Old Glory Magazine - December 2013 - Sample Edition

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december 2013

No286

PlUmb loco

Mike Plumb’s superb Burrell restoration

medway Queen

preparesforher voyagehometoKent

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ROLLER ANOTHERRE CORD! D L R O W

Uk steam trams

Where are the survivors?

Peak Practice

Middleton Top Pump House

dorset year of the roller

How we pulled it off...

◆ Steam Plough Great Challenge ◆ A Marshall in Denmark ◆ Millers’ Trail run ◆ A Fowler field engineer ◆ Marshall ‘Britannia’ portable restoration ◆ News

Welcome Aveling & Porter BS Class 10-ton road roller No 8548 of 1915 Britannia raises steam at the Rhondda Heritage Park, Trehafod, on October 5, 2013. JULIET EDEN

I

attended the funeral of Dr Jonathan Minns this month to represent the magazine, something I was honoured to do as Minns was very much a pioneer of what we today call ‘industrial heritage’. I once spent a day with him in the West End and found him a fascinating chap. Saving a pumping station from being demolished and turning it into a first class working museum with no outside funding at all from anyone is no mean feat – and its workshops became a centre of engineering excellence far ahead of its time.

Restoration projects around the world created work for his steam engineering apprentices and tradesmen (and women). We expect to hear terms such as ‘steam apprentice’ from the likes of today’s Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), but Minns was doing this in the 1970s and 1980s – self-funding and providing a firm footing for life for youngsters such as Ian McConachie, who came to Minns’ funeral aboard his Allchin engine to pay his personal tribute. Very touching it was too.

Minns was concerned that in a post-

industrial age people should keep in touch with moving objects. “Pure interpretation is not enough. Someone has to get their hands dirty,” he declared. He deplored the tendency of centres like the Science Museum to put real mechanical objects in storage and instead offer multimedia interactive displays. “Our fate is a microcosm of the country’s attitude to valueadded manufacturing,” Minns reflected. “We make nothing, and we don’t care. We’re not even a nation of shopkeepers, we’re a nation of shelf-stackers – Napoleon must be screaming with laughter.”

Talking of apprentice success, our congratulations to engineman Stuart Hines who headed a scheme in the north east funded by the HLF that was so successful that the HLF expanded to adjacent Yorkshire, Cumbria and Lancashire. There is now funding to 2015, by which time an impressive tally of 54 trainees will have been through its hands. So far 85% of its trainees have found employment in the heritage sector after a year with the scheme.

Quite rightly, Stuart says: “something that we are quite proud of ”. I should say, Stuart.

A magazine is like a steam locomotive; every few years it has a major overhaul, interspersed with a shorter journey through the paint shop to keep her looking trim.

Well this issue has just been through the paint shop, cosmetically, with a freshen-up as a result of the reader surveys and OG reader focus groups held through the summer. The major difference is that we’ve increased the size of the type slightly in order that our senior (and not so senior) readers should have less problem reading it.

Don’t forget, if you’re lucky enough to unwrap an iPad or other device on Christmas morning and you’re itching to play with it, Old Glory is available as a digital magazine and can be downloaded from the outlets advertised below.

Colin Tyson Editor

ctyson@mortons.co.uk

OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 3

Contents No 286 | December 2013 NEWS 6-25 News & Events 91

OG in Miniature News

FEATURES 32

Plumb Loco - Part 1 Mike Plumb’s stunning restoration of a Burrell road loco once abandoned in a market garden in Australia.

36 Young Restorers Thirteen-year-old Seb Austin and his collection of over 40 vintage lawnmowers.

41

44

Club Corner: Steam Plough Club The activities of the Steam Plough Club and its recently held Steam Plough Challenge event.

British built steam tram survivors Where are they now?

A look around the world to 80 find examples of British-built steam trams that survived the cutters’ torch.

48

A Marshall roller in Denmark Marshall roller No 76089 flies the flag for road steam in Denmark with the Danish Steam Roller Club.

56

Middleton Top Pump House The lasting remains of a once-proud industry to be found in Derbyshire’s scenic Peak District.

66

72

News updates at oldglory.co.uk

92

4 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

90

A Fowler Field engineer Part 2 Bill Harmston’s story of representing Fowler at home and overseas.

Sunbeam: An uplifting engine A Burell crane engine in half size and the inspiration behind its build.

