ISSN 0260 - 2962
Vol 39 No 4 Autumn 1996
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The Magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust
THE NATIONAL TRACTION ENGINE TRUST Membership of the National Traction Engine Trust is open to those who, whether engine owners or not, have a genuine interest in the preservation of self propelled steam road vehicles, portable engines etc.
The annual subscription is £20.00 for individuals and £10.00 for pensioners. The Trust's magazine Steaming is sent free to members during the early part of January, April, July and October, and other benefits of membership include advantageous terms for boiler insurance as well as access to advice on technical matters. Membership of the Steam Apprentice Club is available to young people under 21; details from that section's Chairman (see right).
President: Eric A. Fillmore Vice Presidents: Mrs Sylvia Dudley, 12 Hillway, Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire MK17 8UL (7:r 01908 583006); Richard N. Parrott Chairman: R.J. Sandercock, Milford Farm, near Lifton, Devon PL16 OAT (Tr 01566 783425) Vice-Chairmen: R.T. Herring, Glebe Court, Fringford, Bicester, Oxfordshire OX6 9RJ (23. 01869 277410); A.J. Semple — see be/ow
General Secretary: Mrs Susan Jackson, 153 Micklefield Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP13 7HA Membership Secretary: J.R. Cook, 'Dolfarni', Church Lane, Kirkby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU Treasurer: J.T.G. Harris, The Bank, 36 High Street, Rothwell, Northamptonshire NN14 2BQ (Ts 01536 710399) Chairman, Rally sub-Committee: A.J. Semple, Penyghent, 8 Chelmick Close, Church Stretton, Shropshire SY6 7BY (Tr 01694 723139) Chairman, Engine Owners sub-Committee: M.O. Davies, Hill Farm, Avon Dassett, neat Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV33 OAA Its 01295 770217) Chairman, Steam Apprentice Club: J.R. Bosworth, 74 Main Road, Smalley, Ilkeston, Derbyshire DE7 6EF (' 01332 880405) Chairman, Technical Board: J.M. Newnham, Penlands, High Easter, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 4QW (' 01245 231283) Administration Officer: J.R. Smith, The Poplars, Grange Road, North Frodingham, Driffield, North Humberside Y025 8LN (zr 01262 488722) Insurance Officer: D.S. Smith, 21 The Ridgeway, Astwood Bank, Redditch, Worcestershire B96 6LS (Tr 01527 893427) Publicity Officer: Brian Gooding, c/o Bullimores House, Church Lane, Cranleigh, Surrey GU6 8AR (Tr 01483 274004)
ate-aitittig binder Each binder can take up to twelve copies — that's three year's issues. Produced in royal blue with the magazine title and club motif nicely blocked in gold on the spine — a fine addition to your bookshelves and an excellent way of keeping your magazines in good condition whilst near at hand.
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410Virrefe
The latest, updated edition of the popular Traction Engine Register is now available
TRACTION ENGINE REGISTER For most members the Register is an essential part of their enthusiasm, whether the interest is seeing engines on the rally field or knowing the history of those that survive in preservation.
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Send now for your copy or call at the Trust's Exhibition Unit.
Sr' -
Price £4.99 inc postage from
Price £5.50 inc. postag
43k.
Available by post from Colin and Val Brown, 90 Devon Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 ORL. (cheques to NTET)
Colin and Val Brown 90 Devon Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 ORL (cheques payable to National Traction Engine Trust)
The Magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust
Volume 39 Number 4
Autumn 1996 Editor: Roger West, 14 Charles Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE1 6 9AB (Is' 01858 467326) Assistant Editor: Derek Rayner, 'Invicta', 9 Beagle Ridge Drive, Acomb, York Y02 3JH Display Advertising: to the Editor Small Ads to the Editor Distribution and Change of Address: John Cook, 'Dolfarni', Church Lane, Kirkby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU The Editor is pleased to consider contributions of suitable articles, shorter items or photographs for inclusion in future issues. All material submitted is voluntary and payment cannot be made for any material published, although expenses incurred may be met. The opinions expressed in the magazine, with the exception of those printed as Trust announcements, are those of the contributors and do not indicate the views of the Trust as a whole. All items are held copyright by the contributors and/or the NTET.
Well, we did it! Almost 100 steam engines gathered in Northamptonshire at the end of September to celebrate the second 21 years since the Trust's first rally in 1954. Giles Romanes (member number 2) has attended all three. The Hollowell site, kindly offered by Allen Eaton and his team, proved to be perfect and they put in an enormous effort to host the event and I thank them. The National were ably led by Steve Parrott and his sub-committee, including Russell Bulley who planned the runs and programme of events and Brian James, who was site manager and safety officer. Three routes of varying length were chosen for rollers and agricultural engines, for tractors and road locos and for wagons. They were selected to give engine drivers a busy but relaxed trip and viewers plenty of opportunity to see steam on the road. The weather was reasonably kind for late September and the routes were perfectly signed and marshalled. Many of us believed the area to be flat but found out that some severe hills exist! On the Saturday evening an informal concert on site proved very successful with several members and groups providing the entertainment, led by Steve Baldock (Doctor Busker). The Hollowell rally site staged the Sunday events which were curtailed by rain, but a parade of engines and other vintage tackle took place after the awards ceremony in a partly blown away beer tent. Peter Fagg with his Marshall agricultural was the worthy winner of the salver presented by the Chiltern Club and Giles Romanes received the engraved tankard from Stanton Drew. Member number 1, Alastair Dacre-Lacey was also present, together with many faces from past and present. It was altogether wonderful, and to see seventy odd engine owners happily lighting up in the dark at 6.00 in the morning, a unique privilege. The event was made financially possible by generous cash sponsorship, and donations of trophies, coal etc. These will be properly recorded in our next magazine, but for now I thank all who helped, took part or came to watch. A further 21 years seems too long to wait to do it again. How about the Millenium? (Richard Sandercock, chairman)
This issue
ISSN 0260 - 2962
176 184 190 192 194 196 198 215 217 221 224
Published by the National Traction Engine Trust at 14 Charles St, Market Harborough, Leicestershire. Printed by AB Printers Ltd, Leicester.
The epitome of the British rally scene — Garrett 4hp showmans tractor 32122 THE GREYHOUND poses in summer sunshine, surrounded by other entries and looked over by the village church at North Nibley, Gloucestershire. Photograph by Roger Newbery at the July 1996 Lister Petter Tyndale event.
Next issue: The press date for news items, recent photographs and small adverts is 23rd November 1996. For the date for Steaming Around see that section.
STEAMING Autumn 1996
Trust News McLarens to the Rescue Suolahti 1996 Idris by steam Ten miles down the road Escorting a Lady home Steaming Around, compiled by Derek Rayner Around the World Letters Books Small Adverts
Derek Rayner Michael Lane Bill Ives Anthony Coulls
Cover
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Trust News From the Chairman Most rallies, except my own, have had reasonable weather. On my Friday visit to Dorset the dust was beginning to rise. Love it, or not, the event is a great spectacle and the display of Fowlers was a once in a lifetime chance to see, as Charlie Daniel succinctly put it, 'a collection of greater diversity than any other maker could have produced.' Unless you know different. Ransomes? A year ago pluses were few but recently the road tax has gone, with the Trust's help, and through David Smith, our Insurance Officer, a new insurance policy for members at very keen prices has been arranged. Hopefully the savings will more than cover the cost of our subscriptions and encourage owners to join. I thank David for the wonderful job that he has done. The Trust can save engine owners money — lots of it. As winter approaches I wish to continue seeking ways of ensuring that new engine owners have the chance to be trained in the use of their charges. Our Spring Conference confirmed that these concerns are widely felt. Hopefully the area clubs can take a lead with their local knowledge of engine movements. At the second attempt I have passed my Group G driving test on an early diesel roller' As we near another AGM I invite all to attend so that any decisions taken represent the views of more than the fraction of the membership who normally attend. Hopefully the rest are happy with what we are doing. We are all trying. (Richard Sandercock, chairman)
next two years, which will be our seventh and eighth event, we will be hosted by the West Somerset Railway, based at Bishops Lydeard, just outside Taunton in Somerset. The 1997 course will be over the weekend of the 10th and 11th of May. Each year we have found a location with something of special local interest. Our next venue offers us the opportunity to look at both the similarities and differences of the rail and road locomotive, the West Somerset Railway having many fine examples of Great Western locomotives. It is anticipated that on the Saturday evening we will take the steam hauled restaurant car train, the 'Dilantoc.k Rene', on a round trip from Bishops Lydeard to the Bristol Channel resort of Minehead. More now about the course itself and what we are setting out to achieve. The weekends, of course, offer us a rather limited opportunity — in only about sixteen hours of concentrated instruction, it is clear that we are not going to turn novices into competent drivers, nor are we , going to create instant engineers after attendance at our lectures. We all have our own personal reasons for membership of the Trust and all have our own aspirations. Whatever they are, they all centre around the traction engine, so the more first hand experience we have
the better we can understand the pitfalls associated with engine operation in a modern environment, as well as the ability to relate more closely with the other aspects of the Trust's activities. Even articles and exploits in Steaming can take on a new dimension when one can appreciate the effort and skill involved. Our courses aim to start the ball rolling by offering all Trust members, irrespective of whether they are engine owners or not, the opportunity to come along and actively participate, possibly for the first time, in taking control of a range of differing types and makes of engine; appreciating the responsibilities of engine ownership, as well as meeting many well respected and experienced drivers and engineers. This course is a stepping stone to gaining understanding and confidence. On completion of their first course students are encouraged to work together with local engine owners and become part of a team. Many students have returned for a second year and taken advantage of demonstrating their new found skills. In the future it is anticipated that other more specifically oriented courses or workshops will become available. This year, for the first time, we look forward to having our Steam Apprentices along, with, of course, their parents. Activities arc planned for a constructive weekend which will
The National Traction Engine Trust's
1996 AGM will be held at 2.00pm on
SATURDAY, 16th NOVEMBER 1996 at Engine Owners Column The National Driving Courses The first of the Trust's Engine Driving Courses was held at Klondyke Mill, Staffordshire back in 1991, and this effectively set the pattern which we have maintained at subsequent courses at Amberley and York. For the 176
The Conference Suite, Jurys Bristol Hotel, Prince Street, Bristol Please refer to the formal notice in the Report and Accounts which are distributed with this issue for details of agenda etc, and to the Future Dates column for notes on the arrangements that have been made for the rest of the day and on the Sunday.
Autumn 1996
STEAMING
integrate with the facilities offered for the Driving Course. Further details will be published in the next issue of their magazine Raising Steam. This event is organised by the Trust for all its members. If you wish to participate as a student or perhaps as an experienced local engine owner who is prepared to bring in additional knowledge, experience and an engine for the weekend, or as a lecturer or general helper, then please get in touch. Alternatively if you have any
From Alan Martin's Collection
74
Out of the ordinary loads of timber often warranted the attention of the local photographer, and this huge specimen must represent hours and hours of hard work for several men, first cutting, then loading. However, it is FLOWER, HAULIER, HEREFORD who paints his name on the sawn end, though the figure beneath giving its estimated cube or whatever, is indistinct. F.C. Flower came from Aconbury, a few miles south of Hereford, and his upstanding 10hp compound Burrell road engine is 2105 of 1898 KING OF THE WEST. The size of the trunk demands two wagons, topped with swivelling bolsters. The engine, incidentally, went from Flower to Wm Kerr of Glasgow, for heavy haulage.
thoughts regarding the composition of the course, bearing in mind the practical considerations, helpful suggestions are always welcome. (Richard Vickery, The Orchard, Loxbeare, Tiverton, Devon EX16 9HR) Engine Code of Practice
A reminder that, as announced in these notes in the last issue, Part II of the Engine Code is now ready for issue to those who have copies of the Code. Vouchers for Part II, 'Driving and Conduct on the Road and at Public Events', should be sent to Sylvia Dudley, 12 Hillway, Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, together with a stamped addressed envelope (large enough to hold the plastic sleeves without folding) that bears 45p in stamps.
The Rally Authorisation Scheme By the time you read this the Autumn Conference will be upon us:
STEAMING Autumn 1996
12th October at the ACU Headquarters in Rugby. Should you still wish to attend and have not booked, please contact our General Secretary Sue Jackson, by telephone is the quickest way at this late stage.
May I remind those rally organisers and safety officers who are sitting on safety reports for the year's rallies to send them to me as soon as possible and so allow me to include them in the 'Analysis of 1996' report to Conference. By the time you read this you should all be in possession of Request for Authorisation 1997 forms and your invitation to the Autumn Conference, if not, please contact me and I will arrange further copies. The Autumn Conference, this year, has taken on an even more significant role as it is the intention to ask Affiliated Clubs what they require of this organisation and how they would like to interface with both the Trust and other affiliated Clubs. Please find the time to attend if at all possible, or send a representative who can talk for
your organisation. Your ideas and opinions will, as always, be welcome. Remember it is YOUR Trust so the more effort that is put in, the better the results, especially these days with ever-increasing rules and regulations. I believe the Trust, and all it stands for, is worth looking after. (Smudge Smith, Rally Approvals Officer)
Insurance Officer's Notes New Insurance Scheme At long last I have concluded my research into the insurance marketplace and can announce that we have been successful in securing what I believe are unbeatable arrangements for 'Insurance of Traction Engines and other Steam Vehicles and Ancillary Equipment'. You will read elsewhere in this
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edition of Steaming and in other magazines and preservation publications an article and advertisements from Footman James & Co Ltd who are based in the West Midlands, providing details of the above insurance scheme. This is because we have accepted their tendered offer and have duly appointed them as the NTET's sole, recommended supplier of insurance services to our members. This has been a major exercise which at times has been, for myself and the Trust Committee, somewhat daunting, particularly when reaching the decision of which tenderer to appoint, but I am very pleased with the outcome and I have no hesitation in recommending the new Insuance Scheme to our members. I should like to say a large thank you to those twelve or so organisations who took up my Invitation to tender and particularly the short listed four (the other three being AON UK; Clarke Roxburgh & Willis Insurance Brokers and Holman Insurance Brokers Ltd), who allowed me to visit them and who answered my many questions speedily and frankly. To Peter James, director of Footman James & Co Ltd, I say welcome and thank you for your forthright and sensitive approach to our needs and aims. As you will read elsewhere there are innumerable benefits related to the scheme devised by Footman James & Co Ltd for the exclusive use of NTET members and so for brevity I will only outline the main features here: • a new bespoke steam and ancillary equipment policy — issued under the Crystal Clear banner • a complete range of cover with rates typically 48% below nearest tender and 72% below average
For engine owning members ... The Trust's
CODE OF PRACTICE for Traction Engines and similar vehicles Price £17.50 each including postage (cheques payable to National Traction Engine Trust) from — Mrs Sylvia Dudley 12 Hillway Woburn Sands Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire MK17 8UL
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tender. Fully comprehensive rates are based on £5 per one thousand pounds of value. • Low loaders used solely for private purposes are included at above rates • reduced rates for trailers, living vans and stationary engines • goods in transit (low loader) or items being trailed included • rates held automatically for three years • further discounts for those prepared to arrange cover from November to November • the use of qualified, independent boiler inspectors continues to be allowed • all of Footman James staff who are involved with direct customer contact have Insurance Industry qualifications • experience which comes from dealing with the specialist requirements of 55,000 clients. • 5% of annual premiums paid to the NTET as commission • joint administration of the NTET Insurance Disc Scheme A special team has been set up to handle our account headed by Trevor Keefe, director of the Classic Vehicle Department. He is supported by Scot Fowkes, Jayne Jordan and Sharon Whitehouse. A supply of proposal forms will be available on the Trust's Exhibition Unit and they can also be obtained directly from Footman James • Co Ltd, Waterfall Lane, Cradley Heath, Warley, West Midlands B64 6PU or by phone call to Jayne Jordan on 0121 561 4196 (ext 504) or fax on 0121 559 0814. Already members are taking advantage of the scheme and cover is being provided. Incidentally Footman James & Co are also able to provide non steam related insurance cover for all of our domestic, pleasure and business requirements at highly competitive remember 5% of premiums rates are paid to the NTET in commission. Many members have already been able to meet members of Footman James's staff at the Dorset event and the NTET Road Run and they will also be present at our AGM in November. Other Insurers and the NTET Disc Scheme The introduction of this new exclusive scheme for NTET members does not prohibit other organisations from providing insurance cover to owners: after all it is a free market place. The NTET are the sole owners of the NTET Disc Scheme© but as a service to those who choose to insure through AON or James Campbell I have agreed, for the time being and subject to satisfactory levels of service being provided, to allow NTET
Insurance Discs to be issued from these respective offices. Notes for Rally Organisers Recently I have been asked to comment on the insurance requirements for preserved internal combustion engine tractors when making appearance at rallies and events where the public are present and where many exhibits are being presented under a Club block Public Liability Cover scheme. The results of my enquiries with the insurance industry and the DVLC show that since the amendments to the 1988 Road Traffic Act (effective July 1991), and the inception of the Motor Vehicles (Off Road Events) Regulations 1995, and particularly if the vehicle is capable of self propulsion and is indeed moved, then the above type of cover is inadequate -- Road Traffic Act Cover is also required whether or not it is intended to use the vehicle on the road. I appreciate that these facts will raise a few eyebrows within the tractor preservation movement and will inevitably be challenged, but please don't shoot the messenger! Notes for Rally Exhibitors I have been advised by a number of exhibitors that they have been asked to sign rally entry forms which required them to absolve the rally organiser from any liability relating to the presentation of an exhibit. Please note — your insurers will 'be very upset if you sign such a form; you would in effect be saying that your insurer will pay out for an incident, irrespective of who is at fault. This is clearly not so and in any case liability has to be proven before any claim is met. The exhibitor must be adequately covered by Public Liability Insurance land comply with the RTA, where it applies) but rally organisers have an obligation to ensure that the event is properly planned and organised and that all reasonable care has been taken to protect the public, and the organiser must carry his own Public Liability Insurance to this effect. (Dave Smith, Insurance Officer)
FBHVC News The Federation Committee continues to meet at two monthly intervals and we both take a very active interest in the proceedings. There have been no subjects of concern to steam engine owners during recent Autumn 1996
STEAMING
months and hence nothing to report. However we are not complacent! Defence of a complaint about smoke nuisance against two members is being pursued through the FBHVC Secretary. If the complaint is successfully upheld there could be implications for many owners and rally organisers. We are taking a very serious view of this case. We are very sorry to report that Jim Whyman is relinquishing his duties as FBHVC Secretary on medical advice and a replacement is being urgently sought. Jim has been the Federation's Secretary since the formation and his broad knowledge, wise counsel and dedication will be greatly missed. We all wish Jim good fortune, improved health and hope that a lessening of his work load will secure the desired result. (Michael Ward and Peter Smart, steam representatives on FBHVC)
Steam Apprentice Club Time, for me, flys by with ever increasing speed and it seems like only yesterday I was writing about Dorset — but it was the 1995 event!
However, my comments on this year's gathering. There weren't quite so many SAC members in the Trust tent this year but maybe Mr Oliver's show was even more difficult for them to break away from! I did have a number of interesting chats with Apprentices or their mums and dads. The photograph and colouring competitions were well supported with entries and the judges — Christine Wells, Raising Steam editor Barry Sumsion and John and Fiona Durling — had a difficult job before the winners were decided and announced. With the gathering together of a number of the adult helpers of the SAC we had a chance to talk with John Durling about his thoughts for the future of the section — he will be taking over its chairmanship at the Trust's AGM in November. Richard Vickery, organiser of the Trust's Evening Driving Courses, suggested Apprentice involvement at the
Courses — but at their own level, of course. My thanks are due to many who helped us at Dorset, but notably to Derek Marder for letting us have his Ruston Proctor tractor in the Trust marquee II hope the brasswork was clean enough on its return!) and to Steve Parrott who organised so many engines, so early in the morning for our popular 'breakfast on a shovel'. A good number of Apprentices turned up and I'm sure a five star hotel chef would not have better satisfied the youngsters' appetites. After three years, this will be my last column as chairman of the SAC. I have endeavoured to do what I thought was needed for our younger and forthcoming enginemen and now I hand over to John Durling, ably supported by his wife Fiona and sons Alexander and Ian — I wish them well in Raising Steam Apprentices. (John Bosworth)
A fine portrait of Fowler A9 class compound road locomotive 15463, photographed by Peter Donovan at the Newbury event in May 1996, the engine's first outing since further restoration. The 1920 built 7hp machine was one of a fleet of heavy haulage equipment owned by the famous firm of Wynns of Newport, Monmouthshire. Exhibited by them in preservation for a number of years, the Fowler has since 1994 been owned by John Griffiths of Mid Glamorgan.
Obituaries Bert Dibben With the passing in June of Bertram Claude Dibben, better known simply as Bert, the preservation movement has lost another of those rare and genuine characters of the steam era. Born in the Hampshire village of Martin in 1920 Bert, who was the youngest of the family of three of Frederick William Dibben, grew up within the family agricultural contracting business, started by Bert's uncle in the 1880s. After leaving school Bert joined his father and elder brother Montague (Mont) in the business and although he was no doubt able to undertake most of the very varied tasks, it was the threshing and, more latterly, reed combing work for which he became well known. Indeed, up to 1992, Bert was still reed combing in an area that extended from Bath to Oxford and Weymouth to Chichester. Quite often the season's work was only completed a week or two before the new crop was ready. Had it not been for the illness which was courageously borne up to his death, I am sure he would still have been working today. Although Bert welcomed the end of steam as a working tool for threshing, he still had his steam blood and an affection for the old Wallis traction engine used by the family until laid up in 1945. Not many people know that the engine was nearly 'lost', for it had been sold for one night to a scrapman. The story goes that father made the deal, with the engine to go away the same day. However the dealer failed to appear to collect, and overnight Bert gathered up the money, giving it to the scrappie and telling him to leave the machine where it stood. Subsequently Bert fully restored the engine, Wallis & Steevens 7102 of 1909; ironically, it was his father who was first on the footplate when the old engine was pulled out of the nettles in 1952 and put into steam! During the early years of preservation, apart from showing his own engine at carnivals, fetes and engine rallies, Bert also assisted and drove Fowler 19782 LION, the former Anderton & Rowland showmans which had been purchased by his friend Ernie Lucas. He and Ernie travelled many miles in Southern England seeking out laid up engines, Bert later acquiring Burrell roller 4025 arid Waits Advance roller 8105. For those of us fortunate enough to have watched Bert handle an engine, it was a joy to behold — whether it was setting up a drum or 180
simply manoeuvring or hitching up, he could almost make the machine talk. Bert very much enjoyed his work, and his many customers were his friends. He was never more at home than when threshing or reed combing with his Wallis at a farm or rally, and particularly at Stourpaine Bushes where he had attended every event since the first in 1969. He will be sadly missed. A more fitting tribute to Bert Dibben's popularity could not have been given than by the very large attendance of family and friends at the funeral service at Martin church. He was afterwards laid to rest in the church grounds. We extend our deepest sympathy and condolences to his widow Peggy, and his three children Clifford, Daphne and Carol from his earlier marriage. (Arthur Thomson) David Vernon Sadly, I have to record the death of David Vernon; he was found at his home in Rolleston, Staffordshire on 5th May. Born in Stafford in 1942, Dave was a man of many interests — cinema film projection and stage lighting, also 8mm cine filming — and
he gave many film shows to clubs and societies in the midlands. From an early interest in train spotting, he became involved with traction engines and served his apprenticeship with the late Jim Dakin and the Foster WINNIE, eventually becoming a trusted crew member. Away from the footplate Dave was for many years secretary of the North Staffs and Cheshire Traction Engine Club and a loyal supporter of the club's Klondyke Mill site. Bishops Castle rally was one of Dave's favourites and he assisted with the ring events for many years. In 1981 he joined the volunteers at the Bass Museum in Burton-upon-Trent, usually caring for the Robey tandem engine on open days. In recent years on the rally fields Dave crewed for Wendy and Billy Thompson with their Foster engines, and was looking forward to the Abergavenny rally just a few days before his death. The funeral took place at Bretby Crematorium; for the last part of the journey to the crematorium Dave's coffin was borne on an open dray pulled by two resplendent shire horses from the Bass Museum. A large congregation gathered to pay tribute to this fine man who will be missed by all who knew him. (Steve Durance)
The Malvern Hills form an impressive backdrop to the Upton-on-Severn rally at Welland, Worcestershire. Wallis & Steevens Expansion engine 7685 of 1919 poses for Dave Bag/ey's camera in July 1995. Autumn 1996
STEAMING
Traction Engine and Other Steam Vehicles and Ancillary Equipment Policy Exclusively prepared for the NTET by Footman James & Co. Ltd.
An introduction to Footman James & Company Limited On behalf of Footman James I should like to express our delight at being appointed the sole, recommended insurer to the National Traction Engine Trust and look forward to providing you the membership with a valued and first class service. Footman James is one of the leading specialist vehicle insurers in the country servicing the needs of some 55,000 clients from its Cradley Heath headquarters in Warley, West Midlands with a 90 strong team of fully qualified staff. We are confident that the company can provide the best combination of competitive premiums, comprehensive cover and efficient service. We have allocated a special team to handle the NTET account, headed by Trevor Keefe, director of our Classic Vehicle Department and including Jayne Jordan, Scot Fowkes and Sharon Whitehouse. To obtain a rapid quotation simply telephone 0121 561 4196 (ext 5041 or fax on 0121 559 0814 or fill in and return one of our brochures/proposal forms. You are assured of the very best attention at all times. I have pleasure in presenting working details of the new scheme and the attendant premiums. Peter James — Director
w*.ir;ittsik -
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Autumn 1996
Premium — £10.00 Mileage Charge plus £5.00 per £1000 vehicle(s) value + Insurance Premium Tax at 21/2 % — 30% Discount on Comprehensive + Insurance ii) Third Party Fire and Theft Premium Tax at 21/2 % £30.00 per policy + Insurance Premium Tax at 2 1/2 % iii) Third Party Only £4.00 per £1000 vehicle(s) value + Insurance iv) Off Road Cover Premium Tax at 21/2 % a) Premium Rates are applicable to total vehicle value per policy not per vehicle per policy b) Minimum Premium — £30 per policy + Insurance Premium Tax at 2Y c) Premiums Rates guaranteed for a three year period Comprehensive
Excess Comprehensive, Third Party Fire and Theft and Off-Road Policies only: Up to £10000 value — £100 Excess Up to £20000 value — £200 Excess Over £20000 value — £250 Excess
Drivers Any authorised licensed driver/steers person subject to following limitations: a) Drivers under the age of 21 are excluded b) Steer persons under 21 years of age are covered when accompanied by a suitably licensed driver over 21 years c) Members of the NTET Steam Apprentice Club may drive on rally fields or private land provided they are accompanied by a suitably licensed driver aged over 21.
