Aveling Road Roller

Fusilier

No 4505, Reg. AO 8101

built by Aveling & Porter, in 1900.

My 10 ton Aveling & Porter steam roller was built in 1900, Works number 4505, and it’s rated as a 5 NHP machine.

It started its working life with Christchurch Rural District Council in 1900 before finding its way back to the Aveling works in 1910. Subsequently sold that year to a firm called Bomford and Evershed of Salford Priors before coming into the ownership of W.C. Sutton & Sons in February 1919. They were based in Beckermet in Cumberland (as it was known then) and the vehicle was first registered on 31/08/1922. It was given the registration AO 8101. Sutton & Sons owned the roller for nearly 40 years until it was sold to H.F. Smith & Son of Hexham who purchased it in June 1958. I have little knowledge of any of the firms mentioned previously but I assume that Smith & Son could have been its last commercial owners. It was sold again in 1966 to a Roger Greenlaw, again of Hexham. According to some information I have, it may have come into the possession of the Treloar Bros. of Haltwhistle for a time, but it was next registered to Harry Carr of Morecambe in March 1973. It was he who gave it the name ‘Fusilier’, a name it still carries. However, by 1978 it was again sold, this time to a Louis Haslett of Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland who subsequently sold it to a W. Hawkes of Newtownards Co. Down in 1985. In 1989 it came back across the Irish Sea, first to reside with a Fred Forrest of Bonnybridge in Stirlingshire before later in the same year, in October, making its way down to Broadstone in Dorset and into the ownership of Ian Patterson.

It was Ian who had a lot of work done on the machine. In 1993 a new firebox, barrel, tubeplate and smoke box were made and fitted at the Israel Newton & Sons works in Bradford. At the same time a new rear axle and tender was fitted, the cylinder was rebored and a fitted with a new piston. As well as attending a few smaller rallies, Ian took Fusilier to the  Great Dorset Steam Fair on at least two occasions (1994 & 1997). Not bad having that rally as your most local venue.

Ian advertised it for sale in the Old Glory magazine in December 1997 and after a trip down to Dorset to view it, with Richard Mawdsley as my resident expert, I purchased it in January 1998. It was brought to Lytham by Alan Atkinson on his low-loader and Richard and I took it for a spin around Lytham that day.. Apart from one other occasion when Alan had to rescue me from near Salwick, after a bearing collapsed on the third shaft, it hasn’t been on a low-loader since. My regular mate on the roller is Les Beardmore from Lytham, and together we clock up about 100 miles a year on the machine. We attend the odd rally but mostly just trundle around the local countryside, then pop into a pub for a pint before trundling home.

Apart from the aforementioned bearing, which necessitated a bit of a strip down,  no major work had been required until 2004. Returning briefly to the bearing, it was thanks to Les’ help and machining skills that we were only off the road for a few weeks. Anyway in 2004 a  re-tube was required.  I am lucky enough to be involved with the Ribble Steam Railway at Preston and was able to carry out the work inside the carriage shed. The hydraulic and steam tests were completed towards the end of 2004 and I’m now back on the road looking forward to the summer.

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