This is the story of how for more than a hundred years steam power
played a vital role in the development of road transport. It all began
with tentative attempts to build steam carriages by pioneers such as
Cugnot in France and Trevithick in Britain, and in the early part of the
nineteenth century there were significant attempts to develop steam
carriages and omnibuses. That these attempts ultimately failed was
largely due to opposition by road authorities and draconian legislation.
Steam power did, however, find a real purpose in agriculture, where the
traction engine was used for a variety of tasks from towing and working
threshing machines, to ploughing. Once the value of the traction engine
had been established, it soon found a use in many parts of the world for
heavy haulage work and appeared in an exotic guise as the showman's
engine. The latter was not only used to haul rides to fairgrounds but
also powered a dynamo that could light up the fair at night. By the end
of the nineteenth century, steam on the road took on a new life with the
development of steam cars and trucks. For a time they vied the new
internal combustion engine for supremacy on the road. The American Doble
Company even developed a 100mph steam sports car. Ultimately steam lost
the war, but steam vehicles survive and delight us still thanks to
enthusiastic owners and restorers.
