Saturday is our day for traffic jams in the village; it’s the day when all the townies come out to disturb our peace & quiet.
The last few Saturdays have been especially trying because of delays caused by a sewer replacement programme.
Today’s frustration was caused by highway locomotives.
A procession of five of them.
Two were actually steam rollers & one looked more like a farm vehicle, but two were definitely loco.
You could hear them coming a mile off.
The black smoke belching from their chimneys billowed across the fields.
At least two of them carried the nameplate of John Fowler & Co of Leeds.
The wheels on the locomotives interested me; they looked as if they were made of wood but the rim carried a narrow ‘tyre’, presumably of rubber, but completely smooth & without tread.
The lead vehicle was towing a large cart furnished with late C20th armchairs & sofas on which lounged a gaggle of very C21st youngsters.
The occupants of the cabs were mostly C21st men, their blackened faces & mode of dress making them look as if they came from a much earlier vintage, though an actual woman was driving one of them.
It is astonishing to think how far we have come since the Locomotives on Highways Act of 1896, both in vehicles & the whole infrastructure of roads.
Some fellow bus passengers were of the view that it was lovely to see them, none of our modern vehicles will survive that long, but, all things considered, I feel the developments since 1896 count as progress.
