Old Glory October 2014

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OCTOBER 2014

No 296

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RANSOMES WAGON

GRE AT DORSE T F

Steam Tug Kerne lottery award

Wallis Pensioner returns

George Ward of Harrogate

Mac makes it to Dorset!

◆ Stirling engined boats ◆ Cart-marking ◆ Key beam engine ◆ News & events

Contents 66 No 296 | October 2014 NEWS 6-25 News & Events 85 Old Glory in Miniature News

FEATURES 30

Pensioner: out of retirement Built in the First World War and used on the home front for threshing and carting hay for the war horses, Wallis & Steevens No 7662 has just returned to steam.

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Great Dorset 2014 Our first selection of photos of the Great Dorset road run from Bovington, the First World War displays and from around the show.

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Ransomes Steam Wagon With only two working examples of Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies wagons in existence, it seems fair that one should be in the Southern Hemisphere while the other is closer to home in the Northern Hemisphere.

58

Making a clean sweep Peter Johnston’s unique collection of Shelvoke & Drewry heritage street cleansing vehicles.

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George Ward of Harrogate A study of the various steam vehicles used by this family firm’s removals and storage business.

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80

Key to success The only operable double Woolf Compound beam engine in the world, built by John Key of Kirkcaldy, Scotland.

Club Focus: Canterbury MES Formed in 1972 by a group of model locomotive enthusiasts, the Canterbury & District Model

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News updates at oldglory.co.uk www.facebook.com/ OldGloryMag

16

Engineering Society has in recent years welcomed many new members from all disciplines.

86

Allchin Vera Bob Greenshields entered the world of miniature steam in his seventies and now aged 76 rallies his completed 3in scale Allchin.

REGULARS 26

Road Roller Association Notes 50 Enginelines 52 Helpline 62 Vintageworld 72 Steam Archive 90 Museum Guide 92 Events Diary 106 ‘Tail Lamp Tom’

READER SERVICES 36

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58 56 Front Cover: Sole UK survivor Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies wagon No 34270 of 1923 Matilda was exported to Australia prior to returning to UK for restoration. ALAN BARNES This issue was published on Thursday, Sept 18, 2014. The November 2014 issue of Old Glory (No 297) is on sale from Thursday, October 16.

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30

Meet the team Derek Rayner

Colin Tyson Editor

Technical Advisor

Mike Dyson

Steve Dean

Correspondent

Correspondent

Colin Smith

Roger Hamlin

Advertising Executive

Correspondent

Malcolm Ranieri Photographer

James Hamilton Photographer

OLD GLORY OCTOber 2014 | 5

News&Events

Henton reunion surprise at South Cerney Supported by

THE AUGUST issue of Old Glory traced the 40-year history of the Gloucestershire Steam Extravaganza to its current base at South Cerney. The weather seemed to know this was a special event as the first two days were changeable and a little wet, but Sunday was sunny and warm much to the relief of organisers, reports Malcolm Ranieri.

There were upwards of 70 steam

engines at the rally, held on August 1-3 – down on previous years, but still at the top end of the scale. Steam was in the hands of caretaker section leaders Gary Nelson, John Keedwell, Alan Durn, Paul Eldridge and John Stickland.

The Henton reunion provided a unique opportunity to bring together the six surviving engines of John Henry Henton of Hopwas

Presented in original condition is 1920 Marshall traction engine No 72808 Britannia.

Four Tasker tractors attended, this being‘Little Giant’No 1592 of 1914 Pride of Anna Valley.

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near Tamworth, Staffs. Henton was a farmer and threshing contractor from the late-1800s and used steam power from that time and unusually kept working with traction engines until his death in 1954, long after most had been discarded for the internal combustion engine.

Six of the engines used by Henton have survived which is remarkable, even more so the steam organisers worked hard to bring them together for the rally for the first time in 60 years after the engines dropped their fires together. They’ve travelled far and wide with different owners over the years, and remarkably all were in working order to attend the reunion.

