Steaming Down the Road Fred Dibnah's Age of Steam

'My greatest loves are my steamroller, which I've run for over 30 years,

'and my traction engine, which I've had just as long.

'It's funny that it takes so much time to restore them.

'Engines like this weren't around for very long.

'It was only from the middle of the 19th century until the First World War that they were on the roads.

'By the 1920's steam was losing out to diesel and petrol engines.

'By the 1940s, steam vehicles were heading for the scrapyard in their thousands.

'Luckily, some were saved by men who like these magnificent machines.

'I'm going to meet some of them

'and look back to a time when our roads were full of engines like this one.

STEAM ENGINE TOOTS

'I bought a steamroller 30 years ago. I was ripped off - I paid £175!

'You could buy a steamroller at that time for about £60.'

Time went by and this steamroller was an incredible wreck.

'The back wheels leaned in on each other.

'Going over manhole covers, the wheel banged on the flywheel's rim.

'It made the most unbelievable noise you could ever imagine.

'Painstakingly, I slowly but surely made a new one.

'When people think about steam vehicles on the road, they think about heavy ones like this.

'But the earliest vehicles to travel on the roads weren't like this.

'This is a replica that was built by Cornish engineer and inventor Richard Trevithick in 1803.

'It's quite light and elegant. The first steam vehicles that were built

'continued like this for some time. By the 1820s,'

all sorts of people were trying to manufacture steam carriages.

Not for their own private use, but to transport the paying public.

A gentleman called Walter Hancock seemed to do quite well - he built quite a few.

This is a replica of one of his, The Enterprise, which he built in 1833.

Tom Brogdin, who helped recreate it, is here to tell us about it.

-Isn't that right, Tom?

-Yes.

Walter Hancock was the best of these early pioneers.

He built magnificent machines and this was the middle of the range.

-It's a powerful beast.

-You said it could do nearly 20mph.

He did for the roads what the Stevensons did with the railways with Rocket.

-He had a bit of bother. He ended up with an explosion.

-Yes, one of his boilers exploded.

But his boilers weren't the best part of it.

They were like seven modern central heating radiators with bolts through.

-With a fire underneath!

-Yes. As you can imagine, the radiators soon burst.

-Oh, aye.

-Even one in your house frightens me!

-That was a weakness of Hancock.

-Silence would be very important

to gain, sort of, the friendship of the authorities

because of not frightening horses.

He said his machines were so quiet that horses could have looked in the cab to see how they worked!

And the stagecoach men were jealous of him and they tried sabotage by rolling big rocks in his way.

-That finished him off, didn't it?

-He ran out of money as well.

-Now then. Explain all of this.

-There we have a steering wheel.

-Yeah, yeah.

This lets you turn the steering wheel.

Three people operated it. One here, one in the middle, one on the back.

I'll have a quick sail around the car park. All right, mate.

STEAM ENGINE HISSES

'Steam carriages like this proved to be an efficient form of transport.

'But they were let down by the state of the roads and never really took off like railways did.

'We got the traction engine instead. In the second half of the 19th and early part of the 20th century

'big engines like this were a common sight on the roads and in the countryside.

'Road locomotives provided the heavy haulage of the day.

'Steamrollers were developed to build the roads they ran on.

'In the fields, traction engines were used for ploughing.

'Showman's engines hauled fairground rides and provided the power to operate them.

'Engines could weigh up to 20 tonnes.

'Basically, they were similar to railway locomotives.'

This bit on a locomotive is the main bit - the firebox.

This plate here is known as the throat plate. It joins the square bit up to the round bit.

This is the boiler barrel.

Inside it there are 32 two-inch diameter tubes that come from holes in the top of the firebox

through to the front tube plate, which is hiding behind here, where they all poke out.

That is a void called the smokebox.

The combustion products come from the firebox, through to the front, and are blasted up the chimney.

It's then turned into the base of the chimney, forming a vacuum inside.

The rear end - this is the back axle.

The reason for this... moon-shaped hole here,

is the amount of play that the axle has on the springing gear.

This brass tap is important.

