Old Glory December 2016 preview

HAULAGE OVER 50 YEARS AGO HEAVY STAINMORE SUMMIT Britain’s Best seller for

29

years

DECEMBER 2016

£10.9m lott ttery t for BEAM AMISH M

1950s Town wn n Project

No. 322

DORSET tractors & trucks

Plus £2m for Long Shop Museum

Going Dutch!

When Cornish engines headed for Holland

● Robey Trust announces expansion plans ● 1955 – East Anglia’s first steam rally

BOWATERS

UK’s last commercial narrow gauge industrial steam outpost

oldglory.co.uk

THE MARSHALL MODEL M TRACTOR

£4.20

Having finding trouble a this mag copy of azine?

52

Why not Ju newsagen st Ask your local t to a copy ea reserve you ch month ?

66

Front cover: Beamish-based Marshall traction engine No 17134 of 1889 Mary Margaret at Beamish Museum in May 2009. MALCOLM RANIERI This issue was published on Thursday, November 17, 2016. The January 2017 issue of Old Glory (No 323) will be on sale from Thursday, December 15.

30 Meet the team Derek Rayner

Colin Tyson

96

Editor

Technical Advisor

Mike Dyson

Steve Dean Correspondent

Correspondent

James Hamilton

Ricky Nichols Advertising Executive

Malcolm Ranieri Correspondent

Correspondent

Contact us – details on Page 40

OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2016 | 5

News&Events

£10.9m lottery award to help ‘Remake Beamish’ STAFF and volunteers at Beamish, The Living Museum of the North, are celebrating a £10.9m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The funding is a major milestone in Beamish’s history and it will help the museum create a range of new ways for people to experience the heritage of the North East, in a major project called Remaking Beamish.

It is the largest single investment ever seen at the museum.

The decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund means that work to deliver the Remaking Beamish project will begin this winter. The project will add to the existing attractions at Beamish, will take around four years to complete and the museum, in Co. Durham, will remain open for visitors throughout.

Over the past four years, buildings and thousands of objects have been added to the collections to prepare for the project to begin.

Now, as part of the £18m scheme, more than 30 exhibits will be created across the museum site. Buildings from across the region will be moved or replicated and Beamish is working with communities to share their heritage.

The centrepiece will be a reconstructed 1950s town – meaning that alongside existing attractions depicting life in the early 19th and 20th centuries, Beamish will once again include a period within living memory. Plans

Ivor Crowther, head of HLF North East (left) and Richard Evans, director of Beamish Museum, celebrate the grant with a glass of Babycham at a 1950s Beamish street party. BEAMISH

include moving the former Grand Electric Cinema from Ryhope, Sunderland, brick by brick, as well as examples of shops and housing from across the North East region.

The home and studio of Spennymoor artist

Norman Cornish will be replicated and a block of Aged Miners’ Homes will be copied to create a pioneering centre for older people, including those living with dementia, and John’s Cafe from Wingate, Co. Durham.

The former Grand Electric Cinema at Ryhope will be moved to Beamish and reconstructed brick by brick. NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE

6 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

Underbidder Sold £und isclos ed

000 £37,

Aveling & Porter No 14060 started life in 1930 as a 6-ton compound steam roller. Back in 1985 the late Colin Knight began transforming (using many genuine Aveling parts) the remains of the roller into a 5-ton tractor.

00 £122,0

A rare opportunity to bid on a 4nhp Ruston Proctor dating from 1918. It failed to sell under the hammer but as we all know, our auctioneering chums like a bit of off-rostrum negotiation.

Colin Knight engines go under the hammer

ARE YOU sitting comfortably? This seems a strange question for Underbidder to ask, but Cheffins produced a surprise at the October vintage sale by revealing a new building from which all the outside lots in Sale 5 were sold.

There was plenty of room to sit down, a nice clear audio system and a profusion of large colour screens to see the lots being sold. It is a pleasant place to be, particularly if the weather chooses to spoil the fun.

However… and call Underbidder old fashioned, but there is something of a buzz about being in a hug huge scrum of bodies moving

£62,000

It took a long time to get this photo of the Holt 75 crawler tractor as it was constantly surrounded by crowds of people. Interest was high and the opening offer of £40,000 was left well and truly in the dust.

