Old Glory Collectors Series – April 2021

Old Glory

The Collectors Series

Steam Rollers Part 2

A Detailed Survey of Road and Agricultural Steam in Pictures

The steam traction engine is just one iteration of road steam power and this series looks in great detail at the different types of equipment and their manufacturers. The first issue covered Showmans' Road Locomotives and this was following by the Traction Engine across six editions (back numbers still available), whereas currently, the series turns to Steam Rollers with Part 2 of 4 just published.

Future subjects will include Road Locomotives, Steam Lorries, Portable Engines and Ploughing Engines, with a further volume on Showmans' Engines to come.

Edited by Old Glory editor Peter Love, these Collectors' volumes lean heavily on Peter's father's collection of black and white photographs which show many fascinating views of these machines in their working days. These are then contrasted with pictures of the engines as they are today, as seen on the rally fields, at least as far as those that have survived are concerned. Where this is the case, we sometimes see the engines rusting away before being saved and often, there are views of the same engines in their early preservation days, these views also making a stark contrast with what we see today.

In many cases, however, the engines were lost to the scrapman, including some that surprisingly survived late into the day only to succumb and escape the preservationists' hands. As well as the early black and white pictures there is plenty of colour too, and each manufacturer's potted history is included for good measure.

A highly collectable series for all enthusiasts of road and agricultural steam.