Innehållsförteckning för August 2023 från Old Glory

There cannot be a better Fowler road locomotive to go for than Bernard O'Gorman’s 1905 Fowler B6 No.10242 Mandela which is now officially for sale. The engine spent its working life in South Africa before being brought to the UK by Bernard before Bicknells carried out extensive boiler work and much more, before Bernard carried out so much more mechanically himself to a very high mechanical condition. The engine has not been thrashed in preservation and goes about its work so competently. Further details, 01323 833125.…

It’s a great shock to have to report the passing of Stephen Proctor from Woolpit, Suffolk on 6 June at the age of just 62, having suffered with oesophagus cancer which was only diagnosed shortly before his passing. Stephen was a family man through and through and was part of the tractor preservation movement for many decades and loved his Case, Ferguson and Massey Ferguson tractors in particular. He was an excellent restorer of machinery and a great ploughman. He was always willing to help other people and did many good deeds that went unrecorded. It was he and Christina his wife that put the Weeting tractor section back on the map and looked after the exhibitors so well, which I witnessed last year on the Friday of the show.…

The Bickington Steam Railway, a 10¼in gauge miniature railway located at Trago Mills shopping and leisure centre near Newton Abbot in Devon held their second ever annual Steam gala over the weekend of May 13-14 reports James Hamilton. The two resident operating locomotives ran an intensive service throughout each day while in the car park adjacent to their terminus station visitors enjoyed the sight of five full-size traction engines and half-a-dozen miniature ones, as well as other vintage vehicles and children’s fairground rides. The railway was constructed in the late 1980s by David Nicholson - the owner of an 1895 Burrell traction engine attending the event - utilising equipment from a former railway at Suffolk Wildlife Park, originally from Rudyard Lake. The line has undergone a number of changes over…

The annual two-day Classic & Vintage Commercials Show took place at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon in Warwickshire on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June 2023, with more vehicles on the Sunday, reports Mike Neale. This year, there was a greater take-up of entries as forms had been posted and e-mailed, rather than only sent by e-mail which had reduced the numbers last year. Around 350 vehicles were booked in this year, up from 250 last year, although a handful of these did not come as their owners were put off by the weekend’s high temperatures. A good turnout, nevertheless. By observation, the average age of lorries was somewhat lower than before, with a lot from the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, but there were still plenty of older trucks.…

JIM SARNEY - FIRST STEAM HEAVY HAULAGE CO-ORDINATOR TO ALLOW MINIATURES IN THE “PLAY PEN” No doubt like lots of other engine men and women around the country, I had known Jim from my early years of visiting steam rallies up and down the country, and more so after we obtained our 4in Burrell SC Percy’s Pride in 1997, writes Mal Jordan. To my knowledge, Jim was the first steam heavy haulage co-ordinator at the Great Dorset Steam Fair to allow miniatures into the hallowed ‘Play Pen’ and I will come on to how that happened later. Jim was certainly one of a kind. He always wanted to exhibit the engines he owned in a similar manner to what they had been built for. In other words if it was…

The three-foot gauge Isle of Man Railway (IMR) company commenced operations in 1873 on the first section of the railway to be completed between Douglas and Peel. In 1874 the line from Douglas to Port Erin was opened. A third line was built in 1878–1879 by a new company, the Manx Northern Railway, from St John’s to Ramsey. A further short line was constructed from St John’s to Foxdale in 1885 to serve the lead mines there. Although it was built by the nominally independent Foxdale Railway, it was operated by the Manx Northern. It was to operate this line that the Manx Northern purchased Caledonia from Glasgow-based locomotive manufacturer, Dubs. At the time it was twice as powerful as the existing Manx Northern Locomotives which was necessary for the…

 Part Two The area chosen for extracting water for the growing town of Hastings is in a picturesque river valley through which the Brede river and its tributaries flow. It is near to the village of Broad Oak. The site for the engine house, boiler house and coal store was Church Farm, which had been purchased outright by the council, however there was no hard road access to the site so everything needed for building and equipping the pumping station had to be transported by river, navigable from the port of Rye as far as a bridge about three-quarters of a mile away from the site. Work on the main buildings began in 1903. To carry materials and equipment for the works an 18-inch tramway was constructed from a wharf…

The show is led by farmer Martin Desmond, with P J Ryan as his vice-chairman and Martin’s wife Mary as the secretary and the bedrock of this event for so many years. As one stands on the stage one looks down across at the parade ring where all the engines essentially live during the event, while further on the left are the many farm animals and further down are the catering units; across to the right are the crafts tent, stationary engines, commercial vehicles, folk stage and the fun fair. On the right is the trade stand village and further up are the many classic cars which have increased three-fold since this event started. The same could be said about the tractor display which as always was superb and included…