26 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

from lot to lot in the great outdoors. The pushing, the jostling, the banter, trying to figure out who’s bidding, it’s all part of the action. Is there a happy medium? Well maybe Bill King should remove the seats and install one of those disco snow machines and then we’d all feel comfortable!

With the catalogue and pre-sale publicity listing the inclusion of five steam engines plus a late entry of Fowler DN1 roller No 15981 it was clearly going to be an interesting sale. Add to this a mighty Holt 75 crawler tractor and the last Marshall 100-4 six cylinder diesel tractor ever built and the scene was set for an exciting day.

To witness the engines of the late Colin Knight about to go under the hammer was an emotional moment and a reminder of the engineering skills he possessed, particularly as two of the engines were restored from derelict remains. First on offer was Ruston, Proctor steam tractor No 52573 of 1918 Lucifer which was used by Rustons as its works engine before being sold to the Isle of Man. In the ownership of Isaac Ball it was converted to a roller and in the 1950s reverted to tractor form in preservation in Lincolnshire. The opening bid of £70,000 rose steadily to £94,000 with a new bidder and then faltered at £96,000. Bill King had no choice but to declare it ‘unsold’.

However negotiations continued behind the scenes and Underbidder has been given the nod to reveal that it has joined the collection of Allan Marchington for an undisclosed sum.

The remains of Foden C Type No 12788 once languished in Hardwicks scrapyard in Surrey.

It needed a set of tubes and tidying up but determined bidding guaranteed a sale.

Aveling & Porter steam tractor (built as a roller) No 14060 of 1930 Sir Kay got a very low opening offer of £20,000 but the addition of two new bidders pushed the bids up to reach £35,000 which was accepted on a provisional basis. Post-rostrum negotiations concluded a sale at £37,000. Hands up all the people who wished they had bought it!

The opening bid of £60,000 on 1927 Foden ‘C’ Type No 12788 was just a memory as the bids climbed over the £100,000 mark. At one time the boiler assembly of this Foden had languished at Hardwicks scrapyard. With parts coming from David Hurst in Andover and the famous sale at WJ Kings in Bishops Lydeard, the rebuilding of the wagon progressed.

Sustained bidding continued and the hammer finally fell at £122,000.

Stand by for Underbidder financial advice …cash in your ISAs and buy small portables.

The guide price on 1932 Ruston & Hornsby Ltd portable No 163844 rated at just 2nhp was £15,000-£20,000. Everyone who studied it agreed that this price was likely to be exceeded.

When the bids moved past £30,000 we were in new territory. Three determined bidders kept the gavel raised until £38,000 caused it to bang down firmly. Expensive, yes – but this was a delightfully original portable and one suspects the two other bidders are feeling very disappointed.

FIFTY YEAR YE E ARS R AGO

Many supporters, enthusiasts, public and enginemen alike witnessed the water stop in the shadow of Skiddaw. In the left background, cars of others can be seen waiting further down the road for the engine and River Mite to pass.

Snow and steam over

STAINMORE SUMMIT 1966

December 2016 sees the 50th anniversary of a notable steam heavy haulage job in atrocious weather conditions across the northern backbone of England – when Fowler road locomotive No 15649 of 1920 Providence delivered the new-build 2-8-2 locomotive River Mite to the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway

T

his story, by Douglas Ferreira, then editor of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway journal and the railway’s general manager from 1961-1994, appeared in the journal at the time. Permission for its use in Old Glory has been granted by the society, and adapted by Derek Rayner for this purpose.

In the mid-1960s, 50 years ago, the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Preservation Society placed a contract with York-based engineers H Clarkson of Layerthorpe for the construction of a new 15in gauge 2-8-2 railway locomotive to be called River Mite.

30 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

As a result of this, an idea came to the society’s magazine editor, Douglas Ferreira, that it would probably be a good idea to have the new locomotive delivered to the railway by steam. In broaching this ‘fanciful concept’, with fellow society council members, it was not greeted with the derision which had been expected. In fact there was considerable enthusiasm for the idea. In pursuing this, Mr Ferreira approached local engine owner Sid Sutton of Beckermet who greeted it with some enthusiasm but the two agricultural engines that he owned at the time would not have been suitable for such a task – for what would be something like a 500-mile round trip.