REGULARS

28 38 40 62 Great Dorset roller special 76 ‘How we pulled it off...’

84 An insight in to how the 2013 97 spectacular was put together. 109 Rule Britannia A Marshall ‘Britannia’ portable from Chile became Thomas Baines’ first acquisition and restoration, learning some valuable lessons along the way.

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

Underbidder Enginelines Helpline Vintageworld Steam Archive Reviews Events Diary Tail Lamp Tom

READER SERVICES 30 Save money with a subscription to Old Glory 100 Advintage – The biggest Steam & Vintage marketplace.

62 Save money when you subscribe

See page 30

News&Events

Dr JONATHAN MINNS 1937-2013

THE life of heritage pioneer Jonathan Ellis Minns was celebrated at St George’s Church, Brighton, Sussex, on October 31.

An eminent steam engineer and best-known for saving the Goldstone Pumping Station in Hove, he was born in London and lived in Cornwall and the South of France, the family home being on Hampstead Heath.

Tugs on the Thames became an early feature but mechanical engineering was his inspiration, drawn from his uncle, Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft. Being a square peg in a round hole at public school, he left aged 15 to apprentice at WH Allen, engineers of Bedford.

Building restoration took him to Paris and down to the ‘Med’ and

The British Engineerium: the former Goldstone Pumping Station saved by Jonathan Minns (inset) and his team of‘oily mates’. COLIN TYSON

underwater archaeological projects took him into the oil industry and to Mexico. Via being a cowboy in Texas and teaching US actors how to talk ‘English’ in New York, he opened Steam Age, a shop selling steam models on London’s Fulham Road. A model and steam engineering consultant to Christies auctioneers, he married Vanessa and took on Hellingly watermill in East Sussex as a restoration project and home for his growing family.

With a team of ‘oily mates’ he took on the lease of the disused Goldstone pumping station, restoring the Easton & Anderson beam engine and turning the coal store into a fine museum, which became Brighton & Hove Engineerium, later the British Engineerium. The wording choice was typical Minns style and from his office on the upper floor for 35 years could often be heard explaining on the phone ‘engineerIUM’. Together with Frank Atkinson at Beamish and Neil Cossens at Bristol, Jonathan was a trail blazer for our movement.

With Pete Fagg and many others they completed 166 major restoration projects worldwide, 44 of which were advising and overseeing the development of existing or brand new museums, including New South Wales.

Ahead of his time, he was instrumental in pioneering engineering apprenticeships at the museum workshops, receiving a doctorate in engineering from Sussex University.

Jonathan owned Marshall No 14242 of 1886 Victoria Empress of India, which he bought from Bob Ansell circa 1970 and then sold it to Peter Fagg in October 1980.

Peter fully restored the engine and then sold it to the present owners, Lloyd and Wendy Wakelin, in 2002.

Among many other engines, he rallied his Foster traction engine No 14638 of 1933 The Little Gem for many years and also owned Fowler traction engine No 7453 Albert.

Retirement came in 2007 and the Engineerium and its contents passed to local businessman Mike

Haddenham celebrates forty years THE Haddenham Steam Rally & Heavy Horse Show celebrated its 40th rally in fine style over the weekend of September 7-8, writes Adrian White.

Sandwiched between the Great Dorset Steam Fair and the Bedfordshire Old Warden rally, this long-running Cambridgeshire event is sometimes sadly overlooked.

The anniversary show was dedicated to the memory of founder member Jimmy Wales

who passed away in December 2012. For over 20 years Jimmy was often found alongside Bill Gale on the footplate of Burrell Scenic No 3912 Dragon, known locally as The Pride of the Fens.

This engine was present next to the music and dance stage and was fresh from appearing at Great Dorset.

There were nearly 40 full size engines, including several that appeared at the first rally in 1971. These included Burrell

showman’s No 3979 Earl Haig (formerly based at Haddenham), Foster showman’s No 14589 Lord of the Isles (not to be confused with Fowler No 11367 of the same name – which was also in attendance), AvelingBarford roller No AG757 Linda and Foster tractor No 14378 The Iron Duke.

Rare Allchin roller No 1131 looked splendid in its red Northampton Highways livery having just taken part in the

Dorset roller display. Built in 1899 and only one of two surviving Allchin rollers, it was No 1 in the Highways fleet.

