Well-surfaced roads are essential to a fast growing industrial nation and, as roadmaking in Britain improved from the late eighteenth century onwards, heavy rollers hauled by men or by horses were used to compact the surface. Steam power was first used to propel road rollers in the 1860s and thereafter there was rapid development, in parallel with that of the traction engine. This book outlines the early development of steam and motor rollers, with some technical details, and illustrates the different types. The firms which manufactured them and the men who owned and operated them are described and there is a chapter on some of the unusual and unique machines which were either powered by unconventional means or designed for specific tasks. Although Europe's last steam roller was built in 1954, these powerful and impressive machines have not lost their place in the public's imagination. About the author Derek Rayner has been interested in steam engines since his schooldays in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Mr Rayner has been the sole owner since 1968 and he also acquired a small motor roller in 1975. He is Archivist to the Road Roller Association. A member of the National Traction Engine Trust, he has frequently contributed to its magazine, Steaming, and is the assistant editor. Other titles for Shire by this author: Steam Wagons Traction Engines and other steam road engines