1
00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:26,840
'My greatest loves are
my steamroller,
which I've run for over 30 years,

2
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,960
'and my traction engine,
which I've had just as long.

3
00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:35,600
'It's funny that it takes
so much time to restore them.

4
00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,120
'Engines like this
weren't around for very long.

5
00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:47,600
'It was only from the middle of the
19th century until the First World
War that they were on the roads.

6
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:52,760
'By the 1920's steam was losing out
to diesel and petrol engines.

7
00:00:52,760 --> 00:01:00,480
'By the 1940s, steam vehicles
were heading for the scrapyard
in their thousands.

8
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:05,880
'Luckily, some were saved by men
who like these magnificent machines.

9
00:01:05,880 --> 00:01:08,760
'I'm going to meet some of them

10
00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:15,200
'and look back to a time
when our roads were full of engines
like this one.

11
00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:18,280
STEAM ENGINE TOOTS

12
00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:23,760
'I bought a steamroller 30 years
ago. I was ripped off - I paid £175!

13
00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:29,440
'You could buy a steamroller
at that time for about £60.'

14
00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:34,120
Time went by and this steamroller
was an incredible wreck.

15
00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,600
'The back wheels leaned in
on each other.

16
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:43,040
'Going over manhole covers, the
wheel banged on the flywheel's rim.

17
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:48,760
'It made the most unbelievable
noise you could ever imagine.

18
00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:53,120
'Painstakingly,
I slowly but surely made a new one.

19
00:01:53,120 --> 00:02:00,080
'When people think about
steam vehicles on the road, they
think about heavy ones like this.

20
00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:04,600
'But the earliest vehicles to travel
on the roads weren't like this.

21
00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:13,160
'This is a replica that was built
by Cornish engineer and inventor
Richard Trevithick in 1803.

22
00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:19,200
'It's quite light and elegant.
The first steam vehicles
that were built

23
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:24,000
'continued like this for some time.
By the 1820s,'

24
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:28,560
all sorts of people were trying to
manufacture steam carriages.

25
00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:33,680
Not for their own private use,
but to transport the paying public.

26
00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:39,560
A gentleman called Walter Hancock
seemed to do quite well -
he built quite a few.

27
00:02:39,560 --> 00:02:45,840
This is a replica of one of his,
The Enterprise,
which he built in 1833.

28
00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:51,040
Tom Brogdin, who helped recreate it,
is here to tell us about it.

29
00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:53,960
Isn't that right, Tom? Yes.

30
00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:57,800
Walter Hancock was the best of these
early pioneers.

31
00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:03,120
He built magnificent machines
and this was the middle of the range.

32
00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:07,800
It's a powerful beast.
You said it could do nearly 20mph.

33
00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:15,280
He did for the roads
what the Stevensons did
with the railways with Rocket.

34
00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:21,520
He had a bit of bother.
He ended up with an explosion.
Yes, one of his boilers exploded.

35
00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:25,720
But his boilers weren't
the best part of it.

36
00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:30,960
They were like seven modern central
heating radiators with bolts through.

37
00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:37,440
With a fire underneath!
Yes. As you can imagine,
the radiators soon burst. Oh, aye.

38
00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:44,800
Even one in your house frightens me!
That was a weakness of Hancock.
Silence would be very important

39
00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:50,440
to gain, sort of,
the friendship of the authorities

40
00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:52,880
because of not frightening horses.

41
00:03:52,880 --> 00:04:00,000
He said his machines were so quiet
that horses could have looked
in the cab to see how they worked!

42
00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:07,080
And the stagecoach men were jealous
of him and they tried sabotage
by rolling big rocks in his way.

43
00:04:07,080 --> 00:04:12,680
That finished him off, didn't it?
He ran out of money as well.

44
00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:24,760
Now then. Explain all of this.
There we have a steering wheel.
Yeah, yeah.

45
00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,800
This lets you turn
the steering wheel.

46
00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,880
Three people operated it. One here,
one in the middle, one on the back.

47
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:38,960
I'll have a quick sail around
the car park. All right, mate.

48
00:04:38,960 --> 00:04:42,600
STEAM ENGINE HISSES

49
00:05:23,320 --> 00:05:29,440
'Steam carriages like this
proved to be
an efficient form of transport.