You get your water out of it for making your tea!

It's handy for washing your hands - depends where you fill it up.

I wouldn't recommend brewing tea.

'The earliest ones were nothing like as big as this.

'The first ones couldn't get around under their own steam.'

When it was realised that some sort of power had to be introduced into agriculture,

the steam locomotives on the railway were already well developed

and the locomotive boiler was the obvious thing to pick.

They put a wheel on each corner and called it a portable.

It was a very handy machine.

You could take it from farm to farm and work the threshing machine,

you could put it up to great saws, you could make it work pumps in industrial areas,

pumping building works out.

They even made some called semi-portable,

a portable with no wheels.

There's a lovely example here built by a Mr Robey of Lincoln. It's a beautiful piece.

At the Hollycombe Steam Collection

you can see steam engines and traction engines

that were used in agriculture up to the middle of the last century.

'Even after traction engines were established,

'there was still a market for the semi-portable like this - you wouldn't believe it, really.

'It's a portable engine. It's bolted on to the top of the boiler.

'The richer farmers could have a static engine room driving all this tackle.

'The less affluent farmer had the threshing man come in with his threshing box and traction engine.'

This one was built by Robey's of Lincoln in 1915.

It drives a thing called a rack saw with a five-foot blade on it.

It saws great trees into planks of wood for making posts and rail fences and that type of stuff.

The semi-portable was good for running a sawmill, where the wood could be brought to the engine.

But they also needed engines that could get round the farm under their own steam.

By far the largest traction engines were the ones that were built for ploughing,

like these two behind me.

In the 1840s, when they first had the idea for using steam power for ploughing,

they had various different systems that weren't a great deal better than horses.

But a Leeds man called John Fowler

had an idea to put the winding drum under the boiler and have two engines.

Then he put a lot of thought into the plough.

When the thing was going across the field, you dumped the plough into the ground at the back.

When it got to the other end you lifted it up,

and the other engine pulled it back, which was a good way of doing it.

If you go to Lincolnshire and you see the fields all lovely and flat,

I think Mr Fowler was responsible for that.

Very beautiful and level.

STEAM ENGINE HISSES

A road locomotive was similar to an agricultural traction engine but it had a few refinements.

Number one, it always had a few more horsepowers in power.

It had three gears - most of them had three gears.

It had an extra tank under the boiler for going further.

Here's a road locomotive, pulling two of its brothers that haven't been finished off

and a threshing box at the back.

The engine itself is a very handsome piece of tackle.

It has a beautiful finish. Made by Fodens,

who are still making modern wagons to this very day.

'Road locomotives were in use for around 80 years.

'There's no finer sight than engines steamed up.

'This is the Strumpshaw Steam Museum in Norfolk. The owner is Mr James Key.'

-You'll have to tell me how it all started.

-My father was deprived - he didn't have a train set,

that's how it all started off.

When combines first came out,

they combined the barley but the wheat was stacked and they'd buy an engine drum every year.

-A different one?

-Yes. They'd buy the complete set for about £100, ready to work.

-Then at the end they'd scrap them.

-Unbelievable!

Then one of the men on the farm said we should paint one up and that's how it all started it up.

-How many engines have you got now?

-With traction engines, rollers etc I think we've got about 30.

I haven't counted exactly.

It's very strange how it's all gone. 30 years ago I paid £170 for my steamroller.

Now, they're asking £20,000 for a clapped-out steamroller.

You're lucky to get one for £20,000.

I had to buy that from my father's - I don't know what you call - a lady friend, or whatever.

There's a lot of that goes on!

I had to pay £35,000 for that - that really hurt.

-It's a rare machine.

-It's unique.

It's like driving a minicab. It's a lovely little thing to drive.

-Can I have a go on that one?

-Certainly.

-The first engine I had a ride on was a Garrett!

It's the only one you can have a ride on because it's unique.

'Traction engines made a difference to farm work. The engineer could drive it to where it was needed,

'for things like hauling big trees

'and for threshing corn or sawing timber.'

Aye.

'Trees that had been felled had to be loaded on to carts for transport to sawmills.

