In his stately way the ‘Lugtrout Lion’ cocked a
metaphorical shook at the other animals on the jungle path and
continued his ponderous journey.
His pace may have been slow but his superior strength was
undisputed and the other creatures were respectful. And well they
might have been, for ‘Lugtrout Lion’ is a powerful 40 years
Nelson and Co., engineers and mobile crane hirers, the managing
director of which is Mr. L. V. Nelson, Of ‘Rose croft’,
Lugtrout Lane, Elmdon Heath.
The ‘Lion’s’ jungle paths on Sunday was the route
between Sheldon and the Museum of Science and Industry, Birmingham
for the Museum’s traction engine rally.
THIRSTY! Leaving the company’s yard at 9 a.m., he set a
steady pace between three and four miles per hour with Mr. Nelson
at the wheel, and 17 years old Lee Allen, of 390 Lugtrout Lane,
steering and arrived at the rendezvous with 15 other old stagers
two and a half hours later!
On the return journey, this time as far as Mr. Nelson’s home
in Lugtrout Lane, a weary ‘Lion’ trundled back in three and
a quarter hours! Total distance, some 20 miles.
Like any other King of the animals on a long trek, his thirst
and hunger had to be satisfied. He stopped once each way for water
– 160 gallons of it -and had consumed no less than five cwt. of
coal by the end of the day; best coal, that is. Welsh steam
coal!
STILL TIRED! Mr. Nelson, who bought ‘Lugtrout Lion’ from
Banbury Corporation in the summer of last year, saving him from the
scrap yard, commented on Monday: ‘It was the longest journey I
have made with the steamroller and what with the shaking and
Vibration vibration I am still very tired!
‘Lugtrout Lion’, a six horse compound steam engine was
made in 1922 by John Fowler and Sons (Leeds) Ltd. After his rescue
from Banbury Corporation he was renovated at a cost greater than
the original price Mr. Nelson paid for him and is now a handsome
but unusual variation of ‘The Status Symbol’ in the Sheldon
area.
Note for the cognoscenti: The 10 ton Lion mustered a maximum
pressure of 180 lbs. per square inch during Sunday’s trip.
Solihull News, England
