My Grandfather left school at the age of 14 and went to work as a farm laborer. He was 81 years old when he passed away and had worked the land his entire life. From time to time he used to tell us stories of older times at the turn of the 20thC and I still have a cassette tape recorded by my father of him talking about learning to use steam tractors and steam powered threshing machines. He was quite graphic about some of the accidents that used to occur with steam vehicles and inattentive farm-hands.. He also went into quite alot of detail about how hard and dirty the work was., how the fire wasn't allowed to go out and taking it in turns to keep the "kettle" simmering overnight ready to start work again in the morning. If the night watchman fell asleep and let the fire burn too low they'd be in some seriously deep cowpat because of how long it took to get the steam back up. Idle hands cost money.
And electric cars! Not many people these days realise that they were the first type of powered cars (with, or ahead of, steam?). We have come full circle!
I was in rural Wales when I could hear the chuff chuff of a steam engine in the distance. While there was a narrow gauge railway a few miles away, no way could it be that. Eventually I spotted a steam roller on a road in the distance, apparently the owner would hire it and him out to do local jobs.
We could use that around here. Mostly every time they 'resurface' a road and don't bother to roll the chipseal surface down, get a steam roller in to compact it in and crush the sharp edges off.
Local 'jobs' made me smile. Gang member #1: 'We're gonna rob the post office but we need a getaway driver'. Gang Member #2 'I'll talk to "Jones The Steam" - he's good but he's not quick'.
I’ve encountered two weirdly special versions of traction engines: In Guernsey in the 1970s there were still engines that visited the greenhouses used to grow tomatoes. These had perforated pipes buried in the soil inside and the engine’s boiler was connected to steam sterilise the soil to kill fungi and bacteria in the soil. In central France I’ve seen engines with inbuilt alembics for distilling locally made wine into ‘eau de vie’ for the farmers own use!
Similar to the wine one, in the ardeche when I was younger (early to mid 90s) they had travelling engines for pressing lavender to make lavender oil. I couldn't swear that they were steam engines (and I'm fairly certain they were trailers rather than self propelled) but my memory definitely has them with boilers, centrifugal regulators and pistons....
Reminds me of how locomotives hauling French troop trains during the Franco-Prussian War were fitted with special piping to brew huge kettles of coffee.
The "steamers" weren't technically a traction engine although they looked similar. They were towed from job to job by ex army trucks (4wd). Another truck would haul the coal which was being replaced by oil also hauled in a huge tank. The whole set up vanished very quickly when growers switched from the soil to growing tomatoes in peat bags.
Tractors (as in the farm vehicle, not as in tractor trailor) might be the modern equivalent of a traction engine, and not just because of the obvious visual similarities. Tractors are pretty flexible, so you can also haul things with one, and with the help of a PTO shaft or hydraulic connectors, you can also power a lot of things. This isn't what they're primarily used for, but they have that kind of capability.
I would contend that a lot of equipment used on farms and pulled by tractors _does_ require power and so providing power from the PTO is _absolutely_ what modern tractors are designed for. Examples include bailers, sprayers, and hay-turners, among many other things.
Steam traction engines are the grandfather of all tractors, if it’s a farm tractor, tractor units (semi’s) or a bull dozer. They’re all still tractors! As internal combustion engines, refined fuels and pneumatic tyres were invented the traction engine evolved into the different disciplines we have today. Awesome video as always Jago 👍
modern tractors still do the same jobs as steam tractors did, they were after all made for the same purpose. The only difference is really how the engine is powered. The primary mechanical part of a combustion and steam engine are the same - pistons, pushrods, cams, valves, etc. They obviously differ in how the power is generated and the valves don't serve quite the same purpose, but if you look at the earliest combustion engines, especially Diesel's engines, you'll note that they can be difficult to tell apart from a steam engine, if you ignore the lack of a boiler.
Jago mentioning 'dredging' brought back a long forgotten memory of being a child in the 80's on Tooting Common with my Dad & Uncle & they were dredging the lake with a traction engine
I had the privilege of driving a Traction Engine a few years ago, and... quite the experience. The owner dealt with the power, while I had the job of steering - what you need to remember is that, because the steering is done via a chain connected to a worm drive, it's not very quick, so you really need to get a few revolutions of the steering wheel in in order to get a decent turning circle, but the sheer force of it was something I will never forget.
I had some mobile footage of one in motion from when I went on a country walk and one came trundling past on one of the roads here in SW Hertfordshire. I saw either the same one or another one going past near Ashridge on one or two other occasions,and it gave off a pleasing "toot toot" for the people there as it passed on its way.
The Puffing Devil also spawned a famous cornish folk song that you can still hear echoing wherever you may find a few semi intoxicate Cornishmen - namely "Going up Camborne Hill Coming down." This was based on the fact that to maximise traction the boiler needed to be above the driving wheels - which meant that Trevithick's engine was technically being driven from behind... ie backwards, and hence Going up Camborne hill (while) coming down. Back when I lived in Cornwall I've joined in with singing that song a good many times over a nice pint of Tinners (or two).
As a Strood resident, Aveling and Porter's Edwardian office building was a part of mine and my children's local heritage, so it was with its great wisdom and foresight that the council demolished the building in 2010 in favour of a 'temporary car park' which continues to temporarily grace the landscape to this day.
Thank you, Mr Hazzard. There now follows a **Shameless Plug** . All traction engine rallies are worth visiting, but the annual steam gala (the name changes) at Beamish Open Air Museum every April is spectacular. The engines can be seen at work in various period settings, and the road around the museum is long and hilly enough to make the engines work hard - last year's show included four road locos moving an enormous transformer. As well as the traction engines, there are vintage lorries, buses, motorbikes and cars (including steam cars) while the museum's own trams, buses, a colliery railway, a narrow gauge line, and a very short line with working replicas of early locomotives.
Heck, Beamish is worth a visit even when they don't have any events on. That way when they do have events you can concentrate on the event and not on all the other wondrousness. And there's a 25% discount on the admission fee if you show a valid bus ticket, which makes it even better. :)
A few years ago, I shared on Reddit a picture of the road roller that was parked to the side of the road and left to rust after building the 8 miles of road on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney (destination of the shortest regular commercial flight in the world and home to 80 souls and the oldest house in Western Europe). It was pretty clearly an early diesel or hot bulb engine, so I used the term 'road roller' advisedly, as it could easily be mistaken for its contemporary, steam-powered brethren. Boy did I get some flack for that....