50
00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:36,680
'But they were let down
by the state of the roads and never
really took off like railways did.

51
00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:43,400
'We got the traction engine instead.
In the second half of the 19th
and early part of the 20th century

52
00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:49,880
'big engines like this
were a common sight on the roads
and in the countryside.

53
00:05:49,880 --> 00:05:54,520
'Road locomotives provided
the heavy haulage of the day.

54
00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:59,520
'Steamrollers were developed
to build the roads they ran on.

55
00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:03,880
'In the fields, traction engines
were used for ploughing.

56
00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:10,400
'Showman's engines
hauled fairground rides and
provided the power to operate them.

57
00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,240
'Engines could weigh up to
20 tonnes.

58
00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:18,600
'Basically, they were similar
to railway locomotives.'

59
00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:23,360
This bit on a locomotive
is the main bit - the firebox.

60
00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:30,480
This plate here is known as
the throat plate. It joins
the square bit up to the round bit.

61
00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:33,760
This is the boiler barrel.

62
00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:40,880
Inside it there are 32 two-inch
diameter tubes that come from holes
in the top of the firebox

63
00:06:40,880 --> 00:06:48,360
through to the front tube plate,
which is hiding behind here,
where they all poke out.

64
00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:52,240
That is a void called the smokebox.

65
00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:59,960
The combustion products come from
the firebox, through to the front,
and are blasted up the chimney.

66
00:06:59,960 --> 00:07:06,040
It's then turned into
the base of the chimney,
forming a vacuum inside.

67
00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:10,320
The rear end -
this is the back axle.

68
00:07:10,320 --> 00:07:15,160
The reason for this...
moon-shaped hole here,

69
00:07:15,160 --> 00:07:21,840
is the amount of play that
the axle has on the springing gear.

70
00:07:21,840 --> 00:07:25,400
This brass tap is important.

71
00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:29,600
You get your water out of it
for making your tea!

72
00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:35,480
It's handy for washing your hands -
depends where you fill it up.

73
00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,120
I wouldn't recommend brewing tea.

74
00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:42,800
'The earliest ones were
nothing like as big as this.

75
00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:46,880
'The first ones couldn't get around
under their own steam.'

76
00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:53,120
When it was realised
that some sort of power had to be
introduced into agriculture,

77
00:07:53,120 --> 00:07:58,640
the steam locomotives on the
railway were already well developed

78
00:07:58,640 --> 00:08:02,720
and the locomotive boiler
was the obvious thing to pick.

79
00:08:02,720 --> 00:08:08,320
They put a wheel on each corner
and called it a portable.

80
00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:11,240
It was a very handy machine.

81
00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:15,520
You could take it from farm to farm
and work the threshing machine,

82
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:23,000
you could put it up to great saws,
you could make it work pumps
in industrial areas,

83
00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:25,240
pumping building works out.

84
00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,920
They even made some called
semi-portable,

85
00:08:29,920 --> 00:08:33,120
a portable with no wheels.

86
00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:40,280
There's a lovely example here
built by a Mr Robey of Lincoln.
It's a beautiful piece.

87
00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:45,360
At the Hollycombe Steam Collection

88
00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,680
you can see steam engines
and traction engines

89
00:08:49,680 --> 00:08:54,480
that were used in agriculture up to
the middle of the last century.

90
00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,280
'Even after traction engines
were established,

91
00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:06,040
'there was still a market
for the semi-portable like this -
you wouldn't believe it, really.

92
00:09:06,040 --> 00:09:11,000
'It's a portable engine. It's
bolted on to the top of the boiler.

93
00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:18,880
'The richer farmers could have
a static engine room
driving all this tackle.

94
00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:26,480
'The less affluent farmer had
the threshing man come in with his
threshing box and traction engine.'

95
00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:37,760
This one was built by
Robey's of Lincoln in 1915.

96
00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:42,400
It drives a thing called a rack saw
with a five-foot blade on it.

97
00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:50,240
It saws great trees into
planks of wood for making posts and
rail fences and that type of stuff.

98
00:09:52,960 --> 00:10:00,160
The semi-portable was good
for running a sawmill, where the
wood could be brought to the engine.