'More work could be done in a day than ever before.

'It's only because of the time and money and sheer hard graft

'put in by dedicated enthusiasts,

'like those who brought engines today, that we can still see them.'

Aye.

It's really nice to see, today, them pulling lumps of wood about

and look at engines doing what they were supposed to do.

I've got a friend with the same one as this.

-Yeah. Yeah. But what year's this?

-1919.

-Have you had it long?

-Since last July.

-How you finding it?

We've had a go on other engines with friends before. I've been involved in other clubs.

-Doing your apprenticeship.

-Yes.

-You've got the wife and kids with you.

-They all take part and all have their bit to do with it.

'It really does take a lot of dedication to get them back in their original condition.'

My traction engine is all coming together like a Meccano set,

after about 27 years of bitter struggle and mistakes.

We're nearly there. It's pretty self-explanatory.

The round bit underneath is the boiler, and the bit with the brass on at the end is the cylinder block.

This is the brake, which acts on the inside of the rims of the back wheels, like disc brakes.

This is like the equivalent to a gearbox on a car.

That's it. That's in bottom gear. It's all such a good fit.

This bit is the special traction engine gauge.

The company sent me the pamphlet with the original price - 17 and sixpence.

Something like that... Unbelievable!

Now for the steamrollers.

The first one was built in 1867. Basically, it was a variation on the traction engine.

You got a traction engine and put two conical-shaped rollers instead of front wheels on it

with a central pivot.

But the conical-shaped rollers had a sliding effect so they developed a pair of forks and two rollers

for the differential movement on a dead axle through the bottom.

In the 1930s, they stopped making steamrollers.

The steamrollers that they made in the '30s lasted up to the '60s - they were so good.

Today, when you're on the motorway and the kids say, "Steamroller."

It's a dieselroller but they're still called steamrollers.

'A steamroller is hard to handle and they can be quite dangerous,

'as I found out to my cost.

'I had a job dismantling some Victorian chimney stacks.'

The plan was to lower the stones off the roof of the building,

and bring them home with the steamroller.

'I got a call from a restaurant which is situated on top of a mountain outside of Bolton.

'The man said, "You've got these stones with holes in. How much will you sell us a wagon for?"

'I said, "£80." He said, "Good."

'Then I thought, "How you going to get up the mountain?"'

It was autumn. The leaves were coming down. It was terrible.

'We set off, full of fear. We came to the bottom of the first big hill

'and it went, "Chuff, chuff, chuff." Right up the hill. No trouble.

'It took us about an hour to unload the stones.

'We're coming down the hill - all traction engines and steamrollers have a design fault.'

There's no brakes. 'Half way down, we're going fast.

'We put the engine in reverse, the wheels are going backwards

'but we're accelerating down.

'The man from the restaurant is still at the back. When he saw things weren't going to plan

'he bid us good day and jumped off over the wall into the field.'

-Ha! Ha! Ha!

-Hooray!

'I might be laughing now but 20 years ago'

I come down this hill and the road was only half as wide, it was a one-way street,

being pushed by a three-and-a-half tonne trailer and the steamroller wheels weren't even going round.

It was like a big sledge.

When we reached this spot, we were doing 40mph, which is incredible for a steamroller.

I had to do something - we'd never have got round a 45-degree bend.

Over there is about a 15-foot drop into the back of an hospital.

I had visions of dead old ladies, twisted bedsteads and maybe an explosion and a lot of steam.

Then I saw that pillar and I said, "Aim for the pillar."

We hit the pillar but the engine took off up into the sky.

The back wheels were on top of the stump of the pillar - it was a lot thicker and wider.

It's definitely been rebuilt as it's not damaged.

The rear wheels were on top of the pillar and the boiler dug a hole in the road about there.

About 18 inches deep.

'I'd just wrecked something that it took me 20 years to make go.

'Anyway, I managed to get it fixed, so there weren't too much of a problem.

'The thing was steamrollers weren't really designed for road haulage.

'If my traction engine had been finished I wouldn't have had any problems.

'Back at Hollycombe, you can see another type of engine in action.

