This is a model of a duo which in real life certainly earned their keep with the Ayr County Council Highways Department.

John Fowler of Leeds started business in 1850 firstly manufacturing steam powered agricultural machinery, notably ploughing machines before branching out into road rollers and road maintenance steam vehicles by the end of the century. The company was known for its engineering excellence and continued well into the 20th Century in the field of road maintenance and construction until it merged as Marshall-Fowler Ltd in 1947.  Many of the Fowler steam vehicles across the years feature in miniature in the Oxford series.

For this latest release, the Fowler Road Roller is deployed by the Highways Department of Ayr County Council.  Decorated in a red brown colour scheme with black masking to the roof and parts of the body, the underside of the roof is white. The boiler features two gold bands and the chimney decorated in matt black also has a single gold ring under the rim at the top. Brightening up the vehicle, there is decorative lettering along the roof edge interspersed with green and pink flowers indicating the vehicle operates for Ayr County Council from Crooked Holme Road Repair Depot. It is numbered CS 7859 and further red and gold signs on the bodywork repeat its Ayr CC. Highways Department ownership.  A further realistic detail sees the huge rollers and wheels reproduced in an earthy brown colour scheme.

The second part of this set comprises the Coleman Flapper Tar Spreader which also played an important part in the early part of the 20th Century, pairing up with road rollers to lay tarmac on Britain’s roads. It was manufactured by T Coleman & Sons Ltd in Derbyshire who specialised in road maintenance equipment of the time. Here it also appears in a red brown and black colour scheme and its outer wheels are given a beige grey finish. Its name Covenanter features on a red and gold plaque on the side. With its tar barrels held in place by a chain mechanism, it would have been towed behind the road roller to the job in hand. What a magnificent pair.