99
00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:07,440
But they also needed engines
that could get round the farm
under their own steam.

100
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:18,360
By far the largest traction engines
were the ones that were built
for ploughing,

101
00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:21,720
like these two behind me.

102
00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:28,160
In the 1840s, when they first
had the idea for using steam power
for ploughing,

103
00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:34,240
they had various different systems
that weren't
a great deal better than horses.

104
00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,520
But a Leeds man called John Fowler

105
00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:43,600
had an idea to put
the winding drum under the boiler
and have two engines.

106
00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:48,520
Then he put a lot of thought
into the plough.

107
00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:56,160
When the thing was going across
the field, you dumped the plough
into the ground at the back.

108
00:10:56,160 --> 00:11:00,120
When it got to the other end
you lifted it up,

109
00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:05,120
and the other engine pulled it back,
which was a good way of doing it.

110
00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:10,600
If you go to Lincolnshire and you
see the fields all lovely and flat,

111
00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:14,960
I think Mr Fowler was responsible
for that.

112
00:11:14,960 --> 00:11:18,520
Very beautiful and level.

113
00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:22,160
STEAM ENGINE HISSES

114
00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:49,240
A road locomotive was similar to
an agricultural traction engine
but it had a few refinements.

115
00:11:49,240 --> 00:11:54,960
Number one, it always had
a few more horsepowers in power.

116
00:11:54,960 --> 00:11:59,160
It had three gears -
most of them had three gears.

117
00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:03,640
It had an extra tank
under the boiler for going further.

118
00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:09,680
Here's a road locomotive,
pulling two of its brothers
that haven't been finished off

119
00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:13,560
and a threshing box at the back.

120
00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:17,800
The engine itself is
a very handsome piece of tackle.

121
00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:22,480
It has a beautiful finish.
Made by Fodens,

122
00:12:22,480 --> 00:12:27,360
who are still making modern wagons
to this very day.

123
00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:31,960
'Road locomotives were in use
for around 80 years.

124
00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,120
'There's no finer sight than
engines steamed up.

125
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:43,120
'This is the
Strumpshaw Steam Museum in Norfolk.
The owner is Mr James Key.'

126
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:50,520
You'll have to tell me how it all
started. My father was deprived -
he didn't have a train set,

127
00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:53,800
that's how it all started off.

128
00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,080
When combines first came out,

129
00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:03,760
they combined the barley but
the wheat was stacked and they'd buy
an engine drum every year.

130
00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:10,640
A different one? Yes.
They'd buy the complete set
for about £100, ready to work.

131
00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:16,560
Then at the end they'd scrap them.
Unbelievable!

132
00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:23,920
Then one of the men on the farm said
we should paint one up
and that's how it all started it up.

133
00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:31,560
How many engines have you got now?
With traction engines, rollers etc
I think we've got about 30.

134
00:13:31,560 --> 00:13:34,440
I haven't counted exactly.

135
00:13:34,440 --> 00:13:40,960
It's very strange how it's all gone.
30 years ago I paid £170
for my steamroller.

136
00:13:40,960 --> 00:13:46,880
Now, they're asking £20,000
for a clapped-out steamroller.

137
00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,080
You're lucky to get one for £20,000.

138
00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:57,960
I had to buy that from my father's -
I don't know what you call -
a lady friend, or whatever.

139
00:13:57,960 --> 00:14:02,240
There's a lot of that goes on!

140
00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,880
I had to pay £35,000 for that -
that really hurt.

141
00:14:06,880 --> 00:14:10,640
It's a rare machine. It's unique.

142
00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:15,480
It's like driving a minicab.
It's a lovely little thing to drive.

143
00:14:15,480 --> 00:14:22,560
Can I have a go on that one?
Certainly. The first engine
I had a ride on was a Garrett!

144
00:14:22,560 --> 00:14:28,080
It's the only one you can have
a ride on because it's unique.

145
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:34,920
'Traction engines made a difference
to farm work. The engineer could
drive it to where it was needed,

146
00:14:34,920 --> 00:14:38,400
'for things like hauling big trees

147
00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:42,360
'and for threshing corn
or sawing timber.'

148
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:49,600
Aye.

149
00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:56,880
'Trees that had been felled
had to be loaded on to carts
for transport to sawmills.

