Ploughing By Steam

Steam ploughing with a set of Fowler BB1 Ploughing Engines, No. 15145 'Rusty' of 1917, and No. 15222 OF 1918. The engines are being used with a Fowler 2 furrow balance plough from about 1870.

Ploughing engines are a specialised form of steam traction engine used for ploughing. Each engine has a winch underneath that is used to haul the plough back and forth across the field. The engines then move forwards alternately, allowing the whole field to be plough. The twin engine system was developed by John Fowler in the 1860s and 70s, and the firm bearing his name manufactured them up until the 1930s. Fowler engines were exported throughout the British Empire, and further afield.

These particular engines were built as part of an emergency order from the Ministry of Food in WW1, due to the limited food supplies making it through to Great Britain from America as a result of the U-Boat attacks in the Atlantic. The idea was to use the ploughing tackle to get as much waste land into production as possible.