Above:Andrew Simmondsand cousin Leanna,cleaning Super SentinelNo. 8595 at Old Warden Rally in 2005. See Andrew's letter on page 8
Cover picture: In last time's issue we featured the winning photographs from Nick Bosworth in our centre spread. We are very pleased to have receivedsome more photographs from Nick's collection and our cover picture from his collection,showsthe engine complete and on the road this time. It is Foster No. 14410 'Sprig', a 7 nhp single cylinder engine, built in I 920, Reg. No. UP 6481. The engine belongs to Nick's UncleJohn (a former SACChairman) who is seen steering the engine, with Nick's Dad Chris driving, whilst on the way to the Bicker Threshing event in 2 005.
STEAM APPRENTICE CLUB
Editor
Nanette Sanders, Frog Cottage, New Road, Porchfield, IsJe of Wight PO30 4LS
Tel: 01983 523317 sac.raisingsteam@ntel.co.uk
President
John Durling, 19 Mi II Lane, Barton under Needwootl, Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire DE 13 8HE
John Cook, Dolfarni, Church Lane, Kirkby la Thorpe, Sleaford, Lincolnshire NG34 9NU. Correspondence only.
Membership fee £7.50 per annum. SAC Co-ordinators
Steve and Donna Taylor Tel: 01530 835213 steve.tailor@blintemet.com
Emily Drury ecdrury@hotmaiJ.co.uk
Matthew Lund Tel: 01329 832462 matt.lund@engineer.com
Gareth Haase Tel: 07720 718008
Kevin Lawrence Tel: 01229838144
John Lloyd Tel: 01603 415325
Barry Sumsion Tel: 01633 262197 barry@kcarline.co.uk
The Editor welcomes any conuibulions of articles, shorteritemsor photographsfor inclusionin future issues. All material submitted is voluntary and payment cannot be made for any material published. The opinions expressed in the magazine, with the exception of Club announcements, are Lhoseof the contributors and do not indicate the views of the Club as a whole. AU items are held copyright by the contributor and che NTET. The Editor reserves the right to amend or refuse conll·ibulions. The Magazine is normally published during the early part of January, April, July and October. The Club accepts no liability for failure to meet intended publication dates.
The Steam Apprentice Club is a section of the National Traction Engine Trust. NTET is a Registered Charity, No. 29 I578. Registered in England No. 1302197. Registered Office: 4 Church Green East, Redditch, Worcestershire B98 8BT.
Typesetting and A.1iworkby Kearline Graphic lmages Ltd, Fairoak House Business Centre, Church Road, Newport, South Wales NT'19 7E.T Printed by TSG Creative s·olutions, St Neots, C,unbridgeshire PE19 8EL
FROM THE EDITOR
First of all I must apologise. I do not have an interesting story to tell you about an engine on the Isle of Wight in this issue. It seems that everyone is busy out and about getting their engines ready for the season. I do always struggle with this issue because the rally season has not started yet so there are no stories coming in for me. In fact I have only three letters in my mail bag and no e-mails. Without your letters it makes my job a little difficult. There are a few important things you need to take note of. There is a list of the forthcoming driving days including a few extras this year, it would be nice to see lots of you attending and having Jots of fun on all the engines.
The Chairman, Kevin Munn, has included in this issue information on this year's awards so make sure you read these articles carefully. I would like to see lots of you stepping forward and having a go.
I am already busy deciding which raJlies I will be going to myself this season. Whichever ones you attend I would like to he~r about. I would like to know where you went, what engines you managed to see or have a go on. Please try to remember the engine's number and possibly the engine's name, it's also nice to mention the owner's name if you could. Also picture wou]d help your story.
Nanette Sanders, Editor
CHAIRMAN'S BIT
The new season is just around the corner with the 'warm up' dtiving days later in this month at Fengate and Bedford. If you are going to one of these events, I do hope you not only enjoy yourself, but also learn more about how an engine works and how to operate it. At the SAC committee's spring meeting we discussed what else we could do to expand the club's activities for you. Some of the suggestions we thought of were visits to the people and companies who are involved in the many other aspects of the steaming scene, for example a boilermaker, a rope maker, or a foundry. What do you think? Please let me know if this sort of thing
MORE STEAM WAGONS
SentinelS4, built in I 933, No. 8884 'EndonFlyer',Reg.No. TJ3319 seen at the CromfordRally in 2006. Photograph:Nick Bosworth
Foden wagonof I 928, No. I 3266 'Pride of Sussex',Reg.No. VJ 1476 seen here at the Lincoln Rallyin 2006. Photograph:Nick Bosworth
appeals to you, or maybe something else? If you don't let us know what you want it will never happen!
