Compound reversing steam engine

Compound reversing steam engine, produced by Fodens Ltd, 1896. With wooden description board reading '1st Compound Reversing Steam Engine, For No.1 Rear Driven End Tipping, Commercial Vehicle. Built by E. Foden & Sons in the year 1896'.

Fodens Ltd was one of Britain’s most successful producers of steam-powered traction vehicles in the early-20th century. This compound reversing steam engine is an early prototype for their first steam wagon, built in anticipation of trials held by the War Office in 1901. Although Foden lost these trials, their use of an ‘overtype’ design with a horizontal boiler proved commercially successful into the 1930s, after which Foden moved into the production of diesel powered vehicles.