Sid suggested that contact should be made with fellow enthusiast Benjamin Milburn Stafford (Mr Stafford Snr, and Barry Stafford’s father) and his family from Houghton-le-Spring, Co Durham, who he believed had an engine that would be suitable. When steam engines and wagons were taxed off the road, they kept up their interest and still had two engines and two steam wagons at the time.

Douglas made a visit to the Staffords’ yard to see their Fowler road loco No 15649 of 1920 Providence and discuss matters. On his arrival, she looked rather forlorn, standing out in the yard minus driving wheels while some repairs were being carried out.

However, to Douglas, who knew little about traction engines, she was a most impressive hunk of machinery. The enthusiasm of the Staffords for the proposed journey that autumn was impressive and the necessary arrangements were put in hand. It occurred to him later that it might not have been so, had they known then that the journey would be delayed until December!

STEAM TRACTION

The

WALLIS & STEEVENS 3-ton STEAM TRACTORS

The relaxation of weight restrictions under the terms of the 1903 Motor Act and subsequent 1904 regulations allowed UK manufacturers to develop heavier road-going steam engines.

However for Wallis & Steevens it rendered one of its models virtually obsolete overnight, writes Alan Barnes

B

y 1903 the firm of Wild & Robbins of Sipson, Middlesex, had taken delivery of three of the Wallis & Steevens 3-ton tractors but in an interview with a correspondent from Commercial Motor the firm expressed some reservations about the tractors: “These tractors were, of course, constructed to meet the requirements of the 1896 Act, consequently the makers had to comply with the 3-ton limit as regards weight and this fact, we consider, accounts for a very great deal of the trouble we have since experienced with them. We very soon experienced trouble with boiler leakages, the

No 2667 was supplied with grit boxes to prevent slipping. JAMES WATERFIELD COLLECTION

excessive vibration set up by the bad condition n of the London paved streets made it necessary to put extra stays in the tender and firebox.

This same fact was responsible for troubles which the makers have not even yet overcome and that is in the matter of springs, the difficulty having been to find a spring which was strong enough to stand the excessive vibration and yet still retain the advantages of a spring.

“We also had trouble through the skidding of the wheels on the greasy wooden blocks but Wallis & Steevens Ltd overcame that difficulty to a very great extent by providing grit boxes, which are worked mechanically and throw out, when required, gravel in front of both hind wheels. The other troubles we have experienced have been with tubes and pumps.

The tube troubles have been aggravated by the hardness of the water which we have been obliged to use and the difficulty in obtaining, until recently, a satisfactory softener. The troubles from the pumps appear to have arisen largely from the fact that the steam pump supplied was not sufficiently powerful and the ordinary plunger pump, worked from the eccentric on the crankshaft, ran at such a high speed that breakages were frequent.”

In conclusion the firm held that: “There is certainly a considerable saving in the time taken to perform the journey to London by

No 2617 was new to Wild & Robbins. JAMES WATERFIELD COLLECTION 42 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

PART

2

No 2618 depicted on a cigarette card, which rather strangely refers to Little Giant engines which were produced by Taskers. JAMES WATERFIELD COLLECTION

tractor, when everything is in good running order. We also think that the risk of pilfering is lessened considerably but, up to the present, we have certainly not found that tractors have been more reliable than horses. The percentage of breakdowns with our tractors has been considerably higher than with our horses.

Our experience has not been an altogether satisfactory one but at the same time we are convinced that there is a great future for the use of mechanical power in connection with our business, both for haulage purposes and more especially for farm work.”

Great Dorset TRACTORS & TRUCKS Many people think the Great Dorset Steam Fair is all about steam, but that’s not the case at all, as it has a great supporting cast with many flourishing sections, says Peter Love

O

ne of the very first items to be part of the ‘Dorset experience’ were of course the venerable vintage and veteran tractors.

They have been in so many ways the backbone of all that has gone on here. For so many years, when the rally stood a good chance of being wet, who would pull out all the steam engines? Well it was the vintage tractor of course and in more cases than not, a Field Marshall would be at the head end, possibly even three of them would be thumping away.

Who can forget that sound, as they worked hard pulling the steamers out of the mire dayin, day-out sometimes.

Part of the Alan Sparkes set-up is this rare and very original Auto-Mower Engineering Co Ltd, Bath, Somerset just post-war Fordson E27N winch tractor with ubiquitous Perkins P6 diesel engine.

