Garden Railroad Harz German Steam Engine

Now this is something I have fallen in love with. A fantastic little video I found on YouTube recently.

This a video that will draw your attention away from all your problems and leave you at peace with yourself.

Just listen to the sound track, music is 'Ave Verum Corpus' composed by W.A. Mozart in 1791 to celebrate Corpus Christi.

Just relax, watch and enjoy!

Steam in Cheshire

Sometimes it is difficult to get photos of Linkey in transit on The Mack.

I arranged with Matt Bisp from Rubery to wait patiently in a lay by for us to pass up the A38 towards the M5 from Bromsgrove.

Matt is a young man, who with his dad hopefully will be joining the North Worcestershire Vintage Tractor and Engine Club in January.

Well done Matt and thank you for the photographs. More will follow.

Matt is also going to start his own blog, so he will link with mine and then you will have two excellent and fantastic blogs to study.

Steam in Cheshire

Yet another little video of me on Linkey on Saturday morning.

Fortunately the weather was cloudy but kind all weekend and a good time was had by all.

Now this land I understand is owned by the NT, but managed by local farmers etc.

Mike Priestner is an excellent engineer and his yard and workshop have to be seen. This event however is private and is open to invited quests and their respective crews only.

On Sunday after a hearty breakfast, (no hangover!) I spend most of the day on the scuffle. This is an interesting agricultural machine and would you believe it is the first time I have ever handled it solo. I enjoyed this very much.

However Sunday afternoon arrived and it was time to clear up, load up and return once again on the M6, but this time it was a doddle, one of the best I have had on the M6 for some considerable time.

Steam in Cheshire

This last weekend, Linkey was on the way up the M6, with Mark Jones driving, Christopher Beale as passenger and me behind in the Disco.

Due to typical driving conditions on the M6 on Friday night it was passed 9pm when we pulled into Mike Priestners yard in Altringham.

After a welcoming plate of curry and chips plus a glass or two of ale we retired to our beds to restore our energy for the weekends ploughing and other work.

I spend most of Saturday on the engine as you can see here from the video taken on a simple Canon Pureshot camera by Chris Beale from Little Comberton.

We then roaded with other engines to the pub for a quite social interlude steam fashion before returning to Mike Priestners home for a typical steam gathering.

John Johnson from Banks in Lancashire brought down his organ and road locomotive, Mike had his showmans in steam plus three other engines including Linkey all in his back