Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki
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Fowler Renown 15653

Fowler showmans engine "Renown" s/n 15653 at Belvoir Castle show 2008

Burrell showmans Earl Haig

Burrell showmans engine "Earl Haig" at Bromyard show 2008

A Showman's Engine or Showman's Road Locomotive is a steam-powered road going locomotive designed to provide power and transport for a travelling fair. Similar to other road-going traction engines. Showman's engines were normally distinguished by the addition of a full length canopy, a dynamo mounted in front of the chimney, Lights, polished brass poles and brightly coloured paintwork. This was used to generate electricity to illuminate various fairground rides. Motion of the rides was normally provided by belt drive from the locomotive's flywheel.

Burrell was one of the main manufacturers of these vehicles, which became popular in Britain and America the latter half of the 19th Century, and are still seen operating much as in their original role today, at steam fairs and similar events around the country.

A lot of rollers have been converted to showmans engines due to the desire to own one and the high prices they can fetch when for sale.

Manufactures[]

The big builders being:

Well Known engines[]

UK Preserved Engines[]

See individual manufacturers pages for list of each firm machines. Please add any missing machines (if unsure how to do it please leave a message on the talk page with the info and we will add it for you).

See also[]

Smallwikipedialogo This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Showman's Engine. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons by Attribution License and/or GNU Free Documentation License. Please check page history for when the original article was copied to Wikia


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