Guided Tours of Suffolk's Past
On the Move

In its early days, steam was used to power a few road vehicles as well as trains. Steam lorries never really caught on but traction engines that travelled from farm to farm, and steam-rollers - used for road work - became common sights. One of the problems with traction engines, however, was that they had poor brakes!

• 1923 road roller, made by Garretts and on display at their Long Shop Museum.
• Garrett Traction Engine and Driver, c.1910

The traction engine drivers were normally very careful, of course, as is made clear in anecdotes told in George Ewart Evans' book The Days That We Have Seen .

See Made in Suffolk for more about Garretts of Leiston, and Ransomes of Ipswich - two Suffolk companies that produced traction and other engines.

On the Move

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