To go back to the driving days, elsewhere in the magazine are the dates for the driving days at Flookborough, Tinkers Park and another new venue Stithians showground, Stithians Cornwall. If you want to go one of these send the form that was in the January issue ASAP and with the Stithians showground please just write it on. If you need another application form e-mail me at sachairman@hotmail.co.uk or send a S.A.E. (my address is at the front of the magazine) and I will send you one. I have been asked why there's not many driving days in the North of the Country. Well we can only set them up if people are willing to do them for us. If you know someone who might be willing, but is unsure of what it might involve then get him or her to contact me and T will explain.
I shall be out and about as well as other members of the S.A.C. committee at several rallies this season, the locations of which I will post on the website.
Kevin Munn, Chairman
DRIVING ON THE A PLATE
On March 3rd I attended the Rally Organisers' AGM at which the issue of SAC Apprentices who have passed their competency was discussed. I am pleased to tell you that the Rally Organisers have agreed to put in their code of practice that Apprentices who have passed their competency test and have met all of the following criteria, they may drive at a rally. They must be a member of the NTET SAC. They must hold a full licence to drive a car. They must be 19 years old or over.
The engine they are driving must be insured with Footman James. They must have the full permission of the rally organiser to drive on their rally field.
The event must be NTET Authmised. They must hold a certificate of competency.
For those apprentices who have passed please contact me first before going to a rally to check if you can drive as indicated above.
ADMISSION TO RALLIES
Many rallies kindly give free admission to SAC members upon production of their SAC membership card. Please, on the day, do not ask the rally organiser or other officials to arrange for you to go on engines etc. They have enough to do in making sure the rally runs as smoothly as possible for you to enjoy. If you know you are going to a particular rally CONTACT ME and I will let you know if they can arrange for you to accompany an engine and who to contact.
THE STEAM APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR AWARD
It is now also the time of the year when we bring to your attention the Steam Apprentice of the Year Award. This award goes to the apprentice who gives an all round good performance in what they do with an engine. Do you feel you do that? Well bring this to the attention of the enginemen you work or crew with so that later in the year when they have seen how you're doing, they can w1ite to me saying why you deserve the award. Ideally if it can be backed up with pictures, examples, third party testimony so much the better.
THE TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
I'd also like to remind you that in the last issue I wrote about the Technical Achievern.ent Award, this being for an apprentice who demonstrates good technical skiUs. The closing date for this is the end of August so that if necessary we can go to view what the apprentice has done. Again speak with your engineman to see if they will put you forward. This is a reminder, you don't have to wait until the closing date to submit an entry. The winners for both awards will be announced at the A.G.M. in November.
Kevin Munn, Chainnan
Dear Fellow Members,
It is with great personal pride that I accept this award, (The Steam Apprentice of the Year Cup). I became a SAC member in 2000 thanks to my Mum and Dad, from then on life has been a total rollercoaster ride!!! With many ups, and some incredible mindnumbing downs, all of which I hope I weathered, making me now aware of just what life can throw at you.
On the credit side, I have met such great people as Irvin Barraclough, the Ca1T Brothers, the Cobb family, Jamie Clark, John Fielding, Russel Inman, Henk Vander Val, Mark Hadfield, Sue Jubb, Chris Keeton, Jezz Leigh, Bernard Mettam, The Meredith Family, the Jackson Family, the Marris Family, John Blagg, Derek Rainer, Eric Robinson, Ian Sanderson, Neal Turner, Kerry Dundlerdale (now Wilson), Paul Wainwright, the Coulthard family, Chris Frampton, Kevin Parkin, Mick Farmer, Martin Gell, Richard Cox, Patrick Tonks and many, many more. To know these people, to be invited into their homes, to drive their prized possessions is a privilege, and that is exactly how I feel, privileged.
