Innehållsförteckning för September 2024 från Old Glory

You are ALL welcome to join in, please do! If you have a story or pictures no matter what, do get in touch peterlove@madasafish.com Tel: 01323 833125. David Reed Editor-at-large - Former York school teacher who has worked with the editor since 1995 and has a wealth of knowledge on steam, commercials and tractors. Derek Rayner Technical and Vintage World Editor - Derek’s knowledge is extensive, a steam roller owner since the 1960s and a world traveller in search of nothing but the best. Bob Moorman Rally Archive Editor - This former engineering inspector is a fount of knowledge and has been rallying since the 70s. His own restos are award winners, as his ex-Kings 1927 Foden will be now that it’s finished! Mike Neale Diecast Models Editor – It’s…

Enthusiasts travelled to the Lincolnshire Coast Light Railway from all over England to witness all nine of its Simplex diesel locomotives in a Cavalcade that formed the highlight of its Diesel Day, when no fewer than five of its heritage diesels worked passenger services for the first time in the railway’s 64-year history, on Saturday 15 June 2024. A quick look at the calculator showed the combined age of the locos to be 769 years: the oldest Nocton (fleet # 7) was built in 1920; the youngest is Fred which had survived inundation in the East Coast Floods at Mablethorpe in 1953, it was built in 1947 and finished its working life at Skegness Brickworks. By carefully devised combinations with the other, air-braked, locomotives normally used on timetabled passenger services,…

Jim writes… The Gournay-en-Bray tractor rally over the weekend of 29-30 June was a wonderful gathering of machinery with the tremendous hospitality of the ‘Passion de Tracteurs et Collection’ group from the town of Gournay-en-Bray, which is twinned with Hailsham, East Sussex. This free event, held on the local trotting track, was supported by the local mayor and community. We are so privileged to have been invited. A huge thanks to all the organisers and especially Ian Hutchison and Howard Venters from the Chailey Classic & Vintage Tractor Club. It is difficult to express my appreciation for the enormous amount of work that had gone into organising the event. In driving the only road steamer there, myself and Merrick Jardine were made very welcome by the whole club and our…

The biennial event of Dordt in Stoom took place in some changeable weather over the weekend of 24-26 May and was another major success for the Netherlands city of Dordrecht. It took the usual format of steam on the rails, on the water and on the roads and there were representatives of all these forms of transport present which were enjoyed by the many thousands of visitors who attended the event. The best way to see and experience everything at this event is to purchase the Stoom Rondje day ticket which enables transportation between the various important exhibition sites and entry into the miniature and model engineering exhibition which is held in the bus depot some distance away along the river. Sometimes, it’s possible to have a steam boat to…

I write this in the middle of July after a hectic weekend; luckily I missed the rain showers on Saturday and Sunday and most of the cloudy weather as well. The event I first called in to was a bit of a hidden secret really, but I needed to attend the AKFEST event in the walled garden at Breamore House, Fordingbridge, Hampshire which was totally unique. Herbert Akroyd Stuart’s patents for hot-surface compression ignition engines were ground-breaking after proving they would work. The patents were purchased by Richard Hornsby & Co of Grantham. UnderRobert Edwards Akroyd’s patents were hardly recognisable and became the Hornsby engines we know and love. All told Akroyd took £8m in today’s money from the Hornsby pot and died in Australia a bitter man; sadly upon…

For only the third time in the 73-year history of the event, the county of Nottinghamshire will be host to the 2024 British National Ploughing Championships. Thoresby Farming have kindly provided a site on the Thoresby Estate at Perlethorpe, near Ollerton, Nottinghamshire on 12 and 13 October. The Championships are a highlight of the farming year and will feature up to 250 top ploughmen and women from all parts of Great Britain. With 15 different ploughing classes over the two days, visitors will be able to see their skills with tractors and modern reversible and conventional ploughing, compared to various vintage classes with trailed, mounted and classic ploughs; club classes for Ferguson, David Brown and Ford & Fordson; horticultural, crawler and the traditional, stylish high-cut ploughing. All the competitors will…

