Bits & Pieces

Wallis and Steevens Tractor

Pat Freeman has received a letter from James Loader of Ringwood, Hampshire, with regard to the early history and ownership of his Wallis and Steevens 4¾ ton Tractor, No. 7732, Reg. No. CF 4771.

   James states that the engine was originally supplied to Thedwastre R.D.C. (near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk) in 1923, and was passed on to George Thurlow & Sons in 1929. It was then sold on to Doran Brothers of Thetford at an unknown date, who were going to convert it to a roller, but this never happened. The engine was later sold to R. Palmer & Sons of West Dereham, Norfolk, until 1961, when Mr Drew of Redhill, Surrey, acquired it.

   James hopes that EATEC members may be able to add some further information to that presently known, including details of any photographs of it during its working life. Since the engine was with Palmers during the 50's and early 60's, he did wonder if anyone may have photographed it in their yard.

   James would appreciate any help that can be given, however small. He may be contacted on Telephone No. 01425 471074

 

Simon Webb's Fodens
by Pat Freeman
Featured on the front cover of a recent issue of The Foden Society’s journal is a photograph taken by Club member Simon Webb. It was of two Foden’s, Simon’s 1932 Tractor Mighty Atom, No.13078, and a 4-Wheel Rigid Chassis fitted with a Webb TA10 “Extra Reach” Skip Unit which was being supplied to Messrs Paul Richies Skip Hire of Kempton Hardwick, Bedfordshire. Mighty Atom was one of the last D type engines to leave the Foden factory before its closure as was the Foden 4-Wheel Rigid Chassis.
    Simon’s tractor took part in the 50th and 150th centenary celebrations of the start of the manufacture of Foden’s. In 1956 it was driven under its own steam by the previous owner Gordon Howell for the 50th celebrations from Andover to Sandbach and last summer Simon drove it there for the 150th celebrations.
   In the photograph the Foden Cab and Unit look resplendent in the paint finish of Foden Dragon red and cream.

 

Robey Tri-Tandem Rollers
by Pat Freeman
In the late 1920's a firm named Wirksworth Quarries Ltd obtained from France a tri-tandem roller which appeared to work very well. So much so that, apparently having reached a patent agreement with the French supplier, they had three Robey tandems converted to tri-tandems by Messrs Goode of Royston and these were used successfully on such roads as the M1 and the Watford by-pass. Two of the  three have survived one of which, No. 45655, Reg. No. VL 2773,
,  belongs to the Robey Trust Ltd of Tavistock, Devon, and is often seen at rallies. The other, No. 44083, Reg. No. VL 2370, was acquired about ten years ago by the now late Richard Webb of Sudbury, Suffolk, as a non-runner. Due to pressure of work little has been heard of it since then, but Richard's son, Simon, an EATEC member, has informed me that he is now in a position to take the initial steps towards a complete rebuild and he invited me to his Acton Works to see the progress being made.

     

 

   The roller has a circular, stayless, thimble or pistol firebox and this, together with the boiler, has been shot-blasted and X-rayed, ready for any required repairs to be undertaken. Simon has agreed to keep me informed of further progress

 

Edna.
An article, written by EATEC member, Arthur Bullman, in the August 2001 issue of "Power Up", the Newsletter of the Museum of Power, Maldon, Essex, describes how he collected a 1923 Aveling & Porter Steam Roller, 'Edna' W No.10571, in 1973. Click Edna for the full story. 'Edna' is still owned by the Bullman family.

 

Poem of a Steam Engine Journey.
A poem was received by a Mrs Allen in 1961 which she passed to Pat Freeman in 2002. It is about a journey on a steam engine from Tarland, Aberdeenshire, to Chester-le-Street, just south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to take part in a Steam Rally.
The journey, a distance of about 300 miles, was undertaken by the engine owner, Willie McConachie, and his son,Wink, in 1958 and the poem describes the progress through Scotland into England and the taking part in the rally.
Willie McConachie owned five engines at that time and it is thought that it was his Tasker, W. No.1911, that was steamed along the route as it is referred to in the poem as 'The Little Giant'.
His other four engines were: an Aveling & Porter, No. 11137; a Foster, W. No. 14289; a Fowler, W. No.11695, and a Clayton & Shuttleworth, W. No. 44975.
Click Poem to read the verse. Can anyone throw any light on this journey or the rally at Chester-le-Street?