I know, as do you my fellow apprentices, the work, time, and effort required to nurse a boiler into steam. The two hours of cleaning, oiling, watching and checking mud doors, just to get the thrill of opening the regulator and feeling 12 tons of sheer majesty lurch beneath your feet, but what a thJill, bringing that sleeping giant to life with paper and sticks. As one man put it to me "you don't get that sort of a thrill from a ton of coke!" I think he meant the drug, not the boiler fuel !
To close I would like to say that "Honoured I am" to know these people, to have been given so much time, information, experience, and trust, BUT SPECIAL I AM NOT. So if you see me at a rally please, please do, come up and talk to me, as sometimes sitting up there on that magic footplate it does become lonely and I may just want someone to talk to. I don't know everything, no man does. I could learn from you because learning is what this is all about.
I will quote what I was told the first time I took an engine on the road: "you keep half an eye on the boiler, half an eye on the road and your other eye on the steersman, because he can have you off the road". A lesson in one statement.
Yours Very Sincerely
Simon Beat.
P.S I have been asked to write a couple of articles for Raising Steam. Whilst I do not wish to seem to be a know-it-all, or in any way be controversial, these are things that I have learned. If these articles spark correspondence through OUR magazine, from either yourself or your engine owners, it can only be for the good, can it not??? And to learn from one another and enjoy each other's company is what this hobby is all about, or so I believe. Thank you very much to everyone who has helped me, it will not be forgotten.
MAIL BAG
Dear Editor,
In a previous issue 'Volume 19 No. l 2005' on the last page you printed a picture of Len Crane's Fowler B6 crane engine. Len Crane is my mother's best friend's father. He also owns a 48 Keyless Gavioli fairground organ. Hopefully at next years Great Dorset Steam Fair he will have his 10nhp Burrell showmans engine with him called Endurance. I have enclosed a picture of Len Crane with me in front of his crane engine. There is also a picture of me in front of a Land Rover with 'F. Dibnah' down the side.
Bradley Evans, Eastleigh, Hampshire.
Dear Editor.
My granddad brought a Sentinel back from Canada in 2004 to restore. Now my dad has finished restoring his 1948 Bedford lorry they have recently started on the Sentine1. It was new in 1931 and its number is 8595. It worked for 22 years for a mill owned by Henry Franklin in Langford near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. I live in Langford and 1 am looking forward to helping restore the waggon and help running it.
I have been to many rallies and like to help out on the engines with my brother Mark and cousin Leanna.
The first picture is of the Sentinel when it was working in l 952. The second picture is of Leanna and myself cleaning the Sentinel at Old Warden rally in 2005. The third picture is of myself sitting infront of the Sentinel at Old Warden Rally. 2005. My last picture is in September 2005 at a road run at Boom, Bedfordshire with Barry Wetherhead's 1920 Sentinel. My brother Mark who is sitting in the cab fired the wagon and my cousin Leanna and myself helped clean it.
Andrew
Simmonds, Langford
At the front of this magazine we see a photograph of Andrew and his cousin cleaning Sentinel No. 8595. Here we see the waggon when it was still working commercially in I 952.
These are nice ·picturesof Sentinel waggons and show an obvious interest within the Simmondsfamily. HoweverI feel there must be some known history here, particularly about No. 8595. Pictureslikethe one opposite are rare and historica{Jy interesting.Perhapswhen sendingin photographsto your magazine, you could delve a little into the historyof the engine and send it with your photographs.This makes the whole thing much more interestingto many apprenticesand shows us you have an interest beyond collectingengine numbers.
To concludethe photographssent in by Andrew and sister Kirsty we first again see Sentinel 8595 as she is today.Thispicture(le~)was taken at the 2005 Old Warden Rafly and shows Kirsty sat in front of the waggon.Note 'waggon'with 2 'g'sit is a Sentinel!
Below we again see Kirsty with cousin Leanna stood against Barry Wetherhead'sStandardSentinelwith Kirsty'sbrother Mark seen grinning whilst at the wheel. This was taken on the occasionof the Broom Road Run in 2005.
