7: De Showmans Engine.

The showmans engine or fairground engine is probably the most attractive steamengine.
Also this engine is based on the road engine.
Showmans engines were produced and fitted ready for use as showman, but there are also engines which were built originally and used as road engine and transformed later by eg a new owner into a showmans engine.
For many fairground families this was cheaper as buying an original showman.
Showman engines were used to haul the fairground equipment from village to village and when the fair was built up, to produce electricity for the fairground equipment.
A showmans engine can easily be recognised by the generator or dynamo placed in front of the chimney. Some engines were equipped with 2 generators, the second one was placed between the chimney and steamcylinders.
The produced electricity was used to power Galopers, organs, illumination and the film projector. (Films or movies was in the old days a fairground amusement)
The beautiful paintings, shining copper and brasswork, the illumination on a showmans engine made it already a “beauty of its own”
The larger showmans engines were equipped with a small jig (crane) to do hoisting and lifting work when building up or dismantling the fairground equipment. In contrast with the real crane engines, this crane was installed at the rearside of the showmans engine.

The old fairground attractions were very often constructed of wood. Tarpaulins on the tents were also often used, so a fairground was a highly inflammable collection! Sparks could easily escape from the showmans chimney. An extra piece of chimney pipe could reduce this risk. The extra length had also another, perhaps more important duty: to increase the draught of the fire because the engine was not moving. When driving on the road this extra piece of chimney was dismantled and roped on the roof of the engine.

A big problem was sometimes the softness of the ground. Working long days, shaking and vibrating, the heavy engines had their impact on the ground. On old photographs you can sometimes see they are partially sunk away in the ground. They had to be digged out!
Think also of tractor engines and ploughing engines, which had sometimes similar problems.
We may be glad that so many showmans engines have survived the scrapyard and that we can see them at work at steamrallies and festivals.
When you see a showmans engine, stand besides it, smell it, listen to it and try to think how they worked in the old days on the fairground!