The Hare and the Tortoise.
The 1908 Marshall Traction Engine Old Nick, No. 49725, owned by Ernie Eagle of Colchester, Essex, and the 1976 Ferrari 308 GT4 Dino, owned by  Nick and Natasha Saberton. Pictured at the Weeting Steam Rally and Country Show in July 2003.

 

Clover Hulling.
During the weekend October 25/26th 2003, EATEC member Alan Hines was pleased to be able to undertake some clover threshing, courtesy of Mark Armstrong of Shelland Green, near Stowmarket, Suffolk.
For about five years, Alan has owned a 1911 Ruston Seed Huller which he had never used and recently he obtained several new belts for it from Bloomfield & Sons of Debenham , Suffolk, to make it fully operational.
On a bright, frosty, Saturday morning, Alan's 1914 Ruston, Proctor Traction Engine Jack, No. 49804, was belt-coupled to the huller and after initial adjustments threshing commenced at about 11.00 and carried on without a hitch until 16.30.
Several Club members were involved, including Ray Garnham on Jack, Stuart Hines, Alan's son, and Trevor Wrench looking after the huller.
On the Sunday morning, threshing again commenced at about 11.00 and finished at 15.30.
The result of the two-day operation was 5 cwt of white clover seed, a lot of experience gained by the participants and enjoyable viewing by a number of invited guests.
Five hundredweight of seeds may not seem much for 8 hours of hard slog but, bearing in mind that a clover seed is no more than a pin head in size, it represents millions of potential clover plants in the future.
Alan and his friends had no experience of operating a seed huller but had gained lots of information from Geoff Gilbert's book 'Steam Thrashing 1900-1950'. They were therefore very pleased that Geoff was present with his wife on the Saturday to see book-learning put into practice.

 

Wheat Threshing.
Perhaps it was the fact that Stuart helped his father, Alan Hines, with clover hulling (see above) that prompted him to acquire his own threshing drum soon afterwards. It was in action on the weekend of November 15/16th 2003 at Ashfield, Suffolk.

 

     

 

His dad had used a traction engine to drive the clover huller, but Stuart coupled his own tractor, a Fordson Major, Reg. No. DCF 117, to the newly acquired drum, a 1948 Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies type 54 ( Heavy ), No.58460. This, in turn, was belt-coupled to a vintage Claas Straw Tier.
The job was to thresh two stacks of Huntsman, long-stalked, wheat for a local Thatcher, Martin Edmonds.

 

            

 

With the help of his father and a gang of friends, Simon carried out the task to the satisfaction of Martin who was pleased to have a stack of straw that would see him through six or seven months of thatching.

 