Looking for a possible engine change are the Austins from Bedfordshire. Their 1927 Wallis & Steevens Advance 6ton roller No. 13316 Rodney is in excellent condition mechanically and boiler-wise and could possibly be bought. The current owners purchased the engine in July 2016. The engine was new to Basingstoke Rural District Council and comes with a recent hydraulic test and more. Further details, tel: 07542 344829. Don’t forget the Fogden family have a late slide-valve Aveling roller for sale, No 14186, which again is in excellent condition and again is ready to be rallied. Further details, tel: 01323 833125.…

The Tavistock Steam Fair, that took place on Sunday 4 June this year in the West Devon stannary and market town, is unlike many steam fairs, says James Hamilton. The one-day event, organised by the Robey Trust of Tavistock, is centred on the town’s main car park, which is closed to cars. Exhibitors set up early in the morning while the steam engines, vintage tractors and classic cars arrive at Bedford car park under their own power. The event is open from 10 until 5, visitors are charged a nominal fee for entrance, in support of the Robey Trust; their ticket also gives them free passage on the steam-hauled trailer rides that run around the town continuously throughout the day. It is that aspect of the event that is so…

With 47 engines here, loads going on and a good crowd enjoying the great atmosphere on both days it was action all the way at Danehill in Sussex on 17-18 June, with a number of vehicles not seen before on show. Besides the steamers there was an excellent mixed selection of tractors with a group of over 30 people and their tractors coming from Gournay-en-Bray, Normandy, France via the Newhaven ferry on the Friday before the show. In fact the French town is twinned with Hailsham in Sussex and the effort that went into organising the event by the Lewes twinning association and Annie Guerlotté and Wai Lin, president and secretary respectively of the Gournay en Bray twinning association, was second to none. Without these two wonderful ladies none of…

England is a nation full of history, ancient and modern. There is surely not a town or village in the land which doesn’t have hundreds of interesting stories to tell. Derek Englefield knows at least a dozen good ones, all from a life spent around the independent garages of Aldermaston, Tadley and other villages in those few square miles around the Hampshire and Berkshire border. It was through his local connections that Derek came to know this extremely rare 1940 Chevrolet 1½-ton recovery lorry, now looked after by his good friend Robert Townshend. Despite knowing it for most of his life, he was unable to prevent it from falling into dereliction but, with lots of persistence and a bit of persuasion, he was eventually able to rescue and restore it.…

In the early 1850s, the British created several military fortification bases in different parts of India, one of the earliest of which was at Roorkee, over 100 miles north-west of the country’s capital Delhi in the direction of the Sivalik Hills of the Himalayas. The town is now in the state of Uttarakhand. Another similar base was at Kamptee - then Kamthi - a suburb of Nagpur in the state of Maharashtra and over 500 miles north-east of Bombay. From the road steam point of view, India was the first country in the world to use a steam roller for road making purposes in 1863. This machine was to the design of William Clark and William F Batho. Clark was the chief engineer of the Calcutta municipality and the roller…

DARRACQ Alexandre Darracq, born in Bordeaux in 1855, was more entrepreneur than engineer and is perhaps best known for having created a film star named Genevieve. He made a fortune from sewing machines and bicycles before launching cars designed by others. He was second only to de Dion Bouton in early petrol car sales and by 1905 was largely financed from Britain where he set up a factory which would eventually lead to the London Talbot. This and the French factory merged with Sunbeam and W & G du Cros commercial vehicles in 1919, by when Alexandre was retired, having allegedly never learnt to drive. From 1906 Darracq made and operated steam buses under Serpollet licence (Leon Serpollet died early in 1907). These were run in London by the Darracq-controlled…

It was such a pleasure to be invited to the Thursford Gala on Sunday 2 July, when the Thursford Collection’s 1920 Burrell scenic showman’s No. 3827 Victory was back in steam at its Fakenham, Norfolk home base, since a late 70s Christmas party there. There was a huge crowd to witness this historic occasion thanks to the Thursford Friends Association lead by Andrew Waling who is seen here steering the engine, with restorer Jamie Allen driving, during the 3.30pm parade of some 15 engines. Full report next issue.…

