Pantechnicon Van, c1900

This large, distinctive horse-drawn vehicle is a Pantechnicon van, which were used for transporting large, bulky objects, often used by removals firms for moving and delivering furniture. They were often drawn by two horses, and could be placed onto railway wagons to transport items over larger distances. This one is in superb original condition at the Milestones Museum, Hampshire in a typical street setting of the Edwardian era

Crossley Stationary Engine, 1904

Built by the Crossley Brothers in Manchester in 1904, this paraffin powered stationary engine produced three brake horsepower, and would be used to power equipment such as bench saws etc. By being fitted on a simple trailer such as this it could be easily moved short distances

Andrew Barclay 0-4-2ST Steam Locomotive No 6, 1910

This saddle tank built by Andrew Barclay of Kilmarnock in 1910 as works number 1193 has the saddle tank characteristic of most Barclay locomotives, but unusually for an industrial locomotive, has the 0-4-2 wheel arrangement, with the four driven wheels followed by a trailing, un-powered axle and wheels. The additional wheels would accommodate a longer boiler, making it more powerful. The trailing axle is now missing and some other parts, and is preserved at the Tanfield Railway in County Durham

Taskers General Purpose Steam Traction Engine, 1905

This 7hp single cylinder, two speed steam traction engine was built by Tasker and Sons (also known as Taskers) of Andover, Hampshire in 1905. It is a typical steam traction engine, and the type most seen on farms - as well as able to haul equipment, trailers etc, as the name implies it is 'general purpose' so equally at home powering equipment, used as a portable steam engine, powering threshing machines, mills and other farm equipment.

Avonside 0-6-0ST Steam Locomotive 'Woolmer', 1910

Built in 1910 by the Avonside Engine Company Limited of Bristol as works number 1572, this saddle tank locomotive was built for use on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire - a railway built by the Royal Engineers in 1903 for their soldiers (or 'sappers', as men of the Royal Engineers are known) to learn how to construct and operate railways. It was named 'Woolmer' after one of the villages on the railway line. Although built for the military, it is a typical industrial railway locomotive of the Edwardian era

Thornycroft 10hp Car, 1903

 

 Thornycroft had produced steam road vehicles and ships since the 1860's, and started to make internal combustion engine vehicles in 1902. They made their first car in 1903 with a small, two cylinder 10hp car, and continued to make cars until 1912 when they stopped owing to competition and concentrated on commercial vehicles. This one, engine number AZ11 and chassis number 203 was built by Thornycroft in Basingstoke, Hampshire in 1903, and was delivered to its first owner on 29th February 1904, Reverend HA Acheson-Gray, Vicar of Stoughton, Sussex. It was acquired by a Major at auction in Southsea in 1908, who after using it put it in storage in Bursledon, Hampshire until WW2 when it was kept at the Levers Garage in nearby Lower Swanwick. In around 1943 it went to the first of quite a few owners through the post-war years - after being sold at a Sotheby's auction in 1990 it went through two further change of owners that year alone. In 1993 it was up for auction again, and after it didn't sell the Hampshire Museums Service negotiated and purchased it. After a restoration using traditional techniques, including a recreation of the tonneau body it would have had when built, it went on display at the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, and has also taken part in the London to Brighton veteran car run. For more information on it, see the webpage here - http://www3.hants.gov.uk/thornycroft/thornycroft-cars/1903-10hp-car.htm

Brewers Dray, c1900

 

  A John May Brewers dray decorated for the coronation of King Edward VII 

This is a typical horse-drawn Brewers Dray of the Edwardian era, used for delivering barrels of beer from the brewery to local pubs. This one was built for John May's Brewery in Brook Street, Basingstoke by Trueman's, also of Basingstoke. Sometime in the 1900's it was sold off and used as a shooting brake for shooting parties on a country estate, then in 1919 bought and used for a man as temporary accommodation for him and his family whilst their house was being built. It remained on this site and, when regulations regarding caravans was changed, it was covered over by a wooden shed, and remained on this site until 1992 when a descendant of the 1919 owner contacted the Hampshire museums service, and has been conserved rather than restored, apart from the lower wheels which needed some repair where they had sunk into the ground. The original fabric was discovered under the roofing added when it was used as temporary accommodation, so what you see is fragile but highly original and on display at the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke

 

Thornycroft Steam Lorry, 1902

 

This very nice early survivor is a typical vertical boilered steam lorry as built by Thornycroft of Basingstoke, Hampshire in the early 1900's. I don't know anything about the history of this example as there is no display board for it, but it is preserved at the Milestones Museum, Basingstoke, very close to where it was built over a century ago, in the colours of the County Borough of Bournemouth, Dorset

 

Sunbeam Patent W-metal lamp, 1910

The electric light bulb was invented by Joseph Swan in Tyneside, north east England, in 1879. It works by the electricity, when the supply has been turned on, passing through a thin filament heats it which makes it glow brightly. At first the filaments were made of carbon which made them expensive, but in around 1910 they started to be produced with a tungsten filament which made them more affordable. The chemical symbol for tungsten is W, hence it being used in the name and advertising for the new light bulbs.

Gyro-car, 1907

 

 Designed and built by Louis Brennan in 1907, this gyro-car model was one of quite a few attempts to have a two wheeled self-stabilising vehicle, using spinning fly-wheels to keep it stabilised (this is a very basic explanation of gyrostats). The gyro-car ran on a single rail, the idea being that this would be easier to build than a traditional railway in remote areas and mountainous areas. Weight distribution was not a problem, nor was having it pushed to try and topple it over. Two full size prototypes were ran and exhibited to the public in 1910, and was later demonstrated to the War Department, as per the markings on the original model, now in the National Railway Museums' stores, which are open to the public, at York