Years ago, indeed, decades ago I was part of a group constructing a 7¼" gauge railway. We had acces to a roadbuilders' workshop to make our large 'set-track'. Now this roadbuilder had a collection of old steamrollers, a couple of them even in working condition. One Saturday I was asked to move one of the rollers on their huge wharf. I did tell them I only knew steam locomotives but was told to "just imagine the track" (really !) All went well until I approached the diesel pumping station with four pumps to service the tarmac lorries. Lucky for me the steel/concrete bollards protecting them were stronger than the roller. I was "not to worry, happens all the time". The roller still rolls today, be it with a new boiler, they had to change it 'cause of it's age, and not my (lack of) driving skills.
The first section of Keith Roberts' classic SF book "Pavane" has a memorably vivid description of how traction engine powered road trains are used to haul goods in a world where cars are regarded as little more than toys. Once read, never forgotten.
@@paulhorn2665 I think so. It's actually a collection of linked short stories (aka a fix-up). In some editions a story called "The White Boat" isn't included. Full disclosure: there's a section dealing with the Inquisition's antics which is horribly graphic. Apart from that, it's one of the few SF books I can happily re-read.
I love steam powered stuff, the noise it makes, the steam, the fast big moving parts, and the camera doesn't do it justice, in person they are majestic and intimidating
Bloke up the road has both a full size and a third scale traction engine. During the season, we often see him trundling up or down the hill at the weekend with his traction engine or driving through the village. A lovely sight and sound.
Kind of a pain in the backside if you're stuck behind them, though. Especially when they can't get decent coal and have to import smoky stuff from Poland instead of clean Welsh steam coal. The Great Dorset Steam Fair last year showed the difference in coals very well; 2019 I could see stuff fine, 2022 half my pictures were of engines obscured by smoky clouds.
@@Skorpychan I live in a rural area. You get used to being stuck behind things: classic vehicles; loose cows or sheep; livestock movements from one place to another; lorries on the hills; Sunday drivers who are terrified to go much above 25mph, no matter what the road is like; fallen trees; swollen fords; tractors and their trailers; tractor convoys (up to 50 tractors trundling along to a local fair); roadworks .... The occasional traction engine isn't even in my top ten of driver hindrances.
@@thomasm1964 Cyclists have to be the worst, since you're not allowd to push them into the ditch. Also, sunday drivers are the worst, especially in 4PM twilight on weekdays. IF YOU CAN'T SEE, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING, KAREN!
@@Skorpychan Funnily enough, no. Rural cyclists tend to be more respectful of other road users than city Lycra Wankers. Yes, I sometimes have to sit behind one for a few minutes because it is unsafe to overtake on a tight bend or the brow of a hill but I can see they are working to get out of my way and, in return, I hold back so they don't feel pressured to do something stupid. I used to live in Surrey. I know exactly whereof you speak! Also, I forgot to add horse-riders to my earlier list as well as cyclists. As for the Sunday drivers (and tourists), they aren't used to driving on tight, twisty narrow roads so brake heavily at every bend, poke the accelerator a little bit on the straights and brake heavily at the next bend. Their speed is totally erratic and their braking patterns can be difficult to work out as, often, even they don't know when they are going to panic-stamp the brake pedal. One spends far too much time watching Sunday drivers (and tourists) rather than maintaining true situational aawareness.
I remember as a kiddie seeing the old Aveling & Porter factory in Rochester, we lived on the outskirts of Gravesend for a while in the 70's and I remember the slow transformation of the old hogback railway bridge to the modern concrete road bridge, going to work with the old man when he was reliefing out of Cuxton and the old Odeon of Strood, the modernity of Gillingham or Rochester signalboxes. I also remember the old wagon cripple sidings of what was Medway docks yard with its insanely long footbridge from Rochester station to the other side of the yard, sometimes my uncle would be tasked to take some cripple wagons down there in his rorty old 33 which was an absolute doss because he would get them parked up then off he would go in his ever lasting quest for tea and that was his day done.
In the 1960s, I had a rather nice working model of a traction engine, genuinely steam powered. I'm rather pleased to see that the manufacturer, Mamod, is still in business, and now selling a 60th anniversary version of the one I had.
@@julianaylor4351Yeah, everyone knows that no kid can possibly be smart enough to do adult things. [Chuckles sarcastically in I Ran My Granddad's Projectors When I Was 3/Drove From Atlanta To Nashville At Night At 8/Shot, Processed, And Printed My Own Negatives At 9/Ran Diesel Locomotives At 12]
@@emilyadams3228 Have you seen modern park play equipment, it's totally harmless. I used to climb over ten foot in the air, then slide on a metal slide, that froze in the winter and burned your behind in the summer. Modern kids are ' wrapped in cotton wool '. I was allowed to walk alone to and from school aged eight. It's a totally different world. My older brother and his school friends, he was at a boarding school, would disappear into the local woods as ten year olds to go fishing for hours. Teachers would have a fit now if kids did that.
Having grown up on a farm in the US where we used equipment dating back to the 1870s-1950s, the evolution of steam traction has always fascinated me, as has how much longer it (and steam road haulage) stuck around in Britain than in North America. One small note, which doesn't invalidate the central point: You don't necessarily need two steam engines to do cross-field winch ploughing. Oftentimes, the traction engine would sit on one side of the field and be paired with a heavily-weighted cart with a pulley on the opposite side. This would be moved forward by hand, animals, or winches after each furrow.
Traction engines are so cool. I remember seeing them at a steam fair I visited with my Grandad when I was young. They were huge and made noises like dragons. I was hugely impressed at the time and still am to this day.
Another good one Jago. I'm a steam nut and although I now live in the modern world (/sarc) of Canada where there is little industrial history, I visit the old country and love learning about the roots of the industrial revolution and visiting the museums. A favorite memory is The Great Dorset Steam Fair in 2018 when 472 traction engines, from miniature to full size, were in steam. I can't afford the big stuff so I make do with miniatures - 2 Burrell Showman's engines and two 7-1/4 steam engines. Thanks for your excellent contributions.