Another engine straight from Dorset was Fowler showman’s No 9009 of 1901 Defiance, the road haulage engine spent most of its working life in Central Africa. Only around 30% of the original engine survived by the time it was repatriated to the UK, so the new owners have now rebuilt the engine including the rear wheels to showman’s style. www.haddenhamsteamrally.co.uk

The Haddenham 40th anniversary line-up. ALL: ADRIAN WHITE

8 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

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Andy the coalman goes to 12in scale WELL-KNOWN supplier of best steam coal to rallies, railways and museums, Andy ‘the coalman’ Holmes of Edenham, near Bourne, Lincolnshire, has realised his ambition of owning a full size traction engine with the purchase of Ruston & Hornsby 4nhp SCD tractor No 52607 Lincoln Imp. From initially supplying coal to the former Old Glory-sponsored steam events at Tallington, Andy

developed a taste for steam, starting with a 3in ploughing engine and trading up to a 6in Foden wagon – which has been a rally regular in its distinctive red WA Holmes Coal livery for the past 6-7 years.

Andy acquired Lincoln Imp from the Semple family, who have owned the engine for the past 37 years. It was built for the War Dept in December 1918 but not sent.

Marshall Victoria Empress of India and Allchin Ellen at St George’s Church, Brighton, for the funeral of Dr Minns on October 31. COLIN TYSON

Holland just prior to public auction. But Liberté, a tug in Holland, became his retirement project with many happy days spent on the water again.

At his funeral on October 31, his coffin was carried by Victoria

Empress of India and Ian McConachie brought his Allchin engine No 1105 of 1899 Ellen as a personal tribute to Jonathan, being one of the many young people that got their grounding in steam at the Engineerium.

Rare Allchin roller No 1131 of 1899 at Haddenham on September 8, 2013.

Mike, Nik, Gill and Andy Holmes with Andrew Semple (at the wheel) and Jane and Richard Semple. ANDY HOLMES

Earl Haig, Linda and Lord of the Isles return to Haddenham after 40 years.

A smiling Andy Holmes and his new engine. CLIVE FLACK OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 9

Plumb

lOcO

Alan Barnes talks to Norfolk’s Mike Plumb about his just-completed stunning restoration of a Burrell road locomotive once abandoned on a market garden 140 miles west of Sydney, Australia

Part 1

→

BEFORE

Laid up in a market garden in Kelso, 140 miles west of Sydney in the 1970s. The engine provided a good home for the local bees.

M

→ AFTER The newly completed stunning restoration of Burrell No 2239 of 1899, seen in November 2013.

ALAN BARNES

aking its rally debut at the Bedford Steam Engine Preservation Society rally at Shuttleworth Park last September was the 1899 Burrell SCC Road Locomotive owned by Mike Plumb. It was rather frustrating that the somewhat inclement weather during the event meant that my photographs did not really do justice to this superbly restored engine.

However, a few weeks later I was only too pleased to accept Mike’s kind invitation to visit him at his home at Heacham, Norfolk, where the Burrell had been made ready. During my visit Mike also took the time to tell me something of the history of the engine and how it came to be repatriated from Australia 32 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

where it had spent some of its working days.

“The engine was built in 1899 as one of the Road Locomotive versions of the class of traction engine which had been introduced by Burrell specifically aimed at agricultural contractors and were subsequently referred to as ‘Devonshires’. The Burrell catalogue of 1897 detailed this traction engine type as being ‘designed to meet the requirements of threshing machine proprietors in the West and other hilly parts of England, who want a small, light and powerful engine to drive a 4ft 6in threshing machine and haul it from place to place with the greatest economy of fuel and capable of climbing the steepest of hills with ease’. The ‘Devonshires’ were very successful and from that original design Burrell

developed a Road Locomotive version. A total of 20 engines of this type were built between 1896 and 1904 in two batches and No 2239 came from the first batch.

“Although built as a ‘Devonshire’ it would seem that the Thetford works was about as close as this engine ever came to the West Country as it was shipped via the London agents, Davis & Soper, to Cape Town in South Africa. Here it was used by AR McKenzie & Co – a firm of haulage contractors – and is thought to have been used to move goods from the docks to the nearby railway depots.

