Re. posts 19/20.  I apologise for the quality of the pictures but they have been lying in the bottom of a draw for many years. On the small picture my grandfather is wearing the trilby, He was from Kettleshulme and was quarry manager for many years at Hughes Bros, Waterswallows. I am not sure if the truck in the small picture is steam or diesel. I will post pictures another time of my grandfather parading on  Buxton market place in Sherwood Foresters uniform prior to going of to the 1st world war,

Devious  

What do you make of this Buggyite?

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Agricultural Traction.jpg (1,238kb) downloaded 78 time(s).

Devious,

Thank you for allowing us to see those photos. Don't worry about the quality, its the subject matter!

The first photo does indeed show a Foden "Speed-6" undertype wagon, with a drawbar trailer in tow, so it is the wagon I was hoping to see. They were the most modern of the Foden steam wagons, with pneumatic tyres, electric lights and an enclosed cab, built to compete with Sentinel's S-types.

Behind it is a more traditional Foden overtype steam wagon, "overtype" referring to the fact that the engine (cylinder block, conn rods, crankshaft) was over the boiler.  It is still a little out of the ordinary, as it is a 6-wheeler.

The second photograph is of a diesel lorry, so can't help identify it, sorry.

Moogie,

There was a "Buxworth Steam Group" who not only had an assortment of traction engines, steam rollers, steam wagons and vintage fairground equipment, but also organised steam rallies all over the country. I assumed that whoever lettered up that matchbox wagon had that in mind.

I haven't seen that photograph before, R.S-S.

I wasn't even aware that WBUDC had their own roller!  Obviously I know that New Mills Council did, and it was kept in the council yard behind the fire station on Hague Bar Road. It also still exists, owned by a local engineer and has done assorted appearances at various events in the vicinity.

To be honest, I'd be surprised if Whaley Bridge UDC had a roller of their own, as I remember Harry Brookes telling me that Botany hired the one from New Mills (with usual driver) to do some surfacing in their yard, and they'd not do this if they could have had the Whaley one.

if you've any more info on this photo, I would be very interested to read it.

Aveling and Porter was the largest steam roller manufacturer in the World.  Their factory was at Strood in Kent and they chose that county's emblem of a horse rampant to adorn the front of their engines; "Invicta"being Kent's motto. (l. unconquered)

parabuild attached the following image(s):

That's a fine photo too, Shallcross.

As for makes and stuff, the roller on Elnor lane is a Marshall, made in Gainsborough. The round headstock for the front rolls is a dead give-away for the make. I am not enough of an expert to date it. Like you, I can't just place the location, and am waiting for Robert to respond to our requests for more information.

Your photo on the canalside is almost definitely of an Aveling roller, but I am struggling to further identify it. I have never seen an Aveling with what are called "belly tanks" - the tank slung under the boiler just behind the front rolls. Normally, only road haulage traction engines would have belly tanks, to increase the distance they can travel between fill-ups of water. Rollers, because of the nature of the work they carry out, don't need this. Some rollers were built as convertibles, ie, the rolls could be exchanged for wheels, so they could be used for haulage too, but the tank is too far forward for this I think.

The alternative would be that the tank is for tar , as some were made with tar-spraying equipment, but I always though this was limited to Fowlers.

I suspect that this roller is relatively modern, ie after 1920 or so, and might even be built by Aveling Barford, the name taken when Aveling & Porter merged with Barford & Perkins around 1930-ish.

Shallcross,

As you've already noted, its another Aveling & Porter. It's an R10, which means that it is nominally 10 tons in weight, but actually weighs about 12½ tons in use. The sign in front almost definitely says "Beware of the Steam Roller", as its identical (or even the same one as) to the sign on the well-known picture of a steam roller working on Lower Lane in Chinley by what used to be the bank, as seen in Alan Watson's "Bygone Days of Chinley".

This particular type of roller was made for many years, so it could have been built any time from about 1905 to 1920.

I presume that the base for this roller would be the council yard on Castleton Road in Chapel, but do you know where the Whaley Bridge roller would be kept?

Hello Mr  Shallcross (I'm assuming you are a "mister")

I think someone is giving you some duff information (unless you are toying with me). The engines in that photograph are a pair of Fowler Ploughing engines, built in 1875.

They were used in pairs, one either side of the field, and pulled a reversible plough across the field. As there is no arable land round here, they were never used in the High Peak.

They were owned for many many years by Beeby Brothers of Rempstone, and have survived into preservation. A similar engine was exhibited at this year's Water Weekend by the owners of Portobello Engineering who have completely rebuilt it.

When I said "never used in the High Peak", I should have said "apart from a pair converted to diesel, which were used to dredge a pond at Bowden Hall in Chapel in the 1960s" as they also found a use in such work, as they could pull a dredging bucket from one side of a pond to the other.

What do you make of this early Pickfords wagon Buggyite?

shallcross attached the following image(s):