Peat-burning traction engines?
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THIS TRACTION engine,
photographed by a CM reader in Bulawayo, was made in Paisley by Bow and Mclachlan nearly 90 years ago, exported to Rhodesia and used in transporting goods by the Manica Trading Company.
Now it has been restored by Zimbabwe's National Museum. A report in Engineering, January 29, 1897, tells us that the vehicle was one of two wood burners specially designed for the country to be traversed: "The firebox stands so high that streams of four feet in depth may be crossed without extinguishing the fire. The engines are provided with tanks sufficiently large to carry a 12hour supply of water."
Before the arrival of these, exceptionally broad gauge, 10hp traction engines, the mortality of horses used in transport around Salisbury was very high; and, unfortunately, mules, imported from South America, could not stand the climate.
It's a funny thing, but I understand that a proposal to send mules to the Falkland Islands to supplement LandRovers this year has been turned down for the same reason. So Messrs Bow and Mclachlan, or your heirs, what about designing a peat-burning traction engine to turn the clock back?