Indice dei contenuti per May 2022 in Old Glory

Following the enforced lay-off as a result of Covid, there will be another in the successful series of ‘Transport and Steam’ illustrated evening presentations organised by the Friends of Pudsey Roller in late May, continuing their fund raising activities for the roller’s restoration. This will take place, along with a Pie and Pea Supper, at 7.45pm on Thursday, 26 May at Farsley Liberal Club, 116 Old Road, Farsley, Leeds LS28 5DH. The Middleton Railway’s Vice-President, Ian Smith, will provide an informative and illustrated talk on the history of this significantly important and historic railway over the many years of its existence. All are welcome to what will be a very interesting evening. Tickets at £8.95 each, including supper-vegetarian options available - can be obtained by post (please include an SAE)…

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At the request of Heritage Railway Association members, the trade body has also considered what advice it could give to organisations planning and running military reenactment events during the conflict in Ukraine. After due consideration by the board of the HRA, advice is now being issued that member railways should not go ahead with military re-enactment and ‘war weekend’ style events during 2022, or for as long as the conflict in Ukraine continues. The HRA is also asking members to consider whether it is appropriate to continue running such re-enactment events in future years. Heritage Railway Association Chief Executive, Steve Oates, said: “A small number of members had already taken unilateral decisions that they were uneasy about military re-enactment style events in the light of the war in Ukraine. The…

The Bure Valley Railway, Advanced Steam Tractions Trust and the Heritage Railway Association have held a further set of trials to test bio-coal under more arduous working conditions. After an initial trial under normal Bure Valley operating conditions, the objective of the second trials was to test the fuel under more arduous working conditions and also try it on a second engine, extending the knowledge base of how the fuels perform under different working conditions and on other locomotives. The morning departures to Wroxham burnt the Welsh coal from Ffos-y-fran as a base comparator and the afternoon’s burnt a variant of Ecoal50 developed by CPL based on the feedback from the earlier trials. The trial used the previous test locomotive No. 6 Bickling Hall which is fitted with a Lempor…

The 2021 Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) International Convention and Old Equipment Exposition was held at Concordia, Kansas, USA, postponed from 2020 because of the Covid pandemic. Located in the middle of America’s heartland, Concordia was not the easiest of places to visit, especially from Canada. With certain Covid restrictions still in play this author had to fly from Edmonton via Vancouver to Denver, then drive some 500 miles to Concordia. But with about 500 antique machines occupying some 200 acres, the show was well worth the effort. The event was hosted by local organization Prairie Plowing Days on the Kurt Kocher Farm at a district known as Glasco, some nine miles south of Concordia. With this year’s addition of the HCEA, the show was locally advertised as “The Big…

In 2000 my brother Steve and I purchased the remains of five Great War Dennis subsidy lorries from Mick Giles in Bedfordshire. These lorries had been built to a Government approved design and purchasers would have received a cash subsidy for buying and maintaining the lorry on the understanding that in time of national emergency they could be taken into military service. Dennis lorry enthusiast Mick had been collecting Dennis subsidy lorry parts for some years with the intention of restoring one, but with other projects on the go he reluctantly agreed to part with them. My brother Steve, father Tony and I had recently completed the restoration of an ex US Army FWD Model B truck from 1918 and were looking for a new restoration project. What we purchased…

There have been several puns in the magazine about Swiss Rolls over the years but, as far as is known, nothing has yet featured about that other sweet treat, the Arctic Roll - until perhaps now… When referring to one of these, it’s usually thought of as a British ice cream cake made of vanilla ice cream wrapped in a thin layer of sponge cake to form a roll, with a layer of raspberryflavoured sauce between the sponge and the ice cream. However, that is not what’s featured here since what’s pictured is a Buffalo-Springfield steam roller in Tromsø, some 70º north and 250 miles inside the Arctic Circle. It was inevitably cold when our intrepid Technical Editor ventured up there - and it was snowing at the time. To…