An amazing sight! The Fordson Standard N Utility (1943-45) with the Bolinder (Sweden) patented Vedgasgenerator wood/charcoal gas producer all working on the tractor. ALL: PETER LOVE

Time has marched on of course and things are more civilised these days and four-wheeldrive, 150hp-plus modern tractors are part of the show, taking people around the site and so on. Today there are even tractor-pulling displays, which everyone enjoys, as punters take in the full show around the site.

However, over on the Salisbury side of the site are the veteran, vintage and some classic tractors. They are well presented and work and parade each day and range from the fashionable original type ‘working’ condition, to well-restored examples. The static section is looked after by Stuart Cotton, who had about 136 tractors of all ages here. For 2016 the special display was 80 Years of Ferguson made up of some 30 machines.

As always there were entries from the

One of the very first people to exhibit a tractor at the GDSF was Derek Mellor of Derbyshire. In 2016 he was with his 1925 Advance-Rumely L 15-25 Lightweight, which he’s owned for more than 20 years.

50 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

Republic of Ireland and some from mainland Europe, which is greatly appreciated and adds variety.

Perhaps the stand-out tractor in this section was Henry Dixon’s John Deere AO Orchard with full wings and shield – not the nicest of tractors to drive, but great to see in the flesh and unique in the UK, having been imported in preservation times.

In the original stakes came Edward Price of Shropshire and his 1937 Case C that looked a gem on steels and all. Another, which came up at the end of the parade on the Thursday, was the 1944 Fordson Standard N Utility fitted with the 1949 Swedish Bolinder system Vedgasgenerator unit that was actually powering the tractor on wood chippings, making charcoal of course.

Yet another who has been at the GDSF for 40-plus years, John Turner of Andover. This year he had his lovely UK originally supplied 1940 John Deere BO standard out (O for orchard – standard means four wheels opposed to rowcrop meaning, normally, three wheels).

From the footplate of Manning Wardle 0-6-2T Chevallier, Bowater’s railway superintendent Mr WG Ashdown chats to the driver of Excelsior on May 14, 1960. JOHN HILL

Bowaters steam at the

PAPER MILL LS

The last outpost of commercial narrow gauge industrial steam in the UK was not a Hunslet saddle tank in a remote Welsh slate quarry but a large fleet of steam locomotives operating in the Home Counties at a modern works owned by a large corporation, as Andrew Neale explains

Two of the railway’s four‘Brazil’class Kerr Stuart 0-4-2STs await further work outside the shed at Sittingbourne. ANDREW NEALE COLLECTION 60 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

L

ike so many readers of Old Glory I grew up as a steam-mad little boy in the 1950s. Any book about railways that I read then heavily featured steam locomotives with pictures of British Railways building new ones at places like Swindon and Crewe with only a slight mention of diesel locomotives as the motive power of the future. The chance discovery of Railway Adventure, Tom Rolt’s beautifully written account of the rescue of the Talyllyn Railway in 1951, opened up my eyes to a whole world of narrow gauge railways although I quickly realised that the narrow gauge railway as a passenger-carrying common carrier was rapidly becoming a dying species. Although I was also vaguely aware that at some point steam would also disappear from BR, this was still seen as many years in the future. I’m sure my ideas were typical of most enthusiasts at that time and very few could have predicted that not only would it be gone within a decade but that commercial industrial narrow gauge steam operation would outlive it by more than a year. Even more unbelievable was that this last outpost would not be a last Hunslet saddle tank in a remote Welsh slate quarry but a large fleet of steam locomotives operating in the Home Counties at a modern works owned by a large corporation.

That works was the paper mill complex owned

by Bowaters Ltd at Sittingbourne, Kent, whose extensive steam-worked system was still working flat out until the very day of closure.

Background

Edward Lloyd Ltd established a paper mill at Sittingbourne in 1890 as its proximity to Milton Creek, a narrow, twisting waterway off the Swale channel separating the Isle of Sheppey from the mainland, allowed barges to bring in raw materials. In 1906 a 2ft 6in gauge railway was built to connect Sittingbourne Mill with Milton Creek and when construction of a new, much larger dock at Ridham on the River Swale began in 1913 the railway was extended northwards to serve it. The new dock also had a standard connection from the nearby branch to Sheerness. In 1960 this was extended to Kemsley paper mill to eliminate transshipment at Ridham.