Thispietur:esent by Chairman~evin Munn, shows a pair of very early Fowlerploughingenginesat lastyear'sGreat Steam PloughChallenge.AlthoughI cannot be sure they are now owned by the same person, they are a pair, despite not havingconsecutivebuildingnumbers. notice the registration numbers. They are FowlerClassAA SinglecylinderI 2 nhp 13 ton ploughingengines and were built in 1874 and I 875, numbers 2479 and 2693 respectively.Strangelythe later registrationnumber is the oldestof the pair.At one time they probablyhad a dome coveringthe safety valvesbut it appears that the fittingof a whistleimmediatelybehind the safety valveswouldnot allowthe presence of the dome. I believe,but may be wrongof course,that these are not carryingtheir original chimneys.These chimneys look like the style fitted by A/lens of Oxford.Several engines,particularlyFowlers were overhauledby that firm and where chimneys needed replacementthis style was sometimes 'fitted.We would love to hear from someone who knows some real history of the pair.
GIANT WORDSEARCH
Here we have a wordsearch puzzle for you. There are no less than 40 words and groups of words for you to find. There are no spaces between words where 2 or more have been used together. All the words and groups of words have to do with traction engines. It may be the name of a par~ of an engine, a type, of engine or a make of engine. The words may be straight across or down, but either forwards or backwards; they may be diagonal, again either forwards or backwards. Let's see how many of you can find them all. The words are listed below and the answer is given on page I 8 of this magazine. Have fun!!
MA s D F G HK
NA I P1, u N TRE SMNDFGHBVCMXLKPY T R E D
AE SD T" G HTRTPI.ECMADDOEEVNPOB
C ZMBH- - --DSRIHEDBC X Mz EP
FS RT E z BKLPIUYT ELMKHNGFODSAB V 0 C XP
10 UY T R R ,.. __ :- . EAIISDFKLZXCVB p I u YU
ER TV y u IEPASDFGHKllfCXERT-_ M YI
ME ON R1, T YUIPLMKHGa - FDOSA Z B V C XP
BV Cl u y GMBZCASDEBAD FIZXNVCB S A E MRO
PI UY T RE ASDFHKSG7 - LKHGFD S A E N PO
LK HM D_ . ...- L.111A SN
Here are the words and groups of words you can find in the wordsearch.
We welcome the following new apprentices. We hope you enjoy your membership and will feel the need to write and tell us what you get up to at rallies or around your local engine. Your letters and photographs will always be welcome.
Jordan Bone, Cumbria.
Jonathan Bonser, Worksop. Thomas Bowe1man, Eastleigl:i.
Cameran Bryant, Minehead. Maxwell Buck, Uckfield: _ Alistair Cook, Chevely. Joseph Creasey, East Sussex. John Enright, Grimsby. Richard Flack, Royston. Oliver French, Pebworth. Samuel Frost, Kent. Harry Frost, Kent. Emily Geeves, Peterborough. Lewie Geeves, Peterborough. Jordan Greenaway, Reading.
Steven Hey, Lancashire.
Jack Hollingsworth, Be.~fordshire William Honour, Essex .. Thomas Johnson, Scarborough. Adam Johnson,. Scarborough. John Johnson, Lanes. K1istian Jones, County Dtffham. Samuel Melton, Salisbury. Oliver Mulock, Stroud. Sanmel Oliver, Bucks. William Pierce, Kent. Andrew Pimm, Southampton. Del.YidReed, County Durham. Ewan Sharp, Herts. Erin Sharp, Herts.
A SPACE!!!
Your magazine is a little late this time. That's because we were very short on contributions, and what we djd get came ik a little late.
So!!! If you want your magazine on tiJilleand full of interesting stuff - get writing and taking photographs. Your magazine relies very much on you the apprentices sending in contributions so that we can share your experiences and enjoyment with your fellow apprentices.
Send (post or e-mail) to Editor Nanette as soon as you can!!
