Coal-fired steam motorbike built by technician is a Steampunk dream

source - Interesting Engineering

This Coal-Fired Steam Motorbike Built by Technician Is a Steampunk Dream

There hasn't been much in the way of Steampunk-themed articles featured on this blog of late (mind you I've only been back for three months) but this one about a beautiful home-built, steam-powered motorcycle more than makes up for it.

The creation of a steam engine enthusiast from Carlton in North Yorkshire, this fantastic machine is all the more remarkable for having been built from scratch over the course of four years - including the engine which was pieced together from various sources!  It's a testament to the skill and the vision of Mr Sanderson that the end result is such a professional example of Victorian engineering in a wonderful Steampunk design and he should be justly proud of his achievement.



It does look quite a brute of a machine, though, doesn't it - and I can't get over (and no doubt wouldn't be able to see over) the size of that chimney!  I imagine that it must interfere with forward visibility just a tad...  What it must be like to sit astride a high-pressurised boiler full of steam and hot water I wouldn't like to guess, either; I only know I would be a little nervous - although not above giving it a go I suppose.

source - Interesting Engineering

Still I can only express again my admiration for the thought and workmanship that has obviously gone into this incredible machine over such a long period of time.  The world is a fuller place for its existence and that of skilled enthusiasts like Mr Sanderson and it can rightly take its place alongside any of the one-off and custom-made Steampunk motorbikes that are out there and mentioned in the accompanying article.

Finally, to prove it's a real runner and not just a stationary engine (ha-ha, did you see what I did there...?), here to finish with is footage of the happy owner taking his fantastic steam-powered motorcycle for its first test drive:



Toot-toot!  Full steam ahead, sir!

Whither the traditional country fair?

Up until a few years ago I used to attend the annual Essex Country Show, close to where I live(d), and have a great time among the steam traction engines, classic vehicles, heavy shire horses and vintage farming equipment & amusements.

This was the first year I had been able to go back again for some time and I was looking forward to more of the same.  I was slightly concerned to read the official website's positive spin on the Show's expansion in recent times as my in my experience the bigger an event becomes the less specific, the less intimate and the less enjoyable it becomes.  It turned out that I was right to be worried - I'm sorry to say the Essex Country Show has succumbed to commercialism.

Now I know farming is a business and events like these are a great boost to its economy, educating and entertaining the layman in matters agricultural and providing a fillip to local produce. I'd also be a fool not to expect heaving crowds on a hot September Saturday.  But when the very first stand you come to upon entering the grounds is the local SEAT dealership's selection of new cars, you begin to think that something is very wrong in the world of country fairs.  This is how it continued for several rows - stands selling all kinds of odds and ends, such that you could be forgiven for thinking you were at a common-or-garden boot sale.  Every other one seemed to be a purveyor of food - and not just of the specialist variety but also all the usual greasewagons you'd find at many supposedly lesser events.

The craft stalls that had once characterised the Show had been stuffed away in a side-field to make way for this brazen consumerism.  Likewise the display ring where the beautiful horses, dogs, birds-of-prey and the like put on their impressive shows was off to one side and sparsely spectated - certainly more so than I remember.  The fields where the traditional ploughing was taking place could be better seen from the main road!  The whole thing had the feeling of an event that had just got too big for itself and the "captivating atmosphere" was nowhere to be found.  Crowds (which I say again I both expect and accept) milled around moving from one food stall to another it seemed, making photography of the interesting exhibits almost impossible.  Traction engines seemed conspicuous by their absence - I saw maybe only half-a-dozen (some smaller ones trying to make their way through the throngs while pulling trailers of people or hay) which, given that they used to be one of the main attractions for me, was a great disappointment.  Likewise the vintage amusements consisted of one (admittedly charming) large merry-go-round and a suspiciously new-looking steam organ, as well as an assortment of smaller modern stalls (e.g. hoopla, shooting gallery etc.), all dwarfed by several nearby bouncy castles.  Certainly nothing like the vintage arcade machines and rides I seem to recall from previous years.

The few pictures dotted throughout this post are some of the best that I was able to take of the event and I left disappointed, my wallet £12 lighter and with a longing for the simpler, more focussed country fairs of past memories.  Judging by some of the comments I overheard I was not alone either.  I was told that there is a Spring Fair earlier in the year that is smaller and I just managed to make out from the tannoy something about a "Wartime Weekend" at the end of October (although I haven't been able to find out any more about this yet) so it may be that I'll try them in future instead.

In the meantime I will just have to continue to get my fix of traditional country fairs from other sources:

1894 Roper Motorbike Aims at World Auction Record

1894 Roper Motorbike Aims at World Auction Record

I wrote almost two years ago about the auction of a rare example of what is generally considered to be the world's first motorcycle - the 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller.  Now one of the few remaining examples of its main competitor at the time is about to be auctioned off; a similar machine which used a different propulsion system that would eventually bow to the superior internal combustion engine - the Roper Steam-Propelled Bicycle.

If contemporary accounts are anything to go by it would seem that the Roper was more than a match for any petrol-powered motorised bicycle of the time.  Forty miles an hour in 1894 was not to be sniffed at, and it must have been quite a thrill puffing along at such a speed atop such a contraption.  Too much of a thrill for its elderly inventor, it would seem, considering what eventually happened to him(!).  One wonders if the technology could ever have been refined enough to make it practicable.  As it turned out, though, in the end internal combustion won the day and steam power ceased to be used in such small configurations.

So rare is this early pseudo-motorbike that the auction house involved can't seem to agree on a reserve price, referencing a contemporaneous steam-powered car that recently sold for $4.2million (£2.6m) and the current holder of the record for the world's most expensive motorcycle - a 1915 petrol-powered Cyclone that went for $502,000 (£313k) three years ago.  It may well be, therefore, that we are about to witness the world's first $1,000,000+ motorcycle (if it can be argued that a steam-powered bicycle comes under the definition of a motorcycle).  Either way, an interesting piece of motoring history is about to change hands.