Nostalgic display of traction engines

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34106, 19 March 1976, Page 9

Nostalgic display of traction engines

Good variety at Hawarden Show

The display of traction engines by Mr Logan Quigley, a farmer of Masons Flat, will be a nostalgic part of the Hawarden show tomorrow.

Mr Quigley will be displaying four of his engines — a 1909 McLaren, a 1909 Marshall, and two Burrells, one a 1907 model and the other of 1898 vintage.

Although all these engines will be magnets to the mechanically minded, the best of them is undoubtly the McLaren which has been affectionately christened “Truman Jones” by its owner.

Truman Jones has the distinction of being one of the two rack steering traction engines left in New Zealand. The other is in Invercargill. Although Mr Quigley says he finds the rack steering satisfactory, it never caught on in this country and few were imported.

Used in the construction of the Lake Coleridge Power Station, “Truman Jones” was about to be cut up for scrap metal before Mr Quigley made a timely rescue. Although the engine was in a run-down state, Mr Quigley managed to get steam up in the boiler to drive it from Sockburn then take it to his Masons Flat farm. Under normal running conditions it should have taken him en hours, but with the traction engine in such a sorry state it took Mr Quigley three days to complete the trip. Confidence justified However, since the engine’s restoration Mr Quigley has justified his early confidence in “Truman Jones’s” capabilities by making the trip in under eight hours. With the aid of another enthusiast, Mr Rick Warwick, also of Masons Flat, Mr Quigley got “Truman Jones” into today’s state of immaculate preservation in 18 months. It involved retubing the boiler and fitting new rings and bearings. Two years ago the engine's link with the past came to the forefront when “Truman Jones” led the procession in a re-enact-ment of the opening of Lake Coleridge Power Station. The engine made the 240-mile round trip in six days, the 10 horse power engine averaging a speed of 10 m.p.h. Six-berth shed Although Mr Quigley maintains his interest in traction engines is only a hobby there are others in the area who would say it is more than that. He has constructed a special six-berth shed for his traction engines, and an unusual feature of this building is the inclusion of circular air vents in the

ceiling above where the engine's are stored. These vents let out smoke from an engine’s funnel while it is building up steam before going on the road. Because it takes between two and three hours for a traction engine to build up enough pressure to be driven, these vents are a vital part of the building. Traction engines were worth about £B5 when new, but Mr Quigley estimates the going price for a restored one today at about $2OOO. The demand is a lot greater overseas though and prices there can be as high as $35,000 for a perfect specimen. No sitting down

Disregarding the open cab and the lack of seating, “because in those days they believed in a man earning his money and not sitting down on the job,” traction engines are not as obsolete as their modern counterparts suggest. With today’s ever-increasing fuel costs, traction engines, in a restored condition, are one of the cheapest modes of transport on the road. Unfortunately they are also one of the slowest. To drive from his home to Amberley, Mr Quigley says all he needs is “half a ton of coal, 300 gallons of water and a couple of days to spare.”

Traction engine manufacturers were, according to Mr Quigley, a conservative lot and few changes in design were made from the time that they were first built until production was stopped in the early 19405.

The only modern innovation to affect traction engines is solid rubber tyres, and these were only fitted after the metal-shod wheels began to have a detrimental effect on the roads after traction engine rallying became common. This, in Mr Quigley’s opinion, was one of the best things to happen to traction engines. “Most of us weren’t too happy when they made us put rubber on our wheels, but it's one of the best improvements we could have made. It improves the ride 100 per cent and is easier on the suspension.” Thrill of the road But it is not just the tinkering with traction engines that Mr Quigley enjoys. The open road on the way to a rally is his favourite aspect. As well as his engines he has a two-room six-bunk wooden caravan, which he tows along whenever he goes for a trip. Included in the caravan’s fixtures and fittings is a coal range, an outside shower with hot and cold running water and a 12-volt generator to provide lighting. Mr Quigley says he has been interested in traction engines all his life and this he says, stems from his father having had them on his farm and his grandfather owning a traction engine workshop.