Stuart Hines Writes About his Seed Huller.
During November 2003, I acquired a Ruston & Hornsby Seed Huller from Mr Geoff Gilbert at Huntingdon, a machine that Geoff had bought some 25 years previously from Louth, in Lincolnshire, but had never had it running. He had started to restore it by rebuilding the forecarriage and making a new mouth for it, but then had found more pressing commitments and the huller was  laid up under a good number of sheets in his back garden.
The huller is No. 27997 and although it carries Ruston & Hornsby maker's plates and transfers, the number is actually past the maker's numbers for the firm which means that it was built in Ipswich by Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies and incorporates several Ransomes design features, including the iron wheels. When Ruston & Hornsby built the huller they called it the "Champion Clover Huller", but when the design was sold to Ransomes, they called it the "Invincible Clover Huller" even though it was still the same machine.
This huller arrived home at the end of November and when I had a good look round it, I decided that it would not take too much work to put it back to full working order. I 'phoned Ron Rowe and asked him if he would like a Seed Huller at his Sweffling Bygones Museum Open Day and he was pleased to accept. We agreed that it could be worked by the engine that Trevor Wrench was due to bring.
Work didn’t commence on the huller until well into February, due to the fact that I had also just bought a Ransomes Threshing Drum and Straw Pitcher and I wanted to finish painting the straw pitcher before I started on the next project. But as time was rapidly slipping past, this had to be temporarily abandoned so I could start on the huller.
On closer inspection, I realised that I had to reboard the top of the huller and also remake all the galleries that folded out on top to support the stage boards. I was very fortunate when I acquired the huller because Geoff had given me all the new wood that he had bought to restore it and this was all tongue-and-grooved to the proper size.
It also needed a total repaint which is my fiancée's department - I’m not very good at painting so Donna does most of it. To do the job properly would have meant a total strip-down inside and out and we didn’t have time to do this. At this stage we just wanted it to go out in a presentable condition, so it was decided to give it a very quick coat of paint.
Work progressed each weekend and it soon became clear that we weren’t going to complete it in time, but we still kept going each weekend and on the eve of its first outing, to the Game Fair at Glemham Hall on May 2nd & 3rd, we were still painting at 9.45 pm, in almost darkness.
The following day I took the huller to Glemham Hall by road, dragging it behind my father's 1959 Massey Ferguson 35 Tractor, a total distance of 40 miles, this took me just over 5 hours and I think it rained every foot of the journey.
Sunday morning duly arrived and we started setting up the huller. First we levelled it and then the hulling crew, consisting of Trevor Wrench, Kevin Farrington and myself, started making belts for it. After we had greased it up, it was time to give it a run. I was taking quite a chance because I had never had it running before.
I was amazed, it ran like a dream with no grunts or groans and when Trevor took it up to the speed of 1200 rpm the familiar "Howl" of the Seed Huller was music to my ears. It had made all the hard work worthwhile.
Trevor Wrench’s own 1919 Clayton & Shuttleworth Agricultural Engine Rambler, No. 48215, is undergoing some mechanical work this season so he took the 1910 Burrell 7nhp Single Cylinder Traction Engine, No. 3249, owned by Bill Kemble of Wantisden, Suffolk, to Glemham Hall and with its cast-iron chimney it sounded a
treat
I had got a trailer-load of white clover the previous evening but it proved to be not enough; as I fed the last handful in the top, the seed only then started to come out through the spout at the back. It was decided that we would need a bigger trailer, so we borrowed one of 14ft and got another load for the Monday.
On Monday we managed to do a couple of hours clover hulling in the morning, but when we stopped for lunch the heavens opened and the field soon became a sea of mud. We packed up the huller and transferred the rest of the clover onto my car trailer for use at Sweffling the following weekend.
By this time, every vehicle that was trying to leave the rally site was having to be towed off  by 4 x 4’s or big tractors. Trevor had to put the clips on the old Burrell and it looked extremely "Victorian" churning its way steadily across the field towards the gate.
That evening, I towed the huller across to Sweffling in preparation for the following week. Luckily, by this time, the rain had eased and the setting sun made it an enjoyable run.
During the week I 'phoned Geoff Gilbert and invited him to join us at Sweffling and also told him that we had used his old huller the previous weekend at Glemham. He was very pleased and looked forward to seeing it in action himself.
On the Sunday morning I went to Sweffling, where the exhibitors had started to arrive. The engine that was going to drive the huller was the Mead family’s 1909 Burrell Single Crank Compound Agricultural Engine Princess, No.3125. This is normally driven by Mark Groom who brought her to Sweffling the previous day by road, but being a dedicated Ipswich Town FC supporter, couldn’t be with us on the Sunday because of an important home game. So Trevor drove it.
Geoff Gilbert arrived and was very pleased to see his old huller back to working order. It worked reasonably well with only a few teething troubles, these were overcome with some minor adjustments and we were able to thresh out the remaining clover by just after lunch.

 

 

I would like to thank a few people for the help with the huller over the winter and during the Glemham Hall and Sweffling Bygones events: My long suffering fiancée Donna Taylor, Adam Alexander, Trevor Wrench, Kevin Farrington, Mark Groom, Aubrey, Richard White and Geoff Gilbert.