Towards the end of last year, I finally got around to printing some pictures for engineman Martin Fagg of his Aveling & Porter road roller and which I had been promising him for some time.

With the prints ready I telephoned Martin to give him the good news. "Oh that's good" he replied "because I haven't got the roller anymore and a few pictures to remember her by would be very nice". That news was a little off-putting as I'd wanted to do another photo session with the superbly restored engine.

Martin Fagg's unique Foster wagon turns young heads at the River Wey bridge in Tilford, Surrey on April 18. Photo: Alan Barnes.

But Martin proffered "Would you like to know what I've got now? I've bought the Foster Steam Wagon. Would you like to take a few pictures of that instead?" What a question to ask me! Well I mean - Do the Woodentops have a spotty dog? I was nearly out of the door there and then until Martin went on to say that he was doing a bit of work on it over the next few weeks and that hopefully it would be back together in time for Easter. Typical, I thought. As soon as he gets his hands on a nice piece of kit he goes and takes it all to pieces!

This unique wagon is only on the road today thanks to the efforts over the past 20 years of the late Tom Varley and Tom and John Craggs who have all played their part in restoring the Foster. Tom Varley imported it originally from Australia, where it went from new. Martin had bought the wagon from Tom and John in late 2002 and before it was brought down south to Martin's home in Hampshire the boiler was inspected, test steamings completed and insurance arranged. During one of the test runs it became apparent that there was excessive wear between the weigh shaft and the valve guide spindle brackets. These and the other components that are attached to the weigh shaft were removed and taken back to Martin's workshop...

[Read the rest of the article in the July 2003 issue]