Soame Steam Cart
This is the 1897 Soame steam cart, built at the Perseverance Works of Samuel Soame (1837-1918) in the North Norfolk village of Marsham. In the days when good engineering works were much more numerous and regional than the past 50 years of global business amalgamation would lead us to believe, the products from this works were a deal more sophisticated than the title "Agricultural Engineers" would suggest. It was used regularly for trips down to Norwich until about 1904 when it lost out in favour of the economical motor car (and comfortable pneumatic tyres too, I should think) and was laid up until 1946 when it was sold by the Soame family. It subsequently found use around the fledgling veteran and steam rally circuit, even flitting across the screen at the start of the famous film, "Genevieve". In more recent years it returned to Norfolk, receiving some restoration to return it to working order in 1995 and finding a home at a bygones display at Holkham Hall. That collection was dispersed and it is now seen at what is I believe its new home in the care of the Starting Handle Club, appropriately in Marsham, just round the corner from where it was first made.
To be frank, even though it steams and moves, it does appear to need quite a lot of remedial work to return it to tip top order and of course there's the problem because you could end up losing too many of the original parts. For example, in can only run in one of its two gears because one of the (previously repaired) bronze gears has shed a tooth. In one photograph it is possible to see that the frame below the gearbox has been cut and welded up again. I suspected that the gear shafts are now not parallel. Very likely the boiler is non original and I had a sneaking suspicion that the one now fitted is a larger diameter than the original because the cylinder valve links are remarkably close to the boiler - one even being slightly bent to go around, despite there being no cladding at that point.
Having made these and other observations about the current state, there's no denying it is a wonderful machine.
Soame Steam Cart
This is the 1897 Soame steam cart, built at the Perseverance Works of Samuel Soame (1837-1918) in the North Norfolk village of Marsham. In the days when good engineering works were much more numerous and regional than the past 50 years of global business amalgamation would lead us to believe, the products from this works were a deal more sophisticated than the title "Agricultural Engineers" would suggest. It was used regularly for trips down to Norwich until about 1904 when it lost out in favour of the economical motor car (and comfortable pneumatic tyres too, I should think) and was laid up until 1946 when it was sold by the Soame family. It subsequently found use around the fledgling veteran and steam rally circuit, even flitting across the screen at the start of the famous film, "Genevieve". In more recent years it returned to Norfolk, receiving some restoration to return it to working order in 1995 and finding a home at a bygones display at Holkham Hall. That collection was dispersed and it is now seen at what is I believe its new home in the care of the Starting Handle Club, appropriately in Marsham, just round the corner from where it was first made.
To be frank, even though it steams and moves, it does appear to need quite a lot of remedial work to return it to tip top order and of course there's the problem because you could end up losing too many of the original parts. For example, in can only run in one of its two gears because one of the (previously repaired) bronze gears has shed a tooth. In one photograph it is possible to see that the frame below the gearbox has been cut and welded up again. I suspected that the gear shafts are now not parallel. Very likely the boiler is non original and I had a sneaking suspicion that the one now fitted is a larger diameter than the original because the cylinder valve links are remarkably close to the boiler - one even being slightly bent to go around, despite there being no cladding at that point.
Having made these and other observations about the current state, there's no denying it is a wonderful machine.