Working Steam Demonstrations

Here at Weeting Steam Engine Rally we pride ourselves on the quantity and quality of our working steam demonstrations, with displays showing the public how steam engines worked back in their day, a part of history coming back to life for all to see. It's our mission as a registered charity, to educate in the subjects of manufacture, history, use and conservation of all types of vintage steam driven engines and vintage vehicles. Our working areas certainly show a variety of displays in how steam engines and vintage vehicles were used, before times of preservation.

Thrashing and Baling : Thrashing or Threshing, depending on what part of the country you're from, is the process of separating the edible part of the grain from the straw. Before steam engines this process was carried out by hand, very labour intensive, beating the grain with a stick, the grain, chaff and straw on the floor was then raked through to remove the straw with grain and chaff being left, this was then separated by 'winnowing' - if there was a wind, the grain and chaff was thrown in the air, with the grain being heavier it fell to the floor and the chaff blew away! In the 18th century power driven thrashing machines were invented, saving this process being carried out by hand.
The crop was cut and bundled into sheaves by a binder (which can also be seen at work in our vintage harvesting area). The sheaves are pitched to the top of the thrashing drum, where someone stands and feeds the drum. The spinning drum breaks open each ear on the straw and knocks the grain free, the long pieces of straw are carried to the end of the machines by a walker, ready to be baled. Short pieces of straw and chaff are separated from the grains by falling through shaking screens, which act as a sieve. Finally the grain, free from straw and chaff is graded into larger and small broken grains, and collected in sacks at the opposite end of the drum to the baler.
Below is a photo of two Burrell steam engines working a thrashing drum and baler, 'Dreadnought' (left) owned by Richard Parrott is running the thrashing drum and 'The Old Chap' (right) owned by Alan Hines is running the baler, both steam engines are connected to the machines using a belt on the flywheel, this in turns propels the machines to turn and work.
Burrell steam engines were made in Thetford, Norfolk at the St. Nicholas Works, today the remaining Paint Shop houses the Charles Burrell Museum.

Timber Yard : Our Timber Yard area has multiple benches running, including rack saws and bench saws, all powered by steam engines. These demonstrate how before modern machinery wood was cut on a bench powered by steam, again using a belt driven by the steam engines flywheel to turn the saw blade and cut the wood. Before the steam engine era, large hand saws were used, which was slower and more labour intensive. The 19th century saw new opportunities for sawmills, with efficiency increased and improvements in moving logs and the circular saw made it easier to turn logs into timber.
In the photo below Burrell steam engine 'Violet" owned by Ed Carr can be seen running a saw bench, alongside a couple of portable steam engines running small saw benches.

Road Making : Our Road making area has a variety of vintage road making machinery for you to watch working, from steam engines powering stone crushers, where large stones and bricks and crushed, then steam rollers rolling the crushed stone to make a road, and other various vintage equipment. Teams of men would have travelled the country working as contractors, living in the wagon for each job.
In the photo below you can see Burrell steam engine 'Spitfire' running a stone crusher, this engine is owned by Richard Parrott.

Steam Ploughing : Before the days of the modern tractor towing a plough, pairs of steam ploughing engines would go from farm to farm, working the fields. With a steam engine either end of the field, linked with a wire rope to pull the plough back and forth, with each engine taking it in turn to pull the plough. Before steam engines this process was carried out using heavy horses, trailing a single plough, replacing the horse with a pair of engines enable larger ploughs to be used and the cover the ground quickly.
In the photo below you can see a Fowler steam ploughing engine being used to pull a plough down the field with the wire rope, this engine 'Saucy Sue' is owned by the Cole family.

Vintage Fairground : Showmans' engines were used in the days of travelling showman, when the fair would travel up and down the country from town to town, towing the rides, but also using the dynamo on the front to power the rides. In this photo you can see Fowler showmans' 'The Lion' owned by John Saunders powering the Super Skids, owned by Jimmy Bowry.

Thanks to Heritage Snapper for the photographs, taken at our 2024 rally.
Photo Credits : Heritage Snapper