A steam-up of engines built by the Devizes company Brown and May attracted a large and enthusiastic crowd.

Thirteen out of the company’s 16 full-size wheeled steam engines that remain in the UK were on show at Devizes Trailer Cen-tre, London Road, on Sunday.

Steam enthusiasts came from as far away as Shropshire, Gloucester, Northamptonshire, West Yorkshire and New Zea-land, but there was also a good turnout of visitors from Devizes.

Organiser Michele Goddard, of Bromham, said: “There must have been a couple of thousand people. There was a constant stream of people all day. It was far better than we imagined.

“All the owners of the engines who exhibited were delighted with how many locals turned up so they could learn about local history.”

Mrs Goddard showed off her Brown and May engine, the second oldest and smallest that remains. Also there was the only Brown and May showman’s engine, which travelled with fairs. Called General Buller, this came from Lincoln.

And there was a portable steam engine built in the 1890s that belonged to Lackham Museum of Agriculture and Rural Life and now belongs to the newly formed Brown and May Trust, based locally.

Brown and May’s foundry was in Estcourt Street, which later became Chivers and is Morrisons supermarket today.

The company was founded in 1854 and was the largest employer in the area with 350 staff.

It made steam engines for agricultural use and exported its machinery all over the world. It closed in 1913.

Among the visitors was a woman in her nineties whose great grandfather was the foreman at Brown and May and a man whose father worked for the firm and who had a reference from Mr Brown and Mr May when his father was moving on to work elsewhere.

Six of the engines were in steam while the rest were in various states of restoration.