The oldest is Burrell 8nhp traction engine No 2336 of 1900 Stanley Monarch, used until the 1950s, being sold and leaving the farm in 1958, afterwards used in a market garden for soil sterilisation and then acquired by the current owners in 1961, the Barber family of Cheshire. Second in line is 1909 Marshall 7nhp traction engine No 52483, coming to Hentons after being requisitioned by the War Dept in the First World War, possibly for baling hay for horses on the front line, acquired by current owner David Dean of Norfolk in 1961.

The 1912 Burrell 6nhp road locomotive No 3395 Dalesman worked for J Hancock & Sons, Exeter for haulage, hence the legend carried by the engine. It was bought in 1924 by Hentons and remained with the firm until 1960 mainly on local haulage work of Minly bricks. In 1960 it was purchased by J E Sandham of Uttoxeter, who renamed it City of Exeter, then to John Crowther of Long Preston who again renamed it Dalesman, then G Proctor of Grewelthorpe, purchased by present owner Ted Freeman and family of Oxfordshire at auction, a new boiler in 1997, and restored to the superb present condition.

Purchased new by John Henton for his son William from Burrells in 1924 was 5nhp road locomotive No 3996 Conqueror, with specially

Got a story? Tell Old Glory 01507 529306 | ctyson@mortons.co.uk

The ex-Henton engines reunion, along with their current owners, at South Cerney. ALL: MALCOLM RANIERI

adapted wheels, primarily used on haulage and threshing work for the firm until 1950. The engine was acquired by Richard Sandercock and completely restored including a new firebox over four years, entered by Gary Nelson. Last but not least two showman’s entered the Henton stable. Burrell showman’s No 3509 of 1913 Rajah and 1915 Burrell showman’s No 3669 Nero were both new to Bostock & UK. Rajah was sold at auction to John Henton for general haulage work, sold into preservation and returned to showman’s condition and with current owner Clive Gibbard of Devon. Nero, named after a favourite circus lion, sold at the same auction as Rajah, and was used on haulage and general duties after removal of the showland generator, bought for preservation in 1957 by Arthur Smith of Oldberrow, Henley in Arden until purchased by current owner Willem Middlemiss of Cambridgeshire in 1986, amid more restoration and rallied extensively.

The Road Locomotive Society display included a collection of photos and historic information on the Henton stable.

Away from the Henton engines were four Tasker steam tractors.

No 1296 of 1902 The Horses Friend was once in the Tasker Museum, after several owners now with Nigel Moores and family of Lancashire. Then two from 1914, both B2 class 4nhp ‘Little Giants’ No 1592 Pride of Anna Valley, new to Osier Slag Co of Wolverhampton and requisitioned during the First World War, then with Midland

Rolling & Haulage Co, Birmingham until the Second World War and purchased as a kit of parts by current owner Malcolm Randall of Hampshire in 1993 at a sale of D Williams, Cleobury Mortimer and completely rebuilt.

No 1625 of 1914 Emily is a true convertible, supplied as a tractor but converted by Taskers in the 1920s to roller specification, converted back to steam tractor in preservation, and a Jersey, Channel Islands, engine at one time. It spent seven years in a barn and was restored by current owner Martin White of Hampshire. Showman’s tractor No 1822 of 1926 Little Jim II is owned by Chris Barber of Bucks.

New to Messrs Walters, Wiltshire, for light haulage in 1928, converted to a showman’s by Samuel Smart of Warminster and named Excelsior, it was acquired by the current owner in 1965 and restored in Smarts’ livery.

On the perimeter road, three

A pair of 1950s AEC Mammoth Major fuel tankers on display.

Wallis ‘Advance’ rollers paraded together which made a fine sight.

The earliest of these innovative rollers being No 7931 of 1927 Chipchase, new to F J Moore, lime and stone merchants of Plymouth, purchased lately in 2009 by the Shadbolt family of Cheshire, fitted with rubber tyres and overhauled.

It was with No 8005 of 1929, owned by Colin Bellamy, along with No 8064 of 1930 Wall-E –

new to Walter Smith Ltd, Kent, entering preservation with Pegden Bros of Canterbury, and now with Scott Lewis of Worcestershire.