Used to love the annual Steam Fair at Knowl Hill with its showmanship engines & workshop exhibitions. Sadly dead now, I fancy. Carter's Steam Fair, which has rides and attractions powered by steam engines, still does the rounds.
Yes! More steam powered videos please! That's a pretty energetic ad. Change of scenery, change of voice even. Wow. Amazing. Red Bull never does that to me.
A video about steam lorries would be welcome. I've been to shows in the U.K. where there were operating Sentinals and Fodens which were built in the late 1930s. And then there's hot air engines from the late 19th century. I've seen a few operating at vintage machinery shows. Tall, ornate engines that made a sound like an asthmatic person's breathing. And for all the size of them, they only put out 3/4 of a horsepower.
Yes, please! A video on steam Road vehicles would be most welcome! Looking forward to seeing it. I recall dodging steam lorries around Liverpool Docks sonn after I passed my driving test.
My husband and I really enjoyed this. Here in the States we call them steam engines, but they’re the same kind of tractor. Please do more videos like this; it was so fun to watch! 💜
Having been blessed to be born in an area of England where some of these fine machines were designed and built, I count myself fortunate. Also in Norfolk there are 4 museums I know of that are still running traction and stationary steam engines. As well as having a well run and preserved North Norfolk steam railway, I am somewhat spoiled for choice of a steam loco fix! I was also fortunate to know for a short period of my youth a gentleman who served his apprenticeship with Chas. Burrell and Sons, Engineers in Thetford, Norfolk. Exactly where that fine example of a showman's engine in your video was built. I remember the first time (as a child) I was taken on a day out to Bressingham steam museum on a warm summer's day to see live traction and showman's engines. I was (and still am) in awe of these mighty beasts. Thank you for reminding me of how blessed we Norfolk folk are with steam engines.
In the US we used steam traction engines to pull felled trees up mountainsides. We called them steam donkeys. My grandparents remember traction engines that were used for threshing. My grandmother travelled with one of these threshing crews as their cook before she married.
It's now too expensive to hold a steam traction show such as The Great Dorset Steam Fair at Tarrant Hinton cancelled for 2024 because it is estimated the cost to run it by then would be up to £4.9 million!
When I was a kid, they used to bring a traction engine to the farm at the back of our house. It was used at various times to operate a threshing machine and also to operate a tatty riddler.
That was fascinating. It brought back memories of my early childhood, in 1970s South West London. We would regularly see an actual steam roller in the area. I think always driven by the same man
I can still remember the classes on the old red cover driving licences, Heavy Locomotive, Light Locomotive, Motor Car, Motor Bicycle, Agricultural Tractor, Track Laying Vehicle and Moped.
Steam Rollers were used to (ironically!) build parts of the M1 motorway between Birmingham and London. When the project started and contractors were employed to start building the road, not enough diesel powered rollers were available in the UK. Appeals went out to any enthusiast who had a preserved steam roller to come forward if they were willing to earn some money rollering the M1. Quite a few came forward and were employed insuch locations as Bedfordshire an Northants.
I went to Bressingham Steam Railway when I was young and living in Norfolk at the time and I saw one of those steam vehicles and actually went on one. And it was so much fun. Brings back great childhood memories.
And of course, some of them did make it onto railways. The wonderful Aveling & Porter engine, Sirapite, is really just a traction engine with flanged wheels. You can still see it today at the excellent Long Shop Museum in Leiston, Suffolk, formerly Garrett's Engineering Works, a major producer of all things steamy and efinitely worth a visit.
After one particularly wet summer, I was at a country show, where one of the traction engines managed to get stuck in the mud while going to the display arena. Initially they tried to haul it out of the mud with a Range Rover... without any success at all. It did take another traction engine running at power, to catch a thrown heavy rope, and attach it to something strong, to haul the stuck machine out.
Always enjoyed a traction engine when I was a kid (and still do today…) like steam locos, they seem almost alive and all the moving parts that are visible always give them a “busy” appearance…
One of my fathers friends who ran a garage (car repair shop) had an old showmans engine which restored to working order. It was a thing of beauty to behold and traveled around the south of England to steam fairs and shows....all at 4 miles an hour. Which meant several days if not weeks were necessary to get to some showgrounds. I'm not sure what became of it. Being a bit of geek for these things, I do still like to get to a steam fair every so often. Would recommend "The Great Dorset Steam Fair" which I believe is still an annual event - it is truly massive show with fairgrounds, road rollers, and even ploughing demonstrations. So on or off the rails, steam powered stuff fascinates me (some would say I produce too much of my own hot air ....🙄)
I love traction engines! I have a working model from Mamod standing proud on the shelf above my desk (though, admittedly it's only been run once since I got it)
These are really neat machines. I went to a "tractor meet" in 2014 with a friend of mine across the pond here in Orange, Massachusetts. It was a treat to see the antique steam and early gasoline powered tractors "racing" and operating. Like the ones at the fair you attended, many were highly decorated and restored.
As always an interesting and informative video, thank you. Aveling and Porter's head office was at Strood in Kent, just across the Medway from Rochester Castle. A&P became part of Winget and they extended the lovely red brick building with a modernist concrete block. When they moved out Medway Council, yes the outfit that lost Rochester its city status, occupied it. After they had moved to grander premises (better suited to their egos) it was empty until a supermarket expressed an interest in the site. Although Strood already had the most supermarkets in the Medway conurbation, all within a few metres of each other, the council rubbed their grubby mitts together in glee and bulldozed the whole site at the tax payer's expense in readiness. Needless to say the supermarket then decided not to proceed. Now, instead of a handsome and historic building that would make excellent flats with a castle view we still have a bare site with a mound of crushed brick and concrete on it years later. Still angry at the short-sightedness and loss. In recent years there has been a Thomas Aveling commerative meeting at the church in Hoo St Werburgh with traction engines in attendance. Always conflicted with something else but hope to attend next year.
Thanks Jago. I've been a big fan of Traction engines since I was a child. In the days before health & safety, the local Road Roller used to let us kids ride on them, whilst they were rolling hot tarmac. I loved the smell of Smoke mixed with Tar. Heady stuff.
