As I am sure some of you would have seen, we have some exciting news… Drum roll please… Albert the Fowler traction engine has been purchased by Wendy and her husband Lloyd and is now back in England after more than 20 years!
A brief history on Albert. He is Fowler traction engine number 7453 and was bought new by Walter Seward of Petersfield back in 1895. Albert joined the then busy company, the same company that Victoria had been working at for the previous 9 years. They were together here for many years along with many other engines, but by 1935 the company had ceased most of its business and many of the engines were sold off. However, Victoria and Albert were kept and stayed in the shed being cared for by the Seward family until eventually the land which the house and business had sat on for nearly 100 years was sold.
Albert went off to his new owner and Victoria went off to her new owners, then in the early 1980’s both engines were together again and were kept at The Brighton and Hove Engineerium in Sussex; Albert belonging to Johnathan Minns and Victoria to Peter and Shirley Fagg. They were rallied together for many years and even travelled across to Europe.
Then in 2002 both engines were sold on, Victoria came to us here and Albert went over to France to start a new life there. Over the years Wendy and her family dreamed of getting both the engines together, maybe at an event or a local show, they also wanted to bring the other remaining engine together with them which now lives in Scotland. That dream was always there and was often spoke about at the kitchen table.
Well, we are pleased to say that the dream has come true! Not for just getting Victoria and Albert together at an event, no it’s far better than that, Albert is here to stay! After a long wait he finally arrived back in England on the 24th April 2024. It was a very emotional time and we have had the best few days with him so far, we have cleaned and polished him, checked him over and finally on Sunday 28th April 2024 we put a fire in him. All went well, a few leaks and small little jobs that need doing but we have to say we are very pleased.
The plans are to get him looking a little more presentable and complete the few little jobs that we need to do and then he will be out for the summer season. Albert and Victoria will be reunited at their first event together on 6th & 7th July at Amberley Museum in Sussex for their Steam Show, we are really looking forward to these two coming back together and of course they will be joined by our little half size Foden.
Below are a few pictures of our time with him so far…
