Traction Engine Driving

Rob · Traction Engine Driving

though i would wright a bit about sunday. left home at 7am to get to mr parrots farm in weeting, brandon, suffolk, at 9:30. we arrive an hour late as we had trouble with getting the van going a little way from the farm.

arrived at about 10:30 at mr parrots farm. we drove down his lane to the farm buildings, and passed a pair of fowler ploughers opposite. i went and saw mr parrot, an old farmer who walked with a stick, and asked where about i needed to be. he gave us directions for just up the road in one of his fields.

we drove into the field to see 6 burrell engines all lined up, getting steam up. there where 21 members of the steam apprentise club present. first thing was to put my overalls on and start brass cleaning. even little tasks like this are fun in my opinion. having never been that close to an engine in steam, it was a great experience to climb over it cleaning it. we did a bit of oiling up and then it was time for a change. the first engine i was on was a burrell single cylinder "princess royal".
http://www.steam-up.co.uk/burrell/burrell_no439.htm
the engine was a bit different to in the picture, although it is the same engine. she had a darker green paint job, ladder to access the running board, the tool box on top of the running board wasnt there and the seat on the tender wasnt there.

we had a change of engines, and i was put on a burrell single crank compound. just to clarify, all of mr parrots engine are burrells. they where made in thetford which is not far from weeting in brandon. i dont have any pictures of this engine, but she looked like she had just came off a days work. this was the egine i was on all day.
we did some more brass cleaning and oiling. went throughsome basic bits about driving the engine. then we went for a drive. one lad steared the engine over the field whils the old chap drove us. i then had a stear through his obstacle course. this involved goingin through some cones, fairly tight turns, then reversing a bit. we had lunch the did some more.

the old chap showed us how to use the injector and explained how it worked. fairly simple to use, turn on the water from the tender, then open the steam and listen for the water to stop gushing out on to the grass. i was well praised for my first attempt at opperating it, but i was told that they arent all as easy as this one. we then looked at the water level. the water was off the glass so we had to blow down the guage to see the water level. the chap in charge asked us what would happen if it got too low. i was the only one to answer. "you could drop the plug" i said. correct he said, and then explained a bit about that. he explained about the pump bypass valve aswel and how that works. we went off accross the field to fill up with water, put some more coal on and we did some driving.

we did some practise at starting off in neutral to start. he showed us the technique of using the reversing lever and regulator to get the engine going if the crank is in the wrong possition. this would involve the crank being at the end of the stroke almost, opening the reg until the chest was full, close the reg quickly, then quickly pull the reversing lever back, when the crank starts moving chuck it forwards, open the reg and off you go. this is the only way on a single crank engine, but we had a compound which had a starting lever.

we had a while being incharge of the reg, driving around mr parrots fields. then, the rain came. this was the end of the day and only about 2:30. most people went home and the engines started to go back to the farm. i went a stood under a shelter which had a binder and threshing drum in it. when i relised the rain wasnt going to stop, i went over to the engine i was first on, which had the two chaps incharge i was with that day, and said whats happening. they told me everyone was going home, but i could stear the engine back to the farm if i wanted. so i did, after giving dad a push in the van to start it. i jumped on the engine and we drove accross the field in top gear towards the farm. at the end of the field there was a shart bit of road. here, i had to get off and walk until we reached the small lane to mr parrots farm. this was a small track which was a bit twisty, and on a descent. we pulled into the drive to park up the engine.

i got changed out of my overalls, and just on the way out, i wound down the window to get a pic of the engine i was just on "princess royal". then jack (who was incharge of this engine) came over and spoke to us. he was telling us that he had laid 1/3 of a mile of standard guage track for mr parrot and that mr parrot had his own 0-4-0 saddle tank loco on there. he told us there was the weeting rally on the third full weekend of july, and he would be doing the threshing demonstration. i am guessing that this rally would be a superb rally, as mr parrot has 6 burrell engines, 2 fowler ploughers on permenant load, 2 furrow ploughs, 4 threshing drums, 2 semi portable engines, 2 old fire engines, a big pick up with crane and LOTS of land to hold a rally, complete with arena marked out.

this was a great days driving and i gained lots of experience and knowledge. on my return home after sleeping all the way home, i wrote up a letter to mr parrot, thanking him for giving me the opportunity to come and drive his engines and i hope to attend the weeting rally and have the opportunity to drive his engines again.

i only got 2 pics of the day

as i was so busy enjoying myself. the pics are from the end of the day when we parked up "princess royal", which i will post a bit later.

the day was great and i would highly reccommend any young person interested in traction engines to join the steam apprentice club.
http://www.ntet.co.uk/sac/home.htm

here are some pictures of some of mr parrots engines:

http://www.steam-up.co.uk/burrell/burrell_no439.htm

http://www.steam-up.co.uk/burrell/burrell_cf3579.htm

http://www.steam-up.co.uk/burrell/burrell_cf7108.htm

http://www.steam-up.co.uk/burrell/burrell_tb3717.htm

ther is also a burrell roller and burrell traction engine which i cant find pics of.

thats all, and i hope i can driv ehis engines again at the weeting rally.

thankyou very much mr parrot.

pauly

you are living my dream

hope you enjoyed your self

Rob

i sure did paul. it was my first time on a engine and it was the best experience ever.

Lewis

Sounds like you had a good time mate

Things like that stick with you all your life

I have driven a USA S160 locomotive at the churnet valley railway and loved every last minute of it

TRAPPERKEEPER

What a great opportunity, nothing like that around here

Rob

i bet that was good lewis. i hope this will be the first of a big list of engines i have drove.

bessytractor

Les

Glad to hear you had such an enjoyable day.

pauly

just took a good look at the pics and I am so freaking jealous right now

johnreid

Wow, that is the fantasy of so many, you are lucky to be able to participate like that.

Rob

cheers guys. the steam apprentice club is to get young people involved with traction engines. its a great idea and very successful.

steamyjim

seven.mpd

Glad you had a good day !

MTA

Sounds like you had a brilliant day Rob! I cannot wait to see your pics

I had my head in between the main frames of 'Wendy' yesterday, as I was cleaning the paintwork. I still smell of diesel!

Minor1PJG

Sounds like a fantastic day.

Thanks for sharing

Rob

here are the 2 pics after a long wait:

a closer view

Rob

Rob

Nick

Sounds like you had fun.