Shrewsbury Steam Rally is on its way and this year with a brand new restored Showmans Engine on display

Shropshire Star

The Shrewsbury Steam Rally with see a newly restored Showmans Engine on display, and we catch up with owner Mr Goddard to find out more about it.

Transcript

00:00So we're here in Shrewsbury with Mr Goddard, how are you doing sir?

00:03Good, good to see you.

00:04And a fantastic bit of kit you've got behind you,

00:06and it's not been looking quite as shiny and gleamy as this for all that long,

00:10is it? Just a few months is it?

00:11Yeah, yeah, this is my 1903 Borough Showman's Engine.

00:18It was being just recently restored again,

00:22it's had a lot of boiler work and new gears and various other pieces to it

00:26to bring it back to A1 condition.

00:30So how long has it been in your position?

00:32I've owned it for about three years,

00:33it used to belong to the Crane family from Wolverhampton and...

00:38Len Crane?

00:38Len Crane.

00:39Ah yeah, of course.

00:40Yeah, yeah, so it was Len and Jane's engine

00:43and I was fortunate enough to purchase it off Jane and Bridget about three years ago

00:49and then since then we've been completely stripped down and rebuilt

00:53and your new boiler and your axle and gears and painting

00:58and put it back to how it used to look.

01:00So when it needs work on the boiler,

01:02I mean you don't pop down quick for it do you, you know,

01:04so where do you, who does the work?

01:06Well unfortunately there's a very good guy who lives in Wicksell,

01:11you know, near Wemm,

01:12so he's very good, he and his son do a brilliant job on steam engines from all over the country

01:18but obviously having them just there is very handy

01:20and they've worked very hard to bring it back to life.

01:24Cool and when we see these kind of engines,

01:26I was just commenting, we were having a little chat off camera,

01:29the kind of, the circular gadget on the front,

01:33that gives it away that it's a, it was from a fairground in background, is that right?

01:37Yeah, I mean this engine originally was built as what they call a road locomotive

01:42which was built and it was built, it worked down in Windsor

01:45and it worked on the Windsor Estate as a logging engine originally

01:50and worked for a brick company

01:51and it was converted in 1930 into showman's guys

01:56which is when they put the dynamo on the front

01:58so it would pull the loads of the show ground,

02:02you know, for the gallopers or the dodgems or whatever from show to show, from town to town

02:07and then it would then generate the electricity to power them

02:10when it got there by putting a belt drive to the dynamo.

02:13So cost-wise, what's, if you want to buy one of these,

02:17you're looking at a few quid aren't you?

02:19Are you going to reveal the amount?

02:21Let's just say, say I won't tell it too much because the wife would get too upset,

02:25but let's just say, yeah, they are expensive beasts to look after

02:29and they're an expensive hobby

02:30but I always say that the one thing there's,

02:33they're similar to owning horses, they're quite expensive

02:35but at least you don't have to feed it hay every day.

02:38Every, very true, very true.

02:40So what is it about this kind of vehicle, you know,

02:42you could trade this in and for what it would cost

02:45you could have a very very swish sports car,

02:47what is it about these that kind of, that, you know, tickles your fancy?

02:52I don't know, I mean, I've been brought up with my father

02:54had a steam engine long before he had me,

02:56so, but we've been, as a family, we've been brought up with it really

03:00and I suppose they say steam gets into your blood

03:02and I think that's probably true,

03:05and we've been fortunate enough to own a few steam engines

03:08and things like that over the period of time

03:09and I just enjoy it and it's a great,

03:11there's a great bunch of people come out with steam engines,

03:14it brings people together from all walks of life

03:16and it's just a great hobby,

03:19sometimes it gets very frustrating,

03:21but yeah, no, it's a great hobby

03:24and it's, yeah, it's a great way of meeting people

03:26and having a good time.

03:28The sounds and the smells you get from these things

03:31kind of, much in the same way as when you pop down the Severn Valley,

03:34it just takes you straight back to another time, doesn't it?

03:37And I guess as technology just becomes these bits of gadgets

03:41that we hold in our hands and no one knows quite how they work,

03:45these just take us back to a different era, don't they?

03:48Yeah, I think they, I suppose a lot of people say

03:50they're the nearest thing to a living being, I guess, really,

03:53and they do, you know, when you light the fire in them

03:55and they start to boil and things like that,

03:57they do come alive and they do hiss

03:59and they do sort of come to life

04:01and it's, I guess, that's partly what attraction is,

04:04it's just, you just feel that you're making something happen,

04:07making something, you know, something by doing that

04:10and putting the coal on the fire and things like that.

04:13It does sort of become alive and, you know,

04:16and it does become a sort of a being.

04:18So if people want to see this,

04:20a little bird tells me it might be appearing at a show coming up.

04:22Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, from us in,

04:24as I'm the chairman of the County of Sallop Steam Engine Society

04:27and we're holding our annual show at the Onslow Park

04:30over the August bank holiday weekend.

04:32The show's open on the Sunday and Monday,

04:34so yeah, so she will be there, all being well,

04:36and we're just, we're doing a bit of fine-tuning at the moment,

04:38but yeah, I'm sure it will be there.

04:40So what's it, back of a truck job then, to get it there, or how's it work?

04:44She's going to go on her own on four wheels.

04:46Yeah, so what, do you have to pick your hours accordingly,

04:50like is it a 3am in the morning job?

04:51No, not quite that bad.

04:53It does about sort of 12, 14 mile an hour on the road,

04:56so it's not too drastically slow.

04:58Yeah, well that's faster than you can do these days

05:00driving around the black country in the traffic.

05:02Yeah, yeah, so it's, so yeah,

05:05we do try and pick our moments within reason

05:07and try and keep to the quieter roads,

05:09but yeah, no, it's not too bad, it does move along at a reasonable pace.

05:13So just remind us again, August Bank Holiday Weekend.

05:15Yeah, the Sunday and Monday, Onslow Park, Welshpool Road, Shrewsbury,

05:19just off the bypass, come and see us all there.

05:21Great stuff, thank you sir.

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