Transport of ploughing engines

[Prometheus]

I have a model of a Fowler ploughing Engine which I wish to mount on some sort of well wagon. As it is however, it would be somewhat out of gauge. Does anyone know whether the chimney on the Fowler BB1 was a folding one? I cannot find any photos on line of one with its chimney down [or being rail transported either for that matter].

 

Many thanks.

 

Tony

[31A]

They removed the chimneys for transit - there's a joint near the bottom of the chimney.

[Prometheus]

Thank you Steve - that's pretty much where I decided to use the saw. Good to have it confirmed however.

 

Tony

[The Johnster]

The classic load for a lowmac or loriot.

[spikey]

And when somebody asks where the other one is (ploughing engines usually being seen in pairs), you can say "'Er be off to they mender's" ...

[rockershovel]

And when somebody asks where the other one is (ploughing engines usually being seen in pairs), you can say "'Er be off to they mender's" ...

There would be a pair of engines, plus the ploughing gear - the carriage which was dragged between the engines. There might be cultivators or harrows. There would also be a living van for the crew. Ploughing engines also worked as dredges, there are pictures of this work being carried out at Ladybower.

[Prometheus]

Quite so!

 

Tony

[phil_sutters]

In 'Around Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge in Old Photographs' which I am sure you will all have in your libraries*, there is a great photo of at least five**- Babcock steam rollers arriving in 1926 at Highbridge - the Wharf I think - on various Lowmac-type wagons. for the local road mending company of Buncombe's. They were still around in the 1960s when I lived in Highbridge - the company - not necessarily the same rollers, although I think they still had some steamers. They carried out contracts way beyond the Somerset borders.

*Actually those sorts of local history photo books are very good sources of background detail, especially in the first half of the 20th century, when they seemed keen on recording local life.

** Looking closely at the photo, there could have been as many as 7 rollers on that train. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by phil_sutters

[Worsdell forever]

And when somebody asks where the other one is (ploughing engines usually being seen in pairs), you can say "'Er be off to they mender's" ...

 

 

There would be a pair of engines, plus the ploughing gear - the carriage which was dragged between the engines. There might be cultivators or harrows. There would also be a living van for the crew. Ploughing engines also worked as dredges, there are pictures of this work being carried out at Ladybower.

 

And don't just buy two, the winches would be left and right handed, I think Oxford have done both but not as a pair.

[Steamport Southport]

And when making the model goes wrong...

 

images credit: ImageStudio; special thanks for the material provided by Lord_K ) I think that's the image owner copyright.

 

Linked from here.

 

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/12/steam-buses-trucks.html

 

 

I was trying to find a good photograph I saw the other day of an engine on a lowmac. Can't find it.

 

 

Jason

Edited November 28, 2018 by Steamport Southport

[Edwin_m]

Wasn't there an arrangement with only one engine and some sort of pulley on a stake for when the plough was moving away from the engine? 

[rockershovel]

Wasn't there an arrangement with only one engine and some sort of pulley on a stake for when the plough was moving away from the engine?

 

There was an early system, referred to as “roundabout”, involving a single engine and a cable passed through anchors positioned around the field. One set survives.

 

http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/rollers/ukrollers228.htm

 

I have heard that steam ploughing was in use as late as the early 1960s in the Cambridge area, I have seen a photo of an engine so credited, using roundabout tackle, at Caxton Gibbet.

 

Certainly there were several Fowler(?) ploughing engines deteriorating and slowly being cut up in a scrapyard in Cambridge (near Coldhams Common railway bridge) in the 1960s, I remember seeing them as a child.

[rockershovel]

And don't just buy two, the winches would be left and right handed, I think Oxford have done both but not as a pair.

Oxford list both types plus a living van although not, as you say, as a pair - and the plough itself is not included

[neilkirby]

Someone does a kit for the plough ( Is it called an anti-balance plough?)  I want to say scale link, but am unsure. I will look in the stash later.