Environment

Sadly the Bowaters railways were not exactly photogenic, running across flat muddy marshland with drab industrial buildings, long rusty pipelines and mountains of wood pulp and finished paper products around the paper mill areas. From the yard at Sittingbourne Mill it ran on to the lower deck of a two-tier steel viaduct, the upper level carrying a chain conveyor that carried materials from the creek up to the mill. After crossing two streets it emerged on to a high embankment where it split with a branch to the right leading to a two-road engine shed and sidings on the wharf. From here, the main line crossed the head of Milton Creek on a reinforced concrete

Kerr Stuart 0-6-2T Superior as originally built with conventional chimney. KJ COOPER, IRS COLLECTION

viaduct then dropped to ground level via a low embankment. Originally on this stretch the line crossed an older 2ft gauge tramway from Burley’s Brickworks which necessitated an unusual mixed gauge diamond crossing.

When the brickworks ceased using its railway Bowaters asked if the crossing could be removed as it was a nuisance to maintain. Permission to do so was reluctantly granted on the strict proviso that it could be replaced if brick traffic resumed. Needless to say it never was but the displaced diamond crossing remained dumped on site for many years just in case.

Kemsley Paper Mills were reached via a long shallow cutting after which the sidings to the extensive railway yard ran off to the left. At Kemsley were the main railway workshops with covered stabling for a number of locomotives plus an extremely comprehensive workshop capable of carrying out repairs and overhauls to both locos and rolling stock. ❱

A Bagnall 0-6-2T hauls a mixed consist across the viaduct at Sittingbourne. ANDREW NEALE COLLECTION

OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2016 | 61

INDUSTRIA IAL AL HERITAGE

Cream of Cornish engineering at

CRUQUIUS

PUMPING STATION

When Dutch engineers required some large waterpumping equipment, it was the engines that were to be found in the Cornish mines that would provi vide i the solution

N

ot far from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport stands a fascinating monumental steam engine, one of three more or less identical engines which were used to drain the former Haarlemmermeer (Haarlem Lake).

These were the biggest Cornish beam engines in the world with a cylinder diameter of 12 feet, housed in pumping stations constructed on the banks of the lake and discharging water into an encircling canal. The airport itself has been built on land which is nearly 15ft below sea level on the bottom of what was once the largest freshwater lake in the Netherlands.

With almost half the country below sea level the history of the Netherlands has been one of the struggles of a nation not only against the waters of the North Sea but being a delta nation, also a struggle against repeated flooding caused by extreme levels of both the Rh R hine and Meuse rivers. The enclosure and drainage of vast areas of low-lying land has involved the use of thousands of pumps of varying typ ypes. p WORDS: ALAN BARNES PICTURES: ADRIAN STRIK, CRUQUIUS MUSEUM ARCHIVE UNLESS STATED

72 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

Almost every conceivable form of power has been used to drive these pumps, from the simplest windmill to the more sophisticated computer-controlled electric pumps which are in common use today. In the 19th century it was the coming of the steam engine which allowed the development of more powerful engines and pumps and enabled Dutch engineers to reclaim enormous areas of land from the sea.

The Haarlemmermeer had formed by the merging of several lakes which had been created by peat digging and erosion in medieval times. Although the lake provided a convenient waterway for shipping and small fishing towns exploited this resource, the huge expanse of water posed a constant threat of flooding, particularly to the capital, Amsterdam, at its northern extremity.

For nearly 200 years various plans were formulated for the partial reclamation of the area but it appears that vested local interests conspired against the development of a coherent plan. However by the mid-19th century the Government had become more centralised and some severe storms in 1836 prompted King Willem I to create a committee to prepare plans for draining the Haarlemmermeer.

STEAM AM M ARCHIVE AR R VE E

ANDERTON & ROWLAND

The well-kn known n wn n West Country ryy fairground operators, originally named Andertons An n and later Anderton An n & Rowland (or just simply A & R) have been in business for more than 150 years. Mike Dyson highlights their engines from his archive

I

t all started in 1854 when a young conjurer by the name of Albert Haslam adopted the stage name Anderton.

The story of this famous family can be found in Kevin Scrivens & Stephen Smith’s excellent book Anderton and Rowland’s Illusion & Reality.