Hugh Dougherty reports that Glasgow’s Riverside Museum became home to Glasgow Subway motor car 128 on Friday 14 June, when the Metro-Cammell-built 4ft gauge car left Broomloan Depot for the last time, to travel by Reid’s heavy haulage tractor and trailer to the museum for public display. John Messner, transport and technology curator, said: “We first got in touch with SPT when we heard that the fleet, which dates from the re-opening of the line after modernisation in 1979, was to be replaced, and put in a claim for a motorcar. We already have three carriages from the original Subway fleet, in service from 1896 to 1977, and car 128 brings the Subway story up to date. It’s our newest rail exhibit and already, it’s attracting a great deal of…

The impressive Chappel viaduct, on the Marks Tey-Sudbury railway branch line near Colchester, sits just to the south of the East Anglian Railway Museum (EARM,) says Richard Hemington. To help mark 175 years since the branch and viaduct were opened in 1849, the East Anglian Traction Engine Society joined forces with EARM to use the railway museum as base for ‘The Great Eastern Steam Road Run’ on Saturday 6 July. The date chosen nicely filled the gap between the local Aldham Rally and Weeting Rally further north. A number of local engines were unfortunately unable to attend, with Phil Retman’s Foden wagon sadly snapping its rear axle on its way to take part. Despite this, four engines braved a disappointingly poor forecast and took part, together with a Stanley steam…

OXFORD DIECAST The third version of Oxford’s 1/76 scale Austin K2/Y (nicknamed ‘Katy’) Ambulance is in grey-blue National Coal Board livery [1], selling for £17.95. Around 13,000 of these rear-wheel-drive ambulances were built at Longbridge between 1939-45 with bodywork developed by the Royal Army Medical Corps and coachbuilder Mann Egerton, consisting of a wood frame covered with painted leather-cloth, and fitted with a 3,462cc, 60hp, six-cylinder engine. After the war many of the surviving examples found new uses outside the military, in this case attending mining accidents. The model is, as ever, well finished with the grille nicely represented. In the same scale is Oxford’s Volkswagen Type 2 T2 ‘bay window’ pick-up in white over poppy red [2], priced at £8.95. A thin chrome strip separates the two colours. The…

The museum is now applying for £2.56 million in grant funding to cover the cost of refurbishment and conservation of the buildings and a major push to return the 90-inch engine to steam operation. They need to raise a total of £256,000 to secure the grant. History The London Museum of Water and Steam at Kew Bridge tells a fascinating story of London’s water supply history through the preservation of its giant steam-powered pumping engines housed within the historic former Kew Bridge Water Works. Deadly Drinking Kew Bridge Works was built by the Grand Junction Water Works Co, one of eight private London companies that used new iron pipes and steam engine technology to make profits from wealthier customers, but sadly, with little or nothing provided for the poor. As…

The small steam tug Goudvisch was built in 1911 by Botje Ensing & Co of Groningen for the Volharding Towing Company of Rotterdam and made her first appearance at Dordt in Stoom after an 11-year restoration, reports Kevin Hoggett. She was found in a poor condition and motorised in Grembergen, Belgium, by her now owner Kees Boekweit, who has founded the Steam Tug Goudvisch Foundation. The tug was subsequently taken to Schiedam and stripped down. A suitable compound steam engine, also dating from 1911, was found at the Medemblik Steam Museum in the north of the Netherlands and a boiler, made in 1901, was acquired from a private owner. The GM diesel which previously had been fitted in the vessel went to a museum in Arnhem. The tug was first…