Cover The Off-Road cover is designed purely for those items which cannot move under their own power (Portables, Trailers and items under restoration). It does not include Road Traffic Act Liability cover, but does include Public Liability Cover whilst at a Rally or Show, including Working Risks of the insured item. b) Third Party Personal Injury/Death includes steam explosion — Unlimited in amount c) Third Party Property Damage includes steam explosion, Sparks and Ashes, Damage to Roads, Bridges and Underground Pipes — £1,000,000 limit of indemnity d) Comprehensive, Third Party Fire and Theft, Third Party Only and Off-Road cover apply on an anywhere UK basis including whilst in transit on a low loader or being trailed. Note: Boiler Explosion Cover is subject to there being in force a current Boiler Examination Report. a)
Use a) b) c) d)
Social Domestic and Pleasure Use for Rallies/Shows including Working Demonstrations and Road Runs Towing of trailers as permitted by Law. Occasional use for Lake Dredging, Road Making or other work for which payment might be received can normally be covered by prior arrangement with the insurers.
General Notes Trailers, Living Vans, Water Carts etc, can be added to either Comprehensive, Third Party Fire and Theft or Off Road policies at the premium rates shown above. b) The premium matrix detailed above is designed for vehicles/equipment valued up to £250,000 each. c) The Scheme is underwritten by Dominion Plan/Equity Red Star at Lloyds and is solely available from Footman James & Co for NTET members. d) Low Loaders used solely for transporting insured items can be included at the premium rates shown above. e) All Comprehensive, Third Party Fire and Theft and Off Road Policies are on an Agreed Value. 5% of all premiums under the scheme to be paid to the NTET. f) g) If required, claims can be settled on a cash in lieu basis. hi Salvage is the property of, and will be returned to, the owner. i) All policies except Off Road will include Motor Legal Expenses Cover. The policy wording will be on a Plain English/Crystal Mark approved basis. j) k) The Disc scheme will continue to operate. Boiler Inspections/Examinations may be undertaken by an 'independent' Engineer/ I) Surveyor chosen by the client as opposed to those employed by the Engineering Insurance Market. m) The Motor Policy cover includes up to the Explosion Risk and if Collapse onwards is required including Sudden and/or Unforeseen Damage cover, then quotations can be obtained on an individual basis. However, please note that if this cover is required the Engineering Insurer will stipulate that their own Engineer Surveyor must carry out examinations/inspections and cover will exclude wear and tear/gradual deterioration. n) Discounted premiums will be available provided an October/November renewal date is selected and maintained. Our specialist vehicle account has a strong summer bias for renewals — as you would expect — and clients renewing during the autumn receive a higher level of personal service. a)
If you require further details or clarification please contact Trevor Keefe at Footman James or David Smith, NTET Insurance Officer.
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Affiliated Clubs Old Steamers Club The 1996/97 social meetings programme of the Old Steamers Club includes monthly dates until next August, and covers a wide range of subjects, many of which will be of interest to traction engine enthusiasts. Meetings are generally held at Cowley Community Centre near Oxford; Trust members living in the area may like to contact membership secretary George Teal (2 Ambleside Drive, Headington, Oxford 0X3 OAG) for further details of the Old Steamers Club.
The Great Dorset Steam Fair The Trust's marquee at the Dorset event at the end of August again attracted a large number of people. NTET Sales were kept busy until late into the evenings, exchanging books, videos etc for money that will benefit Trust funds. Many members and friends took advantage of the hospitality area, resting their feet and partaking of tea or coffee — against the pleasant backdrop of Derek Marder's Lincoln Imp tractor. The centre section of the tent was taken up with a huge multi-screen TV, organised by Robert Herring. The seats provided in front of the screen were invariably well filled and in the evenings it often seemed the set up
provided a good outdoor substitute for those who sit thus engaged at home each evening. We hope, however, that the programme of the more informative selection of engine videos that were shown, will encourage them to keep up and develop an interest in the subject. Our grateful thanks must be recorded to those members who so willingly helped to provide the extra staff for the Trust's marquee over the five days — both behind the sales stand and at the drinks dispenser in the hospitality section. It would certainly not be possible for us to put on such an extensive display at Dorset without this additional help. We hope you all enjoyed the company. The winner of the knitted engineman doll — the prize in the raffle held in the Trust marquee — proved to be Bill Storey of Luffenham, Leicestershire. A mascot for the Al!chin or the Aveling, perhaps?
Small Adverts To widen the facilities to Trust members, it has been suggested that the Small Adverts column be made open to a wider range of subjects. As well as items apertaining to steam road engines, coverage can now be extended to most things we traditionally find as preserved exhibits on the rally fields — tractors, stationary engines etc.
London Area Social Meetings Although Bill Timmings will, as usual, be organising a further series of social meetings in London over the 1996/97 autumn and winter period, it has again been necessary to change the venue. Perhaps it is inevitable these days that licensed premises seek to maximise their takings and we have been declined use of the room, used for the last two years, in favour of early evening diners! A fresh meeting room for the monthly meetings has been found by Bill in the same area of central London. These will again be the second Tuesday of each month, starting at 8.00pm with the room available from 7.30pm. Non-members will be welcome. The venue is 'The Duke of York', 35 New Cavendish Street, London W1. This is on the corner of Westmoreland Street and opposite the end of Welbeck Street. From Bond Street tube station (Central Line) walk north on Vere Street and Welbeck Street — above 500 yards. For the first dates in our calender, the following programme has been arranged: TUESDAY, 12th NOVEMBER 1996 — Charles Roads will present an illustrated talk 'Ploughing with Steam'. TUESDAY 10th DECEMBER 1996 — Tonight Stan Hinbest will speak on 'My Life as a shed fitter at Stratford loco sheds in London'. Further meetings are planned for 1997 and details will appear in the magazine. (Bill Timmings, London meetings organiser)
The National Traction Engine Trust Engine Owners sub-Committee
Future dates
Presents its 1997
PRACTICAL ENGINE DRIVING COURSE
AGM 1996
L
The 1996 Annual General Meeting of the Trust will take place at 2.00pm on Saturday 16th November at The Conference Suite, Jurys Bristol Hotel, Prince Street, Bristol. Formal notice of the meeting, the agenda and the Annual Report and Accounts will be distributed with this issue of the magazine. In the event of any voting being necessary at the AGM only current Trust members will, of course, be eligible. Members are therefore asked to ensure they have their current membership cards with them at the meeting. Tea will be served at the conclusion of the AGM at about 5.00pm. Other arrangements have been
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Autumn 1996
to be held on 10th and 11th May at the home of the
West Somerset Railway Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, Somerset A practical and informal driving course for members of the NTET to include instruction on boiler management mechanical operation,driving techniques and much more! For further information send s.a.e. to: Sylvia Dudley, 12 Hillway, Woburn Sands, Milton Keynes, MK17 8UL
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made for the Saturday and Sunday for members wishing to stop overnight in the area. On the Saturday morning a visit to the Bristol Industrial Museum can be recommended — it is located on Princes Wharf, opposite Jurys Hotel and open from 10.00am, admission £1.00. The Curator, Mr King, has offered to make the behind the scenes collection available to members at an additional £3.00 additional fee, but he can only accommodate a party of 30 on a first come first served basis. The Trust Exhibition Unit will be open in the area — a good opportunity for Christmas present shopping from the extensive book and video stocks. Jurys Hotel is situated in Prince Street, Bristol, immediately to the south of the city centre. Bristol Temple Meads station is about 10 minutes
walk; by car follow the brown tourist signs for Youth Hostel and Arnolfini — the Hotel complex is adjacent to the NCP multi-storey car park. A special NTET accommodation tariff has been arranged for members wishing to stay overnight at Jurys Hotel — one night rate, £49.00 single; £64 double/twin, two/three night rate (per person) £44.00 single; £57 double/twin, all to include breakfast, service and VAT. Members should contact the Hotel to make their own bookings — Tr 0117 923 0333 or fax 0117 923 0300. A dinner has been arranged for the Saturday evening, 7.30 for 8.00pm at Jurys Hotel which we hope will provide a pleasant opportunity for both local and further afield members and their wives and friends to meet in congenial surroundings. We are pleased to have Michael Oliver as
guest speaker. Price of the tickets will be £19.00 per head; dress — lounge suit. Would those members requiring tickets please send cheques (made payable to the National Traction Engine Trust) to Susan Jackson, 153 Micklefield Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire HP13 7HA. Please send an SAE for reply. On the Sunday we have been invited by Kelston Sparkes to visit his engine collection at the village of Stanton Drew, about eight miles south of Bristol. Several well known rally engines will be 'at home' to us, together with others not so familiar or under repair. Further details and directions will be available at the AGM. The Trust Exhibition Unit will, again, be open for business at Stanton Drew.
OUR MAGAZINE 25 YEARS AGO
The fourth and final issue of Volume 14 was dated August 1971 and the magazine included details of events held in the early part of the season. The Historic Commercial Vehicle Club's Brighton Run had attracted nine wagons — six Sentinels, two Fodens and one Yorkshire. Tom Varley's steam weekend at his Todber, Lancashire, premises had attracted 10000 people and raised £600 for cancer charities. Five of his own engines on display — a Sentinel S4 and a Yorkshire wagon in steam, with the Fowler and a Sentinel DG6 wagon under restoration, together with Aveling roller 8727 — were joined by ten visiting engines. Wallis & Steevens had completed the restoration of two steam rollers. Director George Wilson has acquired Simplicity 7980 and 8 ton Advance 7788 and they had been rebuilt by men who had once built steam rollers at the North Hampshire Iron Works, though the firm now operated from new premises elsewhere in Basingstoke. Those wishing to expand their knowledge of steam vehicles via the printed word could purchase The Overtype Steam Wagon by Kelly at £3.98, economical enough by today's prices it might seem, but the Leeds Evening Post special supplement Leeds Steam published in conjunction STEAMING
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Sentinel DG4 timber tractor 9097 of 1934, a survivor of only a few of the type that were constructed — they were relatively expensive machines when new. Eric Sawford photographed the engine at the Parham rally in June.
with the Leeds & District Traction Engine Club provided exceptional value at just 3 pence! For a late autumn social occasion the Club offered a special November evening opening for members (with buffet dinner and dancing) at the Clapham Transport Museum, tickets price £1.00. Many will recall the well attended evening with pleasant memory.
'For sale — Mann's steam tractor 4NHP, new November 1915, also trailer, four furrow Oliver plough and four furrow Howard plough. Address Box 813, Willings, 125 Strand WC2.' (from The Commercial Motor, 14th November 1918. It seems strange that a Mann's tractor that had seemingly been used agriculturally for direct ploughing, should be advertised from the heart of our capital.) 183
McLarens for the Rescue Derek Rayner Many years ago, just before he started regular association with Steaming as Editor of the area notes (the precursor of our Steaming Around section), Derek Rayner wrote an article for the March 1978 Yorkshire Special issue entitled 'McLarens to the Rescue'. It was the story of steam ploughing engines adapted during World War 2 to serve as mobile winding apparatus in the event of enemy damage to collieries. Interesting though the account was, Derek suspected there was much more to be revealed; he didn't then, however, realise the length of time it would take for the research to be completed, and for it to appear in our magazine as a sequel. To start this continuation of the story we reprint much of the original article to enable readers to start at the beginning.
The reduction in recent years of this country's coal industry to just a few privately owned high output mines must be well known to most readers; also the fact that in the earlier years of this century hundreds, probably thousands, of smaller mines existed in all of the coal mining areas of England, Wales and Scotland. Mining has always been a potentially dangerous occupation and rescue and assistance following accidents inevitably brought forth strong community ties. The Coal Mines Act of 1911 provided for the compulsory establishment of Mines Rescue Stations. A few locations had been opened in northern areas as early as 1902 but by the beginning of World War 1, forty-six stations had been brought into use and of these, ten had full time staff. Their function was to render assistance in the event of mining accidents, breakdowns, explosions or fires and they were supplied with the latest rescue equipment available for use in these emergencies. Included in the ten full time stations (known as Scheme A Stations) were those situated at Rotherham in South Yorkshire and Wakefield in West Yorkshire. It was to these two locations that emergency winders were supplied in the early years of World War 2, to be used in the event of bomb damage to the permanent winding machinery that brought men to the surface from the underground working areas. Fortunately, it seems these back up machines were never required as a result of enemy action, though they 184
were found to be useful on occasion in the event of breakdowns or mechanical accidents. It was from the diaries of Harry Potts, who worked at the Wakefield Mines Rescue Station during the War, that I first learnt of the two emergency winders supplied to the Wakefield and Rotherham stations. They were 16hp McLaren compound ploughing engines, secondhand machines overhauled and adapted by their makers at Leeds to a rigid and unusual specification. Their intended use required certain novel features for ploughing engines. These included dispensing with the normal clutch arrangement and the addition of an indicating device by the footplate showing how much wire rope had been paid out. These alterations meant the engines could wind either way at a controlled rate and once the gear had been engaged, it could not accidentally be taken out of mesh. The rope indicator, consisting of a pointer and a dial, worked via a bicycle chain and ensured the driver knew when he had reached the correct level in the shaft. The engines were equipped with two autopositive injectors and 1000 yards of %in diameter steel core rope of high quality. They also had the gaps between the rear wheel strakes filled in with steel plate, so that excessive impressions were not made on soft roads by the engines' 20 tons weight. The extensive overhaul was completed by a repaint and new transfers. Also supplied was a portable frame with pulley, to be positioned some
distance from the engine, secured to the ground and aligned to take the wire rope from the McLaren's horizontal drum to the colliery headgear and so down the shaft. Hai y Pulls' notes reveal the Wakefield engine first arrived there on 23rd February 1940 — probably, I now consider, from McLarens and not 'from Rotherham' as was set down in my original article in 1978. A special engine house was provided at the Rescue Station site at Ings Road, Wakefield. A trial was arranged on 4th March at the Low Laithes Shaft, Robin Hood, a village a few miles to the north; the engine being driven under steam at 4-5mph. The whole apparatus was demonstrated to colliery officials and interested parties on 9-11th March and the engine was then kept on standby at the Wakefield Station. Records reveal it saw use at Brickley Colliery belvveen 31st May and 14th June 1940; at Manor Haigh Colliery, Wakefield from 2nd-8th April 1941 and at Featherstone Colliery during the period 14th September 29th December 1942. So far as it is known, this was only for supplies and equipment and not for men. The majority of these West Riding pits were linked underground to shafts of other collieries and these would have been available for this non-emergency use. Mercifully, LIZZIE, as the McLaren was known to the men, never had to work on the grim task it was procured for. On the above occasions, however, the engine proved its worth and performed satisfactorily, though it was slow and cumbersome on the road. It remained at Wakefield for several years until scrapped in August 1950 by a Sheffield firm. Another ploughing engine adapted for the same task was owned in Yorkshire by the late Jack Hardy, a steam enthusiast, then of Ulleskelf near Tadcaster. This was McLaren 1559 and because I had no identity by works number for the Wakefield Rescue Station engine, I believed for some time that Jack's engine was, in fact, that machine. It did, however, turn out to be the Rotherham winder. 1559 had been acquired by Jack's employers, Hardy Martin Construction Ltd. of Kettering, Northants, for contract dredging work they were undertaking in South Yorkshire. It was tried out with one of a pair of Fowler engines, but not successfully, for it was ill-suited with its by then special features, often being pulled by the engine at the other end of the rope before the driver had a chance to get it out of gear. Having no real use for its acquisition, the firm sold the McLaren Autumn 1996
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Borough. I concluded, therefore, it was likely to be the Rotherham Station emergency engine, but at the time I finished my notes for the Yorkshire Special issue of Steaming, I had little idea of the Wakefield machine's proper identity or that the story might concern more than just two engines.
More engines emerge
Flywheel and gear side views of McLaren 1559 (CET 541) — official photos of the Rotherham winder taken at the Mines Rescue Station, Erskine Road. In the background is Lockwoods Farm, demolished about 1970 to make way for housing. (courtesy National Coal Board)
to Jack Hardy in 1951 and he and his father, then 72, took it home to Ulleskelf from near Hatfield, Doncaster, where it had been laid aside. The engine was used for a number of land clearance and tree pulling jobs, and later installed to provide power for the pug-mill at a brickworks at Churwell, Leeds where, following a fire, it is thought the engine reached the end of its life (a more detailed account of this stage of 1 559's history is included in the original article in the March STEAMING
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1978 Steaming). The proof that emergency engines were provided at Wakefield and Rotherham (about 20 miles or more apart) came to me from Mr J Blunt, manager of the Doncaster Rescue Station. He could recall both engines and wrote of them in his paper on the history of rescue services in a Colliery Guardian Review. The road registration of Jack Hardy's engine was not its original 1921 index but a later one, CET 541, issued by Rotherham
The publication of my notes on the McLaren emergency winders brought forth photographs from readers of other engines — machines found in colliery yards by enthusiasts seeking out industrial railway shunting locomotives. Some of these were Fowler ploughing engines that were standing on colliery premises having been used for dredging purposes — I am ignoring these machines now but sometime in the future their activities may make an article in their own right. One submitted picture, however, stood out as adding to my earlier story, for it was a McLaren engine and, indeed, the pair to the Rotherham rescue winder 1559. This discovery was 1558 which had been photographed in September 1950 by James Boyd at Gresford Colliery near Wrexham, North Wales, bearing the Denbighshire registration CCA 588. The late Bernard Roberts, in making me aware of this photograph, also reported he himself had seen McLaren 1554 in the post war years at the colliery at Frickley, South Elmsall, about seven miles north west of Doncaster. It was at this colliery, remember, that the Wakefield engine had seen use in June 1940, as recorded in Harry Potts' diaries. Later two excellent photographs of an engine at the rescue station at Erskine Road, Rotherham — it looked similar to 1559, as it was when owned by Jack Hardy — came via member Barry Job from Bob Donkin, one time Superintendent of Rotherham Mines Rescue Station. I needed to re-open my researches! Extensive enquiries were made with the help of Barry Job to all the country's Mines Rescue Stations. Only one reply was able to be helpful, suggesting there was a steam standby unit in the East Midlands district (Notts, Derbys and Leicester). This item could still do with investigation. It was a visit to the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle that provided a key item which was to unlock much other information. Colliery Guardian for 21st March 1940 included an item on a ploughing engine adapted for use as an emergency winding engine, commissioned by 185
the West Yorkshire Coal Owners Association. The description included details of the guide frame and a device known as a 'hoppit' or cage, in which six men could comfortably stand as they traversed the shaft. A winding or drawing rate of eight feet per second was quoted, so that for a shaft of 500 yards depth each load was drawn up in just over five minutes. A photograph accompanying the article showed the erstwhile ploughing engine to be fitted with a large dial indicator above the crankshaft. Annoyingly, the quality of the picture, and the angle it was taken from, made the reading of the registration number almost impossible, but it looked to be HL 9xxx. As that index mark belongs to Wakefield Borough and the Colliery Guardian article referred to the engine as being at Wakefield (and said it was the first of its type for the rescue purpose), I now telt I was getting somewhere. When evidence came in 1978 of an engine at Frickley, I thought perhaps this was the engine referred to in Harry Potts' notes as the Wakefield one, for the locations are only 12 miles or so apart, and either could have been giving emergency cover for the area, but now I had different registrations and could fairly assume they were two machines. The fact that the McLarens had for some reason been re-registered for their new use, losing their 1921 index numbers, should have been of help to me. Practice was that vehicles were registered at the licensing office nearest to the place they were kept, and the marks were indeed showing up as such. I had a problem though in that the late Alan Duke had, not surprisingly, skipped over the registers of the 1940s during his labour of love in extracting steam vehicle details from County and Borough records, probably not expecting to find much. By now I could summarise the emergency winder list as follows: engine
McLaren registration number
Wakefield Frickley Rotherham Wrexham
HL 9xxx unknown DWY 90 1554 CET 541 1559 CCA 588 1558
I could probably guess that the Wakefield one was 1555, making it the missing one of two pairs, but I wanted to be sure and, in any case, I felt there was yet more to be discovered. The Colliery Guardian article credited its picture to the Yorkshire Observer, so reference to that journal became necessary. It turned out to be a Bradford daily newspaper and 186
A rear view of McLaren 1559 shows how the in fill to the rear wheels strakes resulted in a smooth surface. The picture was taken at Thorne, near Doncaster, probably after sale to Hardy Martin Construction and before purchase by enthusiast Jack Hardy. The Rotherham engine seems to have been the only one to be fitted with an awning, rudimentary though it was. (Steam Plough Club)
working back in the Bradford public library's copies from the Guardian date, it didn't take me long to find in the copy for 13th March 1940 the relevant item — "Yorkshire Pits will not be 'Tombs' in Air Raids." The Observer reporter had visited the Wakefield station the previous day and was clearly impressed by the new emergency steam winder. I could glean several items of fresh information — the machine was to be tried out at a disused local colliery and miners' representatives from local collieries were to inspect the set-up the following Saturday — the occasion would also provide opportunity to make awards to rescue personnel. A bridge over the beck at the entrance to the Rescue Station had to be replaced to bear the weight of the engine and covered accommodation was under construction. Later, before it closed in the mid 1980s, I visited the station at Ings Road and discovered the bridge had been strengthened again in recent years, but the engine shed had been demolished in the 1970s, when new staff houses had been put up on the site — a garage for one of them had used the same concrete floor. The illustration accompanying the
Observer article gave me only a slightly better chance of reading the registration on the McLaren's tender — HL 9xxx yes, probably HL 982x. I closed the volume to go home, then, idly, opened it again and scanned a few pages at random : war reports,
local sports news — suddenly a picture metaphorically jumped out at me. There, on 11th April was another photograph of the Wakefield
McLaren, three quarter rear and clearly and quite definitely marked HL 9828. It was captioned as being demonstrated at Wrenthorpe Colliery, though I later found it was actually a disused pit shaft at Newton Bar, just
outside the Wakefield city boundary, and a training centre for mineworkers and rescue practice. This report claimed the demonstration was a complete success and that coal owners from other areas had shown
considerable interest in the emergency winder. The reporter confirmed it was being housed at Wakefield and engagingly described it as having 'the appearance of a steam roller....'
Earlier Histories Having thus far described the later stages of the lives of what I was thinking were two pairs of 16hp McLaren ploughing engines, this is perhaps the place to set down their earlier history, despite the fact that I was still unsure if the Wakefield engine was 1555, the 'missing' number of the foursome. 1554/1555 went new to the Marquis of Graham at Easton Park near Wickham Market, Suffolk on 11th June 1919. When registration became necessary they were, in
October 1921, allotted BJ 6874/6875 Autumn 1996
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Copied from the files of the Yorkshire Observer, this newsprint half tone shows the Wakefield McLaren being tested at Wrenthorpe Colliery. 'This portable machine practically eliminates the danger of miners being trapped should the winding gear at the colliery be destroyed by air bombardment' the caption reads. The view, however, is less than clear on the arrangement of the rope and the portable frame, though the dial indicator shows up together with a handwheel and horizontal shaft — what was that for?
under the name of Mary Louise, Marchioness of Graham. Local knowledge, passed on to me by Godfrey Sturgeon, records that the engines were not popular, their work bringing unwanted sandy sub-soil to the surface. The pair moved the twenty-five miles or so to Alfred Davis of Aldham, Hadleigh in 1921 or 22, to be used for contract work, but when Davis sold his threshing rounds to I.C. Sturgeon in the same Suffolk village, the ploughing engines followed shortly after. About 1926 they were, for some reason or another reregistered CF 4195/4193. By the 1930s Sturgeons' business had lessened to work just around their home village and in June 1933 all the equipment was auctioned. Whilst the threshing tackle sold relatively well, the ploughing engines failed to find a buyer, eventually changing hands after the sale for £180, bought by dealer W. Reynolds of Bedford. However, the pair stayed in Suffolk, in use by B.W. De'ath of Lavenham, until 1939 when the Mortlock brothers bought them with a view, it seems, to renovating them for a profitable resale. But in October, shortly after the start of World War 2, they were loaded onto railway wagons at the local station, destined for McLarens' works at Leeds. In later, preservation, times, Godfrey Sturgeon asked around for the fate of the family's old ploughing engines. One tale, probably originating from the Mortlock brothers, was that they had been 'sold for Government Work', fitted with jibs on the smokeboxes by McLarens and sent to France for use by Royal Engineers in airfield construction, being abandoned when the German army broke through in May 1940. Other old steam men doubted the story. As for McLarens 1558/1559, they had a rather simpler life — supplied in July 1920 to Midland Ploughing & General Transport Co. at Towcester, (in registered Northamptonshire, 1921) BD 5873/5872, they passed to C.H. Watson of nearby Yardley Gobion and were last recorded by the late Alan Duke, with the BD numbers, in the ownership of H.C. Bolton of Birmingham in 1936.
Further work in the archives More contact with the Mining Institute at Newcastle revealed further background on mobile emergency winders. Examples for both the Lancashire and Cheshire area and the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire areas were delivered in July/August 1940. The latter machine was of unrecorded source, but definitely diesel powered — it could have been by Walker of Wigan. Another snippet from Colliery Guardian confirmed bits from Harry Potts' diaries : the Wakefield engine helped out at Frickley (before 7th June 1940) when the steam winder drawing coal from the Barnsley seam failed. Three quarters of the 3000 employees were able to resume work through LIZZIE'S efforts, whilst repairs were completed to the existing engine. I considered the Mortlock brothers' perhaps tenuous assertion that the Suffolk McLarens went for Government work. At the beginning of World War 2 the coal mines of the country were still in private ownership, but clearly the industry was of national importance and very quickly came under the control of the Ministry of Fuel and Power. Any equipment keep the industry's needed to production and safety at a high level
must have had the support of Whitehall departments, so the acquisition of old ploughing engines for rescue use could quite well have been seen to be talked of as Government Work. Mines Rescue stations were set up by Act of Parliament but they were financed by the colliery owners. It would be interesting to know just where the idea of adapting the ploughing engines
McLarens 1554/1555 lined up at the auction sale of I.C. Sturgeon's tackle at Aldham, Suffolk in June 1933. (R. G. Pratt) STEAMING
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187
came from — was it from someone at, or in close contact with, McLarens? Why else were four engines from that marque acquired when many more Fowler machines were, surely, available. McLarens' records that survive at Leeds Industrial Museum are unfortunately silent on the matter. It looks as if one engine was converted at the Midland Engine Works, Leeds and sent to Wakefield in February 1940 for the testing of the concept, then, satisfied that the adaptation had proved effective, the other three were completed and sent off to their destinations. But the idea could well have started up in the dark days before Britain's declaration of war on Germany. I paid a third visit to Wakefield Archives Office. Chasing material on the Frickley engine this time, the former licensing office's file on the index DWY 90 was made available. It should have gone to Swansea at some stage, but fortunately for me someone had erred. The first item on the file was a RF5 form on which J. & H. McLaren were applying for a licence on behalf of the Carlton Main Collieries Association at Barnsley, who seemingly were the owners of 'compound steam engine number 1554'. The application, complete with a postal order for 5 shillings 125p1, was dated 25th September 1940, the licence to run from 1st October. However, the fee was deemed unnecessary as the engine's use came within the provisions of Article 15 of the Emergency
ev-,775antlitern tie Jrzil Form R. F. i (For om by WOO eld O.B.C.) IndeLbtark a Re,gistration No.
