A Head of Steam at Chapelton Sawmills

A Victorian steam powered engine is celebrated before its time is up.

TV reporter Clive Gunnell reports on the steam engine at Chapelton Sawmills in Umberleigh, North Devon. The single steam engine built in the early 1900s by Robey and Co Ltd of Lincoln drives the saws but there's trouble at t'mill. They are considering a change to electricity. In the nineteenth century the introduction of steam to sawmills revolutionised production. The introduction of steam-powered traction engines meant a sawmill could become a mobile facility.

After the advent of steam-powered traction engines, producing lumber was no longer a labour intensive manual task. The boiler's furnace could be fuelled by lumber offcuts. After logging, felling, bucking and limbing, logs are transported to the sawmill where they are classed and debarked. A sawyer breaks the logs into cants and flitches or unfinished logs and planks. Edging, trimming, drying and planing finishes off the lumber for market. A heritage water-powered Victorian sawmill was also in operation in the village of Simonsbath on nearby Exmoor. The steam engine came from Devon County Council and attracted visitors lured by its Victorian noisy charm.