The Pride of the Road, a steam roller built by Aveling & Porter in 1900, stopped for water in Abingdon yesterday. The roller was owned by Hinckley Rural District Council from 1900 to 1926 and was used to build and maintain roads in that area. Since then, it has had various owners and has become an exhibition vehicle.
We could do with a few of those in Abingdon!
Interesting – where does it get the water from?
There is a water container on the truck by the side of it, a pipe comes from it to the rear of the roller.
I saw a couple of these working in the Republic of Ireland today (Friday 4 August). This was a proper road repair with both sides of the carriageway being taken to the substrate, which was repaired, before surfacing was begun using road rollers to produce an even and properly compacted finish. It was wonderful to see and worth the wait and the two-way traffic light system. We used to have road repairs like this in the UK – but not for years and years. Now we just get patching.
Probably EU money…