The firm grew and in 1896 acquired a Savage electric light engine with a second one following in 1900. Four years later they purchased their first road loco, Burrell No 2716 The Showman, an 8nhp double crank compound engine painted in crimson with cream-coloured wheels – quite a contrast to the more muted shades of Crimson Lake.

The Showman was put to work with a recently purchased Gondola Switchback.

This was the first ride purchased by A & R as

previously they had operated magic shows, circus acts and a menagerie and by 1900 a Bioscope show accompanied by Captain Rowland and his performing lions!

A second Burrell followed in 1906. This was No 2471, John Bull, a 6nhp single crank compound which had been supplied new to John Proctor of Belper, Derbyshire. The canopy was lettered Anderton & Rowland’s Empire but was soon worki king i with their second Bioscope show. During the First World War, like a number of other A & R engines, John Bull was used for war work. In 1918 it was sold for use as a road haulage engine.

In 1907 a third Burrell was purchased and this was an 8nhp double crank compound No 2744 named Jumbo which had been supplied new to Henry Arden of Heavitree, Exeter, in

For many years Burrell No 3159 The Gladiator was regarded as the premier engine in the A & R fleet. Note the row of light bulbs on the flywheel side of the canopy.

1905. A & R changed the name to Unique and later to Admiral Beresford – named after the famous ‘Charlie B’ – not to be confused with Charles Burrell.

The Showman was returned to Burrells in 1908, the showland fittings removed and then sold as a haulage engine. The following year Burrells supplied 7nhp No 3159 The Gladiator which worked with the Gondola Switchback.

At some stage it was returned to Burrells to have heavier gearing fitted and for many years was regarded as A & R’s number one engine. It was eventually sold to Whiteleggs in 1932.

A Joy Wheel was purchased in 1911 and a year later another Switchback was purchased.

To cope with the extra work another Burrell was ordered. Lord Nelson, No 3443, another 8nhp engine was delivered ready for the 1913 travelling season to work with the Switchback.

In 1929, while on the way from Salisbury to Bristol with some of the scenic loads, Lord Nelson stopped at Stapleford to change gear before descending a steep hill. The engine ran out of control with two tw w packi king i trucks plunging down an embankm kment. m Fortunately the coupling of a livi ving i van broke, leavi ving i it on the edge of the road savi ving i the occupants including children from serious injury. From 1930 Lord Nelson was worki king i with a set of Dodgems and in 1943 sold to John Cole of Yate.

In 1916 Admiral Beresford was sold and later worked for Wall Bros of Petersfield. At the end of the war John Bull was sold to a Cornish haulage contractor and after many years worki king i in the West Country was scrapped towards the end of the Second World War. The two were replaced with Burrell 6nhp No 2690, built in 1904 as a road loco, which was purchased in 1923 and named John Bull II. Initially it had a half-length canopy and no showman’s fittings but a full-length canopy was later fitted. In 1929 the engine was sold and later scrapped during the war. ❱ OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2016 | 87

The 3in scale McLaren at Shuttleworth Park, September 2016. The addition of the Pickfords-style haulage trailer provides a convenient seat for the driver. ALAN BARNES

Three-inch scale

McLAREN ROAD LOCO

In common with many other steam enthusiasts Melvyn Saberton’s introduction to the world of steam began as a boy when his father bought him a Mamod model engine

M

elvyn recalled: “It was my seventh birthday and my father bought me a twin cylinder Mamod stationary engine and from that day my interest in steam has just grown and grown.

I am also very pleased that my son Nick and now my grandson Harry have also become steam enthusiasts.

96 | DECEMBER 2016 OLD GLORY

“It was in 1982 that Nick, who by then was 16, and I began to put on table-top steam model displays at some of the local shows and village fetes. A few years later we went ‘mobile’ when in 1986 we bought a scratch-built 4½in scale Burrell traction engine which we rallied for many seasons.

Over the years we have had a number of different engines and our current engine is a

3in scale McLaren Road Locomotive.

This engine was named Septimus as it is the seventh engine that I have owned and this miniature is based on the 10nhp engine Boadicea.

“Before buying the McLaren I was rallying a 3in scale Marshall which was a super little engine but I was keen to get something a shade larger but I didn’t want to run to a 4in engine.

I spoke to Terry Baxter in Sudbury to see if he had contact with anyone who had something suitable for sale and about two weeks later he put me in touch with the chap with the McLaren.