HL 98 9
t v-t/104d P"e4 ItieZ4i&o. ,SeiVe4a Arf
C
LINTY. ,
The McLaren winders Rescue Station location
McLaren number date new
original 1940s registration registration eventual fate
Frickley 1554 June 1919 BJ 68742 DWY 903 owned by Carlton Main Collieries Association Wakefield 1555' June 1919 BJ 68752 HL 98284 owned by West Yorkshire Coal Owners Association
scrapped 8.50
Wrexham 1558 July 1920 BD 5873 CCA 5885 ? after 9.50 owned by North Wales Coal Owners Association Rotherham 1559 July 1920 BD 5872 CET 5416 owned by?
disposed of from Churwell Brickworks
l only strong circumstantial evidence links this number to HL 9828. 2 about 1926 re-registered CF 4195/4193 respectively. 3 first known re-registration date 1.10,40.
first known re-registration date 2 or 3.50. 5 first known re-registration date 19. 12.40; last licensed 31.12.49 in
ownership of National Coal Board, Peter Street, Manchester 2. 6 Ms( known re-registration date 7.5.41; registration cancelled 23.3.48.
Powers (Road Vehicles and Drivers) Order 1940 (S.R. & 0, 1940 No. 741) and it was thus exempt from duty, though annual recertification was required. The last entry, incidentally, was acknowledgement of the certificate dated 30th March 1942. The engine survived at Frickley for some time after the war, to be seen by industrial locomotive enthusiasts, but its final disposal, almost certainly scrap, is an unrecorded event. Another letter on the file made it quite clear the machine was housed, along with other associated equipment, in a substantial block of old stable buildings about 300 yards from Frickley Colliery. All this information satisfied me as to the location and owner of the third Yorkshire emergency winder. Trying to find similar files for the Wakefield station's HL 9828, I approached DVLC Swansea for information I thought they should hold_ It took quite a bit of pointed correspondence before the centre admitted that the licensing records acquired from the local authorities on centralisation had been destroyed about 1980, due to difficulties of storage. I did, however, later find a record card in the West Yorkshire Archives at Wakefield. This indicated that HL 9828 was a 'Designated Vehicle for Mines Rescue Work' and it was described as a 'mobile steam driven winding apparatus.' Although
an interesting survival, it added little fresh fact.
The North Wales connection The relationship, if any, between the Yorkshire winders and McLaren 1558, the engine photographed in the Wrexham area, puzzled me for some time. Frank Clews at the NCB's archives department had no evidence in his care, but kindly pointed out possibly useful publications, which I tracked down at Leeds University. The North Wales Coal Owners Rescue Station was revealed as at Wrexham, and the Carlton Main Collieries Association (or rather its parent company) had a stake in the ownership of the Llay Main Colliery near Wrexham. A letter to a local paper brought response from Herbert Gaskin who had worked at Llay Main and also at Gresford colliery, where .lames Boyd had photographed 1558 in September 1950. Although he could only recall the former ploughing engine at Llay, Mr Gaskin confirmed the picture to be at Gresford, recognising the buildings in the background. So now I had the information that the Wrexham emergency winder had been allocated to Llay Main Colliery (about five miles north of the town), being moved sometime atter the war, or after the nationalisation of the coal industry in January 1947, to Gresford, maybe only for storage. Here it is most likely
The file card for the Wakefield engine, registration HL 9828, a snippet of information which missed being destroyed by 01ILC, Swansea through deposit at West Yorkshire Archives. (West Yorkshire Archives) 188
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that this minute was dated 14th November 1939, only a few weeks after the departure of McLarens 1554/ 1555 from Mortlocks in Suffolk in the October. Further scrutiny of the volume failed to find any more references to the emergency apparatus and I have not found any other sources of information. It seems, after all, that strong circumstantial evidence will have to remain the only link of HL 9828 to McLaren 1555.
Acknowledgements
A good portrait of the Wrexham station's McLaren 1558 (CCA 588) standing out of use, and taken at Gresford Colliery on 24th September 1950. (James Boyd)
I would like to express my grateful thanks to all who have helped me with this project, especially those who continued to put up with my, at times, persistent questioning, on a rather obscure topic. I thank Barry Job; the late Alan Duke and the Road Locomotive Society records; Godfrey Sturgeon; the late Bernard Roberts; R.G. Pratt; Bob Donkin; A.F.W. Smith; the late Derek Stoyel; Alan Martin; Frank Jones; Trevor Lodge; James Boyd; Herbert Gaskin; Frank Clews (NCB Archives, Mansfield); the Superintendents of the various Mines Rescue Stations; Lound Hall Mining Museum; Colliery Guardian; Steam Plough Club and the helpful staff at West Yorkshire Archive Services; South Yorkshire, Clwyd and Suffolk County Records Offices; Leeds Public Library; Bradford Public Library; West Yorkshire Library; Brotherton Library, Leeds University; North of England Institute of Mining & Mechanical Engineers and P. Traylor of the Policy Vehicles Branch, DVLC, Swansea.
Editor's note The flywheel side of Wrexham's McLaren 1558 at Gresford Colliery — the packing case on the footboard presumably contains the depth dial fittings. (James Boyd) to have suffered its ultimate fate at the hands of a scrapman.
A Final Round I turned to attempting to find the records of the West Yorkshire Coal Owners Association, seemingly the originators or instigators of the concept of converted ploughing engines to rescue winders. Determined enquiry found me having access to the Association's 1939 minute book at Brotherton Library, Leeds University and more history of the Wakefield machine. Within, in beautiful copperplate handwriting, was recorded the STEAMING
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meeting at Quebec House, Leeds on 14th November, with Owen H. Smithson in the chair. Under the heading 'Purchase of Portable Winding Apparatus for use of Members in an Emergency,' John Gill, chairman of the Wakefield Rescue Station Management Committee presented his report. Following receipt of quotations and after careful investigation, they were recommending purchase from J. & H. McLaren Ltd., Leeds in the sum of £1500. Additional costs included buildings to house the machine. After a short discussion and the necessary proposing and seconding, it was unanimously agreed to purchase. Note
Derek, in his notes when submitting this article, likened it to attempting a complex jigsaw, not knowing how many pieces there should be, or even where the edges were. His tenacity, however, shows that it is possible to undertake original research into aspects of our interest, and to compile history from diverse depositories. Further information on the subject will, of course, be enthusiastically received, and that includes ploughing engines used for other purposes on jyr coal mining lands.
Driver, Vacant. 'Situations experienced, required for 5 ton Sentinel steam wagon, good wages and bonus. Lucas and Co Ltd, The Brewery, Leamington Spa.' (from The Commercial Motor, 10th October
1918.) 189
Suolahti 1996 Michael R. Lane The small Finnish town of Suolahti, situated on Lake Keitele in the centre of the country, staged its second Steam Festival in July. In recent years Lake Keitele has been connected to the great Lake Paijanne by a new canal and a series of huge Russian-built locks, thereby giving access by water to the more populated parts of southern Finland. Suolahti's wide main street and lakeside railway yards provided an ideal venue for a festival of steam boats, steam railway locomotives and a wide variety of steam powered land machinery. Some 23,000 people attended the festival in 1995; this year the figure was doubled and succeeded in achieving an international flavour. For visitors from abroad the event started with an epic eight hour journey by a double-headed steam hauled train from Helsinki to Suolahti, stopping for water, music and refreshment at Tampere and Jyvaskyla. The British contingent comprised a jolly party of National Traction Engine Trust members and a group from the Locomotive Club of Great Britain. Two Pacific type restored locomotives, numbers 1009 and 1021, hauled the train, which included the President of Finland's preserved saloon coach. Lavish hospitality, hosted by Mrs Heli Orenius, the Mayor of Suolahti, was dispensed during the long journey and Suolahti was reached in the early evening with everybody already in the party spirit. After an excellent lakeside supper our party embarked in steam boats for a cruise, enjoying the midnight sun. Nine restored steam boats attended the Festival, the oldest SS METSA dating from 1877. This lovely old boat, with a Dutch-built V-compound engine, and SS JUNO belonged to the Finnish steam boat enthusiasts Esco and Erkki Harro and their sister. SS METSA had an old wooden Russian gun boat moored alongside with a traditional Finnish sauna mounted on the poop. It was noted that the British contingent were slow to take advantage of this inviting facility followed by a plunge into the crystal clear waters of the lake! Over forty exhibits took part in the 190
daily procession through the town, headed by John Saunders and the Mayor in John's lovely veteran car. They were preceded by a splendid brass band and followed by the now well-travelled Burrell scenic showmans engine EX-MAYOR, the Saunders' 4CD Garrett tractor 33488 of 1928, their handsome Foden 6-wheeled steam tractor 13008 and Esco Haro's smart American Peerless traction engine. Sadly, the recently restored Marshall S type compound road roller 80864, formerly owned by Helsinki Corporation, remained a static exhibit. Shortly after arriving at the Festival, recently having been given a clean bill of heath by the Finnish boiler inspector, the engine broke its crankshaft. A selection of Finnish, Swedish, German and British portable engines remained in the working area. These included an 1897 and a 1907 Marshall portable engines, which could be seen driving a saw bench and a stone breaker. Most Finns had never seen anything like EX-MAYOR, which proved an enormous attraction. Her driver, Nigel Underwood, made front page news in the Helsinki newspaper. The engine
was admired by no lesser personages than the President of Finland and Mrs Hilary Clinton. Throughout the weekend restored steam locomotives hauled special trains in the area and steam boats operated trips on the lake. The whole scene was dominated by a great throng of happy, smiling people enjoying the nostalgia of the event. The pervading smell of wood smoke and hot oil, coupled with the excellent catering facilities, music and dancing to suit all tastes, numerous country attractions and the generally good weather, made the event a truly memorable occasion. The organisers have already confirmed that it is intended to repeat the event next year. A steam hauled sleeper train took visitors back to Helsinki on Sunday night, arriving in time for a hearty breakfast. This gave British visitors a day's sightseeing in the capital betore flying back to London in the afternoon. Some visitors however, elected to return to Helsinki by lake steamer, a two-day trip. Others went on to Tallin in Estonia for a couple of days. The Festival organisers and Gunnel, the UK-based Finnish travel agent, are to be congratulated upon a faultless programme of travel and events to suit a variety of tastes at reasonable cost.
'TRACTION ENGINES IN WARFARE — a telegram from Berlin states that the Germans have sent traction engines to Metz to assist in placing the siege guns in position.' (from Engineering, 2nd September 1870)
Against the unlikely background of Burrell showmans EX-MAYOR and 5ft Oin gauge Finnish passenger locomotive 1021 at the Suolahti Steam Festival, John Saunders and Heli Orenius, mayor of Suolahti, pose for photographs with the engine crews and Esco Haro. (Michael Lane) Autumn 1996
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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR THOSE NEEDING ECONOMICAL REPAIRS ON THEIR TRACTION ENGINES
B. & C. Reconditioning (Gears) Ltd PINIONS
SPURS
BEVELS
All types and makes of bevel gears, spur pinions, spur wheels, helical gears etc rebuilt to standard
Our address is:
B & C Reconditioning (Gears) Ltd, off London Road, Amesbury, Wiltshire SP4 7EQ Telephone Amesbury (01980) 623210
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Autumn 1996
191
IDRIS
by steam
Some time ago Alan Martin sent us a copy of the heading picture to these notes — a charming sylvan scene we would all like to be able to walk into, even if the driver might be a little tetchy whilst solving a mechanical problem with his wagon. When Alan Walker found a postcard of another Foden in the Idris fleet it seemed a good opportunity to make up a photo feature on the firm, whose well-known name in the supply of soft drinks spans over one hundred years. The Idris enterprise was founded in London in 1873 by Welshman Thomas Howell Williams. Just twenty years later his mineral and fruit drinks business was registered with assets of £215,000 and Williams celebrated by changing his name by deed poll to T.H.W. Idris — the brand name he had initially chosen 'because if sounded very appealing and was Welsh'. The business continued after THW's death in 1925 and generations of Londoners still remember the popular advertising campaign of the 1950s posing the question 'who made the lemon 192
Autumn 1996
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squash' and suggesting 'Idris when l's Dry'. The brand, one of the most famous in the history of soft drinks, has held Royal Warrants awarded by four generations of the Royal family. The Idris name is now part of Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd and still widely available as ginger beer, lemonade and dandelion and burdock. In the early years of this century many companies needing to transport relatively heavy products in urban areas chose steam wagons — millers, brewers and the then growing trade of mineral water manufacturing, supplying wholesome non-alcoholic beverages in an age where domestic water sources were often suspect. The Idris company seem, not surprisingly, to have had a number of distribution addresses in London alone, the main one perhaps being in Pratt Street, Camden Town NW1. Certainly some of the steam vehicles were based there. First acquired was a Thornycroft lorry, works number 22 of 1900. Another purchase from an unusual maker was a wagon from Bretherton of Willesden, London — that was later advertised for sale by Idris in March 1915. Wallis & Steevens single cylinder 3 ton motor 2667 was purchased new in July 1903 (it later went to Pickfords) but Fodens appear to have been the main choice. First acquired was 5 tonner 985 (M975) in October 1905, and it is this machine we illustrate (above, right) from a Foden catalogue of about 1912. By that time the Elworth works were using a rather old picture; 985 was captioned 'Repeat Order' but that delivery would have been Foden 5 ton 1053 of March 1906, the machine in the heading photograph. It was taken about 1909 outside the Shepherd and Dog in London Road, Cray's Hill, near Billericay, Essex, hauling a former horse drawn wagon with a fine IDRIS headboard. The crew of three had, no
doubt, a long day's work exchanging fresh supplies for empties at pubs, shops and larger households. It is to be hoped the driver was soon able to replace the engine's side sheet, adjustment done, and be on his way to the next call, or home to whichever depot that he was based at. Foden 985 (centre opposite), the earliest Sandbach purchase, was photographed outside Idris & Co Ltd's premises in Lancaster Road in London:
exactly where is unknown for there are at least ten so-named thoroughfares in the capital's postal districts. Written on the back of the card is 'two horse power and steam power at Lancaster Rd, Grandad Dellars' — the latter presumably one of the crew of
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three destined for a hard day delivering cases of bottles. Note the confidence of Idris in his brand name, for written large there was little need to add the legend table waters or the like. A third Foden was purchased new via Scammells in 1914 — 3 tonner 4726, registered M6648. As well as the Fodens, the company tried a Sentinel 4 tonner Standard wagon, 916 of 1915. The picture (opposite bottom), courtesy Alan Martin, shows another heavy load of bottles and crates, this time with a frame arrangement over the load area with moveable waterproof covers. Note also the stowage boxes behind the cab — space for high value commodities? The location of the scene is unknown, presumably a London suburb. Most of the Idris steam fleet was sold off during World War I. Their product must have suffered a drop in sales during the conflict and both their forms of motive power — horse and steam — are likely to have been requisitioned for active service via agents. With the coming of peace, the large amount of surplus petrol engined lorries would have served the Idris company's needs as their business, once again, flourished. Our pictures
illustrate some fine painting and signwriting from the early years of the century — who, with an early Foden or Sentinel, fancies suggesting a bit of mutually beneficial sponsorship and signwriting? But what body colour, we ask? Thanks for information or illustrations are due to Alan Martin, Alan Walker, Robin Harding (RLS Records Officer) and Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd, Chelmsford.
'Water Supply to Steam Wagons and Road Engines. Following upon the reading and discussion of a paper by Col Davidson, CMG, M Inst C E,
Engineers' Association, decided to obtain designs by public invitation for a lock mechanism, including a token and key, and to offer a premium not exceeding twenty-five guineas 1£26.251 for the best design submitted. Specifications and conditions relative to this competition may be obtained upon application to the Secretary of the British Waterworks Association, New River Head, 173 Rosebery Avenue, London EC1.' (from Journal of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers, 11th February 1922, courtesy R.D.G. Payne.)
Waterworks Engineer of Liverpool, on the above subject at the meeting of the Association at the Public Works Congress on 24th November last, a
Conjoint Committee of representatives of the British Waterworks Association and the Associations of Motor Users and Manufacturers, viz the Commercial Motor Users' Association, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and the Agricultural
As a postscript to the above, we can add this extract from the situations vacant column of The Commercial Motor, 28th November 1918. 'WANTED — petrol and Foden wagon drivers, must be ineligible or discharged. Apply Idris and Co Ltd, Pratt St., Camden town, NW1.' The company is quite likely to earlier have had its drivers called up for war service, but with the conflict just over, although restrictions on fit men still prevailed, they by then perhaps stood a chance of getting back to normal. Road Locomotive Society lists record that only Foden 4726 of the steam fleet remained in the ownership of Idris by this time and that machine too was disposed of in 1920. jini
193
Ten miles down the road Bill Ives Our Big Day started early at 3.30am, with a short ten mile drive from home at Deception Bay to the North Pine Country Park, Petrie, premises of the Queensland Steam and Vintage Machinery Society. We arrived at 3.50am and lit the fire which had been prepared the day before in my Marshall 8 ton S type compound steam roller 80161 IDA. But first, a little bit of history about the roller. It was purchased by me from Mr J. Rolf at Cooroy in July 1990. He had acquired it at the auction at the Sun Coast Pioneer Village at Bli Bli. They previously had bought it from Mr Cadwaiader of Eight Mile Plains, who in turn had purchased it from Queensland Main Roads Department in 1961. My father and I, with a lot of help from members of our Society spent two years restoring the Marshall to as original condition as possible. With it restored, I managed to obtain Vintage registration and with this we are able to do road runs, such as I am about to record. With the sun rising I back IDA out of the shed to wait for the rest of the team. They had all arrived by 5.45am so off we went. Vince and Cindy went ahead to check the water points in a Holden. Then Neil and myself on the roller, now towing a Furphy water cart (empty) and then Tony and Michelle in their 1926 Chev 30cwt truck, loaded with wood.
Everything was going well, the engine was running like a dream; just a couple of steep pinches on Dayboro Road (a main road) then a right turn and down to the back roads to Narangba. Next thing Vince arrives back to tell us what I thought was a fire hydrant point wasn't, but there was a creek at the bottom of the next very steep hill. At the top of the hill we laid a decent fire and pumped the boiler up, and running on the link down we went at about walking pace. The bottom of the hill runs straight onto a bridge over the creek already mentioned. We threw the lifter hose into the creek and started tieing the tender very slowly. By this time another couple of members had joined us. Chris held the hose, while Tony and Vince bucketed water into the Furphy with Cindy and Michelle playing traffic cops. It was all a hit slow, so member Justin Burney, who just happened to live two houses up from the bridge, joined some hoses together to reach about 100 yards from a tap to the road. This whole episode wasted about an hour. With the engine and the Furphy now full we headed off again. The next 31/2 miles were mostly undulating road in a peacful bush setting. On this stretch we pulled water from the Furphy while on the move. At the 5 mile point we came to the bottom of the steep climb to Narangba Station. We watered from a hydrant at this
Marshall compound 8 ton roller 80161 and water cart on one of Queensland's peaceful back roads, Chevrolet with the wood bringing up the rear. (Cindy Stewart)
spot. We climbed the hill without missing a beat, and at the top we turned left to save starting from a stop sign on a severe slope. This was a good spot for a crib break. Stopping outside a shopping centre certainly created a stir on a Saturday morning' The next thing was to execute a U turn with a steam roller and a trailer on a fairly narrow road. Along the road was a nice railway parking area, so up the road we went, turned right up the driveway through the parking area and onto the road again (very handy really). The next obstacle was the level crossing. We checked the timetable, then took up our spot in the queue as a train was just going north. The boomgates went up, the cars moved off and so did we. All the car in front could see was this great front roll six feet behind them. Just as we passed the far boom the lights started flashing and down it came and a freight went flying through. The next two miles on Mackie Road was flat running with one water spot. Chris and Vince were now in charge and they steamed along very nicely to Old Gympie Road. At the 71/2 mile point we stopped for a break of about one hour to take on water for the last time, clean the fire and replenish the wood from the Chev. The next climb was reached after a falling grade; the wood fuel was not as good as before and the pressure dropped on this climb causing the engine to stall. After the fire was sorted out she walked up the hill with no problems. Over the top and down hill again to cross the Bruce Highway via an over pass. With the traffic stopped in all directions and with a full head of steam Neil and I pulled out from the kerb straight into a sharp right hand turn up a short steep pinch, sharp right again and into a long climb over the highway. (I've now seen a video of it and it looked and sounded great. She really barks for a compound). The next 11/2 miles were dead straight; we passed the police station which was duly saluted with a whistle blast, then up a long shallow climb to a left hand turn, then a short downhill stretch to the right hand turn into my street. We stopped here to change the Autumn 1996
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Hanging around waiting for the fire to come round on the rise before the Bruce Highway. (Bob Ives)
crew to Dad and Neil. All the support crew and friends who had joined us on the way preceded us to my place to wait for IDA's arrival. With much whistling Lisa Street, Deception Bay was livened up with its first steam roller visit. They pulled up outside my house at 1pm. For quite a while we had a floating population to join the BBQ and party or just to admire the old roller. This was one Ten Mile journey I will never forget. I would like to thank the following people for making this run a success; Neil McCorkindale, Cindy Stewart, Vince Valpreda, Chris Wilson, Tony and Michelle Buchanan, Eric Abbott, Justin Burney and family yr and Bob and Marion Ives.
'At the Sandbach Petty Sessions on Wednesday, two traction engine drivers in the employ of Mr John Crewe were charged with being drunk whilst in charge of a traction engine at Sandbach on 21st [May 1900]. Sgt. Dean said that at three o'clock on this particular afternoon, he was in High Street when he saw the defendants in charge of a traction engine, coming from the direction of Crewe. As it passed him, the engine was travelling at the rate of five or six miles an hour; steam was blowing off from the safety valve, showing they had got too much steam on. He noticed they were both drunk, and followed them down the street. He ordered them to get off the engine. As the men were going down the street in charge of the engine, they did not attempt to give way to vehicles, but went straight on. P.C. Hall said that when the men got off the engine, they staggered from one side of the road to the other. The defendants were each fined 10s 150p], including costs. John Crewe, the owner of the traction engine, was then summoned for not having a sufficient number of men to drive and attend the locomotive whilst passing through Sandbach. Sgt. Dean said there were only two men in charge of the locomotive, and there should have been another to assist with any horses which might pass. Mr Thompson, Mr. Crewe's foreman, who represented the defendants, said his employer was under the impression that only two men were required with a single engine, but he knew perfectly well that with a train of implements, three men were required. STEAMING Autumn 1996
Defendant was fined 10s and costs.' (from Congleton Chronicle, 8th June 1990 in its '90 Years Ago' feature. John Crewe, a farmer of Heath House, Betchton, near Sandbach owned a variety of traction engines between
1881 and the World War 1 period, no doubt using them on contracting as well as his own work. At the time of the above incident Crewe probably had five engines. — two Burrells, a Ransomes, a Foden and an Allchin.)
VALENTINE WELDING & ENGINEERING Co Enterprise Works, Enterprise Road, Raunds, Northamptonshire NN9 6JE IT 01933 460946 Fax 01933 625551
Boiler manufacture and restoration on full size and model engines Welder approval test certificate to BS4871 (EN287, 288) All welding certified and approved by Cornhill Insurance Group TENDERS, BELLYTANKS, WATER CARTS WHEELS RETYRED and SPOKED WHEELS MANUFACTURED Big enough to cope
Small enough to care 195
Escorting a Lady home Anthony Coulls In June this year, the university town of Aberystwyth on the West Wales coast welcomed back one of its former residents. Not so unusual, you may say, for many one time students return to their place of study out of affection for their home of several years. The return I write of, however, was somewhat different — the first visit for over thirty years of Aveling & Porter 8 ton roller 9264 of 1920 LADY HESKETH. The engine is a compound GND class convertible, now owned by Steve and Rosemary Milns of Ellesmere, Shropshire. but built for Aberystwyth Rural District Council, as No 1 in the fleet. It passed to Cardigan County Council in the 1930s, and worked for them until 1957, then being laid up in a lay-by at Capel Dewi, outside Aberystwyth for three years. The roller was acquired for preservation and rallied once before Steve Milns bought her in 1976. A full rebuild and restoration, including a new firebox was carried out by Steve in time for the engine to take part in the County of Salop Society's road run in 1982. Since then, Steve and his family have roaded and rallied the oiler extensively in the Shropshire and North Wales area — being regulars at the Festiniog Railway and the Welshpool Railway gala events. However, despite these incursions over the border, Steve had never fulfilled his desire to take LADY HESKETH back to her old home ground of Aberystwyth. That is, until the events of spring 1996 took a bearing on the situation. While at Aberystwyth University, the author had struck up a friendship with Steve's elder son Doug, also a student. Upon graduation I found employment at the local parish church, which would keep me in Wales for a further year while Doug carried on studying for his degree in genetics. During my year with the church, it was decided to extend the car park, and I and two other church members agreed to undertake the task. Enter the steam roller into the equation, to roll hardcore, and the scene was set — Steve and his family were enthusiastic and keen and duly brought the engine back to the town where she worked for so long. They were especially pleased that the engine would be doing a job of work, rather than just trundling 196
round the town amusing residents or tourists. The rector realised we were serious when threequarters of a ton of coal appeared at the side of the church ... Thus it was that on 18th June, at lunchtime, the Aveling roller steamed back through the streets of Aberystwyth towards the church of St Michael and All Angels. It was a moving experience for many and the culmination of a lot of behind-the-scenes work — well worthwhile of course. Once the press had been satisfied, Steve and Doug immediately set to work compacting the hardcore ready for the sub-base material. Later an impromptu run along the seafront was made for a party of visiting photographers who had come from Warwickshire specially to witness the event. The roller was then used every day until the Saturday — the actual work on the car park extension being
finished at 11 o'clock on the Friday night (with the engine at work until that time!). Saturday had been earmarked as the day that Steve would take the engine back to her former yard at Bow Street, now the premises of Hall & Co, and once that had been done he would be satisfied that she really had 'come home'. Incidentally, it was very pleasing while the engine was working at the church to talk to so many people who remembered it so many years ago. We even met one of her old drivers from the Council who dropped by specially, as he knew she was in the area (we had made the front page of the local paper, The Cambrian News). I had to work on the Saturday, but Steve and Doug had an excellent road run to Bow Street and back. Judging by the amount of coal remaining in the tender, it was hard to say if really they'd been anywhere. The run
LADY HESKETH pauses at her work of forming a new car park surface at St Michael and All Angels, Aberystwyth on 19th June 1996. (Steve Milns) Autumn 1996
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included passing the lay-by at Capel Dewi, one of the highlights of the visit, That evening we took the engine to a barbecue on Tanybwlch beach, as a 'thank you' to all who had worked hard on the car park extension. LADY HESKETH took 20 potatoes in her smokebox. The climb back up to the town later in the evening was spectacular — who says that compounds don't bark? With sparks flying, the roller easily topped the hill and converted one of our number to the steam way of thinking — he'd previously been taken by the JCB we had been using, but Her Ladyship soon swayed him. Sunday was a gentle affair; after all the work of the previous week, we all needed to unwind a little. So we lit the engine up, went into church and came out to find her raising steam nicely. As yet, I have not touched on an interesting occurrence to the roller when she was but seven years old, but as it has a bearing on what we intended to do on Sunday afternoon, it is timely to recount it here. On 1st June 1927, the roller was descending Penglais Hill into Aberystwyth at about ten in the morning. It had a living van on behind and according to The Welsh Gazette of the following morning 'got out of control owing to the slippery state of the road'. The roller was being driven by John Griffiths, who could not hold her. He sent his steersman, D. Llewellyn Price, down to brake the van, but his attempts also failed. Fortunately the road was clear, and Griffiths stayed with the engine as she accelerated to what witnesses described as about thirty miles an hour. As the engine carried on down the hill, Griffiths noticed some ponies in the road being driven. into town by a local horse dealer. In desperation, he steered the roller into a stone wall which separated the main road from the grounds of the workhouse — now the car park of Bronglais Hospital. Before coming to rest, around twenty-five feet of the wall had been demolished by the engine whose forecarriage had, not surprisingly, broken in the impact, as well as other damage to the front end to be seen in contemporary photographs of the accident. In the meantime the living van had jackknifed and smashed around the back of the roller. No injuries were sustained except for a pony which was struck from behind. Once extracted from the mess, Aveling 9264 was repaired to work on the county's roads for another thirty years before retirement. This event was such an important part in LADY HESKETH's history that we had to return to the scene of the STEAMING
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Aveling 9264 in the Bronglais hospital car park, revisiting the stone wall (in the background) that it ran through in 1927. (Doug Milns)
accident to make the visit complete — especially as it is still possible to see the repaired section of wall where she went through — even if the ground on both sides has been regraded somewhat. As we posed the roller at the closest point that was practical to the site, an elderly gentleman drove out of the car park of the hospital. "So you've brought her back?" he queried, with obvious emotion. It transpired that it was his uncle who had put Her Ladyship through the wall all those years ago, and he suggested that control of the roller was lost due to Griffiths attempting to change gear at the top of the hill. The trip was worth
it just to hear from this gentleman, with his close connections to the engine's past. Once we had returned to the church where the engine had been based there was a chance for a final play before departure on the Monday morning — filmed by HTV, but unfortunately not transmitted. It is to be hoped that the Aveling roller will come back again before too long — but the church has no further space to expand its car park, so we'll have to think of another excuse! Thanks finally to Doug and Steve Milns for making the whole week possible — I don't think I've ever worked so hard, or enjoyed work so much.