Seen on the Mountfield Vintage Road Run on Sunday 28 March is the 1944 AEC Matador still in Noyce Brothers, Salisbury colours. The vehicle was bought by well known Caterpillar D2 and D6 owner Danny without its timber crane and twisted rear chassis which has been straightened and this period bodywork has been fitted. The road run staged by Jon Playfoot of Playfoot Engineering went on to raise £591 for Cancer Research and Montfield Village Hall who supplied delightful food before the run and after the event.…

Foden No. 13848 was supplied new to Derby County Council in 1931 as an H-type 5 ton three-way tipper. The H-type differed from the normal C-type by being fitted with a smaller 5 ton boiler, had only two speeds and the front axle was fitted with coil springs. Some wagons were fitted with the old-style chain steering and referred to as the HH model. West Riding County Council bought at least three examples and Cheshire County Council had one, all being three-way tippers. There is one other example in existence fitted with the coil springs on the front axle, 1930 No. 13752, which was new to W. J. King, but the coil springs were replaced by the conventional leaf spring at some time in its life. No. 13848 had a…

The Severn Valley Railway has announced two guest locomotives that will be visiting for its Spring Diesel Festival in May. BR Class 44 No. 44004 Great Gable (D4) and BR Class 46 46045 (D182) will visit for the 19-22 May event, with the latter returning to the SVR for the first time since 2016. The engines will be visiting the railway courtesy of Peak Locomotive Co Ltd, which owns both D4 and D182. It will be a rare opportunity to see both engines away from their base at the Midland Railway - Butterly, in Derbyshire. 46045 is one of three remaining class members, whilst D4 is one of only two surviving Class 44s. Interestingly, this loco hasn’t visited the SVR since 1987 when it starred at the railway’s first ever…

Transport Museum Wythall takes on a new challenge, the restoration of Midland Red D7 double decker bus No. 4482, the only existing D7 with a viable restoration opportunity. The 350 D7s could be found throughout Midland Red’s large territory and were very much a ‘work horse,’ especially in the Black Country. Having received a cosmetic restoration for ‘Midland Red 100’ and since been on display in the museum looking ready for the road, 4482 is hiding significant ‘under the skin’ structural issues, beyond our ability to fund from current museum resources and therefore preventing its return to regular use on our free bus services. The plan is in place for a full restoration to running condition, offering public rides from our base at Wythall and joining our recently restored LD8…

Join the QMJ Group in the run up to this year’s Hillhead as we celebrate 40 years of the iconic quarrying, construction, and recycling exhibition. Over the past four decades Hillhead has grown to be a show like no other – from the humble beginnings of our very first exhibition held in 1982 at Jackdaw Crag Quarry, to the spectacular and unique experience it is today! We would like to invite you to share your favourite Hillhead memories using the hashtag #40yearsofHillhead and we will include the best of your photos in our online anniversary gallery which goes live on hillhead.com from the start of May. With this year’s show set to host over 600 exhibitors for the first time, it is the perfect opportunity to explore the products and…

After an enforced break in 2020 the annual Saunders collection Christmas road run returned in 2021 with a fine selection of the Saunders fleet heading out on to the roads on the Wednesday between Christmas and New Year, reports Simon Colbeck. The circular route from Stotfold took the engines through the Herts /Beds villages of Arlesey and Letchworth, finishing at sunset at the Coach & Horses pub in Stotfold. Making its first appearance on the run was Fowler B6 Super Lion No. 19782 The Lion of 1932 and a fine sight it made indeed sat outside the pub as the sun went down. This year’s route included the long climb up Arlesey New Road which produced some superb sound effects from the participating engines.…

Niall Byrne and his partner Hannah Bickley are based at Ruabon near Wrexham in North Wales and have displayed a couple of rollers at various events around the country, including Onslow Park, the Great Dorset Steam Fair 2013 Roller Special, Hollowell, Welland, Malpas and Oswestry. These workmanlike engines have been popular exhibits at the shows, although their journeys into restoration were somewhat different. The first roller in the collection, which is jointly owned by Niall and Chris Bickley, Hannah’s father, is 1922 Aveling & Porter D type No. 10348 Walter, although it has only carried this name in restoration. This roller certainly has an interesting history, escaping the cutter’s torch on a couple of occasions before passing into Niall and Chris’s ownership in 2011. The D Type was built for…

