Steam Traction Engine Introduction

Welcome to TractionEngine.info, the site where you can find introductory information about steam traction engines, agricultural and fairground machinery, rallies, fairs, club meetings, collections and a whole lot more.

Traction Engines in general

Nowadays the term traction engine has become the generic term for a whole range of different machines which rely on steam for their motive power. When one sees adverts for steam rallies and fairs they invariably announce that there will be, 'traction engines on display'. Some of these are not actually engines but in reality steam wagons, road rollers, ploughing engines and 'portables' which are not self propelled but were used to power machinery such as threshing machines, sawing mills etc.

Road locomotives, haulage and the steam wagon

Some of the so-called traction engines were in fact built as road locomotives for hauling machinery or wagons loaded with goods. The largest by far are the showman's engines which were used for hauling fairground rides around the country, usually in a road-train (ie 2 or more loaded trailers hauled by one locomotive). Once the fair was set up these magnificent engines, with their great canopy or roof trimmed with lights and twisted brasswork, would be used to power the electrical machinery and lighting on the fairground. A great generator on the front of the showman's engine would be linked to the flywhweel by a leather belt, thus providing the electricity. Some of the rides themselves would have a stationary engine directly powering the ride from a 'centre truck'. An example of this is the Carousel or Gallopers made by Savage of King's Lynn.

The true traction engine is the one used for road haulage and is the forerunner of the steam wagon and ultimately the motor lorry. These were the workhorses which could be seen lumbering along the roads hauling large trailers with massive loads (for example a large 'lancashire boiler' for a cotton mill).

Agriculture and Agricultural Machinery

Agriculture also relied heavily on ploughing engines and stationary or portable engines. The portable engine was merely a steam power plant on wheels which had to be towed from place to place by horses or man-power. The portable or stationary engine would have a large leather belt round its flywheel which was passed round a similar smaller drum on the spindle of a grindstone, circular saw or threshing machine.The ploughing engine was a large self-propelled road locomotive with a large drum underneath it linked to the flywheel by gears and having a wire rope on it, possibly half a mile in length (very much like an enormous fishing reel). Two engines would be stationed at opposite ends of a field with the wire rope stretched between them. A double ended plough would be attached to the rope and hauled backwards and forwards across the field. An operator would sit on the plough to make sure that it was running 'true' (ie. a straight furrow).When one set of furrows had been ploughed the engines would move their position a little and the plough would be hauled up and down the field again to make further furrows. The two engines and the team of three or more men would be itinerant workers travelling from farm to farm with the machines, for work during the ploughing season.

Manufactrers and Engineering Works

Thousands of traction engines were made by many different firms, amongst them were Burrell, Alchin, Garrett, Fowler, Aveling & Porter; and steam wagons by Sentinel and Fodens.

Steam Rollers

The term 'steam-roller' is still used today but very often refers to a diesel engine road-roller. Real steam-rollers could be seen all over the country, before World War 2, with road gangs and, usually at least one caravan for brewing up or even for sleeping in. This caravan would be towed around by the roller from one job to another, and sometimes there would be a water bowser in the train. Roller, caravan and men were a complete road team and would travel all over the country, as a unit, to wherever there was work for them.

Decline of the Traction Engine & Rise of the Enthusiasts

In the 1940s the magnificent engines, rollers etc., each one a beauiful and impressive piece of engineering, were replaced by self propelled diesel wagons, petrol engine tractors etc. Many of the thousands of traction engines in existence were destined for the corners of haulage yards or famyards and left to slowly rust away. Some ot them were sold to scrap merchants for as little as £10. In those days a recently overhauled working traction engine or steam roller could be bought for around £50. A very good working example would probably cost around £150. Thankfully, there were many steam enthusiasts who, even then, would not let these relics of the industrial age, and and important part of Britain's heritage, die without a great fight. They bought up as many examples of the different types of engines as they could afford, restoring or just storing them, until such time as they could be brought out for the occasional rally.

By the 1960s, 90% of the thousands of engines in use prior to 1940 had been scrapped. Pristine examples of nearly all types of traction engines (and all sorts of associated machinery) can be seen at steam fairs all around the country during the summer. It is worth noting that the engines seen today, and which can bring very high prices, are a result of the increasing interest and enthusiasm that these engines inspire. For many of the owners (and their friends) it is a way of life for them, researching, restoring and exhibiting the steam engines at the many fairs and rallies that can now be visited every year. It is the steam entusiasts, both of yesterday and today, who can remind us of a time, before the petrol engine, when machinery was begining to do the heavy work once undertaken by gangs of labourers with only basic tools and implements. We have the opportunity to glimpse an earlier moment in time.

Steam Traction Engine Rallies and Fairs

The visitor to a steam rally or fair will find not only these mammoths of steam but also fairgound rides, their electrical power provided by steam, fairorgans, vintage caravans, machinery, cars, motor bikes, bicycles, stationary oil engines (the ones that 'pop-pop-pop' ) and all manner of activities and artefacts associated with the age of steam. One of the largest of the steam rallies and fairs is the Great Dorset Steam Fair. There are others at Astle Park, Malpas and Great Eccleston. Many others, both great and small, are held and event diaries can be found on the internet. At the event the magnificent engines are constantly cleaned and polished by their owners, who wear the dirt and grime of their calling as a badge of honour. Excitement is intensified as first one and then another builds up a head of steam as the boiler is stoked, and the pressure is released in a series of high pitched and distinctive whistles. They are steamed stationary for visitors to praise and admire as they inspect it as closely as possible. The high point of the day is when the all the steam and traction engines form a cavalcade and progress round the site and into the arena where each unit is introduced, by type, name and owner, by a commentator who often has an interesting little anecdote to add.

Vintage Steam Wagon

Steam traction engines were once a ubiquitous sight in the English countryside and towns alike. In the 21st century their heritage and survival is entrusted to a band of enthusiastic owners, engineers and volunteers. TractionEngine.info applauds everyone responsible for keeping these engines steaming.