As befits a 40th show, all sections were well-represented; veteran cars; postwar cars; historic American cars; car clubs including the regular attendees the Panhard et Levassor Club GB; classic collectors cars; among the usual vintage attractions.

Three Wallis & Steevens‘Advance’rollers on the barracks perimeter road; No 7931 of 1927 Chipchase, No 8005 of 1929 and No 8064 of 1930.

OLD GLORY OCTOBER 2014 | 13

sTeAM TrACTion

Pensioner

out of retirement

Built in the First World War and used on the home front for threshing and carting hay for the war horses, Wallis & Steevens No 7662 has just made a triumphant return to steam, writes David Vaughan

Regular driver Fred Creasey with the Wallis at Barnes’yard at Bodle Street Green, East Sussex.

COURTESY LATE COLIN HUGGETT ESTATE

Side view of the Wallis & Steevens motion as it was when working for Knights nurseries at Westham.

L

Pensioner steams in the Sussex Weald once again, seen after a full day’s work with the passenger trailer at Tinkers Park in August 2014.

ooking forward to a retirement pension is something of a lottery these days as our pension plans do not always work out as expected and it seems that we now have to either work longer, or retire and then go back to work to make ends meet. Going back to work after a retirement of over 40 years was exactly what happened to one Sussex ‘Pensioner’ recently but it was all the result of a well-laid plan.

The pensioner in question is Wallis & Steevens Expansion Agricultural traction engine No 7662, ordered by the Ministry of Munitions on December 31, 1917, but not delivered until the following year when it was used at one of the Ministry’s forage depots; threshing and carting hay for the horses of the First World War. The engine, registered BE 8711, is part of the Claude Jessett Trust Collection at Hadlow Down,

East Sussex and has been the subject of a thorough rebuild after a protracted lay up (OG 282/291).

After the First World War it was sold to an Edgar G Edgar of Ely as war surplus in 1920.

Edgar’s may have been a dealer, for it was only a year later that it was sold on to Harry Barton of Trusthorpe, Lincolnshire, and in 1933 was returned to Wallis & Steevens, who then resold it to the well-known Sussex agricultural contractors J Barnes and Sons of Bodle Street Green near Hailsham. Since then the engine has remained in the county in which it has spent the last 80 years of its life.

The Wallis was used by Barnes mainly on threshing duties with its regular driver Fred Creasey. Fred is still fondly remembered by old local farmers as a once-welcome sight trundling along the country lanes of Sussex with Pensioner (Then known just as No 7662 or ‘the Wallis’) on the way to his next job.  OLD GLORY OCTOBER 2014 | 31

GREAT DORSET STEAM FAIR

Lest we forget‌

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Photography: James Hamilton, Colin Tyson, Barrie Woods.

OLD GLORY OCTOBER 2014 | 41

Vintagew rld

A roller by a Brisbane roadside – 1

A MARSHALL ’S’ Type roller sits under its own weather canopy at Graceville Memorial Park on the outskirts of Brisbane. It’s an exBrisbane City Council roller and worked in the Graceville and

Indooroopilly areas of the city.

Local enthusiast Bill Ives owns a similar roller, ex-Queensland Main Roads Commission. Bill’s is an eight-ton 4hp ‘S’ Type machine, No 80161 of 1925,

Marshall‘S’Type roller No 80878 of 1926 sits in Graceville Park, Brisbane, no longer fulfilling the reason for which it was placed there. The high metal fence prevents children from playing on it. The repaired front forks, ex-Bill Ives’roller, are evident in this view.

A rear view of the same roller.

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supplied through Queensland Machinery Co of Eagle Street, Brisbane.

Some time ago, Bill purchased the front rolls – with their ‘S’ Type cast spoke arrangement, together with the headstock assembly from the Graceville roller in order to fit them to his own machine, since these items on the parked-up roller were in better condition.

The original water ballast type rolls and the broken and repaired front forks from his roller are now on the one at Graceville.

