EVER fancied owning a steam engine? The opportunity to purchase one, along with associated machinery and vintage items, will be on offer at the upcoming retirement sale of Richard Sandercock, of Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre, in Lifton, on Saturday, October 21, writes Zoë Uglow.

There will be some 1,074 lots up for grabs on the day from vintage lorries to road rollers as well as miscellaneous books and various tools. This sale will not affect The Fairground Heritage Trust attraction, which remains a popular visitor destination.

Kivells auctioneer and friend of Mr Sandercock, John Wakeham, will conduct the sale at Dingles starting at 10am prompt.

Mr Wakeham told the Post: “Richard is the last active director of R Dingle and Son, originally based in Stoke Climsland. They had over 100 steamrollers at one time, which they used to hire out to councils and other bodies for road making purposes.

“The business goes back to the 1800s and Richard’s family were originally all blacksmiths. They recognised that roads would need to be improved and steamrollers was the way to go so they bought a roller and expanded the business from there.

“They had steam engines operating all over Cornwall and in those days there weren’t things like mobile phones — there were barely any telephones — so they kept in contact with drivers via the local Post Offices. Once a week Mr Dingle would ‘do the rounds’ and visit the drivers he felt he needed to, or wanted to, but other than that they would just collect their pay from the Post Office and were really left up to it.”

Mr Wakeham explained that the road rolling business the family had slowly built up soon became a road contracting business, still based at Stoke Climsland.

He said: “In 1991 Richard resolved to buy a farm and exhibit his steam collection in some farm buildings and it was then that he bought Millford Farm, in Lifton, which was strategically placed between the new A30 and the old A30.

“It was run back then as ‘Dingles Steam Village’, with the contracting business still working but out of the workshops. That evolved into the fairground museum with the buildings now let to The Fairground Heritage Trust, which continues unaffected by the sale. The sale is of Richard’s personal collection of machinery from the steam engine rebuilding business.”

He added: “It will be an end of an era for some. A group of us used to get together every Thursday evening and go over to Dingles to build engines with Richard and drink tea. We did this for about 22 years. With the sale of the machinery we won’t be doing that anymore so if you see a group of us wandering around on a Thursday evening with nothing to do it’s because we no longer have the engines to tinker on.”

Mr Sandercock agreed it would be strange not to meet up on a Thursday evening with his friends to work on the steam engines. He said: “Because the workshop will no longer be operational, as the engineer has gone, we won’t have anywhere to meet and work. It will be strange but we will still see each other, down the pub I imagine, but we all have a good time and as long as we still have that, and the ‘banter’ as one member calls it, then that will be fine.”

Mr Sandercock resolved to retire after the retirement of his staff. Clive Gibbard had worked under Mr Sandercock’s direction, in the repair and rebuilding of steam engines, but following his retirement Mr Sandercock has decided now is the time to wind things down.

Mr Sandercock said: “My engineer, who ran the workshop for many years, has retired and moved away and it seemed an appropriate time for me to finally do the same. I have been retired in a way for some years now — well, I will be 74 next month — but it will be different now.”

Mr Sandercock said his love of steam engines started when he was a little boy. “When I was a little boy, living in Stoke Climsland, there was a field nearby our house that had about 60 to 70 steam engines and machines parked up in it. I used to go in there and play on the machines but then I went off to college and when I came back they were gone, they had been sold off I assume. Well I thought I would like some of my own to play on again so I went out and bought a steam engine and continued from there.

“I have gradually sold them off over the years but still have the best ones left. It is probably getting towards 50 years of me fooling around with various steam engines.

“Unfortunately I can no longer drive the engines as I have quite severe rheumatoid arthritis so have had to watch others operate them, which is fine up to a point.”

When asked if he will be sad to see the steam engines go Mr Sandercock said: “No, I’ve made up my mind, it has taken a long time but I am happy with it.

Mr Sandercock said he didn’t know what he will do in his retirement but he added: “I am sure my wife will have plans for me”.

Included in the sale there will be a ‘very special’ Burrell 5NHP Road Locomotive called ‘Conqueror’. Mr Sandercock was only the second owner of this engine, having purchased in it 1975 from Messrs Henton, of Hopwas Tamworth, a threshing and haulage business, shortly after Mr Henton’s death. Very few examples of this type survive. At the time of purchase, the Stoke Climsland workshop was at its peak and, along with the help of Roger Pridham, a five-year rebuild project got underway. The Conqueror was then rallied by Mr Sandercock, as part of the Amalgamated Heavy Haulage team, extensively in the UK and Holland.

Among the interesting lots will be a Richard Garrett 6hp Portable Engine. This was supplied through Dingles, as agents to Garretts, to Cornwall County Council. The council no longer had use for it so Dingles bought the engine back. The council soon came to realise they needed the machine and so were forced to hire it back from Dingles.

Also included in the sale will be Mr Sandercock’s beloved Leyland GH2 Tipper lorry. Dingles purchased it new and it is believed the chassis it is built on dates to 1918. The petrol lorry has never been away from the family and is thought to be only one of a batch of six.

Mr Sandercock added: “The weather forecasting gods have unfortunately predicted 40mph gales on Saturday, but that will be ok because steam engines don’t blow away!”