Crich Tramway Village, home to the National Tramway Museum, reopened after winter maintenance on Saturday March 12. After a difficult couple of years, the popular visitor attraction managed to open for some time during 2020 and 2021, though operating under government Covid-19 guidelines, which meant limited access to some of the facilities. Now that the pandemic restrictions have been lifted, all the facilities will be open, though with continued measures to maintain high levels of hygiene. The team at Crich look forward to launching refurbished tram, Newcastle 102, into service later in the season following further checks. LPTB 1622 is the only remaining working example of the largest class of tramcars from anywhere in the UK, and will be running complete with waist panel adverts similar to those it would…

Over sixty items of Southern railway interest and trolleybus memorabilia that had been squirrelled away in a container for years by the family of a deceased collector are to come to auction in June. Highlights from the Bournemouth trolleybus system, which closed in April 1969, include a couple of destination blinds still in their box with winding handles, a signboard from Tuckton Bridge advising trolley drivers of speed restrictions and the fact that they must not pass on the bridge, and the front panel of Car No. 406 with its registration plate DJW 906. On the railway side comes a wide selection of station totem signs, including three rare ones from the closed Cuckoo Line in Sussex and several where examples at auction so far are rare, such as Pokesdown,…

Richard Lygo recalls pushing his daughter Sara in her pram around the first rally they attended, at Cromford. Growing up with that interest and enthusiasm within the steam world, it was perhaps inevitable that young Sara would grow up with an ambition to work in that environment. She was 10 when she became a steam apprentice and that is where the story begins on her early association with the traction engine her family now proudly own. At that time Sara was working alongside engineer Leslie Donn and his father Bryan. Leslie explains he purchased the castings and boiler for the miniature version of the John Fowler & Co engine from David Parkin in Castleford 30 years ago. “I believe there were only four sets of castings produced, and the drawings…

Such names as Walter Hancock [Fig. 1] and Goldsworthy Gurney made great strides in this direction and passenger-carrying services were operated by Hancock between Stratford and central London in 1832 and the following year between London Wall via Islington to Paddington. Later, Hancock put into service a small ten-seater bus he named Infant on revenue earning journeys between London and Brighton. The railway lobby at the time was extremely powerful and it’s said that they put a stop to the continuing development of such road vehicles by introducing road traffic regulations in Britain such that they had to be preceded by a man walking in front with a red flag. However, it must also be remembered that the conditions of the roads themselves at the time were not really conducive…

A Glasgow Coronation tram may be fully restored in time to mark the 60th anniversary of the city’s last tram on 4 September 1962, thanks to volunteers at Summerlee Industrial Museum, home to Scotland’s only working heritage tramway. They’ve been restoring 1245, built by Glasgow Corporation Transport at its Coplawhill works in 1939, since 2011, and the stage had been reached of basically reassembling the tram from a kit of restored and renewed parts, thanks to financial and museum workshop support from North Lanarkshire Council. Glasgow’s Last Tram Group volunteer leader Charlie McAloon said: “We’ve rebuilt the tram from the bottom up. The bogies and motors are fully restored and tested and we’ve rewired the tram, fitted, low-voltage, LED lighting. improved dash panel safety and are ready to fit the…

Arecent arrival in Kent is 1923 Burrell 6hp single-crank compound No. 3918 doublegeared sprung traction engine Victoria. The engine was offered by Berrybrook Steam & Classics in the West Country and was sold to Will Day in August 2021, who could not do without one of his beloved Burrells! The engine is in good order, Will has added a roof and will be taking it to local shows this year including Woodchurch in August. Interestingly the engine used to be called Deborah and had a long stay in Lancashire at one time. Got a story? Contact Old Glory • Email: peterlove@madasafish.com • Tel: 01323 833125…

