A HEAD FULL OF STEAM.

Well hello folks, what a brilliant day, I went to the 40th anniversary of the Haddenham Steam Rally I have tried to work out the last time I went to it and to my amazement worked out that it was about 20 years ago. How time flies as the years sadly pass us by!

But seeing as I was back up here, I was determined to go and ended up transporting a local family who are very good friends and oh my goodness what a fun day we had there.

<<< This was in the finishing stages as we arrived. Done by one of those amazing wood carvers that use a chain saw to produce seemingly intricate work with a speed that almost defies the eye. I had quite a long chat with him about wood carving for outdoors and he recommended Danish Oil as it "moves with the wood" I personally use a 50/50 mix of teak & linseed oil and then when the wood has soaked it all up & "sweated" I wipe it off and treat it with a good quality beeswax. So, before I had started on things steamy, I had learned something new and useful for the future like using French Polish for my sticks so that the wood shines but breathes.

There was just so much to see and by the end of the day I had taken 150 photographs, so what to choose? It was a hard call, as the day progressed I was so enthralled by all that was going on and to see all those amazing steam engines and the agricultural equipment from the past years of farming, it was just a fascinating, fun day. This >>> 

appealed to me as I was once based near Newquay.

It was on the side of an old truck, but there were other signs too ...

& ... 

Just note the phone number at the end of the above. It is on the last tractor you will see as you read down, just before the Merry Go Round. It is a strange looking beast.

 

You see, these are the tiny details that mean a lot to me, so where you may ask are the big steaming machines, be patient they were there in great numbers and oh boy that smell!

One just cannot beat the sound of a traction engine bringing up steam, it's a great noise.

Also that unique scent of coal fired energy that fires up inside these solidly built machines.

For me and older generations it brought back many memories but what fascinated me was the kids reaction of excitement when the saw these old leviathans still moving having been lovingly restored by their owners. It really is a great experience for old and young alike and just to prove it, here is a photo of a young lad steering a lovely old engine.

His face as he managed to park it neatly in line was just a delight, he was so very chuffed!

The sound as these old yet still much admired machines came off the show ground all blowing their whistles and grimy faces grinning with white smiles it was quite simply heart warming and that unique steam, grease and oil smell that hung in the afternoon air,

an engineers perfume!

Such unique sights and smells and just wonderful to be amongst so many of them.

All around the show ground there were engines restored and yet still able to work hard,

for instance the stone crushing where yes men had to manually feed it but ...

can you imagine the back breaking work involved in making hard core for roads or other foundations had this all been simply crushed down by hand. Steam power was revolutionary, making so many tasks that much easier, however ... as always with "modern" technological improvements, it also put a lot of men out of work. The tractor most certainly did that when it arrived on the scene. Suddenly a lot of manual labourers were made redundant. Gone were the horsemen, blacksmiths, cart-wrights  leather workers, stable boys and farmhands. Machinery became king with no need for the many servants that the old ways provided for due to need of man power.

Or for that matter "horse power" a term made popular in the 18th century by the famous James Watt who compared the use of steam power output to that of the old draft horses.

<<< of which there were a few on show in the ring today but when you think of how many hundreds of years that the horse had been tamed, cross bred
for strength and relied upon to do heavy work that made life easier for man and then came the age of steam. Thousands of folk across this country alone, lost their jobs ...  farriers, blacksmiths, saddlers, leather workers, carters, even the humble stable boys who just mucked out and groomed. And yet, to some small degree, especially in conservation aware forestry, the placid horse is making a comeback because it causes less damage to the lower level ecological systems than heavy plant machinery does. Hurrah for the horse! Meanwhile back into nostalgia zone and that of old tractors ...

Some (and they were in the minority) were definitely in need of some tender loving care and ... sadly money.
It takes a lot of money to restore of these >>>
seemingly, worthless, rusty old heaps to blazing glory, but ... there are still blessedly those out there who care and it was lovely today to see so many of the younger generations who have no memory of these lovely old machines actually working yet still want to renovate them lovingly and drive them. Poor old "YUK" >>>
she needs someone with love, time & money to bring her back to full working glory! Like these ...

I've never seen a Fordson like the one below before but apparently it was designed to be "lighter footed" on the land. The experiment was not very successful & the design got dropped.Thank goodness at least one remains, lovingly restored to working order.

And just lastly for a bit of fun, though it has been years since I rode on one, this ...

A fully steam powered Merry go Round and as I overheard an old boy say ... 

 "Tiz a long time since I' been one one of they."

Hmm ... me too. Goodnight folks after a long but fun, steam filled day.