The Programme Magazine for the Trust's Anniversary Road Run has been judged a highly collectable item. As well as the illustrated list of entrants, it contains a lengthy article by Russell Bulley on the 1907 Trials - inspiration for our own event. 44 pages in Steaming style, colour covers. £3.00 inc. postage Send for your copy now from NTET Sales 90 Devon Road, Luton LU2 ORL Wait for it.... the MOONLIGHT PRODUCTIONS' official video of the event will be coming soon.
1 97
Steaming Around
J.
Compiled from members notes and reports by Derek Rayner
The recent comment by Trust committee member Brian Gooding, Editor of our contemporary Old Glory, in that magazine, will undoubtedly have been seen by many members and it perhaps calls for some comment and explanation. It referred to some members of the Trust who apparently objected to circumstances regarding my voluntary work for the Trust. I hasten to add that I took the comments made about me as a compliment. As many readers of Steaming may know, I have served three Editors as their assistant for a period approaching some twenty years. During that period I have very successfully held a full time job with British Rail, rising to a relatively senior managerial position and at the same time achieving Chartered Engineer status. With the support of my wife Dorothy and family I have also been a regular exhibitor with my 1915 Aveling & Porter steam roller WHITE ROSE at rallies, not only in Yorkshire but also further afield. This machine I have now owned for 32 years. The privileges of free and cheap travel afforded to me as a result of my chosen profession have enabled me to follow my hobby of road steam engines and railways not only in Great Britain but also in many countries in Europe (where I have made some very good and valued friends), and even North America. As a result of this, readers of this magazine have benefited from my extensive interests, since I have contributed many many pages of articles and photographs on a myriad of associated road steam subjects from many locations — all, I would stress on a voluntary basis and in my spare time. And this is in addition to the regular compilation of the countless pages of Steaming Around. 198
In October 1995 I became an unexpecred victim of the political dogma which is this Government's rail privatisation scheme. After more than 36 years of service to British Rail, I found myself no longer required by the organisation for which I then worked — along with many others. My views about this scheme, which has no parallels and perhaps will never work and which has also decimated the railway industry and the private railway builders, are not relevant in these columns. One thing, however, is certain, and that is that unlike a lot of my colleagues I am fortunate in having other talents than those related to railway activities. I have now parted company with BR willi few regrets at this stage and with a suitable financial settlement. Not wishing to retire and vegetate, when a fresh challenge of being News Editor for Old Glory became available, I saw an opportunity of turning my hobby of many years into a job. Who, can blame me for that — apart from the member or members who com plained about me joining Old Glory, and who Brian chose to describe as bigots — presumably because they felt it could affect my voluntary activities associated with Steaming, and without knowing any of the aforementioned facts. I hope as a result of these changed circumstances, to be able to continue to serve two masters — my hobby as Assistant Editor of Steaming and my job — as I have done successfully for the last twenty years. Special thanks are extended to this issue's new contributors and to the many regular correspondents for their notes and news. Details have been received from the following: Banbury Steam Society, Lancashire TEC, Leeds & District TEC, North Staffs &
Cheshire TEC, Somerset TEC, Southern Counties HVPT, Steam Apprentice Club, Sussex Steam Engine Club, Thames Valley TEC, West of England SES and Brian Allison, Martin Brown, John Clifford, Ian Corfield, Anthony Coulls, Ian Dean, Gerry Doherty, Peter Donovan, Clive Fance, Mark Fellows, Richard Francis, Pat Freeman, Frank Hall, Martin Hallows, Gordon Hatherill, Ran Hawthorne, Peter Haywood, Richard Hesbrook, John Hobbs, Tim Keenan, David Lane, Peter Legg, Richard Murphy, Gordon Newton, Andrew Phillips, Alan Porter, John Rhead, Alwyn Rogers, Sandy Ross, Brian Shaw, Lyndon Shearman, Graham Smith, Barry Thirlwall, Alan Thomas, Robin Walker, David Wallis, Bruce Waterworth and Michael Watts — not forgetting the new edition of Traction Engine Register for the detail references. Please note the press date for the next issue is the last day of October. Information, news, letters etc, especially, please, from our newer members — this is not an exclusive clique and anyone can contribute — by then to D.A. Rayner, Invicta, 9 Beagle Ridge Drive, Acomb, York YO2 3JH. Press dates for future issues are the last day of January and April 1997.
BEDFORDSHIRE Along with a group of other engine owners, the Saunders' family took part of their collection to the rally at Almere in Holland in mid May. A few weeks later, an even more ambitious trip was undertaken when they loaded up several machines and went to the Great Suolahti steam festival in central Finland. Included in the group was Burrell showmans 4000 EX-MAYOR, Foden six-wheel wagon 13008 of 1928 (SS9191) and 1919 Garrett 4CD tractor 33488 (BJ4304), a model stationary baler and Burrell engine and an early Unic car. The party arrived back on the ferry just in time to go from the docks straight to the Weeting rally. In early July, around 40 members of the Bedford steam club were invited to view Ted Wootton's collection at Ravensden. Alec lbbott and Pete Kent had steamed up Fowler BB1 ploughing engine 15209 of 1918 (AJ6406) — one of the many Leeds built engines in the collection; Clayton & Shuttleworth traction 47015 of 1914 (BD5483) and the large 16hp 1942 Marshall portable 89259. This latter was acquired in 1995 at the Philp sale. A most enjoyable evening was had by all who attended.
BERKSHIRE The Newbury event — Steam Funtasia — took place over the early Autumn 1996
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May bank holiday. Steve Parrott's Sentinel S4 9307 of 1937 (DYY134) busied itself on engine refreshment duties whilst another Sentinel present was Ian Woollett's unique SD4, 8448 (UX8724), new in 1930. A late arrival was John Wharton with Burrell showmans 3489 KING GEORGE VI which had roaded down from Witney. The last few miles along the undulations of the A34 may have accounted for the engine heading straight for the beer tent when it made the showground. A couple of rollers at the event were Alan and Linda Smith's Aveling 10671 of 1923 (PR1165) and Fred Cooper's Aveling 8489 of 1915 (0K581. Pride of place at the event went to the ex-Wynn's of Newport Fowler heavy haulage engine, 15463 of 1920 (DW2121) in the care of her owner, John Griffiths and Bob Underwood, who had done much of the restoration work. The engine was immaculate, the lining behind the rear wheels being just one case of the attention to detail paid during the renovation process. Unfortunately no printed details of the engines or other exhibits seemed to be available. A fine sunny Saturday in mid June drew a lot of prospective purchasers and enthusiasts to Lambourne and the Newton and Stokes sale where five engines were on offer. Well known in the area were John Newton's three engines: 1913 Fowler traction 13140 (Y9955), Fowler ploughing engine 14378 of 1916 (FX6378) — which had just finished a complete rebuild by Bicknells — and part restored and very rare Burrell portable 1475 of 1890. It was, however, two other engines which many enthusiasts had come to see — by arrangement the vendors had allowed Connon's 1899 Robey agricultural 19435 (A08122) and Fowler roller 16783 of 1926 (SA9876) to be entered in the sale. It was therefore a great disappointment to many (and a source of embarrassment to the auctioneers► that the engines were withdrawn by the family at the last minute due to disagreement and were not even present. Small stuff at the auction included steam engine parts such as firebars, jacks, tools and lubricators. Three sets of nine Fowler ploughing engine spuds fetched £210, £240 and £350 respectively whilst a Fowler cast iron tool box was knocked down for £380. But the engines attracted most interest. The Burrell portable, with its new set of tubes lying alongside, a task for the new owner, fetched £5400. The ploughing engine, which was in steam and ticking over, went for £27000 at the hammer and a new wire rope alongside was sold for £500. The STEAMING Autumn 1996
One of the earlier, smaller, Fowler road locomotives to survive is A4 class 9456 of 1902. Peter Love photographed the 6hp engine at the Downs Rally in July 1995.
highest price of the day, not surprisingly, was for the traction engine which sold for £36000 — all prices also attracted a buyers premium. At Woodcote rally in mid July, a swarm of bees came across the field and circled around the spot where Ran Hawthorne's Fowler roller 14674 of 1922 (BW9937) would have been standing, had it not been in the ring at the time. The swarm then settled on the tender of the next engine in line, the steersman of which, like Ran, is a beekeeper. Ran, a lecturer and advisor on the subject for over 30 years, was quickly summoned to return and deal with the visitors. Neither smoker nor veil were to hand but Ran managed to get the 25,000 or so insects into a box and, when evening came, tied the box to the back of the roller and drove them home the three miles to Woodcote, from there they were later re-united with their owner. A similar incident four years ago — the bees settled in the fairground — ended the same way. The sting in this tale is that the name of Ran's roller is — BUSY BEE! Some news on the restoration front now. The new firebox for Jim Sarney's 1908 Burrell road loco 3057 (6E7217) is proceeding, most of the riveting was done using a rivet squeezer on loan from the Chiltern Traction Engine Club, which has made a good job. The new cylinder block for John and May Keeley's 1920 Wallis Expansion engine 7588 (BL8303) has been bolted in position using newly made 'carrot' bolts and subsequently
removed so the boiler could be shot blasted prior to the engine's re-assembly. Another engine being worked on here is Jumbo Palmer's 1924 Wallis roller 7799 (H06354) — a conventional type — which has been part painted prior to being put back together again.
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE A Transport and Engine Show at the Chiltern Open Air Museum was supported by several local historic preservation groups amongst which the Chiltern Traction Engine Club staged a small traction engine display. Aveling traction 9096 of 1920 (AF6001) was a welcome visitor. This is owned by Dave Knott and was previously in Cornwall in the fleet of Dingle's, the well known road contractors. Another engine from far down the west country was the site's resident roller, Marshall 85106 of 1929 (DV4005), which still belongs to Devon County Council. It is at the Chiltern Museum under the care of the Chiltern Marshall Preservation Group, some of whom are Road Roller Association committee members. Another roller at the event was Gary and Lynn Smith's relatively rare 1924 Clayton & Shuttleworth single 48946 (YA9576), which was making a first time appearance at the museum. As a result of this display, some £2,500 was raised for the funds to enable the Museum to continue their good work of rescuing and re-erecting within their grounds, historic buildings from the area. 199
CAMBRIDGESHIRE The weather at this year's Tailington event near Stamford towards the end of May could best be described as changeable, hut, nevertheless, a good selection of engines was present at this popular early season event. A feature of the show on the Saturday was an auction, entries for which included Billy Treloar's 1927 Fowler ex roller 16948 (J13913), Andrew Bigland's Aveling tandem roller 6530 of 1908 (NM291) and John Crawley's finely restored 1926 Foden wagon 12364 (TW4207). The latter was the only one of the engines which sold, receiving the highest bid of the day at E55,000. Engines at the rally included Dave Ragsdale's 1923 Burrell road loco 3941 (BP9547) and a Burrell showmans from Yorkshire on one of its first outings in the ownership of Graham Atkinson of Scarborough — HIS
LORDSHIP, 3444 of 1913. Others present included a rare appearance of Richard Kinch's 1928 Ransomes tractor 39149 (UE7213) and, down from Co Durham, John Bainbridge's Foden replica steambus. Steam rollers included Rodney Timson's 1924 Fowler 161441E56534), Dave Maris's Aveling 15 tonner 6340 of 1907 (E5333) now in maroon livery, and another Aveling, this being 9027 of 1919 (BD5641), owned by Mark Jinks and Neil Parton. The latter was in the road making area, organised by
Graham Burberry and including motor rollers on a replica show stand such as Aveling-Barford or Aveling & Porter would have had in the past. A local engine and a big favourite in the vicinity was Pete Wright's 1908 Ruston Proctor road engine 35501 (6E7438), whilst in new ownership, having been purchased just before the event at the Chilford auction,
was Marshall Universal roller 87635 of 1935 (APX5421 belonging to C.R. White.
CORNWALL There have been some changes of ownership in the county. Phil Gregory has sold his F type Aveling roller 10824 of 1923 (P135951 to Chris Sawford. Since purchase Chris has retubed the engine and attended to various other little jobs in order to participate in events later in the year. Phil Gregory has, in turn, purchased Marshall S type roller 88360 (DRO 890), formerly owned by his late father, Ron. This 1938 built roller has yet to be rallied in the area and needs some work before it can be taken out. An engine to leave the county is Fowler D2 class road loco 12693 of 1911 (FJ1850), which has passed from Willy Alford to Gracmc Thirkell of Co. Durham. The engine was a regular attender at Cornish rallies in the past — until the firebox expired in the early 1980s, since when it has been laid up. Some work had already been done including the making up of a new
firebox but it will now be fitted 'up north' In return, Graeme's former charge, 1929 Marshall compound traction 84921 (UP3325) has come to the Duchy. This engine, in full working
order, still carries its working life paintwork, a delightfully weathered maroon. It is currently the only example of its type in Cornwall. Another Marshall engine, 1907 single 46478 (YA32/12), lay dismembered in a field near the main railway line at St Stephen's Coombe near St
Austell until a couple of years ago. It had been there since the 1960s
CUMBERLAND journeys Several references have been made in these columns to the restoration from as-buried condition of Aveling roller 10114, the E type 10 tonner entombed in a mound in a London childrens playground until 1990. The
engine, now named CUMBERLAND after the former market square near Euston station where it spent so long in the dark, returned from Bicknells in June to custodian Ron Walker's premises at Stanmore, Middlesex and from there was booked to take in a good selection of rallies Prestwood, Weeting, Egham and Thorpe, Haddenham and Barleylands. A inure local event attended was London Underground's open day at their Stanmore depot — the one mile journey there was probably the roller's first steaming on the public highway since the early 1950s. Ron Walker's loan agreement with the London Borough of Camden (the Aveling's owners) runs out at the end of September, and the future of the machine (pictured above) is uncertain. It
would be a great pity if the roller, having survived the World War 2 blitz and peacetime entombment, then to be rescued and returned to steam, is destined for a less than active role. (An article on Aveling 10114's rescue appeared in our Spring 1990 issue.) 200
and more recently had moved back to the Bude area where it had been previously. Recent news is that the engine was acquired in 1995 by an enthusiast in the Aberystwyth area who intends full restoration. If ever an engine was in need of some loving care, this is the one, for it was poorly
treated during the sojourn at St Stephen. The spring gathering at Indian Queens organised by the CTPC had to be cancelled this year because of the weather. This was in contrast to the annual Trevithick Day celebrations at Camborne the week before being held in glorious summer style weather. The poor weather continued through the month of May resulting in severe curtailment of activities at several other events. At the end of May,
Graham Viant took his 1921 Aveling roller 10159 (N03867) to St Agnes Victorian Fayre, which was fortunately held on hard standing. This was a first time appearance and he Autumn 1996
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ultimate fate of the engine and tackle is still awaited.
DERBYSHIRE
A Boer War Veteran In the 1996 Dorset event's steam entry of almost 220 engines, and a section featuring near on 100 Fowlers, it is risky to claim one engine as being the most interesting. However the Fowler B5 road locomotive just brought back from South Africa bid fair to take an awful lot of scrutiny, it being said to be one of the four famous armoured engines that the Steam Plough Works sent out for Boer War service in 1900. It seems doubt was being voiced on the Dorset slopes as to whether the Fowler was indeed 8894, the prototype of the armourclads. Certainly it bore, perhaps too obviously, that number on its cylinder cover, and the suitably placed brackets on the (replacement?) smokebox could well have been to support the platework, but the rear and middle section of the engine bears no evidence of fixing positions for the heavy additional weight of the protection. Whatever ill-use the quartet had to suffer in service with the Royal Engineers, it is quite likely they had much life left a couple of years later when the War Office released them
joined regular exhibitor John Sawle with 1913 Marshall traction 62121 (TA3624). An engine noted for sale is 1901 Burrell traction 2417 (AF4393) in the St Austell area, the owner being Roger Phillips. It has now been sold to Graeme Allen in Devon.
CUMBRIA Burrell scenic showmans 3909 202
and, with armour removed, the engines must have been worthwhile acquisitions. But they would have had narrow belly water tanks and tender drawgear and fairleads that needed replacement by a standard arrangement. The repatriation certainly seems to have such substitutions — and proper Fowler material at that. Armour on 8894-8897 was in a plane that passed behind the hind wheels and in front of the belly tank and flywheel face. The new imports present water tanks preclude that, but, unlike other large Fowlers at Dorset, there was a couple of inches between the flywheel and the wheels, room enough for a vertical plane of metal. It seems the engine has been identified in South Africa as a Boer War veteran since 1936 but it has probably yet to yield all of its secrets. What do other readers think? We shall be pleased to publish further comment. It will surely be a brave (or rather shy) presevationist who chooses to incarcerate himself behind armour plating on a summer rally field! (photograph and comment by Roger West)
WINSTON CHURCHILL has been offered for sale as result of the continued ill health of owner Tom Nicholson. First advertised privately, an auction was then arranged which was later postponed due to unstated circumstances. In addition to the engine, which was fitted with a new firebox two or three years ago, Tom's two organs and an AEC Monarch were included in the sale. News of the
A 100% increase in the engine participants at the second Coppice Steam Gathering near Ilkeston in mid June was a major improvement for exhibitors and public alike. An engine making a rally debut after a long stopstart overhaul was 1925 Aveling roller 11171 (PU6775) previously with Ted Eansworth and now owned by Ian Brackenbury. Also here for the first time was David Eansworth's 1907 Burrell showmans 2894 PRIDE OF WORCESTER, and Dave Maris's 1907 Aveling roller 6340 )E5333) now resplendent in a maroon livery — which suits it much better than the previous (sponsored) lime green colour, carried for some time. The Derbyshire Steam Fair at Hartington Moor over the Spring bank holiday weekend went off quite successfully, despite poor weather. Even with the ground conditions as they were, the organisers managed to get the engines into the arena. There some considerable discussions ensued as to the relative merits of Aveling piston valves or slide valves and compounds or singles: which are the best to get about in the wet bearing in mind the characteristics associated with even torque and gentle smooth running? Engines present included Dave Cope's Fowler Tiger tractor, the Bowman family's 1922 Aveling roller 10073 (RF7918), Aveling roller 10753 of 1924 INU3041) owned by the Lomas family and, of course, the Buxworth Steam Group's 1920 Fowler showmans THE IRON MAIDEN. The usual first class line up of engines at Elvaston Castle rally saw amongst its entries Fowler road loco 15323 of 1918 (1-1R3697) owned by Graham Love, Phil Jeff's 1931 Fowler roller 18507 (SM8832) and Ruston & Hornsby traction 115100 of 1922 (D02953) owned by Colin Brothwell. A late entry by Ian and Gary Howard was Frank Lythgoe's 1932 Fowler showmans 19783 KING CARNIVAL II which was used to power Don Robinson's Gavioli organ. Ian and Gary have had another of Frank's engines in Derbyshire for some attention — Fowler traction 21647 of 1936 (ZB1135) was having a new smokebox fitted in readiness for its appearance at the Dorset event in late August. Another Fowler having considerable work carried out in the early part of the year was Terry Gibson's Fowler showmans REPULSE. It took just 33 weeks to dismantle, repair and rebuild the engine. Work carried out during Autumn 1996
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this time included a new barrel, firebox, smokebox and backhead. Terry, with Colin Brothwell and friends, has done a truly remarkable job in the time. The belly tanks were refitted on the morning of the engine's scheduled reappearance at the Claybrooke, Leicestershire, event. As to how REPULSE would perform on this first outing, Terry was quoted as being 'quietly optimistic'.
DEVON The fifth vintage rally was held at the north Devon village of South Molton on the first weekend in June and along with the varied vintage machines present, including cars and tractors, five engines were entered in the programme. These included Owen Slade's 1916 Marshall agricultural 68955 (TA212) which drove a stone crusher and Aveling tractor 8624 of 1915 (KT6137) belonging to the Shambrook family, An engine, of which the first public appearance for many years has been awaited with considerable interest, has recently changed hands. This is 6hp Wallis & Steevens traction 2918 of 1906 (TA351). After lying derelict near Kingsbridge for many years it was acquired for preservation in the late 1960s by the Dance family. Restoration has been a lengthy process and was still incomplete at the time the machine changed hands a few months ago. New owner, Richard Pocock of Dorset, has again advertised the engine for sale. In early June, the Tavistock Steam Fair took place, organised once more by the Robey Trust. The organisation's three exhibits — the traction 33348, tandem roller 42693 and tri-tandem 45655 — were all on the move in the town, whilst two more speedy vehicles give more extensive excursions through the streets. These were John Woodley's 1916 Sentinel 1465 (AW3321) and 1924 Foden wagon
11208 (YA7952), owned by Dennis Warren. A surprise entry was Andrew Filsell's 1900 Wantage traction 1389 (PB9722) whilst Burrell showmans 3509 RAJAH, owned by the Gibbard family, was also in attendance.
The following weekend, for only its second time, Thorverton vintage event attracted a number of interesting
engines which included Nick Dicker's 1912 Wallis Expansion engine 7294 (H05601), David Nicholson's Burrell traction 1861 of 1895 (CF3302), John Woodley's Sentinel wagon and McLaren agricultural 547 of 1896 (BD5448), owned by Fred Britton. Some of the above engines had found their way to our chairman's Dingle's Steam Village at Milford when
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visited by a member in mid June. There were thirteen engines and two portables on site, some of which were running off a steam line from a permanent boiler house. These were 1924 Garrett portable 34193, Aveling
traction 8401 of 1914 (AF3427) owned by Bill Weeks and Andrew Cloake's Fowler roller 18075 of 1930
(TN216). Burrell showmans engines were represented by the ('Anson family's 5hp 3195 of 1911 (UP2936) COUNTRY GIRL and Brian Dunford's 3285 of 1911 KING GEORGE V looking resplendent after a major overhaul. A
newcomer to the area was Graeme Thirkell's 1911 Fowler road loco 12693
belonging to David Walker, was being re-assembled after a new firebox and tubeplate had been fitted.
(FJ1850). It was shown in dismantled condition which many of the visitors found of great interest for it depicted the amount of work involved in a restoration project to put an engine back into working order.
DORSET
EIRE
During the late Spring bank holiday, Burrell showmans 3949 PRINCESS MARY owned by Dave Hedgeman was on duty outside Brewers Quay, Weymouth as part of
The oldest known surviving McLaren engine, 60 of 1879 (unregistered) was steamed in public for the first time for many a year at the Upton (Cork) Rally in early June. Tim Nagle of Kinsale commenced the restoration of this historic engine in 1974. As far as is known, the last time it was steamed commercially was back in 1929. Restoration now proceeds with renewed vigour. The Ashville Vintage Club held their annual event at Collon in the middle of July. Around a dozen engines attended the event, including for the first time, ex-Londonderry CC 6 ton Wallis Advance roller 8046 of 1929 (0U5346) owned by the Glynn brothers. James Tynan brought along his 1902 Clayton & Shuttleworth traction 34060 (IP1529) and Thomas Brady his recently acquired 1932 Fowler roller 19191 (IY2784). Others present included P. Denby's 1919 Garrett showmans style tractor 33459 (TC64), a one time resident of Yorkshire, and Gerry Doherty's Ruston Proctor showmans tractor 52656 of 1919 (Y12853). The weather for 1996 was excellent and a huge crowd attended.
ICV1662). In the workshop, 1922 Burrell traction 3919 (BW6030),
the annual Trawler Race festivities. In early June, Marshall traction 36033 of 1901 INK2524), formerly owned by the late Jack Miles and now in the custody of Dorset County Museum, participated in Dorchester's carnival procession.