By 1908 the Burrell was on the move again and was exported to Australia and there are some indications that the engine was used to haul wool from the sheep farms to the railhead.

STEAM TRACTION

However, further details of its working days in Australia are fairly sparse.

“Later I learned more details about the engine from one of the previous owners Barry Tulloch who had recovered the engine from a market garden at Kelso which is just to the east of Bathurst, around 140 miles west of Sydney.

Some 10 years before Barry had come across the engine the owner had offered the Burrell to another enthusiast for next to nothing on the understanding that when the enthusiast had arranged suitable accommodation for the engine he would return and collect it.

However, it transpired that this same ‘enthusiast’ had told a similar story to a number of engine owners all over New South Wales and as a result it would seem that a

number of engines were lost to scrap. This placed the owner, Alan Booth, in a difficult position because he was not the type of man who would go back on his word.

“Barry wrote numerous letters, made many telephone calls and arranged meetings with Alan’s accountant to discuss the possibility of acquiring the engine and eventually the accountant persuaded Alan to let the Burrell go, which would finalise the matter. It was agreed that no money would change hands but Alan did accept a dozen bottles of beer by way of a thank you for helping with the arrangements to recover the engine. Alan had bought the property with the old engine already there and he knew nothing about its history or how it had come to Kelso. 

Barry Tulloch inspects the Burrell in 1974.

OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 33

Peak practice

Middleton Top, in Derbyshire’s Peak District, was a hive of industry for 200 years. Alan Barnes looks at the engineering problems and solutions that were brought about – and the proud remnants that survive

Middleton Top Engine House in 1967. JOHN EVANS

Wagons at Middleton Top in the 1960s.

DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

56 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE

Saddle tank No 47000 and water tank on the incline. DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

T

Wagons on the incline.

DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL

his is a ‘highly specialist business that has proven vulnerable to the economic downturn’ was the comment passed on March 5, 2009, when Butterley Engineering was placed into administration. It was a sad end for a company which for over 200 years had been involved with many cutting edge engineering projects, which included supplying the ironwork for the train shed at St Pancras station.

Arguably one of the most impressive projects with which the company was involved was the design and construction of the Falkirk Wheel.

Funded by the Millennium Commission the boat lift was designed to replace a flight of 11 derelict locks and re-connect the Forth & Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The Falkirk Wheel opened in 2002 and is regarded by many as one of the engineering wonders of the modern world.

Turn the clock back nearly 200 years and Butterley was also involved in a cutting edge engineering project when it built eight winding engines for the Cromford & High Peak Railway. Just as the Falkirk Wheel was designed to overcome the problem of taking a canal up a steep gradient so the engines installed on the C&HPR provided a means to operate a railway line which was also built on a steep gradient. Although a total of eight engines were installed only one has survived and today the restored Middleton Top Engine House ‘stands as a monument representing a triumph of science and technology over the unyielding Derbyshire countryside.’ Within the restored engine house the original pair of 1829-built beam engines which were built at Butterley Iron Works can be seen.

The railway was built as a connection between the Cromford Canal and the Peak Forest Canal at Whaley Bridge which would provide a through transport link from the north and east Midlands to Manchester and southern Lancashire. The opening of the new route would avoid transporting goods on the existing longer route by way of the Trent &

Mersey Canal. The line had been surveyed by Josias Jessop but it was his son, William, who was appointed consulting engineer on the project although his sudden death in 1826 led to the appointment of Thomas Woodhouse as resident engineer who would oversee the project.

The most difficult problem lay in finding a way to take a railway line up the High Peak region which rose some 1000ft between the two canals and no locomotives could deal with such steep inclines. The solution was to construct a series of inclined planes which would link level sections of track. The level sections would be worked by wagons hauled by either horses or steam locomotives while on the steep inclines the wagons would be hauled up and down by a system of chains and cables.

When completed the line had a total of nine inclined planes worked by eight steam powered winding engines. The inclines had double track which allowed wagons to be moved in both directions at the same time.

THE ENGINES

The eight winding engines were two pairs of 10hp beam engines and six pairs of 20hp beam engines with the engine at Middleton Top being one of the larger machines. The engine at Middleton Top was the third one from the beginning of the line which started at High Peak Wharf on the Cromford Canal. The first two inclines raised the line by some 465ft while the 700-yard long Middleton Top incline lifted the line another 253ft. The pair of beam engines at Middleton Top were installed in 1829 and today they are the world’s oldest rotative beam engines which are still on their original site. An outside reservoir was also constructed which acted as a water supply as well as a cooling pond, but this is filled in and is now a picnic site.

