Sir John the Showman’s Road Locomotive

Meet the big and shiny Sir John, who works at the fun fair.

Like The Dreadnought and Mac, Sir John is a large and special type of traction engine called a “Road Locomotive”. More than this, Sir John is a “Showman’s Road Locomotive”. 

He’s strong and specially designed to pull large trailers with the heavy loads of big fun fair rides from town to town.

Once the fun fair is set up, Sir John has another special job to do. In front of his chimney and above his face there is a platform, and on top of that is a big electric dynamo. This is a machine used to make, or generate, electricity. To do this, Sir John uses a belt around his flywheel and the wheel, or pulley, on the dynamo. When his flywheel spins, so does the dynamo and it generates the electricity used to light up the fun fair at night.

Like most Road Locomotives, Sir John has a solid flywheel without spokes, and a roof or canopy over the footplate where the driver and steersperson stand. Sir John’s canopy is as long as he is and covers him completely.

Between his front and rear wheels he has extra water tanks hung under his boiler. These are called belly tanks and help him cover longer distances between water fill ups.

Sir John’s favourite thing to do

Sir John loves working on the fun fair, generating electricity, watching all the colourful lights on the rides and all the smiling faces of the children enjoying themselves!

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Sir John the Showman's Road Locomotive

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