CO DURHAM A visitor to the Beamish Museum at the end of June found four engines on site — 1926 Mann's tractor 1747 (MUP662); two rollers — Fowler 16615 of 1925 (UM3296) and Aveling 3315 (NL1309) new in 1894 — and Foster portable 14724. The Mann's was inside, apparently receiving some attention, whilst the others were outside — the Fowler looked a little worse for wear, the other two were displayed in unrestored condition. At the 40th Anniversary Chesterle-Street event held at Lambton Park on the last weekend in June, around forty engines pleased the enthusiasts and visitors alike with their diversity of makes and origins. There were some very long distance visitors present — including Roger Dehany from the Isle of Mull with his 1928 Fowler roller conversion 17470 (PX9047), and from Sussex, Les Searle's McLaren road loco 1652 of 1919 (WF1864) BOADICEA, a very long way from home. The latter was involved in a heavy haulage display along with John Smith's 1900 Fowler road loco 8712 IDE2439) and Paul Scholey's crane engine 17106 of 1928 (K02826). Both the local replica buses were at the event, these being George Vardy's Sentinel S4 9151 of 1934 (JH9994) and John Bainbridge's 1922 Foden 10762 (M6359). There were a clutch of Aveling rollers including Andrew Black's award winning 6 ton piston valve 10014 of 1922 (NL3701), George Vardy's 10005 of 1921 (BB5023) and Don Proudlock's 1925 8 ton 11145
ESSEX A couple of years ago, David Gates acquired 1922 10 ton Aveling roller 10126 (FX8651) which he has kept near Billericay. During the restoration David has had to do a lot more work on it than anticipated. A new tubeplate and tubes, a new smokebox, new firebox and crownstays have all been fitted. It is hoped that the work is now coming to an end and the engine will be seen in steam at this year's Barleylands event. Another roller to have had a new firebox fitted recently is Jim Stanley's 1917 Aveling 8837 (NO 1221). Several rallies have taken place in Essex including the Young Farmer's rally at Great Leigh, Chelmsford where there was a steam section with about a dozen engine entries. Included here were Trevor Ellis's 1935 Fowler roller 203
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19546 (SR9484) and Alan White's Burrell agricultural 1606 of 1892 (N02533), which has been with the White family for the last 75 years. Mike Kettle was also present with his 1926 Aveling roller 11670 (SN3875), having its first outing after a repaint, whilst Robert Pumfrey had taken along his Ruston Proctor traction 50278 of 1914 (CE7949), bought new by his grandfather for contract threshing work. Robert was also at the Saffron Walden Crank-Up with about a dozen other engines including Peter Lidgett's 1917 Aveling roller 8842 (R02590), David Nourse's Garrett traction 32936 of 1916 (ER603) and Terry Young's 1913 Garrett tractor 31633 (BJ1696). For the second year running, the East Anglian Traction Engine Club has organised the steam section of the Tendring (near Clacton) rally in mid June. This year there were sixteen engines present although one of them, Garrett roller 34165 of 1922 (PU1042) CLACTON QUEEN was not in steam. This was purchased in very derelict order by Tendring District Council at the Philp sale in 1995 but is now being fully restored. It is hoped to have the roller in steam by Easter 1997. Terry Swann's 1931 Ransomes agricultural 42013 (TL1874) was on display; this engine featured in a half page article in The Sunday Telegraph during the summer. Three great friends, known locally as the Three Musketeers, were there with their engines. Alan Mead had 1909 Burrell traction 3125 (AF4574) at the event, along with Reg Stutley who has looked after Burrell 3135 of 1909 (BJ6398) for some forty years, and Natel Taylor with 7497 Wallis agricultural 1916 (NO 4710) — which he has owned for 204
over 30 years. The Sentinel S4 wagon of Barry Two, 9074 of 1934 (BEV466) has had a recent extensive rebuild — since he acquired it some three years ago, he and wife Marilyn have driven it around 10,000 miles including at least one visit to the Continent. Also at Tendring was Rodney Timson's recently acquired Fowler traction 11421 of 1908 (NT117); he had bought it at auction only a few days prior to the rally. Rodney had intended bringing his 1924 Fowler roller 16144 (ES6534), but chose to exhibit his new charge instead. Another new engine to come to the area is Aveling tractor 11705 of 1926 (PP7142) which now belongs to Richard Murphy. It was previously in the Oxfordshire area.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE Early June saw five engines converging on the Trout Inn, Lechlade for a steam and vintage gathering. Making a first appearance since a heavy restoration in Cambridgeshire was Michael Thexton's 1907 Ruston Proctor agricultural 33471 (EW2691), which joined regular attenders Fowler roller 15964 of 1923 (WY7912) owned by the Howard family and the Hatch and Hurley 1901 Burrell 2426 (BL4843) looking as immaculate as ever. Also there was Reg Edney's 1904 Aveling roller 5423 (NO 3270).
HAMPSHIRE An early season event was staged by the Andover Vintage Club at Pickets Piece in May. It was a pleasant location with just four engines attending, one a miniature. The nicely turned out engines were the Hardiman family's Tasker chain driven tractor
1895 of 1922 (SA5861) and two belonging to David and Jean Hirst — 1903 Wallis tractor 2656 (H05834) and the 1929 Foden timber tractor 13454 (KX3340). It was a welcome sight to see Nobby Hardiman's grandson operating a manually driven roundabout for the little ones at a sensible fare. Perhaps tiring on a long day but the Saturday was bitterly cold and the exercise may have been welcome. Towards the end of June, Bear Cross Steam Rally took place at Oakmead School adjacent to the ring road at Bournemouth and ten engines were in attendance. These included Alan Fry's 1907 Burrell showmans 2879 PRINCESS ROYAL just back from its latest Continental tour, Tarmac Ltd's 1923 Fowler roller 15965 (IA6195) and Allchin agricultural 1173 of 1901 (KE1984) owned by Dave Maidment. Ian Paterson's 1900 Aveling roller 4505 (A08101) was also there and another roller was David Loader's Wallis oilbath 7751 of 1922 (HR6354). Causing a great deal of interest was another Wallis, Ken Honeybun's Expansion engine 7090 of 1909 (DL2846) which has just completed a restoration spreading over fifteen years. The Downs Steam Show took place near Petersfield on the first weekend in July. Organised by Ian Dean, 53 engines were booked to appear but there were around five 'no shows' and one extra. A good selection of wagons included Gareth Jones' 1930 Foden 13624 (WX2682) and C. Pye's Sentinel S4 8945 of 1934 (RG4187) whilst Ian Best brought along his nicely restored 1923 Wallis roller 7779 (H06260). Other engines at the event included Ken Hicks' 1918 McLaren ploughing engine 1541 (H05832), Bob Bicknell's Marshall traction 70321 of 1916 (UR9369) and Keith Leadbeater's 1904 Burrell showmans engine 2625 LADY PRIDE OF ENGLAND. A couple of rare rollers were also at the event, Jonathan Wheeler's 1937 AvelingBarford AC606 (DTM538) and Armstrong Whitworth 10R35 of 1925 (NE2271) being shown by R. Kenway. At the end of July, Netley Marsh was host to 28 engines and these included a couple of late entries, Sentinel Super wagon 8393 of 1930 (DX9048) HMS SULTAN, and Alan Smith's 1923 ex-Eddison roller 10671 (PR1165) a machine which stood for many years in Churchill Gardens, Pimlico. Also at the event was Aveling convertible 5800 of 1905 (BP6043) owned by Mark and Paul Abbott, Gary Olverson's 1899 Burrell traction 2250 INM94) and Dave Marriner's Wallis Autumn 1996 STEAMING
Advance roller 7933 of 1927 (0T5326). George Chiverton's 1918 Ruston Proctor tractor 52329 (CT5554) and Tom Beavan's Clayton traction 13130 of 1910 (6H5494) were also at the event.
HEREFORD and WORCESTER An auction at Bewdley in early June caused a deal of interest in the locality and elsewhere for it included three engines, two of which were from the estate of the late Bob Griffiths. These were Fowler traction 11421 of 1908 (NT117) and Garrett 4CD tractor 33219 (BJ6180), new in 1918. The Fowler found a new home in the Suffolk area, the price at the hammer being £29,000, whereas the Garrett tractor reached £27,000. Aveling roller 11583 of 1926 (RP2048) belonging to the Furniss family was not sold. The Marcie rally towards the end of July had its full complement of 26 engines present — about the same number as last year, though the Trust's Rally List 1996 quoted the 1995 engines as only numbering 15. It was pleasing to see a programme which gave thorough engine details where known. One engine merited no less than half a page! Oh that other programmes were similarly so useful. Among engines present were the Matthews family's pair — 1922 Fowler agricultural 15710 (M0780) and Aveling roller 10997 of 1924 (M03687) — as well as David Gleave's 1927 Foden D type tractor with showmans fittings 12782 (0F4055). Alan Fry's 1907 Burrell showmans 2879 PRINCESS ROYAL was present as well as a genuine Garrett showmans tractor owned by the Cook family, 33486 of 1919 (AD8787) QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN. It was very hot during the show which made exhibitors tasks very difficult: this year's displays included steam ploughing, wood sawing and barley threshing and baling. The following week, at the end of July, the Ross-on-Wye Steam Engine Society were beginning to take full advantage of their owned rally site. This is a fine location at Welland, lying to the east of the Malvern Hills. The selection of engines was of a high order with forty-two full size and fourteen miniature engines listed in the programme. The star of the show was undoubtedly John Griffiths' superbly restored 1920 Fowler road loco 15463 (DW2121) presented in the livery of former owner, Wynn's of Newport. Bob Underwood, who assisted in the restoration, was also at the event STEAMING
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Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies 7hp traction 27277 of 1918 has appeared this year resplendent in original green livery lined yellow and red. Ken Go ward took this photograph at Weeting in July — note the rubber cross strakes. with his 1937 fowler ruller 21698 (FF49101. A couple of Foden wagons caught the eye, these being Colin Wait's 1925 C type 11850 (M89404), which was acquired in hedgerow condition at the King's sale, and Jim Calder's 3398 of 1912 (M44891. Robert Cole's 1909 huge exAustralian Marshall road loco 52962 (FMR379) was also in attendance along with Society chairman Dave Prout's fine reconstruction of 1911 Burrell showmans engine 3288 (TA1118) NANCY.
HERTFORDSHIRE At last we can report a successful rally for the Herts Steam Engine Preservation Society. Held on the first weekend in June on a new site just off the Leighton Buzzard bypass, the rally attracted over 30 full size steam engines plus many supporting exhibits. The compact site was fully utilised giving a friendly atmosphere for exhibitors, which also meant that the public did not have to walk great distances to see all the show. Society members carried out as many of the rally tasks as possible, and this, in conjunction with tight
budgetary uurarol, ensured that for the first time in several years an adequate return was made. After 32 years of promoting steam rallies the Society has to some extent returned to its original formula of running a traditional traction engine rally, although at the same time providing some of the additional attractions that members of the public now expect. With so many other competing summertime open air events, the committee took the decision to create a niche market for the rally, rather than attempt to take on the big players in the leisure business. If this year's event is anything to go by, the Society is well set for the future and can look positively ahead to next year's event. Local attenders included Doug Williamson's Foden tractor 12300/ 13484 of 1926 (LG8784) and Eric Choake's Burrell pre Gold Medal tractor 2876 (PB9615), new in January1907 and which displays the name of its first showland owners, Walls Bros of Petersfield, Hampshire. A new entrant was the attractive little 6 ton Aveling B type 6 ton piston valve compound roller 11670 of 1926 (SN3875), owned by the Kettle family 205
of Billericay. The annual Amwell rally was held over a scorching weekend in mid June and attracted nearly 40 engines. Not only were drivers and crews noted throwing water over each other to keep cool, but some were seen furtively pouring cold water over injectors in an effort to keep them going on tepid feed water! From well out of the area was Len Crane's Fowler crane engine (RF6092), which during the daily steam parade hauled over 120 tons of dead engines around the ring, the effective load increasing as handbrakes were screwed down on the trailing engines. Although John Garrod's Ransomes traction 27277 of 1918 (DS7473) has been to Amwell before, this year it appeared fully repainted in green livery. The new rubber cross strakes, as developed by the Robey Trust, were attracting much interest from engine owners, this being the first engine in this area to sport such fittings. The age related registration is accounted for by this being a re-import from Ireland, the engine still bearing a plate SHERIDAN & FLYNN, KILMESSAN. The Amwell rally site is well into the heartland of McMullen's brewery, so it was appropriate that their Sentinel DG4 wagon 8694 of 1932 (YG746) was present. Some engine owners sampled a (reported) half pint or so of their product by steaming off on the Saturday evening to Ware. Back on the field, other Sentinels were presented by Stuart Gray — Super 6327 INE4770) — and Barry Weatherhead — Super 5256 (KC5071), in its original United Africa Co Ltd livery. Steaming has previously reported on the progress made with Colin Piggott's Fowler K7 ploughing engine 16646 (R04520), which has been shotblasted, rebuilt and repainted in a fine lined out Fowler livery. Some progress has also been made in improving the meshing of the gears, which in previous years had resulted in a very noisy approach. Another Hertfordshire registered engine present was the 8 ton single Aveling 8842 of 1917 (R02590), owned by Peter Lidgett. Peter also has a much bigger engine, this being Fowler B6 road locomotive 14115 of 1914 (XC9653) once in the ownership of Pickfords and Walter Denton of Hyde. The Punch Bowl rally has now taken place on the same site for 28 years. This year's event enjoyed generally good weather but the thunder flies from the low-lying meadows had a good meal of enginemen on the Sunday! A newcomer this year was Mark Bray's Fowler D2 roller 13453 206
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The Historic Dockyard at Chatham provides sympathetic surroundings for steam road engines. These two studies by Dave Bagley, taken in August 1996, feature the Pierce brothers' Fowler A9 class road locomotive 14754 of 1920 — against the huge covered slips in a scene which could be 80 years ago, and then hauling the ex Norman Box heavy trailer, looking just as if it has completed delivery of some huge casting.
(EP3138), an ex Montgomery CC roller which remained with them until the mid 1960s. Star of the show was 'Big Emma', the Vickery family's Wallis
The congratulatory telegram was on this occasion sent by the 'Queen of Herts', the Aveling XAC4 tractor 6319 of 1907 (BP7501) in the same family
roller 2357 (H06139) which celebrated its 100th birthday at the rally.
ownership. Champagne and birthday cake were the order of the day for Autumn 1996
STEAMING
engine crews. As reported elsewhere, John Crawley's Foden wagon 12364 (TW4207) was sold at Tallington rally auction in May. Maintained in immaculate condition for many years by Albert Fensom of Friars Wash, this wagon was an ambassador for the steam preservation hobby and was presented in every corner of the country whilst under the sponsorship of Newquay Steam Beer. The new owner is Ted Wootton.
KENT Seven engines were present at the event held at Wrotham in early June. These included Terry Maynard's Aveling tractor 11251 of 1925 (PE 36171, Thomas Wood & Sons Burrell traction 3586 of 1914 (BP5921) and Aveling roller 10393 (FX9641), new in 1922 and owned by I es Warren and Damon Holah. Others present included Marshall traction 59435 of 1912 (PB9888) owned by Richard Francis, and Richard Pierce's 1920 Fowler road loco 14754 (N0459). In the middle of June, a small event at Rolvenden on the Kent & East Sussex Railway was attended by four engines: the Walker family's 1927 Burrell tractor 4072 (PH2900) and Fowler roller 17022 of 1927 (WW 4017) were shown together with John Brice's 1922 Ruston & Hornsby roller 115123 (XM6374) and 1917 Aveling tractor 8809 (SG2850) owned by Will Day.
LANCASHIRE An engine noted for sale is the unique Davey Paxman traction engine 14766 of 1908 (N03645), owned by Rochdale Welding and exhibited widely in the north of England. This ungainly looking engine was a frustrated export order and the known history was covered in an article in this magazine a year or so ago. It is unusually fitted with a flywheel clutch, American style and is believed to have been built as a straw burning engine.
LEICESTERSHIRE Mention was made in the last edition of this section that the Storey family presented their 1922 Allchin traction 2146 (FP1259) at the Allchin
event at Northampton. It is interesting to note that it is now some ten years since the engine last graced a rally field — proof indeed that special events of this nature have a persuasive effect on engine owners. In the north east part of the county, the boiler of Frank Knight's 1928 Foden wagon 13138 (AN9568) is away in Essex having work carried STEAMING Autumn 1996
out on it, the end of July being the expected date of return. Whilst the boiler was away, the floor of the wagon's cab was having attention. A fine sight in early May was Clayton & Shuttleworth traction 44103 of 1911 (AL9348) owned by Michael Beeby, en route complete with threshing drum, to the county show at I oughborough. Burrell traction 3126 of 1909 (BJ7155) owned by John Robins was a regular attender at rallies in the county in the 1970s and early 1980s. Recently the Burrell has been laid up, with only a few outings about four years ago. However, there is now a possibility that things may change yet again. Work at Fred Dockray's premises continues un various engines. It has now been decided that Don Robinson's 1920 Foster showmans engine 14502 VICTORY is to have a new firebox fitted whilst the engine is stripped down for barrel and smokebox repairs. At the end of July, the old firebox was out and the new one well on the way. Another engine which has spent a few weeks at Fred's was Aveling 8420 of 1914 (BT8884) owned by the Chambers family from Warwickshire. This was one time a roller with East Riding County Council in Yorkshire. Ian Lander made an inaugural rally appearance with his former Sri Lankan Aveling single speed roller 14017 of 1930 at Elvaston Castle rally in early July — with grateful thanks to Terry Gibson and his low loader. It had been intended to steam the ten or so miles to the event, but whilst fitting the overseas type spark arrester, Ian had a bad fall which caused a nasty cut to his hand. A rare outing from its home base saw Foster traction 14593 of 1927 (FE9179) owned by Audrey Boston at the Market Bosworth Show in early July. Claybrooke rally in mid June saw Terry Gibson's 1920 Fowler showmans REPULSE on its first major outing since receiving considerable internal surgery. A newcomer here, on a rare rally outing, was Burrell roller 4044 of 1926 (Y87730) owned by Ian Morris. This roller came from Norfolk a few years ago and has not been seen at many public events in the area. Entries also included 1919 Aveling roller 9027 (BD5641) owned by Mark Jinks and Neil Parton, whilst Lyndon Shearman's small Brown & May portable was also present. Steve and Linda Hayes were in attendance with their Burrell showmans tractor 3786 of 1918 (PB9610) SUNNY SOUTH. The 41st Rempstone rally was
attended by about 30 engines including road locos owned by John Blagg McLaren 1421 of 1913 83E7518); Mike Ward — Burrell 3257 of 1911 (A115317) and Graham Love — 1918 Fowler 15323 (HR3697). Newcomers here were Ian Brackenbury with 1925 Aveling roller 11171 (PU6775), Mike Wilson's Fowler ploughing engine 15183 of 1918 (H05868) and Brian Allison's 1927 Aveling tractor 11839 ISM64481. This latter, from the Cheshire area, was on the return leg of a summer rally tour — by road — which took in the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire, Oxfordshire, Northants and Leicestershire, amongst others. Older members may recall the names of Albert and Roland Felstead who used to rally Burrell traction 2421 of 1901 (EB3051). The sad news is that Albeit passed away earlier In the year. This engine has not been rallied since the early 1960s, when it was a regular attender at both the Rempstone and Kegworth events. In the middle of June, Lyndon Shearman again took his Brown & May portable to the Stoney Cove Diving Centre where he put it to work driving a pump supplying air to divers. Three divers of the Historical Diving Society, complete with traditional brass diving helmets made successful underwater excursions. A note from the portable's owner urges that others should not try this at home — or anywhere else for that matter. This unusual use for a steam engine could be air attraction at other events in the Midlands whose organisers have access to water. Lyndon would be pleased to discuss the subject.
LINCOLNSHIRE A number of engines were present on the Lincolnshire County Showground just outside Lincoln as part of the show itself in the summer. As well as playing an active part in the show, they also acted as an advertisement for the Lincoln Rally held on the same site in mid August. Those taking part included Richard Booty's 1927 Robey traction 42675 (JU8198), Glyn MacDonald's Fowler roller 18867 of 1934 (AFW301), new to Louth Borough Council, and Burrell showmans 3334 of 1911 THE BAILIE, owned by Don and Dorothy Robinson. Another engine was David Ragsdale's 1914 Tasker tractor 1625 (BP5833), which has since been sold onto the island of Jersey, to Richard Matlock. Neil Osgerby, co-organiser of the Barton-on-Humber Carnival had two steamers present at the show, these being Don Robinson's THE BAILIE and Richard Booty's Robey agricultural. 207
For some of your Christmas present shopping -
NTET Sales will be open at the Trust's Exhibition Unit on the AGM weekend. See Future Dates Column for details.
Mrs Pat Parker has recently been in hospital and no outings have been made this year with her 1913 Foster tractor 13031 (FE1456). All Pat's rally friends wish her a speedy recovery. MIDDLESEX A grand display of engines was again a feature of the 19th Enfield Pageant of Motoring. The Saunders family were well represented, contributing no less than eight engines, whilst others included Paul Harrison's 1926 Burrell roller 4040 (TT7917) and Aveling roller 8842 of 1917 (R025901 owned by Peter Lidgett. Agriculturals which were present were Sandra Rogan's 1905 Marshall 43560 (BD5414) and Ray Osborne's Wallis Expansion 7683 of 1919 (BL795) in charge of Mike Ashdown. An entry which has not been seen for six years or so was Mike Kettle's 1926 Aveling 6 ton roller 11670 ISN3875). In the intervening time it has had a new boiler, firebox and rear axle. One of the wagons on show was John Forshaw's 1930 Foden 13764 (TF3106). NORFOLK This year saw the third Transport Through the Ages event, held at Sandringham over the late May bank holiday. This is a show which is well established in the rally calendar and is held in the lovely setting of the Queen's Royal Estate. There were many exhibits there as well as the various engines; the latter included Ken Frost's 1911 Burrell showmans 3343 PRINCESS MARY, Brian Camp's Aveling roller 4757 of 1901 (TA2300) and Foden wagon 13120 of 1928 (VM4536), belonging to Stan Burgess. Another engine at this splendid venue was Robert Pumfrey's 1914 Ruston Proctor traction 50278 (CE7949). The same weekend, the Strumpshaw Steam Museum staged their fourth annual event in the Museum's grounds. Some 27 engines were at the show, ten of them Burrells, with numerous static exhibits in the museum itself. Since the death of the 208
museum's founder Wesley Key in 1995, son Jimmy has worked extremely hard with his team and the rally saw the opening of a large extension to the buildings, which now includes more museum space, a cafeteria and toilets. Engines present at the event included Bill Kemball's 1929 Fowler road loco 18155 (AV9387), Rodney Timson's Fowler roller 16144 of 1924 (ES5634) and Clive Fance's 1910 Burrell traction 3201 (BP5919). A trip to the local pub featured these engines and others, including the museum's 1921 Aveling roller 10079 (BJ7116). Others at the event were Natel Taylor's 1916 Wallis traction 7497 (N04710) and Cliff Aldrich's Garrett showmans style tractor 33395 of 1918 (BJ3398). An unusually rare exhibit was Stuart Hart's sloping cylinder Aveling single with inside flywheel 4877 of 1901 IYA1975). Banham Classic Show was the public debut of an engine new to East Anglia. It had been purchased earlier in June by Rodney Timson from an auction in Hereford and Worcester: Fowler agricultural 11421 of 1908 (NT117). The engine joined regulars such as Ken Frost's Burrell showmans PRINCESS MARY and Cliff Aldrich's Garrett tractor together with Peter Wyeld's 1908 Ruston Proctor traction 34987 (AH5654) and Bressingham Steam Museum's 1925 Garrett 4CD tractor 34641 (CF5913). Jonathan Wheeler's Ruston & Hornsby agricultural 113043 of 1920 (CE7977) was also there, belted up to a vintage saw bench. Bressingham Museum reciprocated in mid June by providing the venue for other engines to come and participate and be photographed by the public at their rally and photographers weekend. The resident Garrett 4CD tractor 34641 was joined on this occasion by one time stable companion 1903 Burrell traction 2613 (BJ7694) now owned by Ted Freeman, on a special journey from Oxfordshire for the event. Other engines at the event were Bill Kemball's Fowler 18155 and Cliff Aldrich's Garrett. Many of the Bressingham collection were towed outside and suitably positioned for photography. Burrell showmans style tractor 3433 of 1912 PETER PAN, owned by Denis Barrett also attended the event with the Wellerhaus organ. Weeting Rally in mid July was another splendid affair with around a hundred engines present, this year the anticipation heightened by the promised appearance of the Hawkins family's 1909 Burrell 10hp road engine 3130 all the way from New Zealand. This turned out to be most
impressive. Three generations of the family drove this — grandson Sam at 14 years of age being the youngest and he undoubtedly could teach some of our present day engine drivers a thing or two! Another engine which caught the attention was John Garrod's 1918 Ransomes single 27277 (D57473), which has recently had a thorough repaint and is now fitted with new rubber strakes. The Saunders family provided excellent support for the event, bringing no less than six of their engines. The steam ploughing and cultivating was an excellent presentation with three sets of tackle working on good sized fields. Very old engines particularly noteable were Pierce and Stanier's two Fowler engines, 2861 of 1876 (AB9451) and 3195 of 1877 (AB9452) from Kent. These worked alongside the only surviving pair of Burrell ploughing engines, 776 and 777 of 1879, which belong to and were crewed by volunteers from the Museum of East Anglian Life at Stowmarket. One of our reporters commented on the road run associated with the event. The spectacle of four large Burrells and a Gold Medal tractor being driven flat out in the dark he found very impressive, but a little worrying since some of them were unlit — and he didn't see any escort! Among other engines present at Weeting, it was particularly pleasing to see the Moore's 1904 Burrell single crank engine 2693 (AH9550) still in the ownership of the same family from new — it was featured in these pages a couple of issues ago. Richard Parrott's team had worked very hard on this engine to enable it to attend the event, although further work will be necessary. Rollers included J. Wright's 1924 Burrell 3994 (PW3993), in the capable
hands of Keith and Liz Grimsay, together with Jim Stanley's 1917 Aveling 8837 (N01221) and Fowler 17022 of 1927 (WW4017), owned by a consortium including Nick Corley and David Walker, who were driving it at the event. In the east of the county, work continues on the Norfolk Steam Engine Club's 1910 Marshall agricultural 54486 (AH7349) WOODTON LADY. As the club membership is only relatively small, the restoration work is taking some time, but is very thorough. Another Marshall currently receiving attention is David Dean's 1909 agricultural 52483 (E5114), at Mervyn Mayes' yard at Yaxham for a new firebox and work on the barrel. The box will have the correct bridge stays running across the crown and will be of traditional construction. In Autumn 1996
STEAMING
the meantime, whilst his engine is off the road, David has been helping Clive Fence to become familiar with his relatively newly acquired Burrell engine.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE The Grand Transport Cavalcade and Country Show at Higham Ferrers in early May was one of the first events of the season in the area. Several road runs took place associated with the event and several steam engines took part in the various activities. These included Steve Hayes 1918 Burrell showmans tractor 3786 (PB9610) SUNNY SOUTH and Aveling roller 10372 of 1922 (N1E5769) owned by Paul Viewing. Also at the event were the showmans engines of Willem Middlemiss, Burrell 3669 NERO, and Buckland brothers' Fowler 9393 SIR .IOHN FOWLER. Rodney Timson was a first time attender with his 1924 Fowler roller 16144 IES65341. In early July, one of the stars of the show at the Hollowell event was surely Aveling 9449 of 1926, the last built of the Rochester works traction engine type railway locomotives, made to a very antiquated design. Owner Mike Smith covered miles driving it up and down its short length of track for the benefit of visitors. The Middleton family had their newly restored Foster portable 14736 driving their crushing and grading plant. This engine is riot in TER. Another portable was Lyndon Sheerman's 1860s Brown & May, which during the weekend had a horsedrawn excursion up the lane for about half a mile to the church and back. One wonders whether this is the first time a portable has been horsedrawn on a public road in preservation. Also at the event was Peter Wyeld's 1908 Ruston Proctor agricultural 34987 (AH56541, a one time stable companion of the little Brown & May — so the Ruston towed her around as well! Peter's late father Roger would have been proud. A first time attender was Rodney Timson's newly acquired (ex-Griffiths sale) Fowler traction 11421 of 1908 (NT117). On the Saturday Geoff Lamb's 1896 Burrell traction 1941 (YA5799) was 100 years old so there was a party that evening and a cake. The following day, the local vicar chose to deliver his address to the crowd from the footplate of Geoff's engine, giving it a birthday blessing in the process.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE The ONCA Thoresby Hall rally at the end of May had over half the entrants travelling to and from by STEAMING
Autumn 1996
road. A first timer here was Les Donn from Yorkshire with ex-Sri Lankan Fowler roller 15981 of 1923 (SV 58621. Also present were Ephraim Fleer's 1917 fowler ploughing engine 14375 (13E75481 and Fowler road loco 17106 of 1928 (KD2826) belonging to Paul Scholey. This latter has now had its crane jib refitted. A Burrell engine at the event was Don and Dorothy Robinson's 1911 showmans 3334 THE BAILIE. Work undertaken recently on engines in the area has involved the fitting of a new piston by owner Peter Wood to 1925 Marshall roller 78572 (NR6296), whilst Wendy Thompson has had the canopy boards of her Foster showmans style tractor 14564 of 1926 (FE8055) signwritten to very good effect.
