FRYEBURG – “Rare and unusual” is the theme of the Horse-drawn wagon display that begins its fifth year Sept. 28 at Fryeburg Fair.

Highlighting the exhibition of century-old wagons is the 1888 Silsby Steam Pumper No. 911, which will feature a large sign with a reminder to “never forget” the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center.

The display is made possible by Margaret and Sut Marshall of Conway, N.H., owners of the international collection of more than 150 vehicles. Assisting the Marshalls is Kenneth Wheeling of North Ferrisburg, Vt., a director of the Carriage Association of America. The retired English teacher is an internationally renowned expert on carriages and horses affectionately referred to as “The Professor.” Wheeling also announces the 3-day draft horse and pony show in front of the main grandstand.

Marshall said it has taken years of searching and sifting through many wagons to come up with this year’s collection.

“Commercial horse-drawn vehicles are rare in themselves and were never really plentiful,” Wheeling said, explaining that many were discarded or abandoned when motorized vehicles came into use. “There are only one or two examples of several of the vehicles we will have on display this year.”

One of those is the “Clarence,” named after the Duke of Clarence, which was used in the June 1953 Coronation procession of Elizabeth II when the prime minister of South Africa rode in it. Others are a Leisey Brewery Dray, a heavy overland stage wagon, the always popular bow-top Gypsy Vardo, a Conestoga wagon, a Rackham Butcher Wagon and several fire pumpers.

The display in the 150- by 36-foot show barn built in 2004 began with “Towns and Villages” and was followed by “Going to the Fair,” “People Movers” and “English Trade Vehicles.”

Expected to be a popular wagon is the brewery dray, which holds eight large barrels, 13 medium barrels and a dozen small barrels. Isaac Liesey bought the old Haltnorth Brewery in Cleveland in 1873 along with his brothers August and Henry. By 1890, 75 men were producing 90,000 barrels of beer a year and 350,000 by 1917. It took four heavy draft horses to pull the dray.

Established in 1845, the Silsby Manufacturing Co. made agricultural implements but ventured into steam fire pumpers in 1856 and built more than 1,000 of them. Number 911 was built in 1888 and renovated in 1905 for the Tyrone, Pa., Fire Co.

One of the more curious vehicles is the surveyor’s wagon, which houses a large, double set of tambour map racks, benches along both sides with a hanging map between them. A metal cook stove slides out from underneath the body.

The U.S. mail sleigh featured this year has a mail wagon with its wheels removed and mounted on three-knee sled gear. The simple but effective design allowed mail carriers to glide over snow-rolled country roads, although spring mud presented problems for runners and wheels alike.

The butcher’s van of the D. S. Rackham & Son family butchers is reminiscent of the metal body vehicles that became popular as the automobile began to emerge. The vans were used as milk wagons as well as meat and bakery vans in urban centers. In England, where petrol became scarce during World War II, many companies turned to using the metal-sided horse-drawn vans.

Marshall, who owns Abbott’s Ice Cream, distributors of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, supervised the moving of the vehicles from Conway to the fairgrounds the week before the fair.

“Some of my employees aren’t too happy with me because I make sure they don’t drive over 25 miles per hour transporting the bigger wagons or it’s back to freezer duty where it’s winter – minus 15 degrees Fahrenheit year-round,” he said.