A Mystery Steam Traction Engine

The photograph below is taken from a collection of glass negatives dating from the 1900s discovered in a former industrial building in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire.

Some of the other photos in the collection definitely show scenes in Newark, so we may perhaps assume that this picture too was taken close to the town.

Can you recognise the type of steam traction engine in the picture, and what it might have been used for with that enormous tank on the back?  (Tar spraying, perhaps?)

(No Registration plate is shown by the vehicle, so we infer that the picture is pre-1903 when number plates were first introduced).

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Photo:NCCK000153

NCCK000153

This page was added by Website Administrator on 20/09/2013.
Comments about this page

It was made by the Mann Patent steam cart & wagon company who were based in Leeds

By SDSPS
On 18/10/2013

This vehicle looks to be some sort of road surfacing equipment. I don't think tar-spraying because the tank or hopper would need to be enclosed and heated. May be the hopper carried crushed stone, or small gravel, which was spread through the bottom onto a tarred road surface. The hopper has wooden riser-boards to increase its capacity. The rear wheels are not of standard type for a road traction engine, but it's difficult to see whether there are two wheels or one roller.

By Transporter
On 21/10/2013
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