Britannia Steam Engine Is a World Traveler

With that early exposure to the intricacies of steam power, the boys played with traction engines the way other youths might start and drive a farm tractor. “English agricultural steam engines have a standard winch drum and rope on the rear axle which can turn independently of the wheels,” Shane explains. “It could be used to extricate the engine from sticky positions or pull trees into position. When we were kids — 10, 11 and 12 — we’d steam up the engines and do all kinds of crazy stuff. It was fun for us to be asked by neighboring farmers to pull down trees or sheds or buildings using the winch.”

Back around the Cape

Shane found the Britannia steam engine through a combination of luck and computer savvy. While surfing the Internet in 2001, he saw an advertisement for a Britannia steam engine. He responded by email, but the message was returned as undeliverable. Looking closer at the address, Shane realized it contained an error. He resent the message using what he guessed was the correct address and hit the target. “Details came back shortly, telling me the engine was in South America,” he says. “I did the deal right there over the phone.”

Having seen only a photo of the engine showing it surrounded by weeds and brush, Shane had the Britannia shipped from Santiago, Chile, to Nottingham, England. “Shortly afterward we took a trip to England to see this very small portable and handy engine that could be pulled by a team of oxen or horses,” he says. “I knew big, awkward portable engines are anything but portable and are difficult to move around, so I was happy to have this nice small engine.”

But not everything was as it appeared in the photo: The engine was huge. “We were aghast to see that it was maybe four times as big as it appeared in the photographs,” he says. “All I could think was that they must have big weeds down in South America. Moving it would present some interesting challenges.”

Restoration in England

Late in 2001, Shane shipped the engine to Galway City on Ireland’s west coast and from there to the family farm nearby. Soon after, the Great Dorset Steam Fair, sponsored by the Beamish Museum in England, invited the Skeltons to display the Britannia at the steam fair. Fair organizers sweetened the deal by offering to pay all shipping costs associated with the display — so back it went to England. While the engine was in England, Shane decided to have it restored there.