News - Old Glory

Amid much of the same pomp and circumstances which greeted its arrival 98 years ago, a steam engine called Old Glory recently returned to the village where it started its working life.

Until 1914, Old Glory was used to thresh corn and it made a nostalgic homecoming for the Harvest Festival at St Mary's Parish Church.

It was bought by Elizabeth Tomlinson on September 30th, 1904 for the princely sum of Ł562 six shillings and six pence and worked on the family holding at Bangram Hill Farm. The engine has been returned to its former glory by steam enthusiast Vic Makey who discovered it derelict in 1988 gradually being corroded by the sea air at Skipsea, East Yorkshire.

He started to piece together its history using the files of its now defunct maker Clayton and Shuttleworth of Lincoln, which are lodged at the University of Rural Life in Reading.

The engine was sold in 1918 after Mrs Tomlinson's death and it is believed to have been acquired by a Bolton Percy rarmer, though details of its movements over the next 30 years are sketchy.

In 1947 it was bought by Lazenbys at Pickering and won the town's first steam traction engine derby in 1953. It eventually fell into disrepair until 14 years ago when Mr Makey of Burton Pidsea, East Yorkshire stepped in to rescue it.

A steam enthusiasts magazine then put Mr Makey in touch with the Tomlinson family, and Old Glory's original roots were finally traced.

As a mark of gratitude, Mrs Tomlinson's granddaughter, 90 year-old either Britain of Yorker, presented Mr Makey with the flag flown by Old Glory when it made its triumphant entrance into Riccall in 1904!