Each of the engines is a double acting condensing beam engine with a 25in bore and a 60in stroke and controlled by a slide valve with steam at 5psi delivered to the valve chest from the main steam pipe through a regulator type valve in each engine.  OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 57

STEAM EVENTS

The Great Dorset 2013 ‘Roller Special’

How we pulled it off...

While the ‘Roller Special’ at the 2013 Great Dorset Steam Fair is still in the warm memories of those visitors that enjoyed it, we invited Martin Oliver, managing director, GDSF, to give an insight in to how it was all put together.

I

t was Messrs Rymer and Coles, otherwise known as the ‘Two Roberts’ that sowed the seed of staging a special roller gathering at the GDSF. I recall that it was immediately following the 2012 show that they ran the concept past me and after a couple more brief phone calls that autumn we decided to meet to discuss things in more detail and to see if the idea was a ‘goer’.

We hoped to meet by the end of November but we finally arranged to meet at The Crown Hotel, Blandford, on December 13, 2012. I thought holding a roller special was a great idea and there was no doubt that if Rob Coles and Rob Rymer were ‘in the thick of it’ behind the scenes then we could make this work. The potential was enormous and going through some finer details over the next couple of hours I became convinced we could ‘pull it off ’.

Clearly, costs were a major consideration for me and, of course, the budget would only stretch so far – but we all felt that most owners 66 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

would support us if we could at least make some kind of reasonable contribution to their transport costs. So the three of us agreed we were ‘on’.

We were conscious that in order for the display to happen at the 2013 show, time was already beginning to run out and we’d therefore need to crack on with plans early in the new year. I suggested that to gauge an initial interest from roller owners we should place a notice in Old Glory and Vintage Spirit magazines inviting owners to contact us if they were interested in participating.

RESPONSE

Well! The response from owners to the press release was quite literally overwhelming.

Within a few days of publicising the display I was receiving emails and letters left, right and centre. While we had a good selection of makes and models coming in, we knew that in order for the display to be regarded as a

success we would need to do a lot of background work and encourage as many owners as possible to attend with rarer makes and owners with rollers which hadn’t been seen in public for many years. Indeed, there were some rollers we knew hadn’t ever been seen in public before.

It was always the case that we’d include the Road Roller Association (RRA) in the planning of the display and, of course, at the show itself (I’d known Michael Goakes, RRA chairman, for several years as they’d had a stand at the GDSF ever since I can remember).

Michael was thrilled to be involved and we arranged for him to come to Child Okeford to discuss things further. Michael suggested he bring his vice chairman, Derek Rayner, who, Michael felt, would be very useful in tracking down some of the rarer rollers we were after.

A meeting was arranged at Child Okeford for March 12 with Michael, Derek, the two

Oliver’s Army: GDSF managing director Martin Oliver (centre) is flanked by the ‘Two Roberts’ (Rymer and Coles) world record arranger John Marshall (left) and roller layout supremo John Wakeham (right). COLIN TYSON

Compare this view of the rollers with John Wakeham’s sketch on the next page. ROGER HAMLIN

Roberts and myself. Within a few minutes I knew we could work with the RRA guys – they were our kind of people. The Two Roberts felt the same. The meeting was a huge success. We went through all the owners who had so far contacted me directly and then, with the help of Derek’s expertise, we compiled a list of other possible attendees (i.e rarer makes and rollers rarely seen). By the end we all agreed that we had the basis of an excellent display if we could get who we wanted. With the closing date on the press release not for another two weeks (March 31) a further meeting at Child Okeford was scheduled for April 30. This would give us sufficient time to collate a spreadsheet of applicants and also give us time to contact the owners of the rare and ‘unseen’ rollers and try to persuade them to attend.

It was clear at this point that it was and had to be a huge team effort. Over the next few weeks we all undertook to contact the various owners we were allocated to contact (or had

offered to contact) and after many phone calls across the country (and one or two abroad) things slowly took shape.

