Editing Traction engine (section)

==History==
{{main|History of steam road vehicles}}
[[File:Aveling & Porter traction engine 'Avellana' (15287456878).jpg|thumb| [[Aveling & Porter]] traction engine 'Avellana']]
[[File:The Americana - a universal reference library, comprising the arts and sciences, literature, history, biograhy, geography, commerce, etc., of the world (1903) (14773357222).jpg|thumb|A 110 horse power Traction Engine hauling timber in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 2. Traction engine hauling war material for the Nicaraguan government.]]

Limits of technical knowledge and manufacturing technology meant that practicable road vehicles powered by steam did not start to appear until the early years of the 19th century. In 1841, [[Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies]] produced an early traction engine. The design (which was led by a horse to steer it) failed to attract any purchasers.<ref name=Burton24 /> They tried again in 1849, this time without the steering horse, but the machine was under-built for threshing work it was designed for.<ref name=Burton24>{{cite book |last=Burton |first=Anthony |date=2000 |title=Traction Engines Two Centuries of Steam Power| publisher=Silverdale Books |pages=24–25 |isbn=1856055337}}</ref>

The commercially successful traction engine was developed from an experiment in 1859 when [[Thomas Aveling (engineer)|Thomas Aveling]] modified a [[Clayton & Shuttleworth]] [[portable engine]], which had to be hauled from job to job by horses, into a self-propelled one.<ref name=Burton24 />  This alteration was made by fitting a long driving chain between the crankshaft and the rear axle. Aveling is regarded as "the father of the traction engine".{{CN|date=October 2024}}
<ref>{{cite book
  | last =Bonnett
  | first =Harold
  | title =Discovering Traction Engines
  | publisher =Shire Publications Ltd
  | year =1975
  | pages =5
  | isbn =0-85263-318-1  }}</ref> Aveling's first engine still required a horse for steering.<ref name=Ranieri27 /> Other influences were existing vehicles which were the first to be referred to as traction engines such as the Boydell engines manufactured by various companies and those developed for road haulage by Bray. The first half of the 1860s was a period of great experimentation, but by the end of the decade the standard form of the traction engine had evolved and would change little over the next sixty years.{{CN|date=October 2024}}

As part of these improvements the steering was improved to no longer need a horse, and the drive chain was replaced with gears.<ref name=Ranieri27>{{cite book |last=Ranieri |first=Malcolm |date=2005 |title=Traction Engine Album  |publisher=Crowood Press |page=27 |isbn=1861267940}}</ref> In America traction engines fitted with [[continuous track]]s were being used from 1869.<ref name=Burton29>{{cite book |last=Burton |first=Anthony |date=2000 |title=Traction Engines Two Centuries of Steam Power| publisher=Silverdale Books |page=29 |isbn=1856055337}}</ref> Compound engine designs were introduced in 1881.<ref name=Ranieri28>{{cite book |last=Ranieri |first=Malcolm |date=2005 |title=Traction Engine Album  |publisher=Crowood Press |page=28 |isbn=1861267940}}</ref> Until the quality of roads improved there was little demand for faster vehicles, and engines were geared accordingly to cope with their use on rough roads and farm tracks.{{CN|date=October 2024}}

Right through to the first decades of the twentieth century, manufacturers continued to seek a way to reach the economic potential of direct-pull ploughing and, particularly in North America, this led to the American development of the [[steam tractor]]. British companies such as [[Mann’s Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company|Mann's]] and [[Richard Garrett & Sons|Garrett]] developed potentially viable direct ploughing engines; however, market conditions were against them and they failed to gain widespread popularity. These market conditions arose in the wake of the [[World War I|First World War]] when there was a glut of surplus equipment available as a result of British Government policy. Large numbers of Fowler ploughing engines had been constructed in order to increase the land under tillage during the war and many new light Fordson F tractors had been imported from 1917 onwards.{{CN|date=October 2024}}