Great video Jago from a traction engine fan. It would be good to see some stream lorries, Sentinel, Foden etc and very large steam engines used in industry.
Here in the wooded northeast of the US, large steam tractors were used in the logging industry into at least the late 1920s, when they were finally replaced by less capable, but also less temperamental, gasoline- or diesel-powered ones. When I was a student in the mechanical engineering tech program at the University of Maine ~10 years ago, a group from a different class year restored one, the Lombard Log Hauler kept at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, to running order as a class project. Fun fact: according to a class presentation about the project I attended, the Lombard was the first commercially successful application of caterpillar tracks, preceding tanks and tracked agricultural machinery by around 15 years!
How your video footage brings back happy memories of attending such shows as a child with my father. I really need to get back into all that. They are fascinating and more on the different types of vehicles would be highly appreciated.
Great video Jago. Have a lifelong love of steam after visiting rallies when younger. Dad had a couple of friends with road rollers and used to get to steer them. Hard work but good fun. Good memories too of clinging onto the back of a steam tractor bumping over the showground (health and safety whats that!) Been to a couple of rallies this year but sadly not many engines on show. Would love to watch any video you put up about steam powered transport.
Yes I remember them very much inuse in the late 60s early 70s esp at the town carnival fun fair and county shows. Not to mention getting stuck behind them in country lanes during harvest time. One was even the star of a CFC Saturday Morning Pictures film around that time, but the one thing they have which you didn't mention was, that wonderful evocative smell.
My two traction engine interactions are both family related. One, in our fully packed car starting home from a holiday on the Rhine about 10 years ago. As we rolled up to the ferry across the river at St Goar, I realised we had coincided with the beginning of a steam rally. Tens of engines queuing for the ferry. The ferrymen interleaved cars with engines, but that didn’t stop us getting stuck behind a spread-out queue on the other side. The second story was less fun, trying to take a daughter bleeding from a head wound to Bodmin hospital (in the same car a few years later). Of course we got stuck behind two traction engines in a row going up a narrow hill…
I don't know whether it is still working, but there is, or was a traction engine still being used commercially in Norfolk & Suffolk for threshing long straw wheat using a traditional threshing machine. This straw is used for thatching purposes and cannot be harvested and threshed by a modern combine harvester as they cut the straw too short. The wheat is grown for the straw and the grain is effectively a by-product.
If you had any worries about being off the rails with this video, it might help if you notice these engines are often known as Road Locomotives, as seen at 01:12.
Yes, we would like... an acquaintance of mine has a steam powered car, it's a fantastic, if slightly mental thing. I've seen Whistling Billy race as well. For a while in early automotive days steam was one of the most popular propulsion methods, followed by paraffin, Electric and diesel. Petrol was a distant 5th.
In the 1980's we attended a weekend transport rally at Knebworth that included traction engines. As the crowds departed the temperature began to fall but making our way to the beer tent about eight of these magnificent machines had gathered in a corral and we basked in their warmth and light as we supped our drinks. A very fond memory. Marvellous machines. A shame that so many were used to remove our windmill heritage!
Very good as usual, yes I personally would like videos on other steam powered vehicles. Even something concise on Internal combustion vehicles or the development of transport and it's impact generally.
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Trevithick may also be credited with the invention of the powered pub crawl.
"I seem to have invented a self-propelled road vehicle."
"Let's go to the pub."
Nah, where do you think Cugnot was when his beast ran amok?
Having a quiet one!
@@bryan3550Being French it would be more like "Let's go to the nearest vineyard for a meal and a couple of bottle of wine each".
Legend!
I think of him and his engine, and how the world has changed since that day, every time I drive up Camborne hill!
Tis a steep hill!
My Grandfather left school at the age of 14 and went to work as a farm laborer. He was 81 years old when he passed away and had worked the land his entire life. From time to time he used to tell us stories of older times at the turn of the 20thC and I still have a cassette tape recorded by my father of him talking about learning to use steam tractors and steam powered threshing machines. He was quite graphic about some of the accidents that used to occur with steam vehicles and inattentive farm-hands.. He also went into quite alot of detail about how hard and dirty the work was., how the fire wasn't allowed to go out and taking it in turns to keep the "kettle" simmering overnight ready to start work again in the morning. If the night watchman fell asleep and let the fire burn too low they'd be in some seriously deep cowpat because of how long it took to get the steam back up. Idle hands cost money.
Serious cowpat😂
I had never considered that they kept the fires going all night, but it makes sense, as you can't afford to wait 2 hours before you can start work.
If you haven't already, you should get that tape recording digitised while it still plays!
@@WillKempdefinitely! A transcript isn't enough, hearing the old voices is amazing.
@@WillKemp I have the equipment to digitize and clean up old cassette tapes.
Looking forward to the video on steam automobiles. This was fascinating. Looks like a really nice fair.
And electric cars! Not many people these days realise that they were the first type of powered cars (with, or ahead of, steam?). We have come full circle!
I was in rural Wales when I could hear the chuff chuff of a steam engine in the distance. While there was a narrow gauge railway a few miles away, no way could it be that.
Eventually I spotted a steam roller on a road in the distance, apparently the owner would hire it and him out to do local jobs.
We could use that around here. Mostly every time they 'resurface' a road and don't bother to roll the chipseal surface down, get a steam roller in to compact it in and crush the sharp edges off.
Local 'jobs' made me smile. Gang member #1: 'We're gonna rob the post office but we need a getaway driver'. Gang Member #2 'I'll talk to "Jones The Steam" - he's good but he's not quick'.
I’ve encountered two weirdly special versions of traction engines: In Guernsey in the 1970s there were still engines that visited the greenhouses used to grow tomatoes. These had perforated pipes buried in the soil inside and the engine’s boiler was connected to steam sterilise the soil to kill fungi and bacteria in the soil. In central France I’ve seen engines with inbuilt alembics for distilling locally made wine into ‘eau de vie’ for the farmers own use!
sounds interesting
Similar to the wine one, in the ardeche when I was younger (early to mid 90s) they had travelling engines for pressing lavender to make lavender oil. I couldn't swear that they were steam engines (and I'm fairly certain they were trailers rather than self propelled) but my memory definitely has them with boilers, centrifugal regulators and pistons....
