Traction engine travels “home”
Frank Drake, left, Graham Balck enjoy having “projects on the go”. Photo: Jane Bellerby.
Around quarter of a century ago, a mate of Graham Balck’s casually mentioned that an old traction steam engine resting in the scrub on the Waingaro river flats at Hamama might be of interest. Investigation under a prickly hawthorn revealed a collector’s dream machine with a long history.
This No 2 (second off the production line in 1877) McLaren traction steam engine has recently journeyed back to its country of origin to be part of the Great Dorset Steam Fair.
“If there is one exhibit that would be the making of the show. . .” said part of a letter written by one of the show’s organisers, John Wakeham. He then proceeded to smooth the way for the engine to leave New Zealand for a couple of years. For a treasure this old it’s a complicated process requiring Government involvement, permission and a lot of paperwork in triplicate.
The current owners of this venerable beast of early engineering, Graham Balck, Frank Drake and Justin Balck, have pieced together parts of both the engine and its history.
No 2 came out to New Zealand in 1885, and Grant’s Sawmillers in Rockville used her (all old engines seem to be female) to cart timber to the Collingwood wharf.
“She then went on road and bridge-building duties in the western regions of Golden Bay before going to the Gibbons farm at Hamama, then being passed on to the farm’s existing owners, the Petterson family,” says Graham.
The working life of this single-cylinder, six-horsepower steam traction engine came to an end in 1929 because the big flood of that year, which tipped her over and broke off a few essential parts. She was then left in the paddock. Occasionally parts were used then returned, such as the two front wheels rigged up as a “dolly” to cart logs by the Sixtus Brothers’ sawmill.
The 20th-century English reconnection came when No 2 was traced to Golden Bay by English steam engine enthusiast Brian Barras. Graham was sceptical at first. “I initially thought the old boy was a bit of a nutter because he walked out to the engine—which by then was in my paddock—stood in front of it and just muttered stuff like ‘Well l never . . . But it can’t be . . .But it is. . .’. It was a while before he could string a full sentence together.”
After taking something like 30 rolls of film (this was 20 years ago) in less than an hour, Brian returned to England, went deep into research mode and came back with the unequivocal statement, “It’s definitely No 2.” The only two of the 45 engines made in this production run that Brian hadn’t tracked down were No 2 and No 7, and No 2 has recognisable, recorded, foundry modifications. It has a patent sliding cylinder atop the steam chest made with a dovetailed piece of cast iron, enabling it to slide in the heat generated by the boiler. It can cope with over an eighth of an inch of movement due to heat expansion.
The restoration process is slow. “It still doesn’t go, but it’s a project,” says Graham, as he sits on his back porch fixing an old Singer sewing machine for a friend, another of many “projects” on the go for this man, his son Justin and mate Frank. They have a shed full of them. Some, such as a 1929 Studebaker, are in mint and going condition; others, like the No 2 McLaren, are a bit further behind.
A spare couple of hundred thousand, or three, according to Frank, should do the job.
Jane Bellerby
