Read about Finella. Written by John Dunn

Finella has been substantially dismantled mainly to replace and repair rusted and perforated plates in the bottom and sides of the water tank, (the part the driver stands on). The work also presents an opportunity to repair and refurbish many smaller items on the engine and to restore her paintwork to the distinctive black, trimmed with brown yellow and red lining of Fowlers.

History
The Barrack family has had a working relationship with steam engines since 1926. The present Bill Barrack’s father James started his own business with a Garret steam wagon, after driving for his uncle.

In the early fifties James had managed to get a contract to tow scrap steam engines from all over the North East of Scotland to a scrap merchant in Peterhead. There were no such things as low loaders, and having found out that towing these heavy engines one at a time with a lorry was not very productive, he bought Finella to do the job. She had been lying redundant in Auchenblae after having spent most of her time threshing. She was ideal for the work having been originally designed by John Fowler as a three-speed road locomotive, the three-speed capability also giving her a reasonable turn of speed.

The offending tank

Finella comes apart

Her first owner was a Mr. John Sherriffs threshing contractor of Auchenblae, by all accounts a very particular man who liked everything to be just right. He named her Finella after a hill at Auchenblae.

Not for him the standard seven-horse power A7 Fowler, he decided that he wanted 16-inch wide wheels rather than the normal 18 inch ones, which would have made it difficult for the engine to get into narrow field openings. The steering gear was all covered in as well, which was very unusual, but presumably he didn’t want straw and chaff getting stuck in the greased parts of the steering gear. He also thought that covered steering gears looked better.

Unlike other threshing engines of the day the engine was fitted with a solid flywheel , so as not to frighten horses when it was running. It was covered with a cab, which afforded some protection to the driver and fireman as they went on some very long journeys in all sorts of weather.

Finella in bits

Donald and Laura begin the rebuild

 

The engine, which cost £1000 new, was delivered to Stonehaven railway station on a railway wagon with the flywheel, cab, and chimney removed to allow it to go under railway bridges. Included in the price Fowler put two men up to stay for a week to assemble it and ensure that everything was in perfect working order.

Something Special
To put that all into context even though £1000 was a lot of money in those days, Mr Sherriffs could have bought an engine to do his threshing job for £600-£700, so Finella was over specified and therefore something special.

Timber
In due course Bill’s father completed his original contract and Finella was taken to Loch Tay by Bill’s grandfather to extract timber. This was a job, which used the winch, which is fitted to one of the rear wheels. A team of horses would pull the wire from Finella’s winch away up into the timber and then bundles of timber, which were much to heavy for horses to drag down to the road, would be winched down to be loaded on bogies and taken to a saw mill.

These two and a half years are probably the hardest the engine has ever worked during its life and stands testament to Fowlers. In 1948 work ran out. The engine was parked up in a garage and although not working was looked after.

Whistle
While on holiday in Canada in the early 60s Bill’s father bought a Canadian Pacific Railway loco steam whistle and fitted it to Finella giving her her own unique, haunting and distinctive sound

Three Owners
It is worth noting that the engine has only had three owners and is currently worth at least 100 times more the original price of £1000 thanks to the endless TLC which her current owners lavish on her.

When the Barrack team of enthusiasts put her back together again, her newly rubbered wheels, and other refurbished parts will ensure that another generation will enjoy John Fowler's handi work for many years to come.