OXFORDSHIRE The Stoke Row event took place at Nuffield in early June. Mick Cherry's 1920 Foster agricultural 14418 (LVN891) was present driving a saw bench whilst another agricultural,
powering a Marshall threshing drum, was Arthur Napper's 1902 Marshall 37690 (BH7373) OLD TIMER, back on the rally fields after major work. Ran Hawthorne exhibited 1922 Fowler roller 14674 (BW9937) and another roller was Bob Staunton's Aveling 8116 of 1913 (TA2435). A larger Aveling was Bob Hyett's 1914 road loco 8471 (AF4478), whilst it was the first rally appearance for Jeff and Ann Shackell's Burrell tractor 3497 of 1913 (H05993) since it had the canopy, twisted brasswork and dynamo removed. These were fitted for showland use in the 1930s. It was the Banbury Steam Society's 30th Anniversary event this year, and it was bigger and better than ever before. Held on the Bloxham site at the end of June there was a good attendance of engines which included John Griffith's 1920 Fowler road loco 15463 (DW2121) only recently with Wynn's of Newport, and Ted Freeman's Burrell traction 2613 of 1903 (BJ7694). First time out after a major overhaul was Peter Smith's
Rollers re-introduced? Two steam rollers that in working days were used on the roads of Oxfordshire, met up for the first time in preservation at this year's Woodcote rally. Aveling & Porter 4872 of 1901 was new to Theme RDC, later transferred to Oxfordshire CC and worked from Wheatley depot. It Is now owned by Nigel Heath of Witney. The second machine in our picture is Fowler 14674, delivered new to Henley-on-Thames ROC in 1922 and also later transferred ro Oxfordshire ownership. It worked from the Peppard depot for 37 years, before being purchased by Ran Hawthorne and family for preservation — another 37 years of the roller's life) It is not known for sure if the two engines ever did work together; their areas were adjacent, and when major road works were in progress fon the A40 for example) machines were moved about, so rolling together is a distinct possibility. The present owners certainly enjoyed the meeting, standing the pair in various poses for photographs. (Ran Hawthorne) 209
RUNNING OUT OF STEM A record of the last County of Salop Steam Society's Rally held in the Bishops Castle area
STEAM ENGINES STATIONARY ENGINES ANCIENT CRAFTS VINTAGE VEHICLES STEAM BOATS INTERVIEWS and much more - all in a beautiful setting. Run time approx. 50 mins £12.95 inc p & p
Cam 3 Video, Dept. S1, Morgans, White Gritt, Minsterley, Shropshire SY5 OJL Si' 01568 650456
1894 Aveling roller 3430 (PB9801), whilst another first time attender was Les King's 1924 Robey tractor 41492 IFE5736). Richard Hesbrook's unique Gibbons & Robinson traction 959 of 1891 (AY9874) was also there, as was David Scott's 1920 Clayton & Shuttleworth wagon 48510 (FE3344). Several working exhibits included Robert Herring's 1916 Marshall portable 69778 working a saw bench, whilst Ted Freeman's Burrell road loco 3395 of 1912 (FJ1536) also drove a similar machine.
SCOTLAND A visitor to the Bon Accord Steam Engine Club's event at Hazlehead, Aberdeen towards the end of June spent a little time on the way there searching out some more engines. At Summerlee Heritage Centre, Coatbridge were the three resident engines — Fowler roller 17251 of 1928 (DS7206); Marshall roller 83452 of 1928 (SY3582) and 1924 Sentinel Super 5676 (EC5927). All these were outside and partially covered over and all looked as though they had not been touched for some time. Inside the centre was 1940 Foster portable 14657. Further north, at the Grampian Transport Museum at Alford, Robey traction 19435 of 1899 (A08122) kept company with on loan Aveling roller 3001 (5,44464), an 1892 machine. Also inside the museum was the steam tricycle known as the CRAIGIEVAR EXPRESS (SA16) whilst in steam outside was 1942 Marshall portable 89200. A visit was paid to Aberfeldy Recreation Ground in Taybridge Terrace where one of the few remaining steam rollers which are still parked-up is to be found. This is a 210
Fowler 16402 of 1925 (SW1854) which looked rather pretty in its overall pink colour scheme. The original incumbent, locally based Fowler 18882 of 1931 (GS2538), escaped to Leicestershire some 20 years ago and 16402 was provided as a replacement. Near a roundabout adjacent to the Christie Garden Centre at Fochabers, Morayshire, a Robey portable was noted. This is 53445, a late-built machine not listed in Traction Engine Register. A further engine seen was Sandy Scott's immaculate Marshall traction 78312 of 1924 (SW1686), kept in a barn not far from Elgin. But the object of the visit north of the border was to attend the Aberdeen rally which had 27 engines present including several from the north of
England. The collection in Barrack's Steam Museum was well represented and included Burrell showmans 3871 WESTERN PIONEER and Fowler traction 13138 of 1914 (SU884). Others present included John Connon's 1936 Sentinel S4 wagon 9213 (UJ5862) — although two other engines entered by the same firm were not present. These were withdrawn without notice from an auction in Berkshire the previous week due to a family problem. A further Scottish entry was 1924 Tasker tractor 1911 (SA6914), owned by Bill McConnachie, and from over the water in Ireland came David Sixsmith from Carlow with 1920 Marshall traction 72446 (IC1603), certainly a long distance visitor. A new engine to hopefully come to Scotland in due course will be 1933 Sentinel S6 wagon 8821 (BRF200), which has been purchased by Peter Walker and D. Carney. The wagon initially went to Goold's at Camerton for some work to be carried out on the engine prior to it travelling north. It is
intended to base the wagon in the Cheshire area for the back end of the season.
SHROPSHIRE The Market Drayton Carnival held on Whit Monday saw eight engines in attendance. Dave Gleave had his two Foden wagons in action — 12782 of 1927 (DF4055) in showmans guise, and the 5 ton tipper 8304 (BY7646), new in 1918. John Millington's 1922 Garrett roller 34084 (BJ7045) was suffering from problems with the rear rolls, with the plates coming loose. Also there was Will Woodward's Aveling showmans style tractor 6093 of 1906 (D2800) in action with the family's fairground organ. Another Aveling present was 11839 of 1927 (SM6448) belonging to Brian Allison which had steamed the 60 or so miles
from its previous engagement in Manchester to be in attendance. Brian has just purchased another item for his Aveling collection — a traction wagon. A chance beer tent meeting at Banbury rally between Brian and Derek Hitchman, the previous owner of Aveling tractor 11705 (just sold to the East Anglia area) led to this 1926 built Aveling item changing hands. Brian had driven the tractor a further 120 miles to attend the Banbury event — surely one of the season's contenders for a high mileage award.
SOMERSET A huge crowd of 150000 and an excellent show were features of the Royal Bath and West held at Shepton Mallet at the end of May. On this permanent site, ten engines were in attendance and these included Mervyn Wines' 1927 Yorkshire wagon 2108 (UA1788) and Dave Maidment's Allchin agricultural 1173 of 1901 (KE1984), which drove a threshing machine. Fowler ploughing engine 15222 of 1918 (CT4289), owned by
Alan Sparkes was also there as was another engine from the Sparkes' stable, Burrell showmans 2072 THE MASTERPIECE. A roller at the event was 1902 Aveling 5124 (N07541, belonging to Ford Bros and in the capable hands of Bill Wilkins. In the middle of July, around two dozen engines were present at the Somerset Steam Spectacular staged by the Somerset TEC at their Low Ham site near Langport. Neil Baker's 1914 Aveling roller 8196 (DF5055) was joined by Barry Humphreys' Clayton
roller 48751 of 1923 (YA6182), and another Aveling was Alex Eltringham's 1929 single 12450 (PG1711). Steam wagons included Nick Baker's Foden 13316 of 1929 (UU1283), and Charlie Daniel's 1919 McLaren ploughing
engine 1552 (8135504) was also present. Among the various agricultural engines at the event was Gordon Bruce's 1925 Burrell 4014 (TT5615)
Postal Cover organisations produce Many souvenir postal covers and for an Agricultural Weekend run by the Mid Suffolk Light Railway Society in May, a traction engine illustration was chosen as part of the design. Ransomes 15278 is depicted and a Burrell carried the mail which was date
stamped on the East Anglian TPO Up. Interested collectors may be able to acquire copies from B.R. Reynolds, 24 Thirimere Drive, Stowmarket IP14 1SE 1.2 01449 613319), price £2.00. Autumn 1996
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still looking very much as it did in its working days, having come from the King's sale in 1988 before which it lay in a shed, untouched for more than forty years.
STAFFORDSHIRE A visitor passing the Klondyke Mill premises of the North Staffs and Cheshire TEC in early June found the gates open and drove in. The friendly welcome and guided tour of the site and workshop was much appreciated. The site was formerly a gypsum mine, complete with its own narrow gauge railway and is most attractive. A fine selection of living vans was lined up with restoration taking place on a sixberth ploughing van previously in Cambridgeshire. Most engines were wall covered up but included several Aveling rollers resident there — one of these being Steve Jacobs' 1929 F type 12342 (UT4405). Fowler roller 18507 of 1931 (SM8832), belonging to Phil Jeffs, and Paul Hilditch's 1910 Wallis traction 7159 (SV5375) were also present. The latter engine together with several others from the Klondyke collection supported the annual Greenhill Bower in Beacon Park, Lichfield. The machines journeyed from Draycott in the Clay in convoy and attracted an
appreciable amount of interest en route. Others present included a long distance visitor in the shape of another Aveling roller — 12174 of 1928 (KS 40861. This belongs to Harry Cain from Cumbria and was joined by local agricultural, Ruston & Hornsby 169167 of 1933 (TL5452), driven by Alan Mountford at the event.
SUFFOLK Barsham Church Fete in mid June was attended by Clive Fance's 1910 Burrell traction 3201 (BP5919), which was driven though Beccles to be there. A traction engine connection was provided by the venue, which was kindly made available by Mrs Suckling, the owner of The White House. This property was at one time the residence of Arthur Samuel Francis Robinson, gentleman inventor and the Robinson of Gibbons & Robinson and Rnhinsnn & Auden. He was also involved in N./Vantage traction engines, and, very much later, responsible for the patented design of a small motor roller made by the Coventry firm of Motor Units Ltd in 1935/36, an example of which is owned in York by your Assistant Editor. The Burrell engine also took part in Beccles Carnival in early August. On this occasion it was second in the
parade, being led by the water dandy — although the Town's Fire Station Officer and crew probably would not like their engine described as such.
SURREY Seventeen engines attended the Southern Counties Steam and Vintage Show at Lingfield in early August, including some rather rare agricultural engines. These included A. Filsell's 1900 Wantage traction 1389 (PB 9722) and Jon Gorman's Fowell 93 of 1904 (CE7894). Another interesting machine was die last steam roller to come out of Aveling & Porter's Rochester works, 14149 of 1932 ISM 9415), which went new to Dumfries County Council. It is now owned by Keith Taylor. Other engines present included Peter Haining's 1909 Garrett Road loco 27946 (016818) VERA, Alan Rrice's 1931 Ruston & Hornsby portable 163864 and Fowler Z7 ploughing engine 14367 of 1916 owned by Sean Cox. Apologies for a mental aberration by your compiler which resulted in some Incorrect Information appearing in the Surrey notes of the last issue. The 1934 Sentinel S4 wagon in the ownership of Mr Webb that had been offered for sale was 8933 (WV4705) but the machine has never been in Yorkshire. The wagon which Frank Hall used to own is 8970 (WJ8985), and that remains in the Yorkshire area.
SUSSEX
A splendid set piece at the Amberley Chalk Pits Museum. Marshall Shp traction 14242 of 1886 blows off impatiently as Trevor Crabb assists with positioning the next timber on the rack saw. This was a private evening event put on for Covers, the West Sussex timber merchants, to celebrate their 150th anniversary, but it is hoped to use the mill more often in future. (Ann Hatherilb STEAMING Autumn 1996
Some 30 engines appeared at Tinkers Park rally in early June, together with miniatures. First time attenders included Roy Chapman's 1924 Aveling roller 10994 (WT6042) from Essex and the interesting replica Savage engine 905 (OAH14P(, built by Belmec International in 1975. This is owned by Trevor Gurr. Recent Lottery winner Keith Burville was also there for the first time with his recent acquisition, Marshall road loco 74871 of 1921 (BE9002), acquired from David Birch. Two more Marshalls were also new to the event, one being 3-speed road engine 68632 of 1915 (KE2361), owned by Alan Mitchell; the other 1914 agricultural 66001 (0S872) belonging to Alex Hume. Towards the end of June, Amberley Museum was the venue for an evening celebration to commemorate the 150th anniversary of a local firm — Covers, West Sussex timber merchants. Peter and Shirley Fagg used their 1886 Marshall traction 14242 (H05913) to drive the rack saw, and a sawing gang that included Trevor Crabb and Gordon Hatherill, appropriately dressed for the occasion, had a fine time converting round timber as 211
part of the evening's festivities. The Bluebell Railway's Steam Fair and Vintage Transport Weekend took place on the last weekend of July and some twenty engines were present. These included Peter Fagg's Marshall, Peter Stanier's 1877 Fowler ploughing engine 3195 (A69452) and Fowler showmans 15652 REPULSE, owned by Terry Gibson, a long way from home in Derbyshire. Others at the event included Steve Hubbuck's 1918 Burrell showmans style tractor 3718 (AH0297), David Coppard's Aveling roller 5467 of 1904 (PB9619), driven by Brian Hope, and Tony Slingsby's 1917 Foden wagon 7536 (T8750). At Searle's, a new firebox has already been fitted to the ex-Scottish Fowler crane engine 8920 of 1901 (SG4713). This, their first attempt at boiler work, was deemed to be very successful as few leaks were experienced. Repairs continue to the remainder of the engine, with a new tender, water tank and refurbishment of the rear axle assembly, springing etc being the priority.
WALES A visitor to North Wales in the early summer was surprised to find engines in the Porthmadog area which were a long way from home. These were Richard Hesbrook's 1891 Gibbons & Robinson traction 959 (AY9874) from the Hereford area; Fowler roller 17022 of 1927 (WW
4017) and Burrell Gold Medal tractor 4072 of 1927 (PH2900) — both the latter have Walker family of Stanmore, Middlesex connections. It is presumed they were, or had been, attending an event in the area. Also in North Wales, the very unusual Mann's conventional type tractor, 1325 of 1918 (U4748), owned by John Philips, has had some work carried out on it. This has included rerouting the safety valve take off into the back of the chimney, a position it would have been located in when new. The Spring bank holiday event at Abergavenny suffered somewhat with the weather and on the Sunday, due to the wet ground, the steam vehicles were required to park on a length of roadway between exhibitors cars and caravans. There they remained, excluded from the light by a fine avenue of trees. In better conditions, the site is quite attractive with a large public car park adjacent, so for the public there are none of the potential problems usually associated with parking in a field. Even in the gloom, John Griffiths' Wynn's of Newport Fowler road loco 15463 of 1920
(DW2121) was a picture, as was David Prout's Burrell showmans 3288 NANCY. Other engines attending the event included Bob Underwood's 1937 Fowler roller 21698 (FF4910) exMerioneth CC, Gordon Williams' 1918 Fowler hauling and winding engine 14950 (VF2984) and Henri Collings' 1915 Aveling roller 8548 (AF4442). Burrell showmans 3090 of 1909 FERMOY owned by Russell Cooke was also present as was lwal Jones with 1931 Foden D type tractor 13762 (VN2911). In the west coast at Tywyn, Aveling conversion 12427 of 1929 (P0 616) owned by Ray Reid has been active with several outings to local events, being crewed by several Talyllyn Railway volunteers. Another active engine in midWales is part of the Geler Jones collection of agricultural equipment, housed with the National Trust at Llanerchaeron, a couple of miles outside Aberaeron. Fowler roller 16003 of 1923 (AF6190) was once part of Dingles fleet in the south west but has been resident at the collection for about a year. It was in steam for the annual garden fete in early July but
More pre-1900 Aveling & Porter engines have survived to preservation in this country than any other maker's product and one of the oldest of these is 10 ton single cylinder roller 2439 of 1889. From its base on Anglesey, North Wales, it ventured to the Astle Park rally in August 1994. (John Maund)
being driven around the estate roads in a manner which may well have been improved by attendance at a Trust Driving Course.
WARWICKSHIRE A rally for miniatures organised by Traction Engine Enterprises at Leamington Spa in mid July saw a brief appearance of a full size engine when Martin Shepherd's Fowler conversion 19456 of 1931 (SE3563) put in an appearance drawing a trailer and living van. The engine spent most of its life as a roller in Scotland, being converted to tractor form in the north of England in the late 1970s.
WEST MIDLANDS Another successful event was staged in the Wolverhampton area following the show last year at Coven. West Park was the venue in June 1996 tor a Spring-into-Summer Festival, organised by the Rotary Club in conjunction with the town's leisure services department. There were eleven engines at the event and these included the Dale family's 1907 Burrell traction 2950 (AF3532), the big Marshall agricultural 87005 of 1934 (BNO 519) owned by Andy and Val Furniss, and Foster showmans style tractor 14431 of 1920 (FE3217) belonging to Fred Dockray. Also there was Lyndon Shearman's 1860s Brown & May portable and a lone roller, Jane Crane's 1925 Marshall 79087 (NR6120). There was just one showmans engine at the event, this being Russell Cooke's 1909 Burrell 3090 FERMOY, for many years in the ownership of the Miles family in Dorset. There was a sad procession in Streetly at the beginning of August. The late Sam Satterthwaite was the honorary president of the Foden Society and his funeral procession was led by John Waynham's 1928 Foden wagon 13178 (MT4259), conveying the coffin the short distance from Sam's garage premises to All Saints Parish Church.
WILTSHIRE A small event took place in early May at the Castle Combo racing circuit; eleven engines attended as well as a considerable number of other exhibits — which restricted adequate photographs of the engines. Those present included Carl Brown's 1929 Aveling slide valve roller 14002 (KR479) and its sister engine, 14003 (KR480) owned by Vince and Louise Hawkins. These were pictured when new for Barnes Bros in the last issue of Steaming. Norman Goddard's 1914 Garrett showmans tractor 32122 STEAMING
Autumn 1996
Back on the northern rally fields after a major rebuilding is Brian Dun ford's Burrell scenic showmans 3285 of 1911 KING GEORGE V. It was photographed by Dave Bagley at the Pickering event in July.
(BH8900) THE GREYHOUND and also there, as was Wallis Advance roller 7878 of 1926 (H06482) belonging to Brian Dando. This latter engine trailed a water cart and made a very attractive display. Another small event in the county took place at Wexcombe, Marlborough in early June. This was the Vintage Gathering, Steam and Working weekend at Waglands Farm and nine exhibits were present, most allocated a working task. Kelston Sparkes' 1918 Fowler ploughing engine 15222 (CT4289) partnered another, whilst threshing and sawing was in the hands of John Newton's Fowler traction 13140 of 1913 (Y9955) and Nick Barker's 1913 Burrell tractor 3458 (AB8195). Bill Simpkins made an appearance with Aveling roller 10385 of 1922 (HR 7288), new to Free's of Marlborough, and David and Jean Hirst were there with Wallis tractor 2656 of 1903 (H05834) and Foden timber winch 13454 (KX3340), new as a tipping wagon in 1929.
YORKSHIRE A couple of visitors to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway during holidays in the summer found steam rollers in the vicinity of the railway. The first, 1931 Wallis Advance 8069 (GN1804), was located near the southern terminus of the line at Pickering. It is owned by Nigel Crisp and was due to attend the Duncombe
Park rally at Helmsley shortly afterwards. The other, belonging to Chadie Dore, was Aveling 11956 of 1927 (UP327), under repair at Grosmont. Both owners have associations with the repair facilities at the railway. The last time the Aveling was at Grosmont for attention, it left the village on its own special train, due to the severity of the hills in the vicinity. Locomotive boilers feature prominently in the current workload of Israel Newton & Sons at their works in Bradford. A Hunslet loco boiler from the Yorkshire Dales Railway is under repair and two new Terrier class loco boilers are under construction, one for the Isle of Wight Railway and the other for the Kent and East Sussex. The backhead, throat plate and firebox wrappers are currently being made. Road engines being dealt with are vintage Avelings. Ian Corfield's 1884 roller 2031 (ME3918) has now completed its overhaul with new barrel, backhead, throatplate, firebox and front tube plate, whilst 2439 of 1889 (EY1380), owned by the Anglesey Vintage Equipment Society, is at the works requiring a new firebox boiler, tubeplate and smokebox. A major project just started is the manufacture of a complete new boiler for Barry Wood's 10hp Aveling traction engine — the one not yet positively identified but believed to have been built in 1872, prior to being shipped to Australia at some undetermined time. The engine is the one 213
Israel Newton & Sons Ltd
boilermakers established in 1803
manufacturers of:•
* Locomotive type steam boilers of riveted or welded construction to BSS. Insurance company inspected. * Vertical cross tube boilers * Smokebox tubeplates, back heads, throat plates, new fireboxes, boiler retubing, welding repairs by coded welders. * Stockists of boiler tubes and rivets. * Industrial steam and hot water packaged boilers. * Hydraulic press work — dished and flanged ends. Summerley Iron Works, Idle, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD10 STY
telephone 01274 612059, fax 01274 612059
which the late Tom Varley repatriated about 1980 and which no one, up to now, has dared to take on for full restoration. The engine's boiler has gone into the works to act as a pattern. Engines for sale in the county recently have included Andrew Hawkeswell's 1929 Garrett tractor 35225 (0U3239); Graham Atkinson's Aveling showmans style tractor 9354 of 1920 (KE1748), which at one time was a roller; Andrew Bigland's 1908 Aveling tandem roller 6530 (NM291), a now unique machine, and in the north of the county, Garrett roller 34706 of 1925 (PU7494), one of the very poor condition machines which came from the Philp sale in 1995. In early June, Derek Rayner's 1915 Aveling roller 8506 (CT5012) was sponsored by the Leeds Club to take part in the City of York's Lord Mayor's Parade. The float immediately in front was from the well known chocolate manufacturers, NestleRowntree, and the goodies being dispensed to the considerable crowds lining the route often fell short of the intended recipients. In the day's hot conditions a fine mess was left on the streets as the Aveling crushed packets of Smarties and other chocolates on the 31/2 mile journey from the Racecourse to the city centre and back. Later in the month, Derek attended the Ferrensby tractor event near Knaresborough along with Robin Knox's 1909 Fowler showmans engine 11108 DREADNOUGHT, John Bolton and Ian Jackson's 1901 Marshall traction 35554 (N0261 and Keith Collins' Fowler Tiger tractor 14406 of 1917 (U4171). At the end of June, the Sheffield and District Steam Society held their 214
One of two Fowler ploughing engine boilers recently completed.
rally at Renishaw Hall. Fourteen engines took part and these included Andrew Bigland's Aveling tandem roller, Harold Bell's 1928 Sentinel Super wagon 7591 (WE3236) and Martin Burr's Burrell road loco 4010 of 1925 (DD6888). Others present were John Blagg's 1902 Marshall agricultural 36575 (BT3667) and McLaren traction 510 (NM54), new in 1893 and recently fully refurbished, after spending some time with a diesel engine for its power, by Chris Dobbs. He has owned it since 1976 and completed a splendid piece of restoration work. The Duncombe Park rally at Helmsley in early July was blessed with lots of sunshine and rain on Sunday afternbon did little to dampen people's enthusiasm. A good collection of engines was fielded with, as usual, a number of participants from the north east. Organised by the Great Yorkshire Traction Engine Club, our correspondent admits that much to his annoyance, for the first time in many years of rallying, and having parked his engine where indicated the previous week, he returned to find it had been moved by the event's organisers without his permission. Actions of this nature could have had disastrous consequences, as no one was to know in what condition the engine had been left. Engines at this event included the similar looking Fowler quartet from Dalton; Jim Smith's Fowler road loco 8712 of 1900 (DE2439), on its way back south from Co. Durham; Richard Preston's Burrell showmans 3526 LIGHTNING II; Steve Denton's 1933 Fowler roller 19190 (MVS854) and the Rockcliff family's Aveling roller 14071 of 1930 (VN2095). Also there was Stuart Ritchie's immaculately restored
ex-Australian Marshall traction 60136 of 1912 I5V5434) and Steve Corston's 1916 Aveling convertible (in traction form due to a broken forecarriage head) 8679 (BT8812), which had driven to the event from Lincolnshire. Carl Brown also drove to the event with his 1924 Aveling roller 10905 (NX6366). He came a somewhat shorter distance than Steve but this was lengthened a little by sensibly going a long way round to avoid one of the very steep hills in the vicinity. Carl bought the ex-Leamington Spa playground roller just over a year ago from Wayne Ellis. Another roller at the event — for the first time — was the Parkin family's Fowler 18663 of 1930 (TF1851), looking resplendent in its new paint. A couple of weeks later in mid July, Masham Rally was bathed in sunshine and attracted big crowds. Again, many of the engines made the now traditional journey at 6pm on Saturday evening up into the town square. With the excellent Welsh coal provided this time, smoke effects were not as dramatic as previous years as the engines tackled the steep bank to the square but nevertheless, plenty of spectators thronged the sides of the road to welcome the engines. A surprise newcomer to the event was 1925 Fowler conversion 16276 (NW9212), owned by S. and H. Muir from Scotland, whilst more local engines included another similar conversion from the same year, David Webster's 16289 (NL8282). Two agriculturals were David Robinson's 1902 Marshall 38024 (TA629) and Mike Sutherland's Wallis 7769 of 1923 (PD7172). Bob Baker's 1923 Aveling roller 10575 (PR280) was also present, having driven from the Autumn 1996
STEAMING
Chester-le-Street event. Other engines included Wayne Ellis's 1913 Fowler agricultural 11114 (GZ2065) and Richard Preston's Ruston & Hornsby traction 169166 of 1933 (TL3433). Pickering Rally at the end of July, organised by Simon Boak, had perhaps the biggest line up of showmans engines ever seen in Yorkshire. Some two dozen full size engines were at the event, all of good pedigree, from as far north as Aberdeen and similarly distant places such as Norfolk and Dorset. In addition to these, there were around eight showmans tractors, including conversions. One of the furthest travelled to the event was Bill Barrack's Burrell 3871 of 1921 WESTERN PIONEER, whilst Jim Marsh brought David Hedgeman's 1923 Burrell 3949 PRINCESS MARY from Dorset; the latter's namesake Burrell 3343 of 1911 was shown by Ken Frost from Norfolk. There was plenty of variety in makes as Frank Lythqoe fielded not only a couple of Burrells but also a McLaren, Foster, Foden and a Fowler from his collection. Other engines at the show included Mick Baines' 1900 Wallis roller 2524 (BP8585), Billy Treloar's unusual Anglo Australian Fowler
Around the World
10773, a colonial engine of 1907, and the engine most people came to see, Peter Lidgett's rebuilding of the hulk of the Fowler road loco which was at the 1993 event. This has been returned to steam after provision of a new boiler and other work by Valentine Engineering, Northants, plus a lot of additional work carried out in North Yorkshire. The engine, Fowler 14115 of 1914 (XC9653), is named LAFAYETTE after a French general and was originally used for gun haulage during World War I in France. It still needs a lot of tidying but the difference which three years have made is tremendous.
