Beth's Story

Over a half pint of bitter this evening with coal splats on my face and the smell of steam engines in my hair, I listened to my friend Ross tell me the story of his beloved steam engine BETH...

On 6th February 1904 BETH began her life as a 6 tonne road roller built by Wallis & Steevens of Basingstoke for Henry Woodham & Son of Catford.

Through the archives at Reading University Ross discovered that engine no 2706 was registered in 1921 as XC9569. In the late 1920s she was sold to Herbert Ward of Egham, road contractors. In the 1950s she was sold to Hardwicks Scrapyard of Ewell where she sat for almost 20 years with the front rolls missing (most likely being used on a cricket ground).

In 1968 Peter Gibbons of Guildford bought her for restoration for £100 but it took a further four years to extract her from the scrapheap as she sat upside down with two engines on top of her!

Her rear rolls were smashed and so began the rebuild in Goldalming. Peter put in a new firebox and took her to the Guildford Show in 1974, just half a mile from home.

The engine made her show debut on Saturday but on Sunday she failed to appear. Peter had driven her down the hill with the drive pins in, however he found her impossible to steer in a straight line and she went through the fence three times!

And so Peter decided to leave her where she'd ended up in his garden and there she remained for 40 years. Ross was a young apprentice in the early 70s and he remembers walking past her regularly. Over the years he tried to persuade Peter to sell her but to no avail.

Finally in 2010 Peter agreed for Ross to take her off his hands and Ross became her new 'custodian'. Ross took her to the Dorset Steam Fair as she'd been found, complete with ivy and moss in her wheels.

Over the next couple of years Ross stripped the engine down. He made new bearings, remachined shafts, put a new front tube plate in the boiler, rebuilt the motions, installed a new piston rod pump, new injector, lubricator and redesigned the pipe work to make her easier to drive.

The traction engine register had her listed as 'Drummer' which Ross felt was too aggressive for her gentle character. He named her BETH after his aunt Elizabeth partly so his grandchildren could relate to her.

The first event BETH attended under her new name was Selinge Steam Fair in 2011 and since the she's attended Preston, RHS Wisley, Dorset Steam Fair, Woodcote, Hellingly Festival of Transport, Wiston Rally, Weald of Kent, Lingfield and Redhill. Not to mention countless road (pub) runs, Biggin Hill Air Fair and today's event at Tractorfest Biddenden.

The next generation of BETH custodians are already in training in the form of Ross' grandchildren and nephew not to mention BETH roadies like me and several other gals that like nothing better than to get covered in coal and drive her to the beer tent! See a video here.