Road Repairs

The steam truck/road roller is an unusual beast, but the concept was more common in rollers that could be converted to traction engines by changing the rolls for normal wheels and fitting cleats onto the back wheels to give a bit of "grip" when off sealed roads.

I had a Fowler with this feature, I will try and find pics of it.

I will see if I can find more photos and info on the convertible steam truck. Qld State Library is where that photo came from I will check if they have anything else.

Lang

I can't find the earlier response re location of the Essendon one in my photo, and trust the local posting in this thread.
The park observation could well be correct: I am working from memory (or Essendon had two).
Unfortunately MSTECs big rally is Labour Day long weekend, and clashes with Clunes. That is when everything is in action, and with guest equipment. There are other operating days through the year, but more minor.

From posts to the Yahoo group TramsDownUnder:
12.12.09. In the foreground is DRT&T's (NSW) Clayton & Shuttleworth steamroller. It is obvious that it has just been lifting sleepers along the left hand track. I recall its use in Miller St Cammeray after the closure of the suspension bridge tram line. It was fitted with a big hook at the rear and after the rails had been removed, it travelled over the sleepers with the hook dragging the sleepers out of the road base. Was this steam roller preserved at Menangle NSW or elsewhere? I understand that tramway steam rollers were specially built with the front roller and the rear two rollers so dimensioned that they could be used to roll the bitumen road surface between and outside the track without contacting the rails. The majority of tramways were of 1435 mm gauge. It would be interesting to know whether these steam rollers were built for tramways of narrower or wider gauges. Did many Australian or NZ tramways use such steamrollers for road maintenance along their lines? Do current tramways use modern types of diesel rollers for the same purpose? Between steam and dieselrollers, some road authorities used rollers with single cylinder engines fuelled by kerosene. These were fitted with a big flywheel and used a hit & miss ignition system. These steamrollers and also steam traction engines were mostly operated by a standing driver who was also the fireman. A similar comment would apply to steam trams.
M&MTB used McDonald diesel rollers in the 1950s, 60s & 70s. Its last steamroller was retired ~1954. I remember that Caulfield Council had a steamroller in the late 1950s. Northcote City Council still used an (Aveling?) steamroller in 1968.
I understand that the tramways had at least two steam rollers, both were C&S. One of them was preserved and operational at Menangle a few years ago, I presume that it is still there. The 'big hook' was called a scarifier, and was a common fitting on steam rollers for digging up road surfaces. I recall that Ballarat or Bendigo had a 'one lunger' powered roller, I think that this is also preserved.
Both Ballarat & Bendigo tramways used a Jelbart Roller. It started on petrol & ran on kerosene. The Bendigo Jelbart disappeared in the mid 1960s? The Ballarat Jelbart is preserved at Bylands.
I can't recall details of the M&MTB steamroller (one of the usual British firms?), but I recall seeing it parked in High St South, Kew, when reconstruction of the tramline in mass concrete was about to commence. I think that would have been in 1957. It was used to open the bitumen surface in preparation for lifting out the rails plus sleepers to form the shoo-fly temporary track; the dislodged stone and tar was spread on the road surface to level it (the camber was too much for the track to be laid directly on it). And then, once the subgrade (below the old track base) had been excavated and new drains and (sometimes) extra negative cables laid, crushed rock was spread and raked smooth, and the roller came back to roll it down. That was the way the base for mass concrete was prepared at that time, as previously (Bourke St lines were done that way too) and for some years after. Nowadays it's just dug out, roughly levelled, and then the rails go down on blocks, are brought up to level with blocks and wedges, lined (sometimes pretty roughly) and then the concrete comes in. I never saw the steamroller in action; but once or twice it was still in steam when I passed by next morning.
Was this steamroller preserved at Menangle NSW or elsewhere? Photo of said steamroller at Campbelltown Steam Museum in the mid 1990s: tdu.to/Tramway_Roller.jpg
13.12.09. Not so. M&MTB had a steamroller in use till about 1963, its last job was ripping up the bitumen for the concrete relay in Mt Alexander Rd near Flemington Bridge Stn. AFAIK, it was a Thomsons of Castlemaine roller and was called 'Myrtle' The driver told me it was better than the diesel ripper recently introduced as it had more low speed grunt, as one would expect from steam!
A pic of Ballarat's Jelbart: tdu.to/5556.att?size=o
On 17.2.71, I came across in a suburban street, a steamroller being used for road reconstruction works. From a close examination of the several photographs taken no tram tracks appear to be involved. It belonged to Essendon City Council. It was built by John Fowler, bn 16774. It carried road registration plate HXA 975, clear to Sept.71.
I think that Essendon Council's steamroller may have been the last in use in Melbourne. It was to be replaced in the late 1960s, but the council became involved in legal litigation with its former city engineer and lost. The money set aside for replacing the roller was used to settle the case and the steamroller rolled on. I have some pics at home of it in use. After eventual retirement, it was put on display in a park in Keilor Rd, North Essendon. It's not there now but I seem to recall that it went somewhere for preservation.
Many councils operated steamrollers up to the 1960s, maybe even into the early 70s. Many of these would have operated over tramlines, even if not involved in the maintenance of the tracks. Many ended up in parks, where they were usually welded up, then slowly stripped of parts and otherwise vandalised. The later withdrawals (from mid 60s onwards) may have gone straight into preservation. This unit is a Robey which I think belonged to Rockdale Council in Sydney. I acquired it in 1966 from a farm near Picton, where it had been used as a stationary engine. The scarifier for digging up the road can be seen on the rear wheel. tdu.to/Robey_Rockdale.jpg
We found the Essendon steamroller working on Mt Alexander Rd. This was a grab photo from the window as we drove along the tram line [my post, and the photo which I have posted in this forum].
ISTR that the last M&MTB steamroller was sold and was subsequently used to construct a carpark and access to a sports complex in Highbury Rd Burwood at the bottom of the hill from Warrigal Rd, opposite the Burwood (Vic) Cemetery/Evans St. Melway 60 J7. It was subsequently found to have been cut up into bits following the completion of the job, much to the dismay of Melbourne Steam Traction Engine Club, which considered it to be definitely preservable. My estimate of the date would be early to mid 1960s.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Here we go on the steam truck.