150
00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:01,160
'More work could be done in a day
than ever before.

151
00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:06,440
'It's only because of the time
and money and sheer hard graft

152
00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:10,880
'put in by dedicated enthusiasts,

153
00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,360
'like those who brought engines
today, that we can still see them.'

154
00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,800
Aye.

155
00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:24,080
It's really nice to see, today,
them pulling lumps of wood about

156
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,400
and look at engines doing
what they were supposed to do.

157
00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:33,400
I've got a friend with the same one
as this.

158
00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:37,480
Yeah. Yeah. But what year's this?
1919.

159
00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:42,320
Have you had it long?
Since last July. How you finding it?

160
00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:48,640
We've had a go on other engines
with friends before.
I've been involved in other clubs.

161
00:15:48,640 --> 00:15:52,160
Doing your apprenticeship. Yes.

162
00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:59,400
You've got the wife and kids
with you. They all take part and
all have their bit to do with it.

163
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:06,360
'It really does take a lot of
dedication to get them back in
their original condition.'

164
00:16:06,360 --> 00:16:12,000
My traction engine is all
coming together like a Meccano set,

165
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,320
after about 27 years of
bitter struggle and mistakes.

166
00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:22,240
We're nearly there.
It's pretty self-explanatory.

167
00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:30,120
The round bit underneath is the
boiler, and the bit with the brass
on at the end is the cylinder block.

168
00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:37,640
This is the brake, which acts
on the inside of the rims of
the back wheels, like disc brakes.

169
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:43,200
This is like the equivalent
to a gearbox on a car.

170
00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:49,000
That's it. That's in bottom gear.
It's all such a good fit.

171
00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:54,160
This bit is
the special traction engine gauge.

172
00:16:54,160 --> 00:17:00,120
The company sent me the pamphlet
with the original price -
17 and sixpence.

173
00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:03,240
Something like that... Unbelievable!

174
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,320
Now for the steamrollers.

175
00:17:06,320 --> 00:17:13,000
The first one was built in 1867.
Basically, it was a variation
on the traction engine.

176
00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:20,280
You got a traction engine
and put two conical-shaped rollers
instead of front wheels on it

177
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:24,000
with a central pivot.

178
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:31,840
But the conical-shaped rollers had
a sliding effect so they developed
a pair of forks and two rollers

179
00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:37,240
for the differential movement
on a dead axle through the bottom.

180
00:17:37,240 --> 00:17:41,440
In the 1930s,
they stopped making steamrollers.

181
00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:47,720
The steamrollers that they made
in the '30s lasted up to the '60s -
they were so good.

182
00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:53,280
Today, when you're on the motorway
and the kids say, "Steamroller."

183
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:58,680
It's a dieselroller but
they're still called steamrollers.

184
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:04,560
'A steamroller is hard to handle
and they can be quite dangerous,

185
00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,480
'as I found out to my cost.

186
00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:13,320
'I had a job dismantling
some Victorian chimney stacks.'

187
00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:18,080
The plan was to lower the stones
off the roof of the building,

188
00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:22,160
and bring them home
with the steamroller.

189
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:29,320
'I got a call from a restaurant
which is situated on top of
a mountain outside of Bolton.

190
00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:35,880
'The man said, "You've got these
stones with holes in. How much
will you sell us a wagon for?"

191
00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,480
'I said, "£80." He said, "Good."

192
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:43,160
'Then I thought, "How you going to
get up the mountain?"'

193
00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:48,600
It was autumn. The leaves
were coming down. It was terrible.

194
00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:54,320
'We set off, full of fear. We came
to the bottom of the first big hill

195
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:59,600
'and it went, "Chuff, chuff, chuff."
Right up the hill. No trouble.

196
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:03,920
'It took us about an hour to unload
the stones.

197
00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:11,400
'We're coming down the hill -
all traction engines and
steamrollers have a design fault.'

198
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:16,480
There's no brakes.
'Half way down, we're going fast.

199
00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:20,680
'We put the engine in reverse,
the wheels are going backwards

200
00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,200
'but we're accelerating down.

201
00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:29,440
'The man from the restaurant
is still at the back. When he saw
things weren't going to plan

202
00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:34,560
'he bid us good day and jumped off
over the wall into the field.'