In March Jeff Burgess visited the Essex & Suffolk Water Museum of Power, Langford near Maldon, Essex on ‘Volunteers Day,’ which is normally a Tuesday and 30 or so people were on site readying various parts of the Museum for the season ahead. The big feature here of course is the Lilleshall Co, Oakengates, Shropshire inverted vertical triple expansion steam pumping engine, the last Lilleshall ever built its said. No. 282 was commissioned on 13 January 1931 and went on to be called Marshall. It was one of three identical engine and pumping sets; the others were No. 276 Brassey (commissioned on 29 August 1927) and No. 277 Francis which came on line 9 January 1928. The engines were named after three of the Southend Waterworks Company directors. Joseph Francis…

The Robey Trust of Tavistock in Devon held an open weekend at their museum/workshop premises ‘The Works’ over the weekend 18-19 September. Promoted with eye-catching publicity the weekend was called ‘Strawberries, Cream and Steam.’ Two of the trust’s engines hauled trailers to shuttle visitors between the town and the museum where, as well as been able to enjoy the refreshments, they could look around and see the Robey Trust collection and view the restoration projects that are underway, reports James Hamilton. The Robey Trust was formed in 1983 to restore a Robey tandem roller donated by Tavistock Council. The company of Robey & Co. Ltd. of Globe Iron Works was a Lincoln-based engineering manufacturer founded in 1854, closing after 134 years of production in 1988. Interest in the restoration of…

Spring is here and so is the 2022 events season, and it all kicked off with the Classic Car & Restoration Show at Birmingham’s NEC on 18-20 March. Hard-working restorers exhibited the fruits of their labours over the winter, while others were optimistically showing off new finds freshly dragged out of barns. Zack Stiling went along to see the action. Commercial vehicles were not a big feature of the event, but there was quite a number of small vans and car-derived commercials scattered around the place, from a pair of Reliant Supervan IIIs to J4s and a JU250 motorhome. The London Vintage Taxi Association and Minor LCV Register were the only clubs solely focused on commercial vehicles. The Austin Counties Car Club was nearby, and prominently displayed was the 1950…

Travelling on the train between Derby and Burton upon Trent, the train passes an old industrial looking building to which many people will not give a second glance. Complete with tall chimney, the building does indeed belong to the Victorian era, and served the town of Burton upon Trent from its opening in 1885 until the site closed in 1971. This is Claymills Victorian Pumping Station, which was responsible for pumping sewage from the town by utilising four immense steam engines. Now in the hands of The Claymills Victorian Pumping Engines Trust Ltd, it has been described by English Heritage as the most complete pumping station in the country, housing the four original engines, two of which can be steamed, with the other two in the process of restoration. The…

For the first time since 2019, writes Kevin Hoggett, the covid restrictions have relaxed sufficiently to enable a steam festival to be held once again at Maldegem, Belgium, on Saturday and Sunday 31 April and 1 May. It’s hoped to have six locos in steam on narrow and standard gauges including, from the UK narrow gauge, Kerr Stuart 0-4-0ST Peter Pan making a welcome return after a major rebuild which fortunately has included a CE certified boiler. She will join Maldegem’s own Hanomag 0-4-0WT Yvonne dating from 1906 to operate a frequent service on the narrow gauge line. In respect of this latter, there are strong suspicions that this loco is the same example on the back of the Foden steam wagon which is depicted on page 64 of OG…

A dvice comes from Andy Plunkett that he’s been busy of late helping in the restoration of a 1911 20hp IHC Mogul Type C tractor and plough at Gindie, about 12 miles south of Emerald in Central Queensland. It’s around the youngest of some six of this model known to have survived into preservation in Australia. The oldest survivor was built in 1909 and is now located at Kingaroy, also in Queensland. This Mogul tractor was imported by the Daniels family back in the day. Twelve months of effort by family members and other supporters of their restoration project during 1995-96 saw it back into working order following which it was placed on display in a protected open-fronted shed. The next generation of the family (those in their 30-40s) have…