Contents :  This is a record of events starting in 2018 and up to October 2023 when the roller was taken off the road for major repairs and rebuild

Log of work, Events and Shows attended with Roller :

Kingston Maurward College 2018

24th June 2018 : Steamed to  college (east of Dorchester) for their open day on Saturday ready for Sunday. We were the only steam vehicle there and great interest was shown.  Rolled the car park a bit flatter !  Newly built barriers used for first time. 

 Chickerell Steam Fair (nr Weymouth). 

29th June - 1st July 2018 : to Hardy's cottage crossroad and loaded onto Ashley Copper's low loader and arrived at show on Friday Night. Great time at show with a total of 23 engines.  Returned Sunday evening.  

14th July 2018 : Purchase of the Living Van locally from Bradford Peverell.  Only one wheel rotated so it had to be winched and slid on greased planks  but finally transported back to Warmwell. It is an original local van that we think dates from about c.1910 and has early outboard type rear axle brackets. It also has the original brake shoe on chain and had a roller tube brush under the floor strongly suggesting that it was a living van to a roller.

1st August 2018 : Preparing for Great Dorset Steam Fair. We removed the offside steam injector and thoroughly cleaned and re-assembled. Drained water tender and opened mud lid to look internally and investigate fixings of scarifier. Reground steam valve to hose pick up. Decided to leave possible rejigging of scarifier until the winter.

The 2018 Great Dorset Steam Fair : 

(23rd - 27th August)

Above :        Rosette,     brass plaque  and  programme entry.

Below :        First time in arena;           4 No Eddison Rollers ;  

                      45 No Aveling & Porter Engine line up;   

                     Ashley Cooper's trailer with Hayden Princess (Dorchester Museum's traction engine

 that was at the original fair) & Roller loaded

16th December 2018 - Transport of Yesteryear (Dorset) - Christmas Steam & Vehicle Meet 

At Top o' Town car park Dorchester

Simon and Ricky were up lighting the fire at 7.15am. Richard, Arthur, Greg and Cliff arrived about 8.30 am ! Steam was up by about 10am and we set off with a plastic water bowser in the back of Simon's truck. We had a good run stopping at the layby near the Dorchester Showground to refill the tender. Although the High Street was closed due to roadworks, they kindly let us through (both ways). We got to the carpark in about 1.5 hours. 

We were the only full size steam engine. We were greeted by the Mayor of Dorchester and a lot of interest was shown as the play park had just had a plaque erected. We refill the tender again and set off again in heavy rain and had a good run home in under 1.5 hour. Only used coal from the tender and travelled in top gear for a good part of the journey.

On the following Monday night, we rodded the tubes, took out the ashbox and firebars and drained the boiler etc ready for the cold weather and boiler inspection in January. 

Thomas Hardy Dorchester Victorain Fair - 2nd June 2019

Simon was invited to take part and billed as a traction engine !  Eddison was not Thomas Hardy's favourite company as he built his new house Max Gate fairly near Eddisons' depot and was woken at 6am by the works hooter and could hear the heavy engine repair work etc. during the day.  Great day out very enjoyable.

Dorchester Show - 7th & 8th September 2019

Roller with bowser was steamed to and from this show. Simon & William won 1st prize for their huge sunflower ! (Not transported by roller !!)

Winter - from September 2019 : 

Work on the living van will continue. (see below)

In addition, we plan to remove both rear wheels from the roller and get them "retyred" with 25/30mm metal ones. 

We also plan to raise the scarifier a few inches to avoid the constant troubles with loading / offloading and hitting steep road cambers etc.

Living Van - October 2019

Frame assembled with rear axle and wheels

Living Van December 2019

Rolling chassis finished and painted. Towed by the Fergie over very wet ground and manoeuvred under suspended body. Two trenches cut and planks laid so that chassis at right height. All vertical timber studs to body need pieces scarfed in with tenons to be inserted into mortices on new chassis. Old components reused where possible & defective ones retained to ensure that new ones are to same sizes and patterns as originals.

January 18th 2020 : Above - Living Van : Major timbers repaired / scarfed & body lowered onto new chassis. Towed to better site in orchard to allow rest of work. Body is firm and pretty square on chassis. Ground very wet due to very heavy rainfall this winter.

25th January 2020 : Above - Timberwork finished & preservative treated. 25mm insulation fixed between timbers in void leaving a 25mm air gap. Breathable membrane fixed with counter battens. (ss fixings)

1st February 2020 :  Corrugated roof sheets off, cleaned, straightened and repainted. Timbers under in good condition. Old felt layer removed, wood treated and breathable membrane fixed with counter battens. Roof sheets refixed. Internally, new larch floor boards fixed.  

7th March 2020 : Below (left) - external boarding started. T & G boarding fixed (with ss pins) horizontally as original photographs. Primed and undercoated prior to fixing. Thin counter battens give an air gap behind. Sides await windows before final areas are fixed. Internally, old paint being removed revealing some nice detail on the boarding. New replica doors made and ironwork being restored & repaired. 

14th March 2020 : Below (middle) : Boarding finished & replica windows fitted

31st March 2020 : Below (right) Simon able to work on van during the Coronavirus lockdown !  Internally old boards removed and refixed. Old paint burnt & scraped off during many hours ! Boarding made good & primed. 