=== Decline ===
[[File:Aa Steamtractionengine nearChelford P1010009.JPG|thumb|right|Preserved Burrell road locomotive pulling a water cart, near [[Jodrell Bank]], [[Cheshire]], England]]
Road steam disappeared through restrictions and charges that drove up their operating costs. Through 1921, steam tractors had demonstrated clear economic advantages over horse power for heavy hauling and short journeys. However, petrol lorries were starting to show better efficiency and could be purchased cheaply as war surplus; on a busy route a 3-ton petrol lorry could save about £100 per month compared to its steam equivalent, in spite of restrictive speed limits and relatively high fuel prices and maintenance costs.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | date = 12 February 1921 | title = Motor Transport. County Council Haulage II Petrol V. Horse}}</ref>

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were tighter restrictions on road steam haulage, including speed, smoke and vapour limits<ref>{{cite news| work = The Times | date = 6 April 1922 | title = Motor Transport. The New Legislation }}</ref> and a 'wetted tax', where the tax due was proportional to the size of the wetted area of the boiler; this made steam engines less competitive against domestically produced internal combustion engined units (although imports were subject to taxes of up to 33%). As a result of the [[Salter Report]] on road funding, an '[[Vehicle excise duty|axle weight tax]]' was introduced in 1933 in order to charge commercial motor vehicles more for the costs of maintaining the road system and to do away with the perception that the free use of roads was subsidising the competitors of rail freight. The tax was payable by all road hauliers in proportion to the axle load and was particularly restrictive on steam propulsion, which was heavier than its petrol equivalent.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | title = Motor Taxation. Vehicles Using Fuel Oil (Letters) | date = 24 March 1933 }}</ref>

Initially, imported oil was taxed much more than British-produced coal, but in 1934 [[Oliver Stanley]], the [[Secretary of State for Transport|Minister for Transport]], reduced taxes on fuel oils while raising the Road Fund charge on road locomotives to £100 per year (equivalent to around £9000 today, 2024) provoking protests by engine manufacturers, hauliers, showmen and the coal industry. This was at a time of high unemployment in the mining industry, when the steam haulage business represented a market of 950,000 tons of coal annually. The tax was devastating to the businesses of heavy hauliers and showmen and precipitated the scrapping of many engines.<ref>{{cite news | work = The Times | date = 9 March 1934 | title = Tax on Heavy Oils }}</ref>

The last new UK-built traction engines were constructed during the 1930s, although many continued in commercial use for many years while there remained experienced enginemen available to drive them.{{CN|date=October 2024}}

=== Preservation ===
[[File:Wallis and Steevens Lena rv.jpg|thumb|[[Wallis & Steevens]] 3 ton traction engine ''Lena'']]
Perhaps the first organisation to take a general interest in traction engine preservation was the [[Road Locomotive Society]] formed in 1937.<ref name=Burton131>{{cite book |last=Burton |first=Anthony |date=2000 |title=Traction Engines Two Centuries of Steam Power| publisher=Silverdale Books |page=131 |isbn=1856055337}}</ref>

From the 1950s, the 'preservation movement' started to build as enthusiasts realised that traction engines were in danger of dying out. Many of the remaining engines were bought by enthusiasts, and restored to working order. Traction engine rallies began, initially as races between engine owners and their charges, later developing into the significant tourist attractions that take place in many locations each year.{{CN|date=October 2024}}

The Traction Engine Register records the details of traction engines, steam road rollers, steam wagons, steam fire engines and portable engines that are known to survive in the United Kingdom and Irish Republic. It recorded 2,851 self moving engines and wagons, 687 portable engines (non-self moving), 160 steam fire engines existing in 2016. A new edition of the Register is planned in 2020.{{update inline|date=August 2021}} It was previously estimated in May 2011 by an unknown source that over 2,000 traction engines have been preserved. This figure may include engines preserved elsewhere in the world, particularly the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but if so, is an underestimate. Comprehensive information on past UK manufacturers and their production is recorded by the Road Locomotive Society based in the UK.{{CN|date=October 2024}}