Marcle Steam Rally 2013
Ploughing by Steam

This is one of a series of pages which I have uploaded to illustrate facets of steam rallies we have attended in the UK. Such events occur all over the country in the summer months, they are easily found by using your favourite search engine and may have anything between a handful of steam engines and hundreds (as at the Great Dorset Steam Fair which could probably be fairly described as having an excess of riches). Click here for the Marcle index and click here for the overall index.

This is the title of an excellent book by John Haining and Colin Tyler (Ashgrove Press, 1985, ISBN 0 906 798 49 3) which I bought for £7 not long back in Ross Market. At the time of writing (July 2013) there are several second hand copies available on Amazon and AbeBooks at a similar price (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0906798493/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used and http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?an=tyler&bt.x=50&bt.y=13&sts=t&tn=ploughing+by+steam). 

I saw a demonstration some 40 years ago and it was something I had rather forgotten about until tales of engines surviving in exotic places started coming in for publication on this site and subsequently I bumped into Dick Eastwood of the Steam Plough Club at a talk I gave in Hay in 2012. A surprising number of steam ploughing engines survive - almost all of them were built by John Fowler - and many are 'runners'. Steam ploughing is often demonstrated at steam rallies in the UK and the pictures below were taken at the Marcle Steam Rally in 2013. 

	Maker	Number	Registration	Notes
	Fowler	15182/1919	HO 5869	16HP, BB1 type - "Achilles", sold as a pair with 15183 "Ajax", also preserved SPC Hands-On 2018 Picture  SPC Great Challenge 2018 Picture  SPC Hands-On 2021 Picture
	Fowler	15231/1918	AC 9511	16HP, BB1 type - "Prince", sold as a pair with 15230 which is also preserved, as 'Princess'. Hay Rally 2013 Picture  Marcle Rally 2014 Picture  Marcle Rally 2015 Picture
	Fowler	15333/1919	AL 9855	16HP, BB1 type - "Charlie", sold as a pair with 15332 "Johnny", also preserved Hay Rally 2013 Picture  Shrewsbury Rally 2013 Picture  National Ploughing Championships 2013 Picture  Marcle Rally 2016 Picture  Hay Rally 2016 Picture  Marcle Rally 2017 Picture

The concept is very simple, each of two engines is fitted with a cable on a drum which is used to haul the plough across a field and back again.

	The 'blind side' of 15333.
	Winding gear on 15231
	Close up up of winding gear on 15231
	Close up up of winding gear on 15231
	The 'cab' on 15231. Although these were frequently used as general engines out of the ploughing season, any kind of serious rain would have made ploughing difficult and so I guess they were not supplied with any form of shelter.
	The magnificent engraved brass worksplate on 15231

The following show the engines at work, it's not at all easy, team work is the key. This field was about 200 metres across, the cables are probably double that length....

	Setting out, the 'working' engine is out of sight to the right, this engine is Fowler 15231.
	On the climb, the 'working engine' can be seen at the top of the field.
	The plough at work, on this occasion the ground was rock hard owing to an extended dry spell and the plough was 'at risk'.
	Arrival at the top, the other engine is Fowler 15182
	The double ended plough is reversed...
	Back down again after both engines have moved forward by the width of the plough.
	Approaching the lower engine.
	Reversing the plough again.

At a similar demonstration at Welland, the following week they were using a single plough which of course had to be turned.