In the early days, Bill’s roller was used in many places in south-east Queensland and its last job was on the Warrego HighwayToowoomba range road when it blew a tube, following which was sold into preservation in 1958. It then went to Cyril Cadwallader who owned a Burrell traction engine from New Zealand, a Robey enclosed-motion portable engine and a Mann steam wagon.

The Marshall roller was later sold on and ended up at a museum that subsequently closed.

An auction was held there and it passed to a new owner who contacted a boiler repair company which told him that it would cost $AUS40,000 to make good. This was out of his reach so he put an advert in the local paper and Bill bought it in 1990 and he’s had it in running order for most of the time since.

A ceremony was held at Graceville around 15 years ago during which the park roller was dedicated to the community. Bill was invited to take along his own roller and have it in steam next to the one in the park. The authorities also invited the son of one of the council’s steam roller drivers to make a speech on this auspicious day.

Unfortunately, they got more than they bargained for on that occasion because, after Mike had told the crowd some stories about his father’s adventures with the roller, he went on to say that he considered it to be a complete waste to keep an eminently restorable roller in the park and they should be ashamed of themselves. There were some red faces there on that occasion – not just from the sun!

Identification of the Graceville Park roller has proved possible, courtesy of Robert Crawford who holds the Marshall records. It was the only one from four 8-ton ‘S’ Type machines that were supplied to Queensland around the same time with conventional ‘S’ Type cast-spoked front rolls.

The other three were of the water ballast type. This information provides evidence that it is Marshall No 80878, despatched from Gainsborough on May 18, 1926.

Bill Ives’Marshall roller No 80161 with the cast-spoked front rolls that were originally fitted to the roller in the park. ALL: DEREK RAYNER

ReadeRs obseRvations fRom aRound the woRld Contributions welcomed by Derek Rayner, Technical Adviser derek@invicta1915.freeserve.co.uk

This 1910 Lanz portable engine was one of two steam engines on display at the Traktormuseum Bodensee. ALL: DAVID PARFITT

One unusual tractor to be seen was this HofherrSchrantz-Clayton-Shuttleworth, type MEZ, single-cylinder hot-bulb tractor, built in Hungary in the late 1920s.

Another venerable tractor was this MWM ‘Motorpferd’(motor-horse) two-cylinder diesel tractor, built in Germany in the 1920s.

New tractor museum opens in Germany

The other portable was a Frenchbuilt Société Française, Vierzon.

ABOUT 15 miles to the west of Friedrichshafen lies the town of Uhldingen-Mühlhofen where a new tractor museum – Traktormuseum Bodensee – has opened in the suburb of Gebhardsweiler, writes David Parfitt.

There are more than 150 tractors from all decades in an area of some 10,000 square metres. There are also workshops showing the various old trades associated with tractor construction and this fine familyfriendly facility also includes its own restaurant.

The museum is the brainchild of Dr Gerhard Schumacher and from a tractor perspective, is probably one of the best of its kind in the world, not just because of the quantity and quality of the exhibits but also because of the amount of thought that has obviously gone into the layout of associated implements, memorabilia and recreated workshops etc.

Included among the very many tractors on display are a couple of portable engines. One of these is a German-built Lanz, dating from 1910, which the adjacent

display panel indicated was restored by Josef and Michael Frankenhauser. The other is an unidentified French-built Société Française, made in Vierzon. Security at the museum was very tight with all the display areas roped-off and protected by security cameras, as a result of which it was not possible to obtain details of the engines. A later request to the museum provided the information that neither engine has a plate on it giving its works number. www.traktormuseum.de/en/

Welsh locomotives in Puerto Rico IN FEBRUARY 2013, Thomas Kautzor spent time on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico looking at the local railway heritage. He arranged to see and photograph two narrow gauge locomotives that spent their working lives at Penrhyn slate quarries in days gone by. These were Hunslet No 704 of 1899, Nesta and Andrew Barclay No 1991 of 1931, Cegin, both of which were in storage at Manat’.