'As well as providing power for agriculture and haulage, it found its way onto the fairground'

to power fairground rides and generate electricity.

One of the interesting things about the showman's engines were all the embellishments -

the stars and the candy floss.

Most important was the dynamo on the front to generate electricity

and drive the roundabouts.

This wonderful ride was called the Set Of Golden Gallopers.

Obviously, there are horses and they're galloping.

Steam was first introduced into the fairground in the 1870s.

Really, it was Frederick Savage in King's Lynn, coming from agricultural beginnings,

who started to make roundabouts.

Eventually, with the little engine in the middle, which was called the centre engine.

The whole roundabout is built round that engine.

They went from strength to strength.

They made all sorts of wonderful rides, all powered by steam.

FAIRGROUND ORGAN PLAYS "Tea For Two"

When you think most people only had oil lamps in their houses,

and electricity was a wonderful thing in itself, when these fellows came to the village

it was quite something to see, all these lights glowing away.

'I couldn't ride on that one while it drove the roundabouts.

'But they had one that I WAS able to have a go on.'

One of the first rides I had on a traction engine was on one of these.

I'll ask the driver if I can steer it. I think he'll let me.

-Is that all right, Chris?

-Yes.

-Right, mate.

Right.

'They made these engines even more and more beautiful, and bigger and more grander,

'and the last that were ever made were made in the 1930s.

'All the old, ex-army wagons, even after the last war in 1945,

'there were American haulage wagons that pulled tank transporters.

'The fairground men used them and made the showman's engine obsolete.'

You can't really see a lot driving one of these, can you? Yeah.

-In the olden days everyone got out of the way, didn't they?

-That's right.

By 1940, the scrap yards were full of derelict showman's engines,

in very sad, sad condition.

You could get one for a few hundred quid. Now it's £330,000 apiece!

I think some of them fairground men wish they'd kept them somewhere.

Thank you for the ride. I'll see you later on.

-OK, cheers!

-See you, mate.

You can see that when these things were made there weren't many cars.

They were basically king of the road.

If anybody saw one coming, they got out of the way!

Here at Strumpshaw they've got a fine collection.

Most of them will run along the road.

This thing here is like the latest thing in modern technology

in steam wagons.

It's a Foden 6 ton Overtype steam wagon,

and I think the driver's going to let me have a go in it.

Hiya, Pip, how are you doing, mate?

-How are you?

-All right.

Having an enjoyable day.

Very good!

Take a seat.

-So the basic bits - that's the reversing lever...

-Yep.

And this of course is the regulator.

This is the steering wheel, and I reckon that must be the handbrake.

-There's a foot brake on this one.

-How many gears?

-Three.

We have three gears. I think really we'll start off in bottom gear.

-We'll try for a bottom one.

-Yeah!

What sort of speed does it do?

ENGINE JUDDERS NOISILY

You can get up to about 18 or 19mph.

Is the foot brake very efficient?

Er, not bad, yeah!

These steam wagons were developed to a very high degree,

and by 1936 or round about then, they were brilliant.

They made the diesel wagons and the early petrol wagons puny looking.

These steam wagons would do 40mph with a trailer full of cloth rolls.

Big rolls of cloth are really heavy.

They'd come down Manchester Road like an express train

with the safety valves blowing out and the driver hanging out the cab,

all black, cos there was a strange way of putting coal on.

It's like a dustbin, the boiler, with a lid on top.

When you got the lid off, the heat and muck came out in your face,

and they still beat the wotsit off a petrol engine!

Then the men who sold the oil got a bit upset,

and they altered the Road Traffic Act

so the axle weights became important,

and the weight of a steam wagon compared with a petrol wagon,

made it uneconomical to carry on with the steam wagon.

So, powerful as they were, they were slowly abandoned.

The traction engine - the fairground engine - survived up to about 1949.

In some cases, about 1950. And then finally, all gone.

But for the preservationists and the restoration men, they'd have gone for ever.

People don't realise there's nearly 4,000 steam-driven road vehicles in England. It's incredible, really.

There's still plenty of them around today.