Researched by Richard Curtis, Lead Volunteer on Collections.
In January 1860 the British Government delivered a very handsome present to the Pacha of Egypt (Muhammad Sa’id Pasha who ruled Egypt between 1854 and 1863) in acknowledgement of the services rendered by his Highness in facilitating the passage of British troops through that country as they withdrew from the disastrous war in the Crimea (1854-1856).
The present consisted of a traction engine and tender built by Charles Burrell & Co to the Boydell design, together with a large gun carriage, all the ‘endless railway’ attached for the purpose of transporting heavy artillery across the desert, and two waggons specially constructed to the pulled by the same engine.
The presentation of the gift took place in Cairo in January 1860.
Before being shipped to Egypt in September 1859 the engine was tested in London ‘over the sandy and uneven thoroughfares leading [from Woolwich Arsenal] to Plumstead Common, freighted with a 95cwt gun attached to a gun carriage, together with a train of wagons.
A few years earlier, in 1857, the British Government had placed an order for the same engine for Woolwich Arsenal, which when it was delivered to London by road was preceded by a trooper of the Horse Artillery to clear the way, travelling at between 2½ to 3½ miles an hour.
Satisfaction with this engine led the chief superintendent engineer at Woolwich Arsenal (Colonel Tulloch) to strongly recommend the Boydell engine as a gift for the Pasha, and based on a similar recommendation, an engine was also ordered by the Government of India.
The key features of the Burrell-Boydell engine was ‘improvement in the wheels and steering apparatus, which renders the machine much more compact than the original [Boydell design], reducing its size and weight considerably while adding to its strength and efficiency’.
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In England the Burrell-Boydell engine was typically used for steam ploughing, but how it was suited to work in the desert was explained by Frederick Burrell in an article in ‘The Engineer’:
“The Boydell engines were capable of hauling immense loads, being geared very slow, and having shoes which could not possibly slip. Fifty tons was the usual load for us to test them with round [Thetford], such load being carried in four or five wagons. Great care was exercised in the design of the wagons and couplings, so as to enable them to turn sharp corners and keep in the same track.”
“On one occasion recently a ploughing engine happened to sink down in a meadow near our works and could not extricate itself easily. Having a Boydell engine in the yard, steam was got up, and this engine sent to the rescue of the other engine. The Boydell walked easily over the soft meadow was hooked on to the mired ploughing engine and drew it safely out on to hard ground. The shoes of the Boydell engine prevented the weight of the latter from making more than a slight impression upon the meadow.”