Britain's best selling steam & vintage magazine!

Book review: March 2011

A Pictorial Parade of Southern Region Road Vehicles

By Bruce Murray and Kevin Robertson, A4 landscape, hardback, 64pp, £13.95, ISBN 978-1-906419-29-5, Noodle Books, PO Box 279, Corhampton, Southampton SO32 3ZX, www.kevinrobertsonbooks.co.uk

A NICHE subject maybe but nevertheless an important one, as GWR and LMS road vehicle equivalents were produced in print some time ago in the glossy old OPC imprint volumes. Nice that the Southern gets a look-in and although, as the compilers suggest, this information is just the tip of the iceberg, then hopefully more material will surface over time.

Much material comes from the lens and memories of our old friend Fred Emery, a former railway road vehicle inspector. These were the black and white days but arguably it’s a black and white subject – the simple movement of goods from railhead to customer. Home shopping catalogue owners and ‘Parcelforce’ would do well to buy a volume of this book and weep – this is how it was all done when things were a lot simpler!

Fords, Austins, Bedfords, Leylands, Scammells and other electrically-powered assortments will grab the imagination. Working vehicles in a working background.

A Deakin & Sons Modern Amusements – A Legend from Wales

By Bill Treen and Robert Deakin, A4 landscape, hardback, 120pp, £20 plus £3 p&p, cheques payable to Robert Deakin at Trecarne, 88 Maes Y Sarn, Pentyrch, Cardiff CF15 9QR, tel. 02920 891381 or email robertjdeakin@aol.com

THE definitive collection of records, recollections, memories and photographs of the famous fairground firm of A Deakin & Sons, admirably self-published by Alfred and Margaret Deakin’s grandson Robert and friend Bill Treen, who has always been interested in the affairs of the firm.

Robert travelled with Deakins of Brynmawr until 1963 and provides us with lovely photos of family grand occasions and how, like so many travelling families, were highly respected members of their respective permanent ground communities.

Engines owned over a period included three Burrells, a couple of Taskers and a Fowler – some of which still carry the legend ‘A Deakin & Son – Modern Amusements – as homage to their past.

Scammells, AEC Matadors and Fodens joined an impressive list of transport arrangements and there are some wonderful photos of engines and trucks both on the fair and out on the road. Albions also feature, alongside various showman’s living wagons of usual opulence.

Life on the road and fairground personnel are recorded in some lovely images, as are the rides themselves both in colour and black and white and are studied in some detail. The war years are not forgotten and a run-down of all the major annual fairs attended make interesting reading. Much more naturally is made of surviving Fowler B6 Super Lion Supreme and was obviously one of the family’s favourites. Great stuff, and a donation of £1 for every book sold will be made to both the Fairground Heritage Trust and the National Fairground Archive at Sheffield.

An Introduction to Steam Cars (featuring the Stanley Steamer)

DVD, Running time 68 mins, £13.50 postfree UK. Jeck Films, 37 Bridge Street, Sturminster Newton, Dorset DT10 1BZ. Tel. 01258 472167, www.jeckfilms.co.uk

A SUBJECT long overdue for more exposure and it is pleasing that members of the National Steam Car Association have got their heads together to produce an ‘idiot’s guide’ introduction to their fascinating range of steam vehicles and their interesting development histories.

Stuart Gray, well known in the steam fraternity and owner of various steam vehicles, introduces us to steam cars from their earliest days in the latter part of the 19th Century and how they developed during their heyday. By the late 1920s steam cars had virtually disappeared in favour of the internal combustion engined automobile, yet their fascination continues – along with the debate and arguments as to whether they could have ever been a viable alternative.

The aim of the film is not to provide a definitive history, but following a brief introduction, to feature on the most popular steam car of all, The Stanley Steamer and how this car, with only 13 moving parts in the engine, actually worked and to take away some of the mystique that surrounds the large number of controls and gauges in front of the driver.

Was it really so complicated that the chief difficulty was to devise a means of generating and utilising steam in such a way that it might be placed in the hands of a person of ordinary intelligence without danger to himself or others?

Grouped into seven chapters, we learn of pioneer George Whitney and how, with influence from father Amos, endeavoured to improve on the ‘horseless carriage’ – and how the famous Stanley brothers of the US entered the automobile business almost by default. Stuart guides us around a 1910 Stanley in detail and we are treated to a look at Peter Williams’ famous ‘King of the Mountains’ Stanley mountain wagon. We see a Stanley 735B of 1919, which these days is based in the Netherlands, and its amazing boiler that contains 900 firetubes! Not that the UK were left behind, as we study a Turner-Miesse car built in Wolverhampton.

The whole is interspersed with some roading by members of the NSCA and their charges in the beautiful and scenic countryside of Dumfries and Galloway for
their annual run. Educational and recommended.

If you already know about, and love, steam cars, then a separate DVD Steaming through Galloway at 60 mins long, is available from the same producer.