In Absentia From an unlikely source, America, comes news of the four engines owned by Liverpool Museum which were featured this column in the last Issue. Member Bruce Waterworth of Pittsfield, Utah, owns 1917 Wallis oilbath tractor 7572 (H02035), and whilst on holiday in England during the summer, decided to locate a few similar engines to compare with his own. As a result, the following update is available. • Burrell road loco 3098 is dis-
mantled; it has received a boiler rebuild, new box etc and the wheels have been re-rubbered. New axle bearings have been fitted and the engine now requires reassembly. • Wallis tractor 2931 is completely dismantled — the boiler looks in poor shape with numerous visible welds. The project is currently on hold. • Wallis Advance roller 7815 is complete but laid up after failing boiler inspection due to bad firebox stays. • Sentinel Super wagon 6842 is all complete, and appeared in fairly good shape but boiler problems prevent running. However, it was seen at the the Mersey Tunnel celebrations in 1995. Bruce had special permission to see these four engines, which are in secure storage accommodation within the Liverpool Dockland area. The query about an Aveling tractor, a photograph of which appeared in a lona aao issue of Steaming _ at an ungainly angle in Bulmer's premises, Hereford, has been answered. The engine was Aveling 9081 of 1919 (KN5785), currently resident in north east Lancashire. This was a case of mistaken identity, it earlier having been wrongly referred to as KH5728.
lcopip
The Editor gratefully acknowledges receipt of magazines etc from Iron Men Album (USA); The Stanley Museum (USA); Heritage Eagle (USA); Dampfwalsen-Club Schweiz (Switzerland); Steam Traction (New Zealand); Southland SE Club (New Zealand); the South Canterbury club (New Zealand); the Lake Goldsmith club (Australia) and reports from other correspondents as credited individually.
• i diL industrial premises. Advised by a boiler inspector to try his luck by visiting a sugar mill at Lauriya, Chris West found the hoped for narrow gauge railway and locos were disposed of some thirty years ago. However, still in regular use, reserve power for the mill out of the crushing season, was Marshall compound portable 76669.
NEW ZEALAND INDIA Although steam railway locomotives have all but completed their long years of service in India, one intrepid English observer is still managing to find examples in use at STEAMING Autumn 1996
The Southland Steam Engine Club newsletter Steam Torque includes notes on Burrell Gold Medal tractor 3225 of 1910 — an example built with a single cylinder. Owner Mark Tutty of Clyde had to renew the boiler barrel and firebox; work is progressing well
Marshall portable 76669 photographed in January 1996, still in position for providing out of season power to Lauriya sugar mill, India. (Chris West) 215
and could be completed by the end of this year. A Burrell Bhp single crank compound owned by the Hokonui Pioneer Park of Gore, north of Canterbury on South Island, has returned to steam after a period of six years, thanks to members of the Southland Steam Engine Club who have taken on its custody. The engine, 2686 of 1904 was acquired for preservation from an owner in Invercargill in the mid 1 970s, and after restoration was finished in 1979, it was occasionally steamed until a few years ago. On 9th and 10th November the Southland club have an event with a difference — a Road Run and Tree Pulling weekend. The journey to Mataura Island will be followed by the felling of a stand of pinus and then winding in the timber with the wire ropes. An overnight camp on site precedes the return journey next day. It was hoped engines participating would include Burrell 8hp single crank 2686 of 1904; Marshall 7hp single 33836 of 1900 and Garrett 4hp single cylinder tractor 26432 of 1907.
In working order and occasionally used for working demonstrations is a 'self moved locomobil' by Elso Magyar GOpgjrara Budapest, 3120 of 1914. It was converted from portable status by Fa Perl of Sered, Slovakia, with a chain drive from the right hand end of the crankshaft to a countershaft across the front of the firebox — the final transmission to the cog ring mounted on the hind wheel is on the left hand
side. No less than five ploughing engines are also collected at the museum. A pair of Leeds-built compounds are referred to as supplied by Fowler (Budapest); their safety valves appear to be arranged with spring balances in accordance with German boiler law. Also present are a pair of Kemna ploughing engines, and another of unknown origin.
SLOVAKIA From the Czech Republic, Zdenek Bauer, editor of the magazine Zeleznice (Railway), kindly sends photographs taken by his son Petr Bauer of road steam engines at an agricultural museum at Nitra, Slovakia.
Head to tail (on the right) are a pair of Kemna ploughing engines with an unidentified machine at the left. Nitra, Slovakia, August 1993. (P. Bauer)
Elsa Magyar GepgYara Budapest engine 3120 of 1914 ready for work at the agricultural museum at Nitra, Slovakia in August 1993. The close up shows the chain drive from the crankshaft. (P. Bauer) 216
Autumn 1996
STEAMING
Letters Suttons of Cinderford Alec Pope's writings in our Summer 1996 issue on Suttons were most interesting to me and I wonder if I can add a bit from my own memories even if they are of days after steam. I was born and raised in Dursley, Gloucestershire, the home both of R.A. Lister and Mawdsley's Ltd, the electrical manufacturers whose dynamos frequently appeared on the hunt of show/mans engines and tractors. Our local showmen were Geo Rogers & Sons of Chipping Sodbury and I can just vaguely recall three engines — Burrells 3605 EMPRESS OF BRITAIN; 3703 LADY MARY and 3810 PRINCESS ELIZABETH — on our town's recreation field. I was a small boy, just before the outbreak of World War 2. Rogers said goodbye to steam about 1941-42. The last engine on Dursley fairground was Burrell 2723 BRISTOL CITY, ex Marshall Hill, but then travelled by Ted Harris on Rogers' circuit for part of the time with his chair-o-planes. This would have been about 1943. Ted Harris acquired a set of Walker built steam gallopers towards the end of the War and travelled them with the engine, but when the fair next visited Dursley in 1947 the Burrell had gone, replaced by an AEC Matador, although the ride
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STEAMING
Autumn 1996
was still steam driven. About this time a stranger appeared in our midst. Uley is a small village just outside Dursley and the Uley Feast was held in the autumn — September time. Prior to the outbreak of World War 2 this was always attended by Alf Peters, the Worcester showman, with his Walker gallopers and initially Burrell 2350 DUCHESS OF WORCESTER. Later the famous Foden showmans wagon 11400 WORCESTER CITY visited with the gallopers — although both had been sold before I came on the scene. I can just remember Alf Peters visiting Uley with his dodgems about 194n — the last time he came. I pestered father to take me to Uley and can remember the whole fair was blacked out with canvas because of war time lighting restrictions. But back to the stranger. The Feast was revived after the war and Suttons were the amusement caterers. I had never seen or heard of them and neither had father. I well remember the Mercedes tractor referred to by Alec Pope. The front wheels were set well back almost to cab level so that the bonnet stuck out in front. The engine was a Gardner oil engine, not a Mercedes, and the dynamo mounted in the back was a showmans engine type, possibly removed from Fowler 10292 as Alec Pope's photo of the engine standing abandoned shows that the dynamo has been removed. Suttons invariably came on to Dursley for a week or so after Uley Feast and I can recall one or two dreadful pull outs as both the Uley field and the Dursley field sloped up to the road and some Septembers can be very wet. Suttons seem to have disappeared from the fairground scene — so I would like to thank Alec Pope for stirring the memory of an ardent child fan of the fairground. Keith M. Vigus
Winscombe, Somerset
Sombre moments I have been visiting rallies for many, many years and cannot help but notice the pained expressions shown
by nearly all exhibitors — steam engine owners and lorry, tractor men alike. They all look so sombre, as if it was penance to exhibit! On many occasions I have stood admiring a vehicle but the owner never comes forward to have a word about his prize possession — they seem as if zombies. One would have thought them delighted to say hello and give a little information. I wonder if others have noticed this strange silent, attitude, for it is very obvious to me. Don Smithers
Whit wick, Leicestershire
The Dream "I had a dream" — yes, someone said that before me, but at least this happens to be true. My copy of Steaming arrived just before my wife and I left on a coach tour to Belgium, so I was only able to scan the magazine briefly before departure, but I noted two particular articles to he read more fully in due course — Derek Rayner's tour of Austria and Hungary, and the one on the Hawkins family from New Zealand, touring the country with a large Burrell they have brought with them. On the outskirts of Cirencester it looked as though we were being held up by traffic for the International Air Tattoo at Fairford that weekend. After a meal on the boat, and a bottle of wine I became somewhat drowsy and coming to on the Belgian border, I noticed signposts indicating Maldegem (a site for continental rallies), and in my sleepy state that, and the earlier reminder of Fairford, caused me to wonder: why not an International Steam Tattoo? The Hawkins family have now proved some of this idea to be possible with the presentation of their Burrell (which I caught up with at Welland, looking very much smarter than I was expecting). Over the last 10 years there have been Dutch entries at Stourpaine (and Expo rallies at Peterborough before that), and last year there was a portable from France. Shortly before this event two rollers (one a very rare specimen) came over from Switzerland, and it is a pity they were unable to prolong their stay. Some years ago Tore Blom brought the family's Munktells traction over from Sweden to a couple of rallies in the north. In addition, I know that Bicknell's have repaired and refurbished a Societe Francaise traction for a French enthusiast, and Burrell Gold Medal tractor 3540 came from the USA for repair for its American owner. 217
Aveling & Porter 10 ton single roller 8116 of 1913 takes part in the Thames Valley club's road run at Stoke Row in May 1995. The machine still sports its COUNTY OF DEVON ROADS lettering on the motion side sheets. (Roger Newbery)
I feel it would be a wonderful experience to have all these engines over here simultaneously at the same site for a period of five days or so and to number among the Avelings, Burrells, Fowlers etc, an Avery, Aultman Taylor, Reeves and Westinghouse from across the pond; a Heucke ploughing engine from Germany; rollers from SLM, Henschel, Ruthemeyer, Schwarzkopff and from the mainland of Europe, and unpronouncable breeds of traction from Hungary or the Czech Republic. Yes, I know of all the snags in addition to the finance: insurance, safety regulations, boiler certificates and in some cases, customs — but they would not all have to be in steam. It is nice to dream though, is it not? John Champion
Gloucester
Interesting Absentees Two Wallis & Steevens engines mentioned on page 159 of the last issue are of more than passing interest. Tractor 2931, owned by Merseyside County Museums is one of the small 4I/4 ton oil bath compounds. There can be very few of these left either in the single or compound 218
version — perhaps 2931 is the sole survivor. I wonder if this one still has a water tank mounted over the smokebox and in front of the chimney — a feature of the 41/4 tonners. Also, I believe, they have a very small diameter flywheel. The Wallis roller 7449 is also of note in that it is a compound with overhead slide valves — a rare example of W & S's brief excursion into this particular layout. Keith M. Vigus
Winscombe, Somerset
Accuracy and authenticity Mr Dean's letter in the last issue could open various subjects for correspondence but, for now, I will express views on rally programmes. When I attend a rally I hope to see reasonably authentic examples of the products of Burrell, Fowler, etc, and it is certainly handy to be informed quickly and clearly that a particular engine was (say) changed from roller to quasi-showman five years ago. The programme for this year's Welland rally, near Upton-on-Severn contained a section headed thus: 'The following engines were built and sent away from their makers as
rollers but are now displayed in some other form.' We are then given the history of the engines concerned. To have such a section in the programme is unusual, but not by any stretch of the imagination 'somewhat controversial'. It is a thoughtful and helpful innovation, shows integrity, and is to be applauded. As lot programmes generally, these certainly vary. I have over the years, had examples presented as a printed booklet for use at any of several commercial rallies with an added typed engine list; a programme with tiny print and engines listed without division by type and then clear, well presented little books such as that at Welland. Organisers should not forget those who pay at the gates may have little real interest in steam, having come for other aspects of the event. An informative and well presented programme not only helps those folk to know what they are looking at, but may be a memento of the rally encouraging attendance the next year, or other shows in the interim. And the children may be encouraged enough to be the enthusiasts of tomorrow. In closing, may I praise David Prout and his people for the superb weekend at Welland, with its well prepared programme. It is to be hoped other organisers will follow his example by separately listing conversions. John Rhead
Bromsgrove, Worcestershire
I totally agree with David Dean's views on conversions. As a professional historian I view them with distaste: they are historically inaccurate imposters and should be listed as conversions in all references to them. We not only have steam rollers converted to traction engines, but even to showmans engines. What next? Might I ponder the showmans scenic ploughing engine... When I was searching for a steam roller to acquire, I examined three, amongst others, which became conversions: two Fowlers and a Clayton. I find it very sad because they have no authentic history and are totally bogus, as is a traction converted to a showman when it never went near a fair in its working life. The only candidates for possible alteration should be genuine convertibles. I was offered one in 1962 Ian Aveling slide valve compound), with apologies from the owners that over the years the rolls had been lost and it was now in engine form! Autumn 1996
STEAMING
McLaren's did a nice convertible roller, as did several other makers. These I would happily see in either their roller or engine form, but they should be the only exceptions. Peter Heald-Gledhill
Wellington, Somerset
The two extremes of the steam preservation movement are contained within the two extremes of the Summer 1996 issue! In the Editorial we are invited to join 'the Beautiful People of the traction engine world' whilst in the letter section towards the rear of the magazine we have David Dean arrogantly, and, sadly, acting the part of a bigot in seeking to excommunicate all those with engines that have been converted In everyday life there are enough pressures on our freedom of action without his seeking to impose more on folk who are out to enjoy themselves whilst, hopefully, letting others join in the fun too. In his letter he does not define 'conversion', so one must assume that he refers to engines which have been converted whilst in service or in preservation. Presumably a conversion was carried out because of a perceived need, a need that we may not understand, but one that was, nevertheless, sufficiently pressing for the work to be undertaken. Surely we should respect that need, the subsequent action that it engendered, and the person or business by whom it was undertaken. That is why, as a co-owner of the only active Robey tri-tandem, I shall not be making a move to encourage my other partners (in crime?) to reconvert our unique engine (yes I
know that there is another but that, I believe, is not capable of being steamed) to its original tandem configuration. I believe that David Dean will get even more pleasure out of life, and out of the engines that he and others own, if he adopts what I believe to be quite a sound philosophy, namely 'Live and let I ive'. I invite him to try itl John Hobbs
Tavistock, Devon
The quarterly publication of our magazine is not conducive to compact discussion of topics such as this. We have therefore asked David Dean of Great Yarmouth for hs response and further comment. He replied: I regret Mr Hobbs has completely misunderstood my letter: if he had carefully re-read it before applying pen to paper or had looked up my previous one on the same subject he might have avoided becoming so distraught. However, I am grateful to him for giving me just cause to once again air my favourite hobby horse. On page 50 of the Winter 1993/94 issue Steaming a letter from Derek Rayner suggested 'the Trust initiate a scheme for the verification or authentication of the originality of engines by the issue of a suitable certificate ... the possession of which by an owner of an engine would have (lie effect of enhancing the machine's value on the open market'. I took this a stage further in my letter on page 108 in the next issue by suggesting a 'Register of Authentic Engines', not with the intention of increasing values, but in the hope it would encourage even greater attention to restoring them to historically correct condition. I took pains to emphasize this should be
Cruise the 6eautiful sedoclis and canals of Scotland in art original coal-fired Clyde Puffer. Good food, comfortable accommodation.
a voluntary scheme with all owners invited to nominate their engines for inclusion, specifically to forestall the cries of dictatorship I felt sure would come from certain quarters. My definition of an authentic engine is one that can be shown to be restored (as near as is practically possible) to the way it was at some specific time in its working life. I understand it is editorial policy in Steaming for the word 'conversion' to refer exclusively to an engine that has been changed in its preservation days to something it never was. So what is Mr Hobbs' problem? His Robey was altered to its present state during its working life and complies with my definition of an authentic engine — if my suggested scheme were introduced he could be the first to nominate an engine if he so chose, and if Mr Rayner's predictions are correct would see an immediate increase in its value. As to his allegation that I am 'arrogantly seeking to excommunicate all those with engines that have been converted' I have carefully read my letter several times and can find no such suggestion. I can only put this down to an over active imagination on his part. I admit I do not like to see conversions. I wish people would stop doing it, but at the same time I have to accept there are those who see no wrong in ruining perfectly good engines and then claiming they are something completely different. If a Register of Authentic Engines caused just one potential conversionist to think again, or better still gave the incentive for a conversion to be put back to its proper state, I for one would be well pleased. I do not know if I have any support for my suggestion, or if I am just a lone voice, but surely ordinary courtesy allows even a lone voice to have his thoughts heard, considered and respected without being accused of bigotry and arrogance. I wonder why Mr Hobbs' philosophy of 'live and let live' does not extend to acknowledging that others have the right to express opinions he may not agree with?
A Free Aveling
Send large SAE for free brochure to Rachel and Nick Walker, The Change House, Crinan Ferry, Lachgilphead, Argyll PA31 8QH (Tel 01546 510232).
STEAMING
Autumn 1996
Further to the notes on page 137 of the last issue, it is not clear from available records when Aveling roller 12502 left the' ownership of Westridge Construction. Martin Free has not stated that they rallied the engine. They may have done so although I would have thought this to be unlikely. The engine, which has 219
The famous NO. 1 — Pat Collins' Burrell scenic 3865 of 1920 — eluded many cameras when, after restoration a few years ago, it was only briefly rallied. The engine then spent its time on display inside the Thursford Museum, but has now returned to Lincolnshire and was entered at the Carrington Park event in May. (Eric Sawford)
now moved north, was in private ownership on the Isle of Wight with Hugh Gordon who acquired her in 1991. Mr Free's references in a letter of 1995 refers to rallies 'some 3-4 years ago'. Any clarification will be welcome as will any further information concerning the firm of W.E. Free. On a totally different tack, during the winter months of 1995-96 I gave slide shows to a few interested groups. They seem to have been well received. If there are any groups of members or their friends who would be interested in a slide show during the coming winter months, please let me know. The subject matter is mainly traction, but includes narrow gauge railways, old aircraft and steam water based craft. I am willing to travel a reasonable distance and certainly within a 50-60 miles radius of Marlborough, Wiltshire or Cirencester, Gloucestershire. I would appreciate any initial request to be by letter, and to be in good time. Peter Donovan
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Bracondale, Five Stiles Road, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 4BG
An end to Amwell I would like to announce through the columns of your excellent publication that the Rotary Club of Hoddesdon have reluctantly decided to discontinue sponsoring the Great Amwell Traction Engine Rally. The Club's decision has been influenced by a number of factors. Firstly, despite an exceptionally fine weather weekend, the number of people attending the event this year was well down and has, in fact, been declining steadily during recent years. Our Club have endeavoured to secure the maximum publicity over a wide area to promote the event and have speculated substantial funds on additional entertainment to attract the public, but we feel that this is a national problem and one which we can do very little about. The costs of funding such a large scale show are rising at a considerable rate each year and those members of the Rotary Club who have been responsible for running the rallies for the past fourteen years are also running out of steam! I would, nevertheless, like to express on behalf of my fellow members our thanks for the great
support and enthusiasm we have received from not only the engine owners but also the many enthusiasts who came to the events and, in particular, to John Saunders, without whose help I could not have inaugurated the first rally in 1983. Who knows, perhaps some other organisation or body of enthusiasts may take up the challenge and continue to bring working steam to this part of Hertfordshire. I do hope they will. chairman, rally committee, Rotary Club of Hoddesdon
Peter W. Haynes
A Burrell Patent The letter written by Frederick Burrell to Savages of King's Lynn (reproduced in the last issue, page 137) sent me on the hunt for further information. Mr Clark assumes the letter is regarding Patent No 5433 of 1880. That patent was taken out by P. Everitt and C. Burrell (Jnr) and was for 'Improvements in the Construction of Roundabouts'. The specification was for a walzer-style of ride with small rotating platforms (upon which the punters stood) within a larger circular platform, the drive being external by means of a shaft and couplings. The centre of the ride was to be taken up by a fountain! I feel sure that Burrell would not be writing to Savages in Autumn 1996
STEAMING
1898 about a patent that was then eighteen years old. As Frederick Bunnell clearly states 'my patent' I feel sure that the reproduced letter is referring to Patent No 21403 of 1895 (three years previous to the letter reproduced in Steaming) which was for a traction-centre engine and dynamo and sealed in the name of Frederick Burrell. Unlike Savage's earlier patent for traction-centre engines, Burrell's was for converting an existing engine by locating a turret with an additional duplex engine over the firebox within easy reach of the footplate. Hence the reference in his letter to the steam cylinders being worked 'simultaneously or independently and also automatically ...' A sketch of the proposed engine appears on page 127 of Michael Lane's the Story of St Nicholas Works. It would appear that Burrell had had second thoughts on the method of attaching the turret, hence his suggestion that the area above the belly-tanks should be strengthened. What is most interesting is that Burrell appears to have been promised orders for four such conversions, with the engines to be sent to King's Lynn for the rides to be constructed round them. Even more interesting is the inference that Burrell envisaged using the converted engines to power what are now known as the 'steam yachts'. This is the first time I have heard of a traction-centre engine being considered for use with anything other than a conventional platform roundabout. In the 1880s several McLaren traction-centre engines (built under licence from Savages' traction-centre
engine patent) were sent to Lynn for the rides to be fitted, so Savages were well used to working around a 'foreign' engine. As far as I can tell, only one Burrell was converted to a traction-centre engine (No 1934 of 1896) but this work was not under-
taken by Savages. Whether this Burrell, which was operated by G. Baker of Southampton, employed Frederick Burrell's patent is not now known. Peter Wells
Norwich
Books Books reviewed in this column are usually available from the Trust's Mail Order section at post free prices. Please see the Mail Order list at the end pages of each issue.
WINCHEAP MEMORIES by Paul Tritton, 208 pages, glazed card covers, 346 illustrations, 9 'A in x 6 1/2 in. Published by Robert Brett & Sons Ltd, Canterbury, Kent. Price £6.00. Nearly one hundred photographs of traction engines, steam tractors, steam wagons and motor lorries are featured in Wincheap Memories, a pictorial history compiled by Paul Tritton of the premises in Wincheap Street, Canterbury, from which George Felix Finn and Robert Brett & Sons operated their road haulage
services and other businesses. The book contains virtually every known photograph of steam road locomotives owned by G.F. Finn & Co or Robert Brett and his brother Eiger Brett. Among the pictures are some remarkable recent 'finds' showing Aveling & Porter traction engines, Thomas Green rollers and Foden wagons at the Wincheap depot and at work in the Canterbury countryside. Pictures of early petrol and diesel lorries, and HGV fleets of the past 60 years complete the transport scene in a book which contains 346 pictures and spans 113 years of work and recreation at Wincheap depot and its workshops and offices. The story begins with the opening of Finn's traction engine depot and engineering works in 1883, and ends in March 1996 when Robert Brett &
Wholesale suppliers of steam generating coals Delivery — on-site bagging and distribution service for steam rallies
1 1
Wholesale suppliers of all Grades of coal and smokeless fuels
Head Office, PO Box 90, Birmingham B18 7JE Phone: 0121 554 2332 Fax: 0121 554 1424 Mobile Sales: 0585 284812 STEAMING Autumn 1996
221
Sons sold the site for redevelopment and moved to new headquarters. From cover to cover Wincheap Memories holds a wealth of interesting material for road transport enthusiasts. The final photo in the collection depicts the last journey to be made from Wincheap depot's transport yard by a commercial vehicle before the demolition gangs moved in. The vehicle that made the journey was, appropriately, the sole survivor from Brett's steam fleet, an Aveling roller. Highly recommended and good value for money. (Tim Keenan)
catalogue FODENS LIMITED, reprint, No 3 New Series. 36 pages plus card covers, 6in x 9in, 19 illustrations. FOWLER ROAD MAKING MACHINERY, catalogue reprint, No 4 New Series. 40 pages plus card covers, Sin x11 in, about 40 illustrations. Published 1996 by the Road Locomotive Society, Burnt Common Lane, Ripley, Surrey GU23 6HD. Price £7.50 (Fodens) and £9.00 (Fowler), plus £1.00 postage per order. Two further facsimile reprints of makers' catalogues have been produced by the Road Locomotive Society, items chosen from their own collection or those of members. The
Foden booklet is a rare survivor — a general catalogue from 1902, the times just before steam wagon production became the firm's speciality. Over a dozen of the illustrations feature traction engines — simple or compound agriculturals (with their distinctive high wheeled but heavy, purposeful appearance), and road locos and showmans engines. Edwin Foden was able to make much of his success for many of his products in trials and at shows. Two pages feature a report, culled from The Engineer of 1884, on the Stockport Engine Trials, and show that Avelings, Burrells and Fowlers etc were shown up by 'the highly respected but comparatively small establishment' in Cheshire. The appearance of both these reprints is first class, with the colour tinted titles and page borders faithfully reproduced: indeed the change in styles of printing and decoration from the Foden booklet of 1902 to the Fowler one (seemingly of 19251, reflects the different age. The Road Machinery offering from the Steam Plough Works is one of a series of six separate catalogues they issued, such was the range of Fowler's products. Even in the 1920s the company could mention Branches in six foreign and colonial cities, including Prague and Budapest, the latter areas where the Lincoln manufacturers lost so much
A further engine was brought back to this country from Tasmania in July — this time a turn of the century Burrell cylinder agricultural. It was avaiable for sale from Kent but quickly changed hands, finding a home in the Avon area. The engine's working days must have been hard and various parts show much wear from contact with the machine's wire rope. Tim Keenan (who kindly sent the photograph) thinks the Burrell is one of works numbers 2296/2297, 8hp engine, built in 1900. 222
business as a result of World War 1. An impressive list of users of rollers runs to almost 150 authorities, many in exotic parts of the globe. Features of the current range of rollers are well described and illustrated, then come motor rollers, convertibles, scarifiers (four types!) and spraying and resurfacing plant. Many of the pages are decorated with attractive sepia vignettes of rollers at work, but the technical side is well covered by photographs of components. These are two publications to be recommended — although reprints, they will eventually become collectors' items in their own right. (Roger West)
GEORGE and the 'DRAGON', by Alwyn Rogers. 116 pages including card cover, 8 1/4 in x 5 3Ain, 10 illustrations. Published 1996 by CMS Publications, Cranleigh, Surrey, price £4.95. Alwyn Rogers is a long time steam enthusiast, now engine owner and keeper, living in Lancashire. His substantial book is for the younger generation, a story of adventure and excitement in the classic children's style, improbable only in an adults' world. The tale is well woven around steam engines — tractions, steam wagons, ploughing engines, showmans are all included. The setting is fifty years ago and young George has been sent as an evacuee from an industrial town (unnamed, as was correct practice at the time) to an idyllic coastal area. By the fourth page, within hours of arriving at his uncle's farm, he has discovered a long abandoned Burrell agricultural engine and next day it's back in steam, courtesy of its old driver. The subsequent adventures centre around George's hope to keep the engine from the wartime scrap drive and then move on to more sinister events, but our youngster, of course, ends up as hero of the day. Its all jolly good stuff with lots of homemade lemonade for young visitors and huge meals. The author uses the narrative to patiently explain the technical side of using and maintaining a traction engine which will serve to teach older children. Pete Wilford's excellent full page cartoon drawings illustrate the story but younger readers may have liked a lot more smaller examples to leaven the pages of solid text. A good Christmas gift for Steam Apprentices, present and potential. (Roger West) Autumn 1996
STEAMING
New Members A sincere welcome is extended to the following new members who have joined the Trust during the last three months. We hope they will all gain much friendship, information and enjoyment from their membership over a period of many years.
