the Contactform here.