We all met again on April 30 at Child Okeford. Derek and Michael had done a great job in making contact with owners, so too had the two Rob’s and I like to think I did my bit too. Derek really was incredible with his knowledge of where certain rollers were located and who owned them. As Robert Coles put it: “Derek is a walking encyclopaedia.”

FINAL LIST

At that meeting we were able to put together pretty much our final list for the display.

Although there were still quite a few ‘ifs and buts’ we nevertheless felt that we were in a position to send out the bulk of the official entry forms. I was more than happy to do all the paperwork for the display and to keep things coordinated and so I sent out the vast

majority of the entry forms during early May, to be returned to me by June 1.

While most owners were able to sort out their own transport arrangements (and I thank you all very much for this – you were all brilliant) others were finding it extremely difficult to do so and it became increasingly apparent that some owners wishing to attend would need our help with haulage. This became quite a worry in the weeks leading up to the show and I have to thank Robert Coles, Robert Rymer, Brian Snelgar, Steve Cook, Phil Bascombe, Richard Maidment, Swingler Transport, Nick Herring, Alan Sparkes, Dave Freemantle and Robbie Kingswell (plus one or two other hauliers) for all their help and support in transporting rollers from all parts of the UK to and from the show at incredibly reasonable rates, keeping costs to a bare minimum by doubling up loads and picking up rollers whenever possible as back loads from another job.  OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 67

In Miniature

George’s Burrell at Old Warden 2013, with lowered jib.

Sunbeam An uplifting engine

Alan Barnes meets George Sonnemon and learns of the inspiration that led him to getting his half size Burrell crane engine Sunbeam built

M

aking its (completed) UK debut appearance at the recent Bedford Steam Engine Preservation Society rally at Shuttleworth House was a superbly built 6in scale model of a Burrell road locomotive complete with crane. The owner of the engine, George Sonnemon, had brought the scale Burrell over to the UK from his home in Bremen, Germany.

This was the second time that the engine had been exhibited in England as in 2011 George had taken it to the Great Dorset Steam Fair although it was only partially complete at the time. As far as the building of the engine is concerned George describes himself as ‘project manager’ and has estimated that during the course of the build he called on the skills and services of no less than 34 engineers, technicians and craftsmen. As George 92 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY

remarked: “There are probably a few more which could and should be added but at the moment their names have slipped my mind.

“My interest in road steam goes back many years when, at the ripe old age of 18 I went on a school exchange visit, arranged with our twin town of South Shields. That weekend I stayed with the host family and knowing of my interest in climbing they arranged a trip to the Lake District to watch some climbers in action.

To be honest just watching others climbing was a little bit boring as I would have dearly loved to have joined in but had no climbing equipment available. Probably my hosts who were meant to be looking after me would have been somewhat concerned to see me scrambling up a rock face.

“After a while we moved on and to my amazement we came upon what appeared to me to be a steam locomotive – not on rails but

driving down the centre of the road. At that time I had seen nothing like this in Germany as the steam preservation movement is not as extensive as it is in the UK and having seen the engine I managed to persuade my hosts to spend the rest of that Sunday afternoon at a steam rally in North Yorkshire. That afternoon I became hooked on steam and later on during the week I bought my first books on traction engines and soon afterwards I joined the NTEC. My interest in steam therefore continued on ‘paper’ as it was only through books and magazines that I slowly began to learn about the engines but opportunities to see real engines in steam were few and far between.

“There were and indeed still are, very few road steam engines in Germany and hardly any rallies but in the years that followed I managed to get to a couple of the events which were beginning to be arranged. These included the rallies at Bad Laer and some interesting events in the Netherlands which of course I made every effort to attend. It was at these events that I met some of the true legends of the steam world including ‘Doc’ Romanes and

Footplate view.

In steam at the BSEPS rally.

Gear detail.

Jane and Len Crane. Over the years they were kind enough to let me help them with their engines and I took every chance that was offered to get on the footplate and get some experience of handling a live steam engine. It was an honour when my scale Burrell was completed to be welcomed into Doc Romanes’ ‘Brass Monkey Club’ and the engine proudly carries the brass emblem above the number plate.

“During this time I was training to become an electrical engineer and had finished my exams – part of which included the preparation of a study about a large stationary reciprocating engine. I had met Erhard Beloch, owner of Fowler road locomotive No 9904 as well as several road rollers, and I was grateful for the opportunity which he gave me to get some practical steaming experience on his engines. However, what I really wanted was an engine of my own and it had to be a road locomotive. All my footplate experience had so far been on full size engines apart from some outings on a 6in scale traction engine owned by a friend but my dreams were to have a DCC road locomotive.