Keen vehicle enthusiast Alan Gregg from Belgooley, County Cork has recently joined the ranks of steam engine owners with the purchase of 1895 Aveling & Porter R10 No. 3482 Lady Patricia from County Wexford. He has recently had the roller in steam, but his wife has just had twins so he is busy on domestic duties. The roller had been under restoration for some years and appeared at Innishannon in 2019 in running-in condition. He hopes to have the engine out and about later in the year. He also has recently acquired the ex-Alan Jenkins so-original International WK-40 which runs so well and was part of the H J Pugh Jenkins sale a few years ago now. It was the stand-out tractor at the recent Innishannon show. The roller was…

It was sad to hear that Geoffrey Mills (76) had died recently while holidaying in Jersey with his wife Caroline. He was the father of well-known collector Edward who had just come off the phone to Geoff saying he had secured the International Junior 8-16 from the Cheffins Vintage Collective on 22 April and he was so pleased that it could be added to the collection. This very well-respected Northamptonshire farmer, who was a proper gentleman, was very keen on farming and old tractors, and his Ashby Furze Farm was known for years to the locals as the 'Weetabix farm' as the 200-plus suckler herd was successfully fed with the leftovers from the famous factory not far away. Fordson and Ford tractors were number one here for decades and for…

Seen at the excellent Woolpit Rally, Suffolk held over 3-4 June, which saw huge crowds attend, is Matthew Haylock’s lovely Holt 10 ton all in running condition. The rare Caterpillar tracked machine was part of the Cheffins Wilson sale at Ossington on 20 May and has not been out at any rally for some years and was the highlight for many at the show.…

400TH ISSUE! SAVE 25% Full terms and conditions can be found at shop.kelsey.co.uk/terms. Offer applies to UK subscribers only when paying by direct debit. Overseas and other offers available at shop.kelsey.co.uk/OGL23. A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR Delighted to boast that this is Britain’s best-selling magazine for steam and vintage machinery enthusiasts. If you have enjoyed this issue of Old Glory and love original style or gleaming restored machinery especially road steam, or are fascinated by Britain’s rich industrial and transport heritage then why not subscribe? You will save money on the shop price and receive every issue direct to your door. Whether you’re interested in the latest news, places to visit or black and white photography of these wonderful machines in working times, featured by top writers and photographers you’ll…

The Enfield Pageant of Motoring, organised by the nearby Whitewebbs Museum of Transport as their main annual fundraiser, was blessed with glorious sunshine over its traditional end of May Bank Holiday weekend, reports Mike Neale. It is now held just on the Saturday and Sunday as previously the number of exhibitors and visitors was dwindling on the Monday. Attendance figures were up on last year, and there was a wide range of vehicles on display, although sadly no steam this year. An immaculately restored 1931 Dagenham-built Ford Model AA pick-up was very similar to the very first vehicle to be driven off that factory’s production line. The truck was discovered around ten years ago in a barn just up the road from the current owner’s depot, where it had been…

The only problem now was that Robert didn’t have the relevant license to drive the vehicle, so he set about getting his HGV Class 1 license. “I did that in the Borderer,” he said, “I was taught by the famous former speedway/grasstrack rider Joe Davies and went out with him for a full day every week, at lunchtimes I had to reverse the vehicle into a layby until I got it right.” The practice paid off though, and Robert duly passed the test and got his license, paving the way to take Crusader to rallies further afield. These weren’t just confined to the UK though; the roller went to some on the continent too. In 1987 Robert took the roller to Hellevoetsluis Steam Rally in Holland with fellow steam enthusiast…

Claimed as the world’s oldest dragline in complete condition, the Bucyrus Class 24 steam dragline is on display at the world-class Reynolds Alberta Museum, Wetaskiwin, Alberta, Canada. After being submerged for three decades in a water-filled coal pit near Edson, Alberta, this machine was rescued and moved to its new home in July, 1998. After a two-year restoration project sponsored jointly by the Edmonton branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum (CIM), the national Coal Division of the CIM, Bucyrus International, Inc. and private donations, the machine was ready for permanent display, although not in working order. The dragline, known as a Bucyrus Class 24, was found in an area known as the Coal Branch of Alberta, an area extensively mined by surface (opencast) methods going back…

An on-line auction took place earlier this year in April at Deurne in the Netherlands of a Canadian-built steam roller manufactured by the Waterous Engine Works at Brantford, Ontario. Its works number was given as No. B6222 but there was no year of build provided. From the many images posted on the auctioneer’s website -(vdiauctions.com) - the roller appeared to have been in a reasonable condition for an item of equipment which is likely to be more than 70 years old. The roller’s starting price at the auction was a mere €7,500 but it’s quite possible that it remained unsold. Should any reader know different, the editor would appreciate knowing, so that the records can be appropriately updated. Thank you.…