Reminds me of how locomotives hauling French troop trains during the Franco-Prussian War were fitted with special piping to brew huge kettles of coffee.
The "steamers" weren't technically a traction engine although they looked similar. They were towed from job to job by ex army trucks (4wd). Another truck would haul the coal which was being replaced by oil also hauled in a huge tank. The whole set up vanished very quickly when growers switched from the soil to growing tomatoes in peat bags.
Tractors (as in the farm vehicle, not as in tractor trailor) might be the modern equivalent of a traction engine, and not just because of the obvious visual similarities. Tractors are pretty flexible, so you can also haul things with one, and with the help of a PTO shaft or hydraulic connectors, you can also power a lot of things. This isn't what they're primarily used for, but they have that kind of capability.
I would contend that a lot of equipment used on farms and pulled by tractors _does_ require power and so providing power from the PTO is _absolutely_ what modern tractors are designed for. Examples include bailers, sprayers, and hay-turners, among many other things.
I mean the name is a bit of a hint as to the lineage of their utility.
Steam traction engines are the grandfather of all tractors, if it’s a farm tractor, tractor units (semi’s) or a bull dozer. They’re all still tractors! As internal combustion engines, refined fuels and pneumatic tyres were invented the traction engine evolved into the different disciplines we have today.
Awesome video as always Jago 👍
modern tractors still do the same jobs as steam tractors did, they were after all made for the same purpose. The only difference is really how the engine is powered. The primary mechanical part of a combustion and steam engine are the same - pistons, pushrods, cams, valves, etc. They obviously differ in how the power is generated and the valves don't serve quite the same purpose, but if you look at the earliest combustion engines, especially Diesel's engines, you'll note that they can be difficult to tell apart from a steam engine, if you ignore the lack of a boiler.
Yeah for the roles that they do they are basically identical.
Proberbly to the point it's not wrong to call traction engines steam tractors.
Jago mentioning 'dredging' brought back a long forgotten memory of being a child in the 80's on Tooting Common with my Dad & Uncle & they were dredging the lake with a traction engine
I spent a weekend dredging on a steam ploughing engine. It was hard work!
I, as founder if UERL, should have hired Jago as Head of Marketing at UERL after that sponsor segment.
I was going to add a comment about Jago's paid promotions prowess but I bow to your superior missive.
Better pay him in company stock (temporary short-term cash flow problem, I'm sure he will understand)
I had the privilege of driving a Traction Engine a few years ago, and... quite the experience. The owner dealt with the power, while I had the job of steering - what you need to remember is that, because the steering is done via a chain connected to a worm drive, it's not very quick, so you really need to get a few revolutions of the steering wheel in in order to get a decent turning circle, but the sheer force of it was something I will never forget.
I had some mobile footage of one in motion from when I went on a country walk and one came trundling past on one of the roads here in SW Hertfordshire. I saw either the same one or another one going past near Ashridge on one or two other occasions,and it gave off a pleasing "toot toot" for the people there as it passed on its way.
The Puffing Devil also spawned a famous cornish folk song that you can still hear echoing wherever you may find a few semi intoxicate Cornishmen - namely "Going up Camborne Hill Coming down." This was based on the fact that to maximise traction the boiler needed to be above the driving wheels - which meant that Trevithick's engine was technically being driven from behind... ie backwards, and hence Going up Camborne hill (while) coming down. Back when I lived in Cornwall I've joined in with singing that song a good many times over a nice pint of Tinners (or two).
As a Strood resident, Aveling and Porter's Edwardian office building was a part of mine and my children's local heritage, so it was with its great wisdom and foresight that the council demolished the building in 2010 in favour of a 'temporary car park' which continues to temporarily grace the landscape to this day.
Thank you, Mr Hazzard. There now follows a **Shameless Plug** . All traction engine rallies are worth visiting, but the annual steam gala (the name changes) at Beamish Open Air Museum every April is spectacular. The engines can be seen at work in various period settings, and the road around the museum is long and hilly enough to make the engines work hard - last year's show included four road locos moving an enormous transformer. As well as the traction engines, there are vintage lorries, buses, motorbikes and cars (including steam cars) while the museum's own trams, buses, a colliery railway, a narrow gauge line, and a very short line with working replicas of early locomotives.
What did the transformer become? 😁
Heck, Beamish is worth a visit even when they don't have any events on. That way when they do have events you can concentrate on the event and not on all the other wondrousness.
And there's a 25% discount on the admission fee if you show a valid bus ticket, which makes it even better. :)
@@john1703 Very relaxed. 4 steam engines could power one heck of a sauna :)
A few years ago, I shared on Reddit a picture of the road roller that was parked to the side of the road and left to rust after building the 8 miles of road on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney (destination of the shortest regular commercial flight in the world and home to 80 souls and the oldest house in Western Europe). It was pretty clearly an early diesel or hot bulb engine, so I used the term 'road roller' advisedly, as it could easily be mistaken for its contemporary, steam-powered brethren. Boy did I get some flack for that....
I am quite fond of the early diesel road rollers
Years ago, indeed, decades ago I was part of a group constructing a 7¼" gauge railway. We had acces to a roadbuilders' workshop to make our large 'set-track'. Now this roadbuilder had a collection of old steamrollers, a couple of them even in working condition. One Saturday I was asked to move one of the rollers on their huge wharf. I did tell them I only knew steam locomotives but was told to "just imagine the track" (really !) All went well until I approached the diesel pumping station with four pumps to service the tarmac lorries. Lucky for me the steel/concrete bollards protecting them were stronger than the roller. I was "not to worry, happens all the time". The roller still rolls today, be it with a new boiler, they had to change it 'cause of it's age, and not my (lack of) driving skills.
The first section of Keith Roberts' classic SF book "Pavane" has a memorably vivid description of how traction engine powered road trains are used to haul goods in a world where cars are regarded as little more than toys. Once read, never forgotten.
I should read that book, now I heard so much of it. Its from the 1960s isn't it?
