Steam Power
In the middle of the 1820s began the great era of road steamers - the first serious challenge to horse drawn vehicles. However, railway development and heavy tolls ended their development as a viable means of transport.
The final blow came in the Locomotives on Highway Act 1861 which came into force in 1865. All mechanical road vehicles were restricted to a speed of 4 mph on country roads and 2 mph in towns; there had to be 3 persons in charge of the machine and a man with a red flag had to walk in front of it.
This law held up the development of other road machines including cars in this country.
Steam was employed however in working vehicles, in the steam rollers which worked on the county's roads and traction engines.
The Pride of Pembroke
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Marcia James tells the story of this fiine old steam roller which was once in the possession of her father-in-law |
The Firms of J & A Stephens and later Colleys used Steam Rollers and constructed many of Pembrokeshire's roads.
Steam Lorries
In the late 1920s Miss Joyce Colley told me that her family's firm employed steam lorries. Before this date horses were used but in 1927 a Foden Steam Lorry (no photo unforunately) was purchased and gradually horses were replaced.
There is a photo of a steam lorry used by J & A Stephens, pictured below parked by their East Back works.