203
00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,360
Ha! Ha! Ha! Hooray!

204
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:43,520
'I might be laughing now
but 20 years ago'

205
00:19:43,520 --> 00:19:49,840
I come down this hill
and the road was only half as wide,
it was a one-way street,

206
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:57,320
being pushed by a three-and-a-half
tonne trailer and the steamroller
wheels weren't even going round.

207
00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:00,160
It was like a big sledge.

208
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:07,960
When we reached this spot,
we were doing 40mph, which is
incredible for a steamroller.

209
00:20:07,960 --> 00:20:13,360
I had to do something - we'd never
have got round a 45-degree bend.

210
00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:21,280
Over there is about a 15-foot drop
into the back of an hospital.

211
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:28,880
I had visions of dead old ladies,
twisted bedsteads and maybe
an explosion and a lot of steam.

212
00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:33,240
Then I saw that pillar and I said,
"Aim for the pillar."

213
00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:38,760
We hit the pillar but the engine
took off up into the sky.

214
00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:46,280
The back wheels were on top of
the stump of the pillar -
it was a lot thicker and wider.

215
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:52,080
It's definitely been rebuilt
as it's not damaged.

216
00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:58,200
The rear wheels were on top of
the pillar and the boiler
dug a hole in the road about there.

217
00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:00,280
About 18 inches deep.

218
00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:07,320
'I'd just wrecked something
that it took me 20 years to make go.

219
00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:13,480
'Anyway, I managed to get it fixed,
so there weren't
too much of a problem.

220
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:19,200
'The thing was steamrollers weren't
really designed for road haulage.

221
00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:25,440
'If my traction engine
had been finished
I wouldn't have had any problems.

222
00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:30,920
'Back at Hollycombe, you can see
another type of engine in action.

223
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:38,120
'As well as providing power for
agriculture and haulage, it found
its way onto the fairground'

224
00:21:38,120 --> 00:21:43,080
to power fairground rides
and generate electricity.

225
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:49,000
One of the interesting things
about the showman's engines
were all the embellishments -

226
00:21:49,000 --> 00:21:51,640
the stars and the candy floss.

227
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:57,560
Most important was the dynamo on
the front to generate electricity

228
00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,560
and drive the roundabouts.

229
00:22:00,560 --> 00:22:04,840
This wonderful ride was called
the Set Of Golden Gallopers.

230
00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:09,040
Obviously, there are horses
and they're galloping.

231
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:14,640
Steam was first introduced into
the fairground in the 1870s.

232
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:22,400
Really, it was Frederick Savage
in King's Lynn,
coming from agricultural beginnings,

233
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:25,840
who started to make roundabouts.

234
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:32,280
Eventually, with the
little engine in the middle,
which was called the centre engine.

235
00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:36,320
The whole roundabout
is built round that engine.

236
00:22:36,320 --> 00:22:39,800
They went from strength to strength.

237
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:45,680
They made all sorts of wonderful
rides, all powered by steam.

238
00:22:45,680 --> 00:22:50,200
FAIRGROUND ORGAN PLAYS "Tea For Two"

239
00:22:58,520 --> 00:23:03,600
When you think most people only had
oil lamps in their houses,

240
00:23:03,600 --> 00:23:10,480
and electricity was a wonderful
thing in itself, when these fellows
came to the village

241
00:23:10,480 --> 00:23:15,360
it was quite something to see,
all these lights glowing away.

242
00:23:22,040 --> 00:23:26,960
'I couldn't ride on that one
while it drove the roundabouts.

243
00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:31,200
'But they had one that
I WAS able to have a go on.'

244
00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:36,080
One of the first rides I had on a
traction engine was on one of these.

245
00:23:36,080 --> 00:23:41,120
I'll ask the driver if I can
steer it. I think he'll let me.

246
00:23:41,120 --> 00:23:46,360
Is that all right, Chris? Yes.
Right, mate.

247
00:23:46,360 --> 00:23:49,040
Right.

248
00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:56,200
'They made these engines
even more and more beautiful,
and bigger and more grander,

249
00:23:56,200 --> 00:24:01,480
'and the last that were ever made
were made in the 1930s.