@@paulhorn2665 I think so. It's actually a collection of linked short stories (aka a fix-up). In some editions a story called "The White Boat" isn't included. Full disclosure: there's a section dealing with the Inquisition's antics which is horribly graphic.
Apart from that, it's one of the few SF books I can happily re-read.
I love steam powered stuff, the noise it makes, the steam, the fast big moving parts, and the camera doesn't do it justice, in person they are majestic and intimidating
Bloke up the road has both a full size and a third scale traction engine. During the season, we often see him trundling up or down the hill at the weekend with his traction engine or driving through the village. A lovely sight and sound.
Kind of a pain in the backside if you're stuck behind them, though. Especially when they can't get decent coal and have to import smoky stuff from Poland instead of clean Welsh steam coal.
The Great Dorset Steam Fair last year showed the difference in coals very well; 2019 I could see stuff fine, 2022 half my pictures were of engines obscured by smoky clouds.
Brilliant video
@@Skorpychan I live in a rural area. You get used to being stuck behind things: classic vehicles; loose cows or sheep; livestock movements from one place to another; lorries on the hills; Sunday drivers who are terrified to go much above 25mph, no matter what the road is like; fallen trees; swollen fords; tractors and their trailers; tractor convoys (up to 50 tractors trundling along to a local fair); roadworks ....
The occasional traction engine isn't even in my top ten of driver hindrances.
@@thomasm1964 Cyclists have to be the worst, since you're not allowd to push them into the ditch.
Also, sunday drivers are the worst, especially in 4PM twilight on weekdays.
IF YOU CAN'T SEE, YOU SHOULDN'T BE DRIVING, KAREN!
@@Skorpychan Funnily enough, no. Rural cyclists tend to be more respectful of other road users than city Lycra Wankers. Yes, I sometimes have to sit behind one for a few minutes because it is unsafe to overtake on a tight bend or the brow of a hill but I can see they are working to get out of my way and, in return, I hold back so they don't feel pressured to do something stupid.
I used to live in Surrey. I know exactly whereof you speak!
Also, I forgot to add horse-riders to my earlier list as well as cyclists.
As for the Sunday drivers (and tourists), they aren't used to driving on tight, twisty narrow roads so brake heavily at every bend, poke the accelerator a little bit on the straights and brake heavily at the next bend. Their speed is totally erratic and their braking patterns can be difficult to work out as, often, even they don't know when they are going to panic-stamp the brake pedal.
One spends far too much time watching Sunday drivers (and tourists) rather than maintaining true situational aawareness.
Portable engines were among the first things built on flow production assembly lines, a long time before Henry Ford got in on the action.
well. Not a lot of people know that.
I would love a video on other steam vehicles
I remember as a kiddie seeing the old Aveling & Porter factory in Rochester, we lived on the outskirts of Gravesend for a while in the 70's and I remember the slow transformation of the old hogback railway bridge to the modern concrete road bridge, going to work with the old man when he was reliefing out of Cuxton and the old Odeon of Strood, the modernity of Gillingham or Rochester signalboxes. I also remember the old wagon cripple sidings of what was Medway docks yard with its insanely long footbridge from Rochester station to the other side of the yard, sometimes my uncle would be tasked to take some cripple wagons down there in his rorty old 33 which was an absolute doss because he would get them parked up then off he would go in his ever lasting quest for tea and that was his day done.
In the 1960s, I had a rather nice working model of a traction engine, genuinely steam powered. I'm rather pleased to see that the manufacturer, Mamod, is still in business, and now selling a 60th anniversary version of the one I had.
I'd bet though kids wouldn't be allowed to buy them now, just us grown up kids.
@@julianaylor4351Yeah, everyone knows that no kid can possibly be smart enough to do adult things.
[Chuckles sarcastically in I Ran My Granddad's Projectors When I Was 3/Drove From Atlanta To Nashville At Night At 8/Shot, Processed, And Printed My Own Negatives At 9/Ran Diesel Locomotives At 12]
@@emilyadams3228 Have you seen modern park play equipment, it's totally harmless. I used to climb over ten foot in the air, then slide on a metal slide, that froze in the winter and burned your behind in the summer. Modern kids are ' wrapped in cotton wool '. I was allowed to walk alone to and from school aged eight. It's a totally different world.
My older brother and his school friends, he was at a boarding school, would disappear into the local woods as ten year olds to go fishing for hours. Teachers would have a fit now if kids did that.
I had one too and remember filling it’s little burner with meths.
Having grown up on a farm in the US where we used equipment dating back to the 1870s-1950s, the evolution of steam traction has always fascinated me, as has how much longer it (and steam road haulage) stuck around in Britain than in North America.
One small note, which doesn't invalidate the central point: You don't necessarily need two steam engines to do cross-field winch ploughing. Oftentimes, the traction engine would sit on one side of the field and be paired with a heavily-weighted cart with a pulley on the opposite side. This would be moved forward by hand, animals, or winches after each furrow.
To be fair thy would do more than one furrow at a time! ;o)
Loved this one Jago, a part 2 would be welcomed.. cheers.
Excellent video (as always) and I for one am more than happy for you to cover other steam-driven vehicles in future videos. 🙂
When I was young my grandfather had a Showman's Engine, his pride and joy. I used to love seeing it at shows and getting a ride.
I wish i could like the video twice... I loved the video, I learned something. I loved the ad, such a beautiful act!
You could’ve titled this video ‘Steampunk Starter Pack’.
Ugh no
The first time I saw a traction engine was watching Fred Dibnah driving one on TV. So they always remind me of him.
Oh yes… please, the other steam vehicles…looking forward up to it.
Traction engines are so cool. I remember seeing them at a steam fair I visited with my Grandad when I was young. They were huge and made noises like dragons. I was hugely impressed at the time and still am to this day.
A fascinating overview, Jago. I'm definitely interested in learning about steam cars.
Hmmm. Casually going full circle? Starting from steam and ending with steam?
Another good one Jago. I'm a steam nut and although I now live in the modern world (/sarc) of Canada where there is little industrial history, I visit the old country and love learning about the roots of the industrial revolution and visiting the museums. A favorite memory is The Great Dorset Steam Fair in 2018 when 472 traction engines, from miniature to full size, were in steam.
