In the years before the Second World War traction engines and steam wagons were the backbone of road haulage and farming , and without the invention of the steam road roller by Thomas Aveling we would not have our system of macadam or tarmac roads. The advent of the petrol and heavy oil engines as used in early tractors and lorries changed all that, but steam wagons were still in use in the 1950’s and some steam rollers worked on well into the 60’s

It is thanks to the enthusiasm and foresight of people like Claude Jessett and the pioneers of the early steam engine rallies that many of the engines you see here today were saved to educate and entertain future generations, and to bear witness to the engineering skills of our forefathers.

The first engine in the Claude Jessett collection was his 1920 Burrell Gold Medal tractor that he acquired in 1941 for use on his farm at Hadlow Down and named ‘THE TINKER.’ Fortunately Claude was not too good when it came to throwing things away, and so it was that when he first became interested in Steam rallies in 1960 he decided to resurrect the engine, which had been laying idle for years, and join the ranks of the preservationists.

In 1965 Claude purchased an Aveling convertible steam roller (meaning it could be converted back to a traction engine) from a Mr Jupp of Uckfield. It was called ‘TOPSY’ and now known as The Southern Queen.

By this time Claude had been well and truly bitten by the steam bug and, over the space of the next few years he had acquired a further seven steam engines of one sort or another. Two of these are known as portable boilers. That is to say they are steam engines that are normally kept in one place to drive a threshing drum or a saw bench but could be moved from farm to farm, usually by means of a team of horses.

There was one thing missing from the collection and that was a steam lorry, or wagon as they were often referred to. The Trust, formed by Joyce Jessett to look after the collection, rectified this in 2006 when it purchased a Sentinel timber tractor. This is quite a rare machine and is equipped with a separate steam-driven winch for hauling heavy tree trunks out of the woods, before loading them onto a pole trailer to go to the sawmill. It is called ‘JUPITER’ and was first registered in 1934.Sentinel steam wagons were advanced machines in their day and, fitted with pneumatic tyres, could travel at road speeds of up to 30mph which was then the maximum permitted speed for a lorry!

Coal fired

Name	Maker	Weight	Model	Reg No	Engine No	Year
The Tinker	Burrell	5 Ton	Gold Medal Tractor SVCC 4.5" & 7.5"	PB9359	3851	1920
Daisy	Aveling & Porter	15 Ton	Steam Roller SVCC 5.25" & 8.5"	BP7169	5831	1905
Golden Queen	Wallis & Stevens	5 Ton	Oil Bath Showmans Tractor SVCC	XP4417	7777	1923
Southern Queen	Aveling & Porter	5 Ton	4 nhp GND Showmans Tractor SVCC	D9079	7899	1913
Edward VII	Wallis & Stevens	5 Ton	Oil Bath Tractor SVCC	BE3910	7601	WW1
Pensioner	Wallis & Stevens	9 Ton	7nhp ESVC Agricultural Traction Engine	BE8711	7662	1917
Portable	Ruston & Hornsby		Mark J Class 320 SCPV		163853	1931
Portable	Marshall		12nhp Class S Portable Engine		89345	1942
Little Giant	Tasker	5 Ton	B2 ISVCC 5" & 7" x 8" Stroke	AA2299	1409	1909
Jupiter	Sentinel		T DG-4P 120bhp / 40hp	ARE195	9097	1934
Sandringham	Fowler	22 Ton	18hp AA7 18hp SVCC	NO1235	15365	1919
Windsor	Fowler	22 Ton	18hp AA7 18hp SVCC	NO1236	15364	1919

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