Welland Steam Rally - Steam Exhibits

It is generally accepted that them first steam powered road vehicle was built in France in 1769, to be used as a gun tractor. From this people like Trevithick, Gurney and Hancock started building experimental steam carriages. But it was on rails that the steam engine really established itself until, by the middle of the 19th Century the rail network was becoming well established. By that time portable steam engines drawn by orses started to appear providing power on the farm.

The first engineer to make his engine self-propelled was Ransomes in 1842, but it still needed a horse in shafts to steer it. In 1849 Ransomes introduced their self propelled "Farmers Engine", but it failed to achieve its initial success. However, things continued to evolve gradually and by the 1860s, the traction engine we now recognise, had arrived.

Below is a short description of the different types of traction engines.

Portable Engines

This type of engine was wholly used on the farm or timber yard. They were usually fitted with shafts for pulling by horses.

Robey Engine Agricultural or General Purpose Engines

These were mainly built for farm use, usually single cylinder machines, their typical use was to power threshing machines, saw benches, stone crushers, etc.

Road Locomotives Burrell Showman's Engine

These are the largest type of machines and were used for heavy haulage on the roads often towing tremendous weights over long distances. Most well known are the Showman's road locos used on the fairgrounds, which also double as electricity generators.

Steam Tractors

These machines are more likely to be two cylinder machines with two or three gears and extra water tanks under the boiler to allow them to undertake longer road journeys. They were often used for general haulage, furniture removal etc, as well as the many agricultural duties required of a tractor.

Ploughing Engines Steam Ploughing at Welland

The ploughing engine was developed to replace the horse, and early forms used separate winches to draw the plough across the field. Eventually a design was developed where the engine was mounted with a winch and two engines at either end of the field was used to draw the plough across the ground between them. This is demonstrated at Welland in the working field.

Steam Rollers

The steam roller is the one which will be the most familiar, as it was in production longer and in general use longer than any other type. With the increase in road building in early 20th Century, the steam roller became invaluable.

Steam Lorries and Wagons

These machines were developed to carry a load without a trailer, and there are two distinct types: the overtype and the undertype.

The overtype had a horizontal boiler with the cylinders on top (e.g. Foden) and the undertype usually had a vertical boiler with the cylinders mounted underneath the chassis (e.g. Sentinel).