The auction is one of the most popular features of our Annual Rally at Milton Keynes Museum. It gives our members a chance to add to their collections without the hassle of going to junk sales or using online auction sites. On the other hand, it also gives our members a good way to pass on unwanted and duplicate mowers to other collectors and fellow enthusiasts.

We've been holding the auction for some years now and during that time we've seen hundreds of mowers and associated items bought and sold. The small commission we charge is donated the museum. You can see a list of the entries for this year's auction here (we'll be adding to the list in the run up to the event but we cannot accept late entries).

We don't see steam mowers very often so you can imagine we were quite excited when Steve Schlemmer contacted us earlier this year. Steve's clearly a proficient engineer and he told us that he assembled the steam plant from a machined kit of parts from Maxitrak. It's a modified, 1/3rd scale model of a Welsh quarry locomotive. He then fitted the engine to an Atco motor mower that he bought from another Old Lawnmower Club member. This particular model was chosen because it had a Villiers engine mounted on two, sturdy, angle iron cross members. According to Steve these provided an excellent mounting for the boiler and motion which has full Stephenson reversing gear. The boiler’s fed from both a crank pump and a hand pump. The mower also has a whistle to alert bystanders when moving off and turning.