Above right : Externally finished  24th April 2020                   Above left : Look what you can fit into the rear locker !

Below right : Inside of van is next !                            Below left :  Externally finished rear view.

September 2020 - Roller Boiler tube renewals :

After the first steam up in July 2020 in readiness for the steam test, it was found that one boiler tube was leaking. It was decided to replace all the tubes -so these were cut out and both tubeplates prepared and cleaned up. New boiler tubes were obtained from Swagemaster Ltd and using a torque multiplier and two swaging tools (both ends of each tube have to be expanded to fit tightly into the tubeplates). These ends are expanded using a final torque of 70-80 lbs/ft. Working in the firebox end is rather cramped. Thanks to Tim and our new member Tom for their hard work.

Below : 

Right : New tubes being installed (viewed through large mudlid in barrel) - the firebox tubeplate can be seen at rear.

Left : Expander tool being used to expand a tube end into the smokebox (front) tubeplate. This process was quite awkward as the tubes had to be fed into position with the front rolls turned hard to the nearside. The front forks were jacked up to give the necessary clearance between the front rolls and the underside of the forks (photo was taken through this gap !) 

October / November 2020 : Tubes successfully installed and both (2 No) injector steam valves (1/2") were renewed but old valve wheel heads refitted. Sight glasses and associated valves also overhauled. 

Above :  October 2020 : Just before yet another covid lockdown, we were able to give the roller a pre-test steam up and run. Everything good !

Covid Lockdown to April 2021 - Simon built his first shepherd's hut !

13th May 2021 : Steam test by boiler inspector Dave Worthers. Passed with no issues. Rolled the farm track as the potholes had just been filled.

August 2021 - Road Trip to Mayo's Farm Friar Waddon, nr Upwey, Weymouth

We were invited by the Mayo family of Friar Waddon (near Upwey, Weymouth) to attend an informal gathering at their farm. This involved a 10 mile road trip from our base across Came Park valley, past Came Golf Course onto the Ridgeway. From here, we steamed across the bridge over the Weymouth Relief Road and then with the farmer's permission on the farm track across the top of the ridgeway before turning down through the fields to arrive at the bottom of Gould's Hill opposite the Friar Waddon turning. From here, we steamed to Mayo's farm where we were made most welcome and spent a very enjoyable weekend.

The trip was made with (Simon C's) newly renovated four wheeled trailer towed behind the Haydon Princess. This had a water bowser and ample room for coal and our kit etc. Simon (C) steamed his Eddison roller towing his two wheeled water bowser. We also had Simon (C's) grey Fergie (1948 TEA 20) tractor which was used to refill the bowser, running between the engines and for traffic duties. Mel Eastwood also steamed his 4" Foden steam lorry (see LH photo below).

Above : Return trip (Haydon Princess had a regulator fault so had to be left at Mayo's Farm for repair). 

Left : Roller approaching water refill stop top of Came on Ridgeway.

Middle : Unfortunately, the Fergie Tractor which was towing the water bowser failed at this point and Arthur Westlake came to the rescue to pick it up on Simon's road trailer.  We then had to hitch the water bowser behind the trailer and the Roller pulled both back to base with no problems.

Right : On final leg near Hardy's Cottage cross roads 

December 2021 - 19th :  Dorchester Top of Town vehicle meet

March 2022 - Road Trip to the Blue Vinny at Puddletown :

Our first outing of 2022 - Roller with bowser and Hayden Princess with trailer. The idea was to accurately record the use of our Welsh Steam coal and then repeat the trip using the newly purchased "Trevithick Welsh Steaming Ovoids". However, the Hayden was having some trouble with her pump and injectors, so there was delay and the experiment had to be abandoned.

Nevertheless, our youngest crew member Alex Boyall managed to capture some really good shots during the latter part of the trip when the sun was beginning to set.

May 2022 - Abbey Hill Steam fair (Yeovil)

We took both engines on Ashley Cooper's truck 

July 2022 - Chickerell Steam Fair 

July 2022 - Warmwell Fete

7th August 2022 - Osmington Village Fete : 

Richard & Simon steamed to / from Warmwell to Osmington on Sunday 7th August. Apart from the family winning  3 bottles in the draw, rather uneventful but a few cars behind us at times !

August 2022 - Planned unveiling of the Dorchester Play Park Roller - due to exceptionally dry conditions, it was decided not to steam to this event. It was subsquently cancelled by the council.

3rd & 4th September 2022 - Dorchester County Show :

18th December 2022 - Dorchester Top of Town meeting.

January 2023 : Maintenance

With the engine drained down, the coal tender was cleaned out and repainted.  

Abbey Hill Show - 28th April - 1st May 2023

Dorchester Victorian Fair  - 4th June 2023

West Bay Steam Fair - 10 / 11th June 2023

1st July - Chickerell Steam Fair. - photos ?

23rd July 2023 - Road trip to Dorset Brewing Company

2-3rd September : Dorchester County Show 

15-17th September 2023 : Road trip to Mayo's Farm party Friar Waddon

November 2023 : The Roller was taken off the road and dismantled for major repairs and rebuild