Traction engine in the garden

On my way to the Motor Sport office I used to drive along the Embankment. One day I encountered a stationary steam tractor and took a photograph of it. The driver called out that if I was interested in buying it, his employer was about to change all the vehicles in his company from steam to petrol. It just so happened that my wife’s cleaner’s husband was employed to drive the local council steam waggon, so I knew there was someone to help me drive it. His suggestion was to put it in my garden on railway sleepers to prevent it sinking in, but unfortunately a near-neighbour was objecting to an Armstrong Siddley I had put in this roadside garden, which was rather surprising, as she herself had worked for the company. This Armstrong Siddley I had offered to the AS Club. Delighted, they said one of their members would collect it. This gentleman duly arrived and after lunch I told him the way to Coventry. The next morning as I passed our local garage the manager asked when would I be moving the car the driver had left it there. When I told the club that it had not been taken away, they apologised and said they would send another driver to collect it, which did eventually happen.