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Alan Barnes follows the restoration of
the unique Tasker steam wagon, once abandoned to the elements in Somerset.
Enjoying a recent delve among the items currently in Hampshire County Council’s museum store awaiting restoration, I came across some vehicles from the Milestones Museum at Basingstoke that are being serviced or repaired.
Tucked away in the back of one of the sheds after a recent boiler test was their 1924-built Tasker steam wagon No 1915. This is believed to be the sole example of this Andover manufacturer’s type to have survived, although there has long been speculation of an example surviving in Australia.
This Tasker was delivered new to the well-known Somerset firm of WJ King and from December 1924 it worked in their Bagborough stone quarry. King’s ran a varied fleet of steam wagons and they were all worked very hard carrying stone – many of them having only a relatively short working life.
Geoffrey King, the son of WJ King, once told the curator of Milestones Museum, Gary Wragg, that he remembered the Tasker performing very well until it was pensioned off in 1930. The decision to lay up the steam wagons was due, in part, to the stringent taxation and laden-weight restrictions that had been introduced by the Government of the day rather than any problems with the wagons’ performance.
The Tasker was stored in the company’s yard with several other steam wagons and remained there quietly rotting away until the mid-1950s.
The managing director of Tasker’s, Arthur Fuller, had approached Mr King on a number of occasions with a view to buying the wagon but his offers had always been refused. One day a WJ King vehicle encountered difficulties on the road and Arthur Fuller personally arranged for the stranded lorry to be rescued by one of his Tasker low-loaders. Soon after this errand of mercy, a deal on the Tasker steam wagon was agreed upon and, after years of trying, Arthur managed to complete the purchase for the company museum.
The years of outside storage had certainly taken their toll on the bodywork and, upon its return to the Tasker factory, a start was made on the building of a replacement cab and a new tipping body. New motion covers, chimney and other cosmetic parts were produced and the vehicle was cleaned and given a fresh coat of paint. Second-hand tyres were supplied by Dunlop and fitted to the vehicle, which was then displayed in Tasker’s private museum.
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