NEW COMMITTEE MEMBER
Hi,
My name is Emily Drury and I am your rep on the SAC committee, I was asked to take the position while at the National Traction Engine Trust AGM in November. I am 19 and l am at Bishop Grosseteste University in Lincoln on my first year of a He1itage Studies course. When I am at home I live near Newark in Nottinghamshire but term time I'm in Lincoln. . i
I was brought up around steam and other kinds of vintage machinery, my Dad always had an interest and my interest blossomed because of that. At home we have vintage tractors and machinery. From the year I was born my family have looked after Richard Booty's Robey Traction Engine (No. 42675). It is a 6 nhp \ agricultural engine built in ' Lincoln in 1927. We attend , quite a few local rallies with the engine, often putting on a display with our thrashing set. In 1996 my Dad bought 16 nhp Robey portable '---"---------------------~ No. 49484. At the moment we
The Druryfamily'sRobeyPortableengine No. 49484 are in the process of restoring it. I have also had the opportunity to help out in the overhaul of Bob Siddall's 1927 6 ton Babcock roller. I am very lucky in the range of engines and activities I have around me. I have completed all 3 levels of the NTET EmilysteeringRichardBooty'sRobey No. 42675 d1iver training weekends, and in 2005 I at the 2006 LincolnRally. Photo:Nick Bosworth travelled to Dorset Stearn Fair to take the competency test. When I started. uni I
missed being able to help out and get dirty,
so I joined the volunteers at my Jocal museum. The work I can do there is more limited than at home but I enjoy it all the same.
As part of my position I am in contact with the other committee members and attend the committee meetings. If there is anythjng you want me to raise at the meetings or if you have a problem and you are unsure who to contact let me know andI will help if I can. I will hopefully be around at quite a few rallys this year, if you see me please come and say hi.
THE ABC OF THE TRACTION ENGINE
by Barry Sumsion
AVELING & PORTER
(I am indebted to my friend Richard Willcox, Chainnan of the Road Locomotive Society for the loan ofa book describing the history of Aveling-Barford- the successor to Aveling & Porter. lt is interesting that, as a t,eenager (already an established steam apprentice), Richard had written to the firm asking for any photographs or catalogues relating to Aveling & Porter. Now over 50 years later the book they were able to send him is being used to help give you a short insight. The original letter replying to Richard is with the book still!)
So here at last is the start of the promised series of short articles describing something about some of the different makes of traction engine. We shall start with Aveling & Porter. You can find other makes beginning with the letter 'A' which, alphabetica1ly come before Aveling & Porter but this tfrm has something very important about it and justly deserves to come first!
The reason for its importance lies in the name Aveling. This is the name of one of the two main directors of the finn - Thomas Aveling - who was one of engineering's most prolific entrepreneurs of his time. It is because of his development of the traction engine that the traction engines we know today have their existing form and design. A farmer, who became an agricultural engineer, making all sorts of agricultural implements, including early steam engines, he became so successful that in 1850 he moved his business from the village of Ruclcinge to Rochester in Kent. Realising the ridiculous situation whereby the steam engines of the time had to be moved from place to place by horses, (the portable engine), in 1860 he produced his 'self-propeJling power plant'. This was effectively the first traction engine. If you look at the engraving reproduced here, you will see that it was not yet what we have come to understand as a traction engine. It has the appearance of a portable engine driven along by a chain coupled between the
Aveling's 'self~propelling power plant' of 1860. From an engraving in 'The Origin and Development of Aveling-Barford Limited' by kind permission of Richard Willcox.
crankshaft and the hind wheels and steered by an extended 'steering wheel' controlled by a man with a tiller sat ahead of the boiler. He went on in 1861 to invent the steam jacketed cylinder which was a much more efficient means of transfer of steam to the cylinder
1871
Earliest form of steam rolfer with steerable front roll. This engine had split conical rolls to allow the central steering pin between them.
without the need for pipework and became mounted at the front of the engine directly connected to the boiler which helped avoid ptiming. Joining, in 1863, with Richard Thomas Porter he went on developing the traction engine (as were others al that time) until il started to have the overall appearance that we know today. There was one more
1886
An early Aveling rolfer with tandem compound engine.
1922
An Aveling & Porter compound steam roller of I 895. This engine carries a cylinder block arrangement very similar to that of a Fowler. Could it be that Thomas Aveling and John Fowler,both being Quakers, exchange ideas?
particularly important development by Thomas Aveling. Although by now the cylinder was'----------------~ affixed directly to the boiler, all the other parts This later roller of 1922 has, what is of the 'engine' - crankshaft, gears, etc.,were perhaps, a more typical Aveling & Porter fixed to the boiler by their own individual type of compound cylinder block. Enginesof brackets and such-like. This system caused several sizes would commonly have a much stress to the fixings with leaking and cylinder casting ofthis basic shape.
corrosion around the bolt holes giving much trouble. In 1870 Aveling arranged that the outside plates of the firebox be extended upwards to form simple yet su-ong and rigid bearing supports for the working parts. These were what we have come to know as the horn plates. That one particular invention, subsequently copied by virtually all manufacturers, provided the step forward for traction engines to develop to that which we all know to this day.
