WHEN Paul Johnson was seven he decided that when he grew up he would drive his own steam engine.

The difference between Paul and countless other day-dreaming youngsters is that some 50 years later he is doing exactly that – at the controls of a ten-ton 1900 steam-roller which is becoming a familiar sight chugging through Minehead town centre.

A steam enthusiast since his teens, Paul, a semi-retired mechanical engineer, bought the massive Aveling and Porter road-roller in February and now keeps it at his home in King Edward Road, where it is making spectacular cracks in the drive.

“Perhaps I should have bought something smaller and lighter,” Paul said. “It was a bit of an impulse-buy really!”

Retired from rolling the roads in 1958, the 45hp R10 roller had been owned by a Lancashire enthusiast for the past 20 years and cost Paul £700 to transport to Minehead.

Previously it had eight private owners, moving from southern England to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“There was some cosmetic and mechanical work to be done before I could take it out into the town but it always attracts a lot of interest, particularly among older people and children,” Paul said.

“I suppose that travelling at a maximum of 5mph does tend to hold up the traffic!”

Paul said that going for a spin calls for some major preparation – it takes up to two and a half hours to light the fire with wood and build up steam pressure.

Full feature in the Free Press (September 7).