Delivered new to G. & W. Oakes of Hollington, Staffordshire, Burrell No. 3540 left the Thetford works with the registration number AH 0171. It was used by William Oakes to haul stone in the local area until the engine was sold at the end of 1918 to raise money to enable Mr Oakes to buy a farm. It was acquired by E. H. Shopland, believed to be general hauliers, of Clevedon, Somerset.
There is a photograph showing Gladstone in action from this period hauling a large flywheel from Newcastle upon Tyne to Clevedon for installation at a local saw mill, a journey which would have involved a round trip of over 600 miles. The Burrell was then sold again in 1925 to W. Isaac & Sons Ltd. of Braunton, Devon, who kept the engine for many years until it was finally sold into preservation in 1950. It was then bought by a Mr G. B. King of Temple Cloud in Somerset and, as the original registration documentation had by this time been lost, it was re-registered as OYB 558.

Burrell Gold Medal Tractor No. 3540 of 1914 Gladstone back in the Garden of England at Five Oak Green, Kent on April 25, 2004. ALAN BARNES

At the end of the 1950s, a visitor from America, Jeffery Roberts of Osterville, Massachusetts, saw the Burrell working in Devon and his offer to buy the engine was accepted. With assistance from W. M. Salmon of the Road Locomotive Society, Gladstone was shipped to America in 1959. It spent the next 14 years steaming around Mr. Roberts’ property in Cape Cod until in 1974 when it was donated to the Boston Museum of Transportation. Here it remained as a static exhibit for three years.

In 1977 Bill Litant, the museum’s public relations and special projects officer, decided that it would be a good idea to get the engine back into operating condition. It could then be used for pulling floats in parades in Boston and could also take part in the annual antique machinery meetings. The museum’s first step was to carry out historical research and they were helped by the late Michael Salmon who provided technical information, original build sheets and parts lists. The next stage was to strip the engine down and a group of volunteers removed the steering chain, belly tank and stripped off the lagging. It soon became apparent that the engine needed to be re-tubed and a local boiler company agreed to do this at no cost. Another local company had agreed to donate a new canopy and so the restoration made steady progress.

However a regulation existed in the USA that required all steam boilers to carry an ASME stamp. This is normally cut into a new boiler by the manufacturer and includes date of manufacture and the maximum allowable boiler pressure. Of course the Burrell never carried such a stamp so the Massachusetts boiler inspector was unwilling to pass it as fit. Just for good measure the inspector also condemned the firebox and expressed concerns about the boiler shell as well!

The museum was closed in 1982 and Gladstone was auctioned to the successful bidder - Finlay B. Matheson of Coral Gables, Miami, Florida. Finlay was an avid collector and restorer of rare antique engines, the largest in his collection being a 62 ton cross- compound engine that used a 11¼2 diameter rope drive system and which had been moved from a Texas rice mill. Knowing that Gladstone needed some serious repairs he sent the engine to a friend in Tennessee who had restored antique machinery for the Smithsonian Institution and the Henry Ford Museum. However due to a heavy workload the Burrell remained untouched for another two years and so Finlay was reluctantly forced to bring the engine back to Coral Gables.

Finlay then travelled to the UK on holiday and attended steam rallies and met with individuals in order to research Gladstone’s history and to try and work out the best way to move the restoration project forward. He made contact with Ron Walker who became heavily involved in the project and as a result the Burrell was returned to England in 1987. It was moved to Bicknell’s yard at Hollycombe and here a new firebox, front tubeplate, tubes and rubber tyres were fitted and a full repaint was completed. While at Hollycombe it was steamed and run in around the local area before being shipped back to the USA in 1988. For the next few years it was basically kept on display and only returned to steam on the odd occasion.

In the autumn of 1999 Paul contacted Ron Walker who maintains the Register of Gold Medal Tractors in the hope of finding a suitable engine to purchase. Paul eventually made contact with Finlay and lengthy discussions on a proposed sale followed. Paul was invited to Miami in December 2000 to see Gladstone and to continue negotiations.
During the visit the Burrell was steamed for the first time in nearly two years and driven around Coral Gables where it made quite a stir parked outside the yacht club. Following another period of lengthy discussions and negotiations over Gladstone’s future, it was not until December 2001 that Finlay finally contacted Ron Walker to talk about the engine returning to Britain. This time a deal was agreed and in the middle of January 2002 Ron’s son David went with Paul over to Miami to dismantle the Burrell and pack the parts in a container for shipping to Britain. So the Burrell began its fourth crossing of the Atlantic and by the middle of February it had safely arrived in Felixstowe and a couple of weeks later was back together and delivered safely to Paul’s home in Kent.

It had been his intention to get the Burrell back in action as quickly as possible but the test drive and steaming around Coral Gables had revealed one or two problems. Wishing to avoid any significant damage now that the engine was finally back in Britain, Paul decided on a thorough mechanical examination before any decision on regular steaming was made. This, as it turned out, was a very wise move. There were numerous steam leaks as well as some quite bad knocking coming from the area around the LP cylinder. The main bearing cap on the flywheel side was black from overheating and both of the retaining studs had sheared. Paul made a list of items that needed attention and then he spoke to Tony Reen for advice on re-testing the boiler.

An immaculate and gleaming cylinder block. ALAN BARNES