Derek A. Rayner

Derek Rayner has been interested in steam engines since his schooldays in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He first drove a traction engine in 1963 and since that time his interest in these mighty machines has burgeoned. He and two friends purchased a 1915 Aveling & Porter steam roller in 1964, and he has been its sole owner since 1968. Mr Rayner is president of the Leeds & District Traction Engine Club and is a frequent contributor to ‘Steaming’, the magazine of the National Traction Engine Trust, of which he is Assistant Editor. He is also a vice chairman and archivist of the Road Roller Association and a member of the Road Steam Forum. He works part-time for the commercial vintage restoration magazine ‘Old Glory’ as news editor and is a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers and a Chartered Engineer.