Steam rollers

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martyn williams
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Steam rollers

Post #1 by martyn williams » Thu Sep 23, 2010 3:11 pm

I have noticed that there is not many posts on rollers.Steam in particular.I thought I would start a section on these great beasts as the steam roller was the machine that started my interest in plant.I will add a few photos shortly.I have been lucky enough to have driven them and do a little bit of work on them.My favorite type are the rollers built by Aveling Porter.
Thomas Aveling built the first roller in 1867, machines from this company were shipped all over the world and had a great reputation for building top quality rollers.There are dozens in preservation today.I first came across one in the very early 1960's in my home town of Mountain Ash,many years later I had the chance to drive the same roller when we transported it from Derbyshire back to Mountain Ash for a drive through the town centre.
Martyn
A video of Fred Dibnah for you to view
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvjHxXl8KYI


Julian
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Re: Steam rollers

Post #2 by Julian » Thu Sep 23, 2010 6:50 pm

Here's mine, with its previous owner at Dorset:

Image
URL of the original image: http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/pictures/2002/gdsf/IM005190.jpg

And some more of it under my ownership more recently:

http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/engines/aveling-porter/road-roller/9024/

I nice slide valve single cylinder - the best sort in my opinion ;)

Julian.


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Re: Steam rollers

Post #3 by martyn williams » Thu Sep 23, 2010 8:30 pm

She's a cracker.Have you had to do any repairs on it ?
When I was a kid I used to stand next to the roller in Mountain Ash,you could feel the heat and smell the sulphur and hot oil,complemented by the smell of fresh tarmac.If only they could bottle that . :lol:
It seems that the coal these days is not so good,very smokey and gums up the tubes quickly.I will be at the Rhondda heritage park the first weekend in October.They have a couple of rollers there for the weekend.
I am green with envy of you Julian :thumbup:
Martyn
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Re: Steam rollers

Post #4 by Julian » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:36 pm

B100 LOADER wrote:She's a cracker.Have you had to do any repairs on it ?
When I was a kid I used to stand next to the roller in Mountain Ash,you could feel the heat and smell the sulphur and hot oil,complemented by the smell of fresh tarmac.If only they could bottle that . :lol:
It seems that the coal these days is not so good,very smokey and gums up the tubes quickly.I will be at the Rhondda heritage park the first weekend in October.They have a couple of rollers there for the weekend.
I am green with envy of you Julian :thumbup:
Martyn


The boiler is sound. Fire box, tube plate and barrel got renewed in 1995 by the PO who was boiler inspector, so it'll outlast me. I renewed the tubes last winter as they had been in for 15 years and I was getting a little nervous about then - though when I cut them through I found loads of meat left. Other than that I've mostly been painting it, a little at a time over successive winters, and undertaking minor repairs to moving parts like motion work, water feed pumps etc. It's as good as gold now and steams all day without a murmur.

Coal is a variable - my roller has a big boiler and large firebox (for its size) so within reason it'll burn any old shit coal and still steams easily - obviously shittier coal, or coal with lots of bitumen content clags up the tubes quicker. But I generally opt for the Columbian coal as it's low ash and pretty clean burning - which is good for roading the thing. Sadly I can't get large cobbles any longer (none imported into the UK) si I have to get what I can get, ie smaller stuff - the small stuff is a bugger as it tends to drop through the firebars!

Should be at the Leigh Arms off the A49 (in Cheshire) first weekend in October for it's last outing of the year.

Julian.

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70's steve
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Re: Steam rollers

Post #5 by 70's steve » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:41 pm

hi guys ,
this is quite a coinsidance today , me and my father was taking at work today about steam rollers and with the caravans they towed from job to job , and wether they'd been any pictures updates on this site ! and wow wonderfull pictures , cheers guys ! lets see more please folks lol


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Re: Steam rollers

Post #6 by martyn williams » Thu Sep 23, 2010 9:45 pm

A couple of photos with my old friend,the late and very much missed Fred Dibnah and the ex Mountain Ash council roller "sarah" built 1920 and used till the late 1960's on road works.We drove this roller from the town hall to the next village.Hundreds of people turned out which give us a pleasant surprise.This roller now resides in Derby.It was replaced by an Aveling Barford GD diesel roller driven by the same driver Mr Arthur Hayman,his family attended our road run through Mountain Ash.
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Julian
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Re: Steam rollers

Post #7 by Julian » Thu Sep 23, 2010 10:16 pm

70's steve wrote:hi guys ,
this is quite a coinsidance today , me and my father was taking at work today about steam rollers and with the caravans they towed from job to job , and wether they'd been any pictures updates on this site ! and wow wonderfull pictures , cheers guys ! lets see more please folks lol


The caravans would be termed ''living vans.'' You can see a picture of mine, which is a ''Cheshire living van.'' it's not really that old as even I can remember the Cheshire council workmen towing them behind their TD lorries for use as brew huts. It's good for me as it's on suspension and rubber tyres so will go behind the landrover at 40mph. You obviously can't do this with steel wheels with cast iron ''tyres!''

Julian

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Re: Steam rollers

Post #8 by 70's steve » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:01 pm

hi again,
thought i'd look through british pathe website to see if there is any film footage but only this 1 shows up ,
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=63817
enjoy


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Re: Steam rollers

Post #9 by BulldozerD11 » Thu Sep 23, 2010 11:44 pm

Hi Julian Dont think i've seen your Roller yet, but my list of A&P engines is a bit out of date as not updated a lot of recent sightings, as too many events on. What events have you been to recently,

Heres a few photos of a few rollers, a Tarspreader boilerand various living vans at GDSF this year.
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Interested in Tractors, Plant, Heavy Haulage or Steam visit http://tractors.wikia.com/wiki/Tractor_%26_Construction_Plant_Wiki
Help document every manufacturer model build, and record every machine in preservation, clubs and events etc.

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Re: Steam rollers

Post #10 by 70's steve » Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:08 pm

hi all ,
just reading through one of the daily news sites i have in me favourites and came arcoss this news item from today !
"Steam engines auctioned in Norfolk"
These powerful, hissing workhorses were once a familiar sight as they toiled away, surfacing Norfolk's new roads between the wars.

But although saved from the scrapheap they have spent the last 60 years quietly collecting cobwebs under plastic coverings, away from public view.
more on this story on the link below
http://www.edp24.co.uk/content/edp24/news/story.aspx?brand=EDPOnline&category=News&tBrand=EDPOnline&tCategory=xDefault&itemid=NOED23%20Sep%202010%2017%3A32%3A44%3A837


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