I can't afford the big stuff so I make do with miniatures - 2 Burrell Showman's engines and two 7-1/4 steam engines. Thanks for your excellent contributions.
Used to love the annual Steam Fair at Knowl Hill with its showmanship engines & workshop exhibitions. Sadly dead now, I fancy. Carter's Steam Fair, which has rides and attractions powered by steam engines, still does the rounds.
Jago turned into Fred Dibnah so gradually I didn’t even notice
Yes! More steam powered videos please!
That's a pretty energetic ad. Change of scenery, change of voice even. Wow. Amazing.
Red Bull never does that to me.
Thank you for steaming head first into that video, most enjoyable.
I guess that the modern equivalent would be a farm tractor being used for a power take off unit (PTO) vrs. a steam powered traction engine
A video about steam lorries would be welcome. I've been to shows in the U.K. where there were operating Sentinals and Fodens which were built in the late 1930s. And then there's hot air engines from the late 19th century. I've seen a few operating at vintage machinery shows. Tall, ornate engines that made a sound like an asthmatic person's breathing. And for all the size of them, they only put out 3/4 of a horsepower.
Yes, please! A video on steam Road vehicles would be most welcome! Looking forward to seeing it. I recall dodging steam lorries around Liverpool Docks sonn after I passed my driving test.
My husband and I really enjoyed this. Here in the States we call them steam engines, but they’re the same kind of tractor. Please do more videos like this; it was so fun to watch! 💜
Having been blessed to be born in an area of England where some of these fine machines were designed and built, I count myself fortunate. Also in Norfolk there are 4 museums I know of that are still running traction and stationary steam engines. As well as having a well run and preserved North Norfolk steam railway, I am somewhat spoiled for choice of a steam loco fix!
I was also fortunate to know for a short period of my youth a gentleman who served his apprenticeship with Chas. Burrell and Sons, Engineers in Thetford, Norfolk. Exactly where that fine example of a showman's engine in your video was built.
I remember the first time (as a child) I was taken on a day out to Bressingham steam museum on a warm summer's day to see live traction and showman's engines. I was (and still am) in awe of these mighty beasts.
Thank you for reminding me of how blessed we Norfolk folk are with steam engines.
In the US we used steam traction engines to pull felled trees up mountainsides. We called them steam donkeys. My grandparents remember traction engines that were used for threshing. My grandmother travelled with one of these threshing crews as their cook before she married.
It's now too expensive to hold a steam traction show such as The Great Dorset Steam Fair at Tarrant Hinton cancelled for 2024 because it is estimated the cost to run it by then would be up to £4.9 million!
Oh my! I'd quite forgotten about these machines! Thanks for the reminder! Looking forward to the next video about them!!!
That painting of the portable engine in the field surrounded by straw just screams, "FIRE, FIRE!"
When I was a kid, they used to bring a traction engine to the farm at the back of our house. It was used at various times to operate a threshing machine and also to operate a tatty riddler.
I absolutely adore steam traction engines, have done all my life
That was fascinating. It brought back memories of my early childhood, in 1970s South West London. We would regularly see an actual steam roller in the area. I think always driven by the same man
I do like a quick history. Please do more of them.
I can still remember the classes on the old red cover driving licences, Heavy Locomotive, Light Locomotive, Motor Car, Motor Bicycle, Agricultural Tractor, Track Laying Vehicle and Moped.
I am of that age to remember steam rollers owned by Kent County Council working our road, most entertaining for a small boy.
Steam Rollers were used to (ironically!) build parts of the M1 motorway between Birmingham and London. When the project started and contractors were employed to start building the road, not enough diesel powered rollers were available in the UK. Appeals went out to any enthusiast who had a preserved steam roller to come forward if they were willing to earn some money rollering the M1. Quite a few came forward and were employed insuch locations as Bedfordshire an Northants.
I went to Bressingham Steam Railway when I was young and living in Norfolk at the time and I saw one of those steam vehicles and actually went on one. And it was so much fun. Brings back great childhood memories.
And of course, some of them did make it onto railways. The wonderful Aveling & Porter engine, Sirapite, is really just a traction engine with flanged wheels. You can still see it today at the excellent Long Shop Museum in Leiston, Suffolk, formerly Garrett's Engineering Works, a major producer of all things steamy and efinitely worth a visit.
Sooo...a steam hi-rail? "Sick" doesn't begin to describe that.
I did um and ah about including rail traction engines, because they’re just so wonderfully odd.
Whatever I have to do to also earn the nickname "The Puffing Devil," I will do. This is my new life goal.
That has to be one of the best sponsor segments I've ever seen on RUclips. Bravo Jago
I never go out to see these vehicles, but it always makes me happy when I accidentally find them.
After one particularly wet summer, I was at a country show, where one of the traction engines managed to get stuck in the mud while going to the display arena. Initially they tried to haul it out of the mud with a Range Rover... without any success at all. It did take another traction engine running at power, to catch a thrown heavy rope, and attach it to something strong, to haul the stuck machine out.
Perfect video. I've always loved traction engines and have driven one several years ago so more on these please 😊
Those machines are beautiful! If you have more of this stuff... by all means publish it please!
Always enjoyed a traction engine when I was a kid (and still do today…) like steam locos, they seem almost alive and all the moving parts that are visible always give them a “busy” appearance…
One of my fathers friends who ran a garage (car repair shop) had an old showmans engine which restored to working order. It was a thing of beauty to behold and traveled around the south of England to steam fairs and shows....all at 4 miles an hour. Which meant several days if not weeks were necessary to get to some showgrounds. I'm not sure what became of it.
Being a bit of geek for these things, I do still like to get to a steam fair every so often. Would recommend "The Great Dorset Steam Fair" which I believe is still an annual event - it is truly massive show with fairgrounds, road rollers, and even ploughing demonstrations.
So on or off the rails, steam powered stuff fascinates me (some would say I produce too much of my own hot air ....🙄)
I love traction engines! I have a working model from Mamod standing proud on the shelf above my desk (though, admittedly it's only been run once since I got it)
I am always reminded of Fred Dibinah or WW1 when I see these vehicles. First time I ever seen one was in WW1 footage in They Shall Not Grow Old
This is certainly a video with great traction. Thanks Jago
These are really neat machines. I went to a "tractor meet" in 2014 with a friend of mine across the pond here in Orange, Massachusetts. It was a treat to see the antique steam and early gasoline powered tractors "racing" and operating. Like the ones at the fair you attended, many were highly decorated and restored.