One of the most important of his developments was what we now call a steam roller. In 1865 he equipped an engine with very wide driving wheels, which towed another very ,---------------------------. heavy roller to take up the gap between the main wheels . ..f!II. This was the beginning of the steam roller. By 1871 he had developed the early form of front fork whereby the 'middle' roller moved to the front of the engine and was \(•' ~Jr.14 steerable. So great was his reputation as an engineer and particularly his development works that he became known as 'Father of the Traction Engine'. So now I hope you can understand why we have accorded the first article to '---------~-"-------=--------
AveIing & Porter 6 nhp Road Loco No. 84 7 I of 19 f 4. Road this very famous name. The engines of this size are comparatively rare within this make. pictures of rollers reprodt~ced Note the rampant horse and yet another form of compound here are all from the Av~lingcy/inder casting.
Photo:Richard Warren B arford book mentioned above.
When I announced in the last edition of Raising Steam that I was about to start this se1ies, I asked for any of you to supply any information and/or photographs of Aveling & Porter engines. Well thank you Richard Warren of High Leven, Yarm for sending me three photographs which he look at the 2006 Great Dorset Steam Fair. His pictures serve I o show typical Ave Ii11g & Porter engines as we Jrnow A lyf)icalAveling & Porter steam roller.This one No. 7807 is a them today. There arc almost 5 11/1/J I 2 1h ton, single cylinder engine. Photo:Richard Warren
certainly more Aveling & Porter steam rollers in preservation than any other make. This has to do both with the excellence of the breed and the fact that steam rolling was the last area that the steam engine was used jn any quantity on the roads. So what do we expect to see that identifies an Aveling & Porter. Well, almost without exception, they will each carry the 1 rampant horse, usually in brass, underneath which will be the word lnvicta. This device was adopted by the company around 1865 and modified in 1935. It represents the arms of the 'Kingdom of Kent' and the word Invicta . means Unconquered. Look out for the different shapes of cylinder castings, A.___ve-li-ng_&_P_o-rt_e_r-tr_a_et_o_r_N_o_._5_5_4_1-'B-o-Pe_e_p__.'. esp~c~ally the_compoun?s. Althoug_h ther~ are It is a 3 nhp, 3 ton machine which at one vanat1~ns, after a_ while _you_will qmckly time was a roller.Richard suggests it is a recogmse an A~ehng. Wnte m. and tell us convertible - others disagree.Do you know? more about Avelmg & Porter engmes.
Photo:RichardWarren
HERE ARE THE ANSWERS TO THE WORDSEARCH
SAC DRIVING DAYS FOR 2007
Dingles Steam 12th May Richard Sandercook An active steam museum Village, Lifton 2007 with several engines and Devon full workshop facilities
Stithians 19th May Richard Stock
Another new event being Cornwall 2007 put on by the WSES traction club. Located between Redrnth and Penryn
Flockborough 27th July John Durling
The SAC have the show Grange-over-Sands 2007 arena for the day (Friday) Cumbria
Tinkers Park 15th Sept AdJian Vaugham This is a first time for this Hadlow Down 2007 venue. It is hoped ten Sussex engines wi11be on site. There is a fair organ museum to view. Overnight caravan/camping available.
Bramham Hall Cancelled
ADDITIONAL SAC DRIVING DAY FOR 2007
We hope to have it back in 2008.
25th August at County of Salop Steam Engine Rally. Onslow Park, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury.
Use the existing form writing on your preference, or contact Kevin Munn at sachairman@hotmail.co.uk or use the address at the front of the magazine for additional forms and information. See also website.
Back cover: Since we MJ0111w lwvr r muroda fewwagons in this edition here is one to finish off with. Again another P11epliotogtoph nom Nick Bosworth'scollection,we see Sentinel Waggon No. 765 I, Reg No. BS 9'} I ~. ow11Pr/hy Mf1rl<Johnsonof Kegworth. The photograph was taken at the 2006 Cromford Hnfly
