Rare and restored engines are star of open day

BRITAIN is a nation of collectors, and up and down the land there are collections of exquisite and eclectic objects like cow creamers and used postage stamps.

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However some collectors also collect very useful things like technology and historical engines.

This Sunday, a historic collection of oil engines will be on show at Dogdyke Pumping Station in Tattershall, owned by members of the Lincolnshire Oil Engine Club (LOEC).

Many members of the club own their own engines - and different members collect both the more common ones and rarer ones too.

Oil Engines are Internal Combustion Engines - often very similar to the internal combustion engines in our cars.

Many have one single cylinder, and rather than a battery and a coil, the sparks in the cylinder are ignited with a so-called ‘magneto’.

Many early ones were owned by Earls and Dukes at their country houses and farms, whether to generate electricity, grind corn or animal feed or pump water.

The majority have been bought at farm sales, or from scrap yards.

Many club members have restored the engines themselves although some have gone to specialists.