This pair were among a number of Welsh quarry locos sold to Canada and the US several years ago, most of which have been repatriated to the UK in recent times. The intention when purchased from a private US owner, who was doing some contract restoration work for the Puerto Rico Conservation Trust, was to operate them on a tourist

Above left: Andrew Barclay Cegin (No 1991 of 1931) in the storage shed in Puerto Rico.

Above right: The other loco in the shed is Nesta – Hunslet No 704 of 1899. Hopefully both these locos will be overhauled and returned to life in the not too distant future. BOTH: THOMAS KAUTZOR

railway at a hacienda but that idea came to nought. They subsequently spent most of their time in the country in a small shed close to the sea being

neglected. A recent move to their current larger shed has meant that more people became aware of their existence and showed an interest in them. Since they have

never operated in Puerto Rico, they have no connection with the country and it’s likely that they will move elsewhere, given the right approach to the right people.

OLD GLORY OCTOBER 2014 | 63

Tail lampTom Telling iT like iT is

Paint your wagon HENRY FORD famously once said of his cars: “You can have any colour you like as long as it’s black.” Ford had the vision and foresight to produce his Model T cars on the forerunner of a modern production line where the cars went to the workers while being built as opposed to the workers going to the cars. By adopting a production line means of assembly, more cars could be produced each day and the unit costs reduced.

Nowadays, black seems once again to be regaining popularity – in fact we’ve just taken delivery of our very first black car. The only problem with a black car is that they look smart when they’re clean but are a right pain to keep clean.

I have in the past seen some unusual colours painted on engines. Back in the early 1970s I saw a Fowler roller at Yelverton sporting yellow paint.

Unfortunately, I photographed it from the front and it was not carrying a registration plate, it was only recently that I managed to

identify it, but it certainly made for an unusual sight.

The Dart Valley Railway (now South Devon Railway) used to hold traction engine rallies in the late 1970s and early 80s and I recall seeing a Fowler road roller in a pale blue livery which looked rather strange.

It would seem that the different manufacturers had their own ideas about colours – the majority of Burrell engines were painted red. Aveling & Porter and Robey used to outshop theirs in green and McLaren engines were painted black. Those liveries seemed to be standard for those particular manufacturers unless the customer stipulated otherwise, such as Richard Preston’s green Burrell Lightning II. Steam wagons were a different kettle of fish altogether as they were finished in the livery of the customer and this often included elaborate signwriting, the customers’ livery being applied prior to delivery.

One problem facing modern preservationists is trying to

ascertain the livery carried by their engine at a specific date.

With black and white photos, no one knows what livery the Robey Tandems and Tri-tandems actually carried during the time that they were owned by Wirksworth Quarries Ltd in the early 1930s before they were taken over by Inns & Co. Ltd. in 1935.

Colour photography was in its infancy in the early 1930s and I am sure that no colour photographs of the Tri-tandems in that era exist as they were converted between 1935 and 1937 from Robey tandem rollers. One answer to the problem, if a little complicated and consequently expensive, is to have a spectrographic analysis of a paint sample undertaken. To do this, you need to find an area of the engine that has not been painted for a very long time. You need to chip off a piece of paint and send it to a specialist company who will do the analysis for you.

A few years ago, Network Rail wanted to repaint Brunel’s Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash into its

original 1859 colour when was first opened. I was lucky enough to be called in to assist the company who were doing the research on an unpaid advisory basis. We spent three months late in 2009 gathering information as to the original colour and the company who were doing the analysis took paint samples from all over the bridge.

Eventually, we determined the original colour which was a complete surprise to all of us.

Needless to say, Network Rail decided to repaint the bridge in Goose Grey during its refurbishment which should be completed in the next few months.

The original colour of the Royal Albert Bridge was off-white which was a form of lead paint applied to stop corrosion as the owners, the Cornwall Railway Co. could not afford to have it painted and Brunel applied the lead paint as a temporary measure. The bridge received its first repaint in 1861.

By the way, in case you’re wondering, our new black car is always dirty, much to my wife’s eternal disgust!

The views expressed by ‘Tail Lamp Tom’ are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

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