250
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:07,920
'All the old, ex-army wagons,
even after the last war in 1945,

251
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:13,320
'there were American haulage wagons
that pulled tank transporters.

252
00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:19,320
'The fairground men used them and
made the showman's engine obsolete.'

253
00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:26,280
You can't really see a lot driving
one of these, can you? Yeah.

254
00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:32,680
In the olden days everyone
got out of the way, didn't they?
That's right.

255
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:38,160
By 1940, the scrap yards were full
of derelict showman's engines,

256
00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,760
in very sad, sad condition.

257
00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:46,760
You could get one for a few hundred
quid. Now it's £330,000 apiece!

258
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:52,040
I think some of them fairground men
wish they'd kept them somewhere.

259
00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,480
Thank you for the ride.
I'll see you later on.

260
00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:59,160
OK, cheers! See you, mate.

261
00:24:59,160 --> 00:25:03,920
You can see that when these things
were made there weren't many cars.

262
00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:07,480
They were basically
king of the road.

263
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,560
If anybody saw one coming,
they got out of the way!

264
00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,040
Here at Strumpshaw
they've got a fine collection.

265
00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:18,040
Most of them
will run along the road.

266
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:22,720
This thing here is like the
latest thing in modern technology

267
00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,440
in steam wagons.

268
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:28,680
It's a Foden 6 ton
Overtype steam wagon,

269
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:33,360
and I think the driver's
going to let me have a go in it.

270
00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:36,520
Hiya, Pip, how are you doing, mate?

271
00:25:36,520 --> 00:25:39,160
How are you? All right.

272
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:42,000
Having an enjoyable day.

273
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:44,120
Very good!

274
00:25:44,120 --> 00:25:46,480
Take a seat.

275
00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:50,720
So the basic bits -
that's the reversing lever... Yep.

276
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:53,880
And this of course is the regulator.

277
00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:58,800
This is the steering wheel, and I
reckon that must be the handbrake.

278
00:25:58,800 --> 00:26:03,520
There's a foot brake on this one.
How many gears? Three.

279
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:08,320
We have three gears. I think really
we'll start off in bottom gear.

280
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,040
We'll try for a bottom one. Yeah!

281
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,320
What sort of speed does it do?

282
00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,360
ENGINE JUDDERS NOISILY

283
00:26:18,360 --> 00:26:21,400
You can get up to
about 18 or 19mph.

284
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,000
Is the foot brake very efficient?

285
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,760
Er, not bad, yeah!

286
00:26:30,120 --> 00:26:35,000
These steam wagons were developed
to a very high degree,

287
00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:39,280
and by 1936 or round about then,
they were brilliant.

288
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:44,600
They made the diesel wagons and the
early petrol wagons puny looking.

289
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:51,240
These steam wagons would do 40mph
with a trailer full of cloth rolls.

290
00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,120
Big rolls of cloth are really heavy.

291
00:26:54,120 --> 00:26:59,000
They'd come down Manchester Road
like an express train

292
00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:04,080
with the safety valves blowing out
and the driver hanging out the cab,

293
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:08,560
all black, cos there was a strange
way of putting coal on.

294
00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:13,000
It's like a dustbin, the boiler,
with a lid on top.

295
00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:17,880
When you got the lid off, the heat
and muck came out in your face,

296
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,720
and they still beat the wotsit
off a petrol engine!

297
00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,200
Then the men who sold the oil
got a bit upset,

298
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,440
and they altered
the Road Traffic Act

299
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,200
so the axle weights
became important,

300
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,640
and the weight of a steam wagon
compared with a petrol wagon,

301
00:27:36,640 --> 00:27:40,840
made it uneconomical to carry on
with the steam wagon.

302
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:45,200
So, powerful as they were,
they were slowly abandoned.

303
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:50,200
The traction engine - the fairground
engine - survived up to about 1949.

304
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:55,280
In some cases, about 1950.
And then finally, all gone.

305
00:27:55,280 --> 00:28:01,840
But for the preservationists
and the restoration men,
they'd have gone for ever.

306
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:09,080
People don't realise there's nearly
4,000 steam-driven road vehicles
in England. It's incredible, really.

307
00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:13,720
There's still plenty of them
around today.