Darby Steam-Digger

In mid-1906 the works and its contents were auctioned under the order of the executors of the late T. Dowsett (who was the first mayor of Southend, and an extremely wealthy man).

In effect the machine was an early tractor designed mainly for ploughing, and could accomplish 1-acre (4,000 m2) an hour (1 m2/s) to a maximum depth of 14 inches (360 mm).

Robert Hasler was born in Pleshey in 1856; he worked as an engineer for Thomas Darby for 26 years, then became the village blacksmith (following his father) until he retired in 1925.

The second version was known as the Darby Broadside Digger which was a larger machine which had eight legs and wheels and a double boiler having a smoke-box and chimney at each end.

The third version was more like a conventional traction engine with the Digger attached behind - it had spades that actually dug into the ground and turned the soil over.