However, there were some other commitments which took priority (my wife, children and buying a house) so engine ownership had to take its place well down the list.

“In 1995 I had the opportunity to buy a 5in scale Allchin traction engine which had already been imported into Germany. It was a very fine looking and reliable engine but it was still not a DCC and I wanted something bigger.

I put a few advertisements in Old Glory and also in Steaming and about once a year travelled to inspect the very few engines which

“

Much as I would have liked to have undertaken the building of a replica of No 4039 the building of what I considered to be the next best alternative began in 2008.

”

were being offered for sale. Sadly and for various reasons the engine which I saw didn’t quite meet either my expectations or my financial capabilities, so my search continued.

“In 2000 I made a visit to the Great Dorset Steam Fair and saw Richard Scourfield’s 6in scale crane engine and at that moment I made up my mind that this was the engine for me.

This was hardly surprising as my first real footplate experience had been on the crane engine owned by Len Crane so perhaps it was destiny.

“I wanted to participate in the construction of my proposed engine but my skills lay with electrical engineering and my knowledge of the workings of a steam engine were really theoretical rather than practical. Also there was the amount of time which I could give to the project. 

Initial inspiration for the build: the Screen Brothers Burrell No 4039.

OLD GLORY DECEMBER 2013 | 93

Tail lampTom Telling iT like iT is

Cat G licences – are they really necessary?

THERE is a very famous saying, ‘The law is an ass’, which certainly seems to be true when it comes to Category ‘G’ Driving Licences.

The saying, taken from Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, was written in the 19th century but still holds true. In my opinion, ‘The law is an ass’ when it comes to the rules governing the requirement of road roller drivers to hold a valid Cat ‘G’ licence to take their engine on the road.

Technically, it would be possible for me to take a Cat ‘G’ test on a roller powered by a diesel engine and as soon as I’d passed my test I could then drive a steam roller – even though I have no competence in regards to steam engine management.

When I passed my car driving test in 1971, I was issued with a licence which allowed me to drive a roller as a learner driver, as long as a Cat ‘G’ licence holder was supervising me. If the engine that I am driving is not equipped to take two persons I am allowed to drive that engine on my own. I would presume that my supervising driver would walk

alongside me and be prepared to take the controls should that be necessary. What a ludicrous situation. That would be like me taking an exam for a pilots’ licence on a little twin engine Cessna light aircraft and after passing my test being told that I’m now qualified to fly an Airbus A380 airliner – the largest commercial aircraft in the world!

Has any roller driver been stopped on the road and asked by police if they can see your Cat ‘G’ licence please? And why is it that the poor roller owner is being discriminated against – when someone who owns a steam tractor (which go faster, or a Sentinel waggon, faster still) is not required to hold a Cat ‘G’ licence?

No wonder so many roller owners convert their engines into something else. As far as the law is concerned as soon as you convert a roller into, let’s say, a showman’s engine and the logbook entry is changed to show that the engine is no longer a roller, the requirement to hold a Cat ‘G’ licence no longer exists. This is beyond all belief.

This rule is nearly as daft as the

Rolling along the road, but is a Category‘G’licence really necessary?

proposed EU rule a few years ago that all hot parts on a steam engine should be painted yellow so that the public knows that they are hot. Whatever next? Everyone knows that a steam engine is hot – by its very nature it has a fire inside it to boil water which produces steam to propel it.

Perhaps the European beaurocrats have not yet realised that the very name of the beast will tell you that

it is going to get hot when in use.

When you are in your workshop and you switch on the kettle to boil some water for a cuppa you do not touch the side of the kettle because you know that it’s hot.

Having said that, maybe it would be a good idea for me to paint my kettle bright yellow then at least I would be able to find it among all the other ‘useful items’ in my workshop.

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

NEXT MONTH

▲ AnAvelingtractorinthesamefamily ▲ Restored Ransomes returns to where it was found 50 years ago for100years l Restoring the last Lightning Skid ride l The petrol-powered barber shop l 2014 rally claiming dates l January issue on sale from December 19, 2013.

106 | DECEMBER 2013 OLD GLORY