 

Neil

[Fat Controller]

Someone does a kit for the plough ( Is it called an anti-balance plough?)  I want to say scale link, but am unsure. I will look in the stash later.

 

Neil

'Counter-balance', perhaps? I think it's Langley models that do one.

[Giles]

In the late sixties, there was a pair of Fowlers working on a farm just by the Lydiate Ash Roundabout  (M5) dredging a lake, if I remember correctly. They were there working away for quite a long time. It was a thrill for a young lad to see them as we drove past!

[31A]

There was an early system, referred to as “roundabout”, involving a single engine and a cable passed through anchors positioned around the field. One set survives.

 

http://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/rollers/ukrollers228.htm

 

I have heard that steam ploughing was in use as late as the early 1960s in the Cambridge area, I have seen a photo of an engine so credited, using roundabout tackle, at Caxton Gibbet.

 

Certainly there were several Fowler(?) ploughing engines deteriorating and slowly being cut up in a scrapyard in Cambridge (near Coldhams Common railway bridge) in the 1960s, I remember seeing them as a child.

 

 

There was a set in a yard not far from Caxton Gibbet, on Orwell Hill (Cambridge Road, A603); they were still operational later than that, early 1970s I would say.  I saw them in use several times although I think the owner probably did it as a "bit of a stunt" by then.

[Fat Controller]

There was a set in a yard not far from Caxton Gibbet, on Orwell Hill (Cambridge Road, A603); they were still operational later than that, early 1970s I would say.  I saw them in use several times although I think the owner probably did it as a "bit of a stunt" by then.

It might be ground that was susceptible to compaction if worked by normal tractors; in similar circumstances, farmers have used half-tracked or fully tracked tractors, or ones with double rear wheels.

[31A]

It might be ground that was susceptible to compaction if worked by normal tractors; in similar circumstances, farmers have used half-tracked or fully tracked tractors, or ones with double rear wheels.

 

Could have been, although the area I'm thinking of is a chalky outcrop really.

[Mark Saunders]

There would be a pair of engines, plus the ploughing gear - the carriage which was dragged between the engines. There might be cultivators or harrows. There would also be a living van for the crew. Ploughing engines also worked as dredges, there are pictures of this work being carried out at Ladybower.

 

The advantage of this system was that the engines never needed to run over the field compacting the soil plus made it suitable for softer soils!

[Barry O]

The LNER had special traction engine wagons.

 

baz

[neilkirby]

'Counter-balance', perhaps? I think it's Langley models that do one.

  It was Langley,   and it is an anti-balance plough.  I think I thought Scalelink as I may have bought it from them.

 

Neil

Edited November 29, 2018 by neilkirby

[rockershovel]

There was a set in a yard not far from Caxton Gibbet, on Orwell Hill (Cambridge Road, A603); they were still operational later than that, early 1970s I would say.  I saw them in use several times although I think the owner probably did it as a "bit of a stunt" by then.

Steam lingered on in Cambridgeshire! I remember seeing an Aveling Barford steam roller in storage at the pumping station beside the road from Cherry Hinton to Fulbourn, in the late 60s or early 70s (I left school in 1973 and went to Cornwall in 1974, so it would have been before 1974)

 

I have it in mind that I may have seen the “roundabout” set being demonstrated at Expo Steam in the 1980s, drawing a wheeled trolley around. This was a steam rally at the old Peterborough Showground, back in the days when it covered a huge area now long since built over..

[rab]

My brother bought one and spent 25 years restoring it.

 

Here it is 'as bought';

 

and after he finished restoring it:

[wainwright1]

Interestingly, in An Illustrated History of Southern Wagons Vol. 3 SECR, there are two pictures showing machinery wagons with a variety of traction engines loaded and they all appear to have their chimneys up.

One of these pictures which appears to have a steam roller, traction engine and possibly a ploughing engine is captioned that it was either taken at Lydd or Cambridge. Possibly a delivery from Aveling and Porter ?

 

RB