GORDON David Gordon experimented with fellow British engineer William Murdock on a vehicle driven by compressed air in 1819. His rear-engined steam omnibus of 1824 was propelled primitively by feet protruding to the road that were worked by rods and pivots. GORTON - see Beyer, Peacock GOUGH The RLS records a traction engine of this name from Salford, Lancashire in the 1850s. GOULD The Gould Manufacturing Company built steam driven fire appliances at Seneca Falls, New York around 1900. GRANT The Grant Locomotive Works of Patterson, New Jersey, USA held rights to make the Scottish Thompson steam tractor in 1873 and seems to have made a few examples. There also seems to have been a Cooke Locomotive Works in the town (see Groton). GRAY Stephen B Gray of Jacksonville, Illinois,…

Derek Rayner reports that the sun shone brilliantly for the first Motor And Steam Transport (M.A.S.T.) rally at Emley Moor, not far from Huddersfield, towards the end of June. Held within ‘spitting distance’ of the very well-known telecommunications and broadcasting facility mast, which beams services over many counties and having wonderful views to more than 50 miles of the surrounding countryside at a height of around 820 feet above sea level, it must rank as one of the highest steam rally sites in the country - if not the highest. On site, there were the usual fairground attractions such as a traditional funfair including a Ghost Train, as well as displays of tractors, stationary engines, cars, commercial and military vehicles, together with motorcycles, stunt shows and other events in the…

With so many shows and rallies scrapped over costs and lack of helpers it’s good to report of some that are making a continued success, such as The Towy Valley Vintage Club, says Alan Cullen. It was formed in 1994 and celebrated its 30th birthday with a two-day vintage show on 29-30 June. Cothi Bridge Showfield was where the event was held. A lot has changed since they ran their first show at Gelli Aur in 1995 and over the past 30 years they have raised over £16,000 for charities and good causes. In an extremely rural setting over the two days close on 200 cars, approximately 60 tractors in conditions from ‘farmers fields’ to concours were on show, together with approximately 36 stationary engines and the horticultural machinery and…

TRACTOR FIND Dear Editor This IHC McCormick Deering 10-20 tractor was seen in a field near Picton, New Zealand, by friends holidaying out there. Amazing no one has moved it! David Towell via e-mail SEAL TRUCKS Dear Editor I refer to the article in the February edition of Old Glory which included a photograph of the premises of W M Clowes (Printers) located in Beccles, Suffolk. The smaller vehicle shown on the right of the picture with the East Suffolk registration RT 3465 is a battery electric truck, built as far as can be ascertained by a Manchester company called Seal in 1927. The vehicle was used for deliveries from the printing works to the railway station. The battery electric truck passed to a museum in the printing works when…

The Zabytkowa Kopalnia Srebra (Historic Silver Mine) is situated just south of Tarnowskie Góry in Silesia, Poland, writes Michael Ward. Opened in 1976, it has a near 2-kilometre underground section consisting of a walking trail and a boat ride and is based in a small part of the former workings of the closed Fryderyk mine. Above ground is an open-air exhibition of historic winding engines, narrow gauge locomotives and boilers, with a 500-metre 7¼in gauge railway looping through it. In 2017, the museum, along with 27 other former mining locations in Tarnowskie Góry and nearby Zbrosławice and Bytom, was added to the UNESCO world heritage list. Two of the winding engines on show, a 1887 L Fishbach and 1883 Maschinengeselschaft, Bayenthot – Köln, were both used at the Śląsk mine…

FIRST EVER RESTORATION Wallis & Steevens 7nhp traction engine No.7103, MO526 left the Basingstoke works in September 1909 to George Horsell of Weybridge, Surrey, says James Hamilton. For three years the engine was with Walter G Tarrant of Byfleet. The engine was derelict with R Edwards & Sons of Swindon in 1958. In 1959 it was purchased by Edward Gale, it was reported to have been driven into a pond and left there. It was rescued in 1972 by a number of steam enthusiasts, led by Nigel Bowman and was moved to his parent’s front garden where it was kept with another WS and a couple of narrow gauge Hunslett locos. Some 10 years later, the engine was purchased by Barry Tidbury of Surrey, dismantled for restoration with the boiler…