A. Eltringham, Hemyock Post Office, Heymock, Devon D. Taylor, 3 Clavering Road, Winlaton, Blaydon, Tyne & Wear M. Pritchard, 107 Avebury Avenue, Leicester N. Barrett, 7 Lower Rosewin Row, Truro, Cornwall J.C. West, Upper Tadhill Farm, Old Wells Road, Downhead, Shepton Mallet, Somerset D.J. Wothers, 39 Withytrees Road, South Littleton, Evesham, Worcestershire R,O, Matlock, La Maison du Bas, La Rue de Bonne Femmes, St Ouen, Jersey A.W. Bradbury, Bank Top Cottage, Hollow Lane, Colton, Rugeley, Staffordshire I.H. Langley, 55 Belle Vue Road, Old Basing, Basingstoke, Hampshire C. Watts, 2 New Cottages, Kelmscott, Lechlade, Gloucestershire Frans Borghouts, Amelandsdwinger 309, 8911 LR Leeuwarden, Netherlands J.M. Nieuwenhuys, 5 Zuurbeek, 8326 Alsint Jansklooster, Netherlands A. Bever, Pangkalan, Silver Street, Bourton, Swindon, Wiltshire F. Jackson, 263 Mutton Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire S. Dixey, 9 St Marks Close, Great Wyrley, Walsall, West Midlands J, Dean, 28 Lingfield Crescent, Leeds. H.G. Brydges, 183 Amersham Way, Little Chalfont, Buckinghamshire J,D. Goodyear, 43 Brooklands Close, Luton, Bedfordshire L. Searle, 41 St Leonards Road, Horsham, West Sussex W,P. Walters, Ladywood Cottage, Sarratt Lane, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire R. Palmer, Larch Moor, Kingshill Way, Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire D. Chatfield, 10 Dawn Crescent, Upper Beeding, West Sussex M. Wright, 53 The Paddock, Somersham, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire R,R, Grant, The Cottage, Hurston Warren, Golf Club Lane, Pulborough, Sussex A.S. Alcock, Assandun, Woolpit, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk P.J. Dowman, 7 Pyefleet Close, Fingringhoe, Colchester, Essex T. Shaw, 1 St Fintans Terrace, Palmerstown, Dublin, Eire Tuffrey, 59 Church Street, Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire C. Black, Tinkers Bubble, Little Norton, Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset D. Miller, 2 Bovingdon Farm Cottages, Bovingdon Road, Backing, Braintree, Essex H. ('Anson, Highland Laddie, Bildershaw Bank, West Auckland, Co Durham M. Harris, 2 Hoadlands Cottages, London Road, Handcross, West Sussex V,W. Chennell, Tiffenden, Spenney Lane, Collier St Marden, Tonbridge, Kent A.R. Ayling, 7 Eastbourne Avenue, Gosport, Hampshire J, Bateup, 95 Cuckfield Road, Hurstpierpoint, Hassocks, West Sussex Mrs J. Carn, 66 Hammer Hill, Linchmere, Haslemere, Surrey I,G. Green, Lower Farm, Shortgate, Lewes, East Sussex D. Williams, 17 Hillfield, Foxton, Cambridge M. White, Stoke Tunnel Lodge, Bassingthorpe, Grantham, Lincolnshire W. Dakin, Mill Hill Cottage, Mill Hill Lane, Sandbach, Cheshire R. Campbell, 10 Lansdale Close, Leyland, Lancashire
STEAMING
Autumn 1996
A fresh coat paint this year for Aveling & Porter tractor 11997. The AM type is one of the slide valve cylindered machines built in 1928 — the piston valve era for most Rochester products. (Ken Go ward)
G.D. Smith, 57 Crescent House, Southlake Crescent, Woodley, Reading, Berkshire C. Ward, 63 Bakewell Street, Coalville, Leicestershire A. White, 1 Godfrey Close, Stevenage, Hertfordshire M,E. Warner, 125 Great Whyte, Ramsey, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire C. Whitehurst, 6 Great Northern Street, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire D. Kelsey, 23 McLean Road, Oxley, Wolverhampton, West Midlands J, Burgess, Halms Hill Farm, Back Lane, Cross in Hand, Heathfield, East Sussex S.J. Hines, Pippins, Clay 11111 Lane, Wattisham, Suffolk K. Leaw, 25 Highview, Blackwater, Truro, Cornwall C. Keates, 36 Magdalene Road, Upton, Torquay, South Devon B. Chisholm, 106 London Road, St Ippolyts, Hitchin, Hertfordshire P. Gregory, 1 Church Park, St lye, Liskeard, Cornwall H. Stutter, 3 New Way, Southend, Bradfield, Reading, Berkshire M.H. Tweedy, Ivy Dene, Gratton, Endon, Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire Mrs S. Randall, 29/31 Evelyn Road, Wimbledon, London K.R. Tucker, 44 Greenham Road, Newbury, Berkshire R.J. Taylor, Applegarth, 17 Cheney End, Huncote, Leicestershire G.S. Chaffer, 26 Littlefield Close, Selsey, West Sussex R. Packford, 7 Salesian Garden, Cowley, Oxford J. Jarvis, 103 Hill Road, Folkestone, Kent Ulrich-Joachim Gauffres, Zum Heitkamp 18, D46348 Raesfeld, Germany R.T. Hillier, Kew Gardens, Kewstoke, North Somerset G.J. Winchester, White Cottage, 56 Tetney Lane, Holton le Clay, Lincolnshire Ft;Paterson, 60 Jervis Road, Starnshaw, Pdrtsmouth, Hampshire L, Cooper, 27 Kingsway Drive, Kidlington, Oxford T. Brady, 5 Wexford Road, Arklow, Co Wicklow, Eire S.R. Webb, Webb Truck Equipment, Acton Industrial Estate, Acton, Sudbury, Suffolk
1
223
C. Clements, Potash Farm, Donkey Lane, Lawshall, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk D. Grant, 30 Westgate Court, Canterbury, Kent F. Forrest, 16 Grahamsdyke Road, Bonnybridge, Central Scotland B. Drew, 85 Ringwood Road, Longham, Ferndown, Dorset R.K, Fright, 144 Wantley Hill, Henfield, West Sussex R. Ball, Camelot, Green Lane, Frogmore, Camberley, Surrey D. Foley, 88 Knockaverry, Youghal, Co Cork, Eire G.M. Hurley, 239 Mudford Road, Yeovil, Somerset P.E. Riley, 21 Monyash Close, Chaddesdon, Derby G. Caraher, Smarmore, Ardee, Co Louth, Eire M, McGowan, 13 Hillfold, Dawley Bank, Telford, Shropshire D. Gregory, 92 The Hill, Cromford, Derbyshire I... Thorley, 6 Cuthberts Yard, Barlestone, Nuneaton, Warwickshire A. Coltman, 6 Chester Road, Watford, Hertfordshire M.H. Holmes, 2 Top Road, Worlaby, Brigg, Lincolnshire N. Scurrah, Birch Tree Farm, Clifton, Ripon, North Yorkshire M. Holder, 8 Hillside Road, Pannal, Harrogate D.W, Judd, 24 Darley Park, Oldfield Park, Bath, Somerset J. Mann, Hatches House, Hatches Green, Gunnislake, Cornwall P. Dodd, 32 Disraeli Crescent, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire T, Ward, 7 First Street, London M.. Donnelly, 451 Marton Gate, Bridlington, East Yorkshire D. McIntosh, 31 Sugley Street, Lemington, Newcastle on Tyne A.K. Pope, 48a High Street, Cinderford, Gloucestershire
0; g" MT 42591 mig BROS, I'llROAD I i! I
Small Adverts Small advertisements for private SALES, WANTS and ANNOUNCEMENTS, and appertaining to road steam engines and their associated equipment (inc. items suitable for their maintenance and support), are free of charge to National Traction Engine Trust members, subject to a maximum of 75 words, excluding name, address and telephone number. Advertisements should be written clearly and concisely, and to ensure publication must be accompanied by the advertiser's NTET membership number. Non-members rates for small adverts are 20p per word, with a minimum charge of £3.00, payable in advance. Members wishing to use these columns for trade purposes may do so at 10p per word, minimum charge £3.00, payable in advance, All cheques to be made payable to National Traction Engine Trust. The publishers retain the right to refuse or withdraw advertisements at their discretion and do not accept liability for clerical or printers' errors, although every care is taken to avoid mistakes. ALL SMALL ADVERTISEMENTS TO BE SENT TO THE EDITOR; SEE TITLE PAGE OF EACH ISSUE FOR PRESS DATE.
The Burrell Museum — Anyone who is interested in the Burrell company and would like to become a friend of the Museum, to receive a quarterly newsletter, help restore and eventually to assist in running a Burrell roller and maintain the Museum, please write and enclose SAE to — Membership Secretary, John Palmer, 17 Birch Close, Broom, near Biggleswade, Beds SG18 9NR, The Iron-Men Album — the American equivalent of Steaming. Subscriptions available at £15.00 per year for six post paid copies. 10 3/4 in x 8'/ in format, about 40 pages. For further details or subscriptions contact NTET Membership Secretary, John Cook, sample copies available from NTET Sales, £2.50 each. 224
Wanted — matched pair of large capacity big end lubricators, to suit Burrell road loco, %in bsp male spigots, — Tr 01684 540232. For sale — 285 amp Baxendale dynamo, ex Weirs/Collins Burrell 2801 THE MAJOR, 1906, suit early Burrell 8hp, narrow enough for Fowler: serious offers only, Also matched pair Veritys of Aston meters, 0-120 voltmeter, 0-300 ammeter, both 90% eccentric movement in 6in cases; nice brass cased 0-100 ammeter, similar to above, suit tractor — offers. — Tr 01684 540232. Cash waiting — for Sentinel steam wagon. Must be in full working order. Please contact Val Buddin. — Tr 01865 784600, For sale — mechanical oil pump to suit Foden wagon, pump's brass plate has Foden name on. — a 01271 42202 after 7pm. For sale — 400 colour slides of steam subjects taken in the early 1960s: derelict engines, ploughing, early rallies inc White Waltham 1964. All in first class condition, originals not duplicates. £100 plus £3 postage and packing. — Malcolm Slater, 75 Broome Close, Huntington, York Y03 9RH. For sale — solid sterling hallmarked silver medallion struck to commemorate the NTEC Silver Jubilee rally, Clapham May 1977. Offers invited for this limited edition item. — Malcolm Slater, address as above advert. Wanted — any information, plans, copies of advertising, instruction books etc which may help me identify age and builder's number of my 10hp compound Garrett portable (see letters page). Also any info, plans, patterns, spares to suit 7hp McLaren direct traction ploughing engine 1507, especially valve gear and gear change mechanism. — Larcher, PO Box 91, Wallerawang, New South Wales 2845, Australia. Firebars cast — to your requirements. Free pattern making: we may have your size in stock. — Tr Andrew 01694 723139 after 6pm.
Autumn 1996
STEAMING
National Traction Engine Trust
Mail Order Many books, videos and other items of interest to traction engine enthusiasts are available from the Sales section. Readers are urged to take advantage of this service (which also benefits Trust funds) for trouble free and economical postal shopping. Just tick the box for items you require and fill in the address slip.
TRACTION ENGINE READING New The I larry Lee Story (Smith and Scrivens) 11.90 0 New The Fowler Gyrotiller (Norman Southgate) £8.50 ID New Fowler Road Making Machinery (RLS catalogue reprint) reviewed this issue New Fodens Ltd (RLS catalogue reprint) reviewed this issue New The Fred Dibnah Story (Howarth) now in softback New Wincheap Memories (Tritton) reviewed this issue
£9.00 LI £7.50 ❑ £6.99 0 £6.00 ❑
New Garrett Wagons, Part 3 Electrics and Motors (Whitehead), reviewed 39/3 £18.50 0 New Fodens, my life with the Company (H. Nancollis) £19.95 0
The faces of two Foden C type 6 ton steam wagons that are fresh arrivals on rally fields these last couple of years. At the left is 13178 of 1928, seen at the Banbury Rally in June 1996 and restored to very original condition. To the right is 11538 of 1924, a wagon modernised with pneumatic tyres in working days and also very nicely presented - here at the Downs Rally in July. The latter machine was, in fact, rallied in Huntingdonshire
about 1960. Both photographs by Dave Bagley.
For sale - Tidman organ engine, museum quality restoration in display case, possibly the best example available at this time - must be seen: offers. Also 1969 Aveling-Barford GCD diesel roller 7Y2 tons, Perkins engine, good running order, several new parts, needs paint finishing to complete: offers. Traction engine oil headlamp (offside), unsprung, embossed JOHN FOWLER & Co LEEDS, in grey primer, glasses undamaged: offers. - R. Parkinson, Bickleigh Farm House, Bickleigh, Tiverton, Devon EX16 8RG (Tr 01884 855335). Wanted - agricultural engine, must be in original and fair condition. Any make or model. - Ts 01455 272906. Hollycombe Steam and Woodland Garden Society Liphook, Hampshire G1.130 7LP operates up to 35 steam engines, 2hp to nearly 2000 every Sunday and Bank Holiday throughout the season, commencing Easter weekend. Adults £5.50, OAPs and children £4.50. Saver ticket £17. Please apply to Membership Secretary for membership details. Hertfordshire Steam Engine Preservation Society - for all interested in steam in Herts and surrounding area. Monthly meetings, regular newsletter, social events and annual rally. Subscription £5.00 per year, OAPs £2.00. - Nick Allen, 84 Beechfield, Hoddesden, Herts EN11 9QJ. STEAMING
Autumn 1996
New George and the Dragon (Rogers) New Traction Engine Register ISCHVPT)
reviewed 39/3
£4.95 0 £4.99 El £4.99 0
New Forty Years On lEATECI reviewed 39/2 New Threshing and Thatching (Freeman) reviewed 39/3 New The American Steam Traction Engine (Kelly)
£14.95 ❑
New The Circular Steam Switchback (Scrivens and Smith)
£12.99 ❑
New Traction Engines of the Isle of Wight (Parsons and Brittan) reviewed 39/1 New The Falls of Burbage Wharf (Newton) reviewed 39/2 New Marshall Steam Road Rollers (RLS catalogue reprint) reviewed 39/2 New The Yorkshire (RLS catalogue reprint) reviewed 39/2 New The Heyday of the Traction Engine (Sawford) reviewed 39/1 Muck Shifting for King George (Sanders)
£6.90 0
£1.95 D £4.95 0 £7,50 ❑ £9.90 El
£10.99 D £5..95 0
Garrett Wagons, Part 2 Undertypes (Whitehead)
Steam Men of Yesteryear (Nicholson) Harrogate Gas Works (Hallows and Smith) European Traction Engine Register (Toy and Rayner) Carter's Jubilee. Steam Gallopers
£18.00 £5.00 I: £6.95 C £3.00 111
£7.00 E
(Braithwaite/Carted
Story of Queens Engineering Works liedtord £28.00 0
(Lane)
Garrett Wagons, Part 1 Pioneers and Overtypes (Whitehead)
£18.00 0 continued overleaf
Characters of Wood, Wurlitzer and Wesley (Sanders) Review of Steam Tractors (Whitehead) Aveling & Porter Ltd (Preston) Stories of Round Timber Haulage (Sanders)
£3.00 £12.95
£13.95 £4.95 hard £ 12.95 hard £13.95
Wm. Allchin Ltd (Middlemiss) Steam in my Family (Newton) Steam in my Veins (Boughton) Triumphs of Transport (Boughton) •
£13.05 £11.95
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Vintage Steam Owners & Operators in the £2.75 ❑ CoInc Valley (Harding) £29.00 U The Story of the St Nicholas Works (Lane) Steam Power Farm and Highway (Sawford) was 112.95, now £10.00 ❑ Steam Traction in the Royal Engineers (Preston) £4.50 ❑ £6.00 ❑ Bricks and Rollers (Essam and Freeman) £2.25 ❑ Made by Garretts (Whitehead) £16.50 ❑ Steam is the Essence (Whitehead)
please refer to recent issues for other available books and club items
VIDEOS The Sentinel Steam Waggon (CMS, VHS 52 minsl Classic Farm Machinery 1970-1995 (VHS 60 Mins) Inside Steam - Old Glory/NTET (VHS 60 Mins), reviewed 39/1 Farming with Steam (VHS 48 mins)
£15.95 ❑ £14.95 ❑ £13.95 ❑ £14.95 ❑
Traction Engines: A Technical Insight £14.95 ❑ (VHS 37 mins) All Steamed Up - Fred Dibnah (VHS 55 mins) £12.99 ❑ The Ups and Downs of Chimneys Fred Dibnah (VHS 76 mins) (VHS 6.5 mins) Harnessed to the Plough First Steps to the Furrow (VHS 60 mins)
£12.99 ❑ F14.95 ❑ f14.95 El
Sentinels on Parade (VHS 45 Mins) Travels with an Old-world Atlas (VHS) Classic Farm Machinery: 1940-1970
E15.00 ❑ £15.00 CI
(VHS 60 mins)
£14.95
To claim post-free for UK members please enclose current membership card. Non-members please enclose 10% part postage per order. Overseas members please enclose 8% part postage per order (European); 10% (rest of world). PO/Cheques (in sterling please) to be made payable to: National Traction Engine Trust. Visa, Access and Mastercard accepted; please state card number, expiry date and name on card, or phone 01582 33971 (evenings only). Orders to be sent to: NTET Sales, 90 Devon Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 ORL. Please allow 28 days for delivery. Name Address
Membership No
Amount Enclosed List 38, Autumn 1996
Steam Plough Club - for all interested in steam cultivation, offering regular newsletter, events, visits, history and technical advice. Subscription £8.00 per year, OAP's £2.00 - John Billard, Old Station House, Twyford, Berkshire RG10 9NA. Engine plates - JOHN ALLEN & SONS (OXFORD) Ltd, shield 7in x 81/..in with centre ox; VICTOR, 13in x 2334in, a Garrett plate (being class of roller); CLAYTON & SHUTTLEWORTH, LINCOLN, ENGLAND, No 48398, 5 1% in dia. on wood plaque; BRIGGS & RICKARDS, FAIRFORD threshing contractors, 101/2 in x 6in oval. Ran Hawthorne, 69 West Chiltern, Woodcote, Reading RG8 OSG le 01491 680484). Steaming back numbers: Vol 14 No 3, Vol 17 Nos 2/3, long runs from Vol 18. £2 each, special issues £3. Please state your wants. - Ran Hawthorne, address etc as above advert. For sale - PIONEER circular alloy plate from Aveling-Barford roller: offers. Also photograph of Fowler showmans SUPREME as issued to Mrs Deakin from makers when new, black and white, signed Fowlers: offers - A. Fisher, 12 Station Road, Ystrad Mynach, Hengoed, South Wales CF8 7AT (Tr 01443 814107). Wanted - for S model Sentinel: dynamo coupling cover, tyre pump, engine flywheel, crankshaft brasses and caps, big end brasses and caps, prop shaft, brake arms, drag link ends, cab tank suction fitting. Any parts for engine boiler feed pump (eccentric sheave strap, spur wheel, crosshead, pump ram etc). - II. Winterbottom, 484 Ripponden Road, Mooraidc, Oldham, Lancashire OL4 2LL Ow 0161 678 0446). For sale - traction engine books: Modern Steam Road Wagons (1906; reprint); Mechanical Traction in War (1900; reprint); Traction Engine Pictures (1961); A Century of Traction Engines. Also spares - Fowler lubricator mounting elbow; Fowler waterlifter, clip on type; Fowler 3rd shaft brake drum; Aveling piston valve, 3in diameter for C type; cast iron water lifter with oval flanges, 1%in bore suction, new and unused, unknown make; stick chopping machine, twin blade, in good order; large sawbench by J. McDowell, Scotland, ex steam sawmill. - le 01388 772578. Wanted - Fowler cast iron toolbox; Fowler steersman's seat inc spring and spigot; Fowler steam roller living van; Fowler u 01388 772578. traction truck, 4, 6 or 8 tons size. For sale - model road engine. 1in scale, metal Wills Finecast, £80; plastic model of Tom Varley's Museum of Steam showmans engine, £80. Both well made. - Tr 01442 251361 anytime. A Traction Engine called SUSIE - the ideal Christmas present for young steam enthusiasts. A book with true stories about a Burrell engine each one illustrated with a superb full page colour picture. Price £4.50 p and p included. Send to J. Walker, Staindale, Mlchaelstow, Bodmin, Cornwall PL30 3PD. For sale - brand new chain for Super Sentinel. - W.G. Edwards, Highland Home, 12 Invercauld Road, Ballater, Aberdeenshire AB35 5RP. National Vintage Tractor and Engine Club - caters for all enthusiasts (3500 members nationwide). 28 local groups organise meetings with illustrated talks and help for members. Club magazine Vaporising with articles of interest and tree ads to members. Basic membership £10. Details from Mrs P.E. Sims, 1 Hall Farm Cottages, Church Lane, Swarkestone, Derby DE7 1JB (sae please, sample magazine £1.00 stamps). Gauge glasses - many sizes available. Send for list - Ray Hooley, 16 Alexandre Avenue, North Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 8NR la 01522 682406). Ruston & Hornsby transfers - full range of designs and sizes; send for list. Engines dated gratis. Full sets of publications available for most models. - Ray Hooley, 16 Alexandre Avenue, North Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 8NR (a 01522 682406). For sale - Model Engineer magazines in binders, 1949-78 mint condition. Also 130 loose copies 1942-1948 (1943/48 almost complete). £480 - P. Anderson, ir 0181 979 3995. Wanted - single axle beaver tail trailer with spring assisted ramps for transporting 8 ton engine. Would part exchange Crane 15 ton low loader in excellent condition. - E. Choake, Great Billington, Leighton Buzzard, Beds LU7 9BJ (Fax 01525 3853661. For sale - three steel framed rubber lined roller loading ramps, f100 ono. - E. Choake, address etc as above advert'.
Autumn 1996
STEAMING
For sale — 4 inch scale Foster traction engine, built 1995, boiler certificate excellent. Engine complete with sawbench, 12 inch blade and belt. With braked trailer to transport same. Offers of £11000. — tr 01386 831303. For sale — Burrell single crank 6hp crosshead casting, unmachined, pattern number T1809, identical to original. New rivet snaps: all sizes available. Pneumatic holding up tool, non-hammering type approx 8in long. — John White, Ir.r 01454 299399 or 01454 260822 evenings. Wanted — for Marshall 7hp traction engine — castings or patterns for both tender mounted footsteps and the smokebox mounted drawbar bracket. — Richard Francis er 01732 460039. Rubber strakes for anginas — the best solution, practically and visually, there is to the problem of 'rubbering' traction engines. Many satisfied customers. Any inspection invited of Robey traction now having travelled fair distances and three seasons. — Dave Davies, tY 01822 615960. Required — any Robey catalogues or other literature, for copying and return, or for purchase. Especially sought: a copy of The Modern Steam Engine (John Richardson' pub Archibald Constable 1908 (348pp1. — Dave Davies, 9 Churchill Road, Tavistock, Devon PL19 9BU (17 01822 615960). For sale — Fowler big end brasses; tube brush and rod, %in tail pipes and nuts for Penberthy injector; boiler Inspectors tool kit complete with carrying case; Lucas King of the Road electric/oil lamp type No 240 (no oil vessel); Fowler Duplicate parts book; Birkett safety valve, %in tapping; Gin non-return valve; various pressure gauges (some requiring recalibrationi; tube expanders, tin, 11/4 in, 1 1/4 in, 1%in; %inch B.P. sized injector; top half of Y•.in water gauge. - L.J. Lambe, 84 Redditch Road, Stoke Heath, Bromsgrove 660 4JR (lir 01527 8313981. For sale — 1926 Wallis & Steevens 10 ton roller. It's complete, needs coal bunkers finishing and painting, otherwise in good condition, spare set of new tubes. Wheels and sides for a water cart. Whole lot £10,000 ono. — a 01424 892634 (Battle, East Sussex).
For sale — new boiler feed injectors in sizes %in to tin, Buffalo, Penberthy and Gresham; new cones and spares for most makes, full repair and steam testing facilities for all injectors. Wide range of steam spares and supplies, inc valves, cocks, pipe fittings, level and pressure gauges, whistles, lamps, lubricators, oilers, governors, tubes, brushes, expanders, packings, joints, hoses etc. Ask for list — Tr 01227 722502. For sale — Mann's steam wagon boilers, cylinder block, fittings, wheels and some other parts. Also Albaret (French) single cylinder portable, unrestored; mobile steam display on car trailer, excellent rally exhibit. — et 01227 722502. For sale — Fowler 1927 converted roller on rubber tyres, 5hp, superb ready to rally condition, would take 3in or 6in model in part payment, £26000 ono. Engine situated Leeds. — 01481 726017. For sale — Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies agricultural traction, 1916, new firebox and front tube plate, rubbers, £28000 ono- tP 01782 517792. For sale — half size Burrell scenic showmans engine, professionally built: will exchange for full size engine. — IS 01782 517792. For sale —' excellent Garrett showmans tractor with full certificate; might take sound tractor in part-exchange. Also Aveling roller in very good condition. tr 01953 780440. Road Roller Association — for all who are interested in steam or motor rollers, road making machines, practices and history. Quarterly journal ROLLING. Subscription £12.50 per year. — Membership Secretary, Dave Crampton, 6 Norwood Close, Mackworth, Derby DE22 4GA.
Clayton & Shuttle worth 7hp single cylinder agricultural 44103 of 1911 strikes an authentic pose at the threshing demonstration at Rempstone Rally in July 1996. (Dave Bagley)
Above — In the days before industrial estates surrounded the East of England Showground at Peterborough, Ransomes 4hp tractor 39149 of 1928 is seen busy at ploughing at the 1973 Expo...(Roger West)
Below — The most unlikely of the Burrells that have visited the Thetford Museum and their birthplace is 10hp export engine 3130 of 1909, all the way from New Zealand.. Photograph by Eric Sawford, July 1998..