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Online Catalogue last updated 2nd of March 2017


Traction Engines and other Steam Road Engines

Traction engines - steam engines to haul loads on the roads - developed in the mid 1860s and were usually dirty, noisy and somewhat crude to handle. They were driven initially by men who were perhaps not very skilled in handling them but these men were not just drivers - they developed the task into an art. They could take their charges uphill and down dale, usually without problem. There was sometimes a difficulty - a runaway or a dropped plug - but in the main these were few. This book brings together much information about these engines, from the earliest to the latest, how they worked and what they did. Attention is also given to the various derivatives of the traction engine - the humble portable, the well-known steam roller, the little steam tractor, majestic road locomotives and ploughing engines and, not least, the King of the Road, the glorious and glittering showman's engine. The informative text is accompanied by illustrations that show something of the age in which traction engines worked and of the age when they became treasured historic relics. Engines appear at rallies and other events all-over Great Britain and in many other countries. On these occasions they are visited and admired by thousands of people and are now part of our engineering heritage.

The author, Derek Rayner has been interested in steam engines since his schooldays in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He first drove a traction engine in 1963 and since that time his interest in such machines has multiplied. He and two friends purchased a 1915 Aveling & Porter steam roller in 1964 and he has been its sole owner since 1968. Mr Rayner is president of the Leeds & District Traction Engine Club and is a frequent contributor to Steaming, the magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust, of which he is assistant editor. He is also vice-chairman and archivist of the Road Roller Association and a member of the Road Steam Forum. He works part-time for the commercial vintage restoration magazine Old Glory as news editor and is a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a Chartered Engineer. He is the author of the Shire Album Road Rollers.

Code No. 009700, ISBN 0747805253, $10.50

This item is listed under the following subjects:

Shire   Traction Engine  
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