That event reminded me of the Gloucester vintage and Country Extravaganza at the South Cerney airfield. An amazing event
As always an interesting and informative video, thank you.
Aveling and Porter's head office was at Strood in Kent, just across the Medway from Rochester Castle. A&P became part of Winget and they extended the lovely red brick building with a modernist concrete block. When they moved out Medway Council, yes the outfit that lost Rochester its city status, occupied it. After they had moved to grander premises (better suited to their egos) it was empty until a supermarket expressed an interest in the site. Although Strood already had the most supermarkets in the Medway conurbation, all within a few metres of each other, the council rubbed their grubby mitts together in glee and bulldozed the whole site at the tax payer's expense in readiness. Needless to say the supermarket then decided not to proceed.
Now, instead of a handsome and historic building that would make excellent flats with a castle view we still have a bare site with a mound of crushed brick and concrete on it years later. Still angry at the short-sightedness and loss.
In recent years there has been a Thomas Aveling commerative meeting at the church in Hoo St Werburgh with traction engines in attendance. Always conflicted with something else but hope to attend next year.
+1 for the para-railway videos. I have always liked canals.
Definitely different Jago 👍
Sometimes in the summer I hear a preserved steam traction engine on the lane outside my house. It makes the whole building shake!
Thanks Jago. I've been a big fan of Traction engines since I was a child. In the days before health & safety, the local Road Roller used to let us kids ride on them, whilst they were rolling hot tarmac. I loved the smell of Smoke mixed with Tar. Heady stuff.
What a delightful entry, Jago - thank you so much for another incredibly interesting and informative video!!
Great video Jago from a traction engine fan. It would be good to see some stream lorries, Sentinel, Foden etc and very large steam engines used in industry.
Here in the wooded northeast of the US, large steam tractors were used in the logging industry into at least the late 1920s, when they were finally replaced by less capable, but also less temperamental, gasoline- or diesel-powered ones. When I was a student in the mechanical engineering tech program at the University of Maine ~10 years ago, a group from a different class year restored one, the Lombard Log Hauler kept at the Maine Forest and Logging Museum, to running order as a class project. Fun fact: according to a class presentation about the project I attended, the Lombard was the first commercially successful application of caterpillar tracks, preceding tanks and tracked agricultural machinery by around 15 years!
Looking forward to more.
How your video footage brings back happy memories of attending such shows as a child with my father. I really need to get back into all that. They are fascinating and more on the different types of vehicles would be highly appreciated.
Love traction engines! Great video
Yes please, keep steaming on
I go to the Steam Really every year in Shrewsbury, the grand finale of the show is all the engines blowing their whistle at the same time ☺️
Wonderful! As so often, you have answered questions I never knew that I had. I would very much like a video on other steam powered road vehicles.
Great video Jago. Have a lifelong love of steam after visiting rallies when younger. Dad had a couple of friends with road rollers and used to get to steer them. Hard work but good fun. Good memories too of clinging onto the back of a steam tractor bumping over the showground (health and safety whats that!) Been to a couple of rallies this year but sadly not many engines on show. Would love to watch any video you put up about steam powered transport.
Yes I remember them very much inuse in the late 60s early 70s esp at the town carnival fun fair and county shows. Not to mention getting stuck behind them in country lanes during harvest time.
One was even the star of a CFC Saturday Morning Pictures film around that time, but the one thing they have which you didn't mention was, that wonderful evocative smell.
The Stokerow Steam Rally near Reading is worthwhile
My two traction engine interactions are both family related. One, in our fully packed car starting home from a holiday on the Rhine about 10 years ago. As we rolled up to the ferry across the river at St Goar, I realised we had coincided with the beginning of a steam rally. Tens of engines queuing for the ferry. The ferrymen interleaved cars with engines, but that didn’t stop us getting stuck behind a spread-out queue on the other side. The second story was less fun, trying to take a daughter bleeding from a head wound to Bodmin hospital (in the same car a few years later). Of course we got stuck behind two traction engines in a row going up a narrow hill…
A neighbour owns a traction engine and goes to various rallies. He’s got Christmas rope lights in the shape of a traction engine.
I don't know whether it is still working, but there is, or was a traction engine still being used commercially in Norfolk & Suffolk for threshing long straw wheat using a traditional threshing machine. This straw is used for thatching purposes and cannot be harvested and threshed by a modern combine harvester as they cut the straw too short. The wheat is grown for the straw and the grain is effectively a by-product.
They're called that because if you're not careful working around them you could end up in traction.
Next stop, stationary engines!
Lessgo!
Plenty in London
stationary engines don't get any traction with me!
Jago, please can you make a video on departmental tube stock past and present!?
Brilliant video sir!
If you had any worries about being off the rails with this video, it might help if you notice these engines are often known as Road Locomotives, as seen at 01:12.
If only they could bottle the hot steam oil smell
Excellent Video and I hope you do cover the other types of steam road vehicles, especially the stuff built by Sentinel
Yes, we would like... an acquaintance of mine has a steam powered car, it's a fantastic, if slightly mental thing. I've seen Whistling Billy race as well.
For a while in early automotive days steam was one of the most popular propulsion methods, followed by paraffin, Electric and diesel. Petrol was a distant 5th.
Hi Jago. What a delightful dis-traction (did you see what I did there?). More, more, more!
Hi Jago, I like your excursion into other forms of transport. Keep it going!
In the 1980's we attended a weekend transport rally at Knebworth that included traction engines. As the crowds departed the temperature began to fall but making our way to the beer tent about eight of these magnificent machines had gathered in a corral and we basked in their warmth and light as we supped our drinks. A very fond memory. Marvellous machines. A shame that so many were used to remove our windmill heritage!
Fine history JAGO
Very good as usual, yes I personally would like videos on other steam powered vehicles. Even something concise on Internal combustion vehicles or the development of transport and it's impact generally.