It is a very British road accident - a runaway traction engine, with a top speed of 5mph, crashes into a garden wall.
The driver of the 130-year-old vehicle lost control on a steep hill in Ford, Gloucestershire, and the vehicle bounced off a parked car before colliding with a garden wall.
There were three people onboard and none of them was hurt, but it was initially feared the the vehicle might explode. It was travelling to the Toddington Steam Fair.
Even today, the sight of traction engines is not uncommon on Britain's roads and country lanes. Bolton's great steeplejack Fred Dibnah regularly travelled about on his own traction engine until his death in 2004.
Thanks to Britain's immense, steam-powered industrial might of the 19th Century, the British are obsessed with steam powered machinery and Britain is perhaps the only country which still uses steam trains in any great number for charter and tour use. The most recently built steam strain is the 60164 Tornado which made its debut journey in November 2008.
All steamed up: 130-year-old engine crashes through garden wall .. at top speed of 5mph
By Daily Mail Reporter
20th October 2010
Daily Mail
It may be a world away from the world of boy racers and performance cars, yet despite going at only 5mph, there was only going to be one outcome when this steam engine collided with a garden wall.
The driver of the 130-year-old runaway traction engine lost control on a steep hill in Ford, Gloucestershire, and the vintage vehicle bounced off a parked car before smashing into the wall.
Enlarge
How did that happen? Wedged into a garden wall, a group of men try to work out how to extricate the steam roller after it crashed into a wall in the tiny hamlet of Ford, Gloucestershire
None of the three people on board were hurt in the low-speed smash but firefighters feared an explosion and rushed to empty the engine of its steam.
Neighbour David Sandy, 60, said: 'I was finishing my breakfast when I was alerted by a huge ball of steam rising up out the front of my house.
'The engine appears to have gone down the hill and skidded on the cats eyes - sending it across the road.
'It then hit the end of a neighbour's car and crashed into the wall. If it hadn't have hit that wall, it could have crashed into a house.
'It was such a sad sight to see the engine, which had obviously been lovingly restored, lying shattered.
'My neighbour had just spent the summer repairing his wall too!'
The traction engine, bearing the name 'S Kavanagh, road contractor, Surrey', was towing a caravan when it crashed on Saturday at 9.30am.
Neighbours believed it was travelling from the nearby Toddington Steam Fair.
Traction steam engines - often called road locomotives - became popular in Britain from the 1850s.
The metal-wheeled vehicles were used to tow heavy equipment and usually travel at around 3-4mph.
dailymail.co.uk
The driver of the 130-year-old vehicle lost control on a steep hill in Ford, Gloucestershire, and the vehicle bounced off a parked car before colliding with a garden wall.
There were three people onboard and none of them was hurt, but it was initially feared the the vehicle might explode. It was travelling to the Toddington Steam Fair.
Even today, the sight of traction engines is not uncommon on Britain's roads and country lanes. Bolton's great steeplejack Fred Dibnah regularly travelled about on his own traction engine until his death in 2004.
Thanks to Britain's immense, steam-powered industrial might of the 19th Century, the British are obsessed with steam powered machinery and Britain is perhaps the only country which still uses steam trains in any great number for charter and tour use. The most recently built steam strain is the 60164 Tornado which made its debut journey in November 2008.
All steamed up: 130-year-old engine crashes through garden wall .. at top speed of 5mph
By Daily Mail Reporter
20th October 2010
Daily Mail
It may be a world away from the world of boy racers and performance cars, yet despite going at only 5mph, there was only going to be one outcome when this steam engine collided with a garden wall.
The driver of the 130-year-old runaway traction engine lost control on a steep hill in Ford, Gloucestershire, and the vintage vehicle bounced off a parked car before smashing into the wall.
Enlarge
How did that happen? Wedged into a garden wall, a group of men try to work out how to extricate the steam roller after it crashed into a wall in the tiny hamlet of Ford, Gloucestershire
None of the three people on board were hurt in the low-speed smash but firefighters feared an explosion and rushed to empty the engine of its steam.
Neighbour David Sandy, 60, said: 'I was finishing my breakfast when I was alerted by a huge ball of steam rising up out the front of my house.
'The engine appears to have gone down the hill and skidded on the cats eyes - sending it across the road.
'It then hit the end of a neighbour's car and crashed into the wall. If it hadn't have hit that wall, it could have crashed into a house.
'It was such a sad sight to see the engine, which had obviously been lovingly restored, lying shattered.
'My neighbour had just spent the summer repairing his wall too!'
The traction engine, bearing the name 'S Kavanagh, road contractor, Surrey', was towing a caravan when it crashed on Saturday at 9.30am.
Neighbours believed it was travelling from the nearby Toddington Steam Fair.
Traction steam engines - often called road locomotives - became popular in Britain from the 1850s.
The metal-wheeled vehicles were used to tow heavy equipment and usually travel at around 3-4mph.
dailymail.co.uk
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