They had steel wheels, which made for quite a rough ride for the two men: one steered and watched the pressure and the other kept up the coke which fuelled these steam lorries.

This Cockington steam engine lorry was photographed in September 1922. Though this vehicle has a cab with doors, there was no windscreen around the front, so it must have been cold to drive in winter, even with the boiler in front of the driver.

These steam-powered road vehicles would have been seen around Bathurst and district by our grandparents and great-grandparents.

The driver required a licence to drive it as well as having a ticket to operate the boiler, as he would have to allow for changes in steam pressure needed when the roads got steeper. It must have been a messy job to stoke up the firebox while moving along. They could be smoky for the driver.

From time to time, the Bathurst City Council received complaints at its meetings concerning some of the local businesses' steam trucks.

Wright Heaton's vehicle drew several complaints. Another letter described one offending lorry that was blowing smoke as a "road locomotive". There were others who complained about the steam lorries upsetting their horses and being too noisy.

It seems that those still riding horses and others with horse and buggies were the chief complainers, claiming that the smoke and noise scared their animals and livestock.

Imagine seeing one of these contraptions travelling down William Street some 100 years ago (though people would have been used to steam rollers at the time).

There were initially some restrictions on using steam-powered vehicles on Bathurst roads.

The well-known Bathurst Western Transport Company was one of at least five steam haulage businesses that established themselves in Bathurst, having replaced most of their draught horses and carts and wagons.

Before these steam-driven lorries entered the scene, the first form of steam-powered freight and cargo carrier was a combination of a trailer and steam traction engine.

These steam-driven, heavy-duty vehicles were mainly made in Britain, though there were some European manufacturers (including in Germany) as well as in America.

There were two types of these steam lorries, known as an undertype or overtype. The difference related to where the manufacturer positioned the engine and makers tended to concentrate on one form or the other.

The undertype plan had the workings under the vehicle's chassis, with the vertical type boiler located within the cab to allow access to the firebox.

Their design was more orthodox, with a lorry shape that we normally associate with a lorry. Undertype designs had the benefit of a fully-enclosed cab and a much shorter total length for the same carrying capacity.

The one known as the overtype looks like an old-fashioned traction engine with a lorry chassis built onto it. It had some sort of a cab constructed around the horizontal boiler and funnel. The latter was also called a chimney.

These machines were good for short journeys and carrying extra heavy loads.

There were two main types of engines used in these lorries, which used either chain drive or a series of gears. The chain drive was usually connected directly to the rear axle.

Water tanks on board seemed to vary from 100 to 150 gallons. A 100 gallon water tank would generally last two hours before it needed to be refilled, though this would depend on the work being done. They could refill in the yard, at hydrants used for fires around Bathurst or from the Macquarie River.