A glorious Stanley Steamer (From Gazette & Herald)

A glorious Stanley Steamer

I'D just ridden out of Ryton Lane on to the Pickering Road when I saw it. Well, you just couldn't miss the sight and sound of a Stanley Steamer amongst all the other traffic on the road. A sight to behold indeed, as with a whisper and a slight trail of steam it sailed by, quieter by far than the other vehicles it shared the road with. I gave a wave to the man and lady sharing the open front seat who, with smiles on their faces, waved happily in return. I just marvelled at what I had just seen, as it cruised along at an easy 45mph, so effortlessly it seemed.

The chain of circumstances resulting in us having petrol-engined cars, and not steamers, is quite odd really, for the steamer was far more efficient. Even as far back as 1906 it could out-accelerate petrol cars and was checked out at 127mph on Daytona Beach. Even then it would easily run at 60mph and, with its boiler underneath the bonnet, you'd hardly know the difference from a petrol-engined car. Petrol cars had a problem right from the start, and that was that they had to be cranked by hand with the notorious 'starting handle', whereas once the Stanley had got steam up, it was away for the rest of the day. However, round about 1912, Cadillac introduced the electric starter and this spelled the end of the steamer, otherwise perhaps we wouldn't have the global warming problems and pollution we have today. And life would be a lot quieter, too.

Still with transport, I came along the footpath to the Old Malton flyover. One has to be rather careful as the verges are so overgrown it's almost like a jungle. The wild roses overhanging the footpath, whilst delightful, really are a menace. However, every picture tells a story, so it is said, for there on the surface of the slip road from the A64, up the slope to the roundabout, was a lengthy skid mark made by an HGV with twin rears.

I wondered just how a large vehicle approaching the roundabout could manage to skid for such a distance, or rather at what speed it must have been travelling, for the rubber left on the road was over 160 feet long. All right, it might have been the rear axle of an unloaded artic, which locked up, but, nevertheless, it was some skid.

And yet more transport, for I noticed a picture in a newspaper of a coach which had been laid on for members of royalty in the Queen's procession, and was delighted to note that it bore the name Plaxton on the front. To me that's a local name - where some of the best coaches in the country have been made - and I was delighted that it served on this wonderful celebration.

Advert cards in supermarkets are often the reason for a smile. However, the Gazette & Herald did the same, for in the same issue we see two adverts to amuse. The first offers a 'Purple boy's bike', and the second one a 'Black boy's bike'. A bit of colourful advertising, if I may say so.

Yet more 'wheels' for some Home Office research shows some interesting analysis when it states that 40pc of convicted drink-drivers had a criminal record, and no less than 79pc of disqualified drivers had criminal records. Of convicted dangerous drivers, 50pc had previous convictions, 30pc of which were for car theft. Serious traffic offences are mainly by males, and females made up only 8pc of drink drivers. Traffic offences was higher for young white people than for other ethnic groups, and were committed by the higher economic groups, especially amongst the drink-driving offences. The conclusion was that drink-drivers are estimated to be twice as likely to have a criminal record as members of the general population. (With acknowledgements to Good Motoring which published selected details from Home Office Research Study No1 206).

It seems that it has always been the 'moan' of youngsters, that there is nothing for them to do. It was just the same when I was a lad, and Tony Hemesley says exactly what has been going on for generations, in his letter to the Gazette on June 6. My mum, like his, could always suggest plenty of things I could do, dare I even suggest "I've nothing to do, Mum", and I very quickly found something more interesting than that which she had in mind. Today, there is more of a tendency for youth to want someone to do something for them, rather than getting together with a few mates and organising something of their own. We had table tennis, cycling, rambling clubs etc, all started by the lads themselves. Our current generation of button-pressers are going to miss out on a lot of good things I'm sure.

Quote: "Did you ever notice, that when a politician does get an idea he usually gets it all wrong". Don Marquis (1878-1937).

Updated: 11:34 Thursday, June 20, 2002