Title: Allchin compound overtype steam wagon with a convertible road-roller attachment.
Author/Creator: Unidentified Subjects: Allchin (trucks) ; steamtrucks ; road construction & maintenance equipment ; Brisbane - Firms - Smellie & Co. Ltd. ; Smellie & Co. Ltd. ; Automobiles, Steam ; Road rollers--Queensland--Brisbane ; Brisbane (Qld.) Coverage: Brisbane, Queensland; Lat/long:-27.468,153.028

Publisher: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Is Part Of: Accession number: 92-3-16

Summary/Contents: The photograph is an Allchin compound overtype steam wagon, 3-5 tons payload, with a convertible road-roller attachment.
In the photograph the truck is set up with the front road roller and normal road wheels at the rear. To the right of the photograph, next to the rear of the wagon are the normal steel front road wheels which can be fitted to convert the vehicle back to being a conventional steam wagon. Note that these did not attach in the same place as the roller, but underneath the funnel, to maintain the correct level. It is very similar to the Allchin steam wagons (trucks) derived from the Smellie catalogue item 132438, however it has a large extension in front of the locomotive-type boiler to attach the road roller. Smellie & Co. whose premises were located at 2 Edward Street and 284 Queen Street, were sales agents for Allchin trucks and traction engines.
It was quite common for steam traction engines to be convertible to road rollers, to make better use of these rather expensive machines, but convertible steam wagons were relatively unusual. The big advantage of this design is that this single vehicle could be sent out to do road repairs carrying the road crew, tools and the road repair materials in the tray section, and use the front roller section to make a quick, high quality repair.

Date: Undated

Description: Digital format: image/jpeg ; Original format: copy print : b&w

Identifier: Negative number: 76980

Rights: Copyright expired. For further information please view www.slq.qld.gov.au/home/copyright

Record number: 434888

Link to digital item: hdl.handle.net/10462/deriv/207710

Link to this record: onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo_library/l...d=slq_digitool434888

Lang

....you old farts are getting right into this... ....keep up the commentary.....cheers

can remember Mid 60'z ride n shot gun with ol man n pikn upa steam roller/or traction engine @ MMTB depo
Nicholson St Fitzroy dunno ifn it twaz Dave M****
n went to Cranbourne

When 3 hippies in a Foden steam truck toured the world
they blu the steam tubes in Toorak n me went n fetched m
bout 1970


cya

I also thought Caldwell-Vale for the first pic but the wheels in the pic seem a bit small.
Several pics of Brockways.

Here is a re stored 5 tonner at Inverell Transport Museum


My own had a pto which was geared to cable to lift the tipper body and these are the component parts and control levers.

The disc wheel job is an RAF Leyland (possibly with a later colonial bonnet. The bogged one is also a RAF type leyland

Rod, MSTEC has a number of the Big Mc Donald diesel rollers as you mention.

There was a diesel tramway roller at one of the tram groups. Can't remember where. But it is the only one I think I know of. And don't know if it is even still there!

The Northcote one you mentioned would probably be the Fowler orange fowler shown in the previous picture.

Not sure about where it worked but there is a Jelbart roller operational at Lake Goldsmith.

The MSTEC Marshall steam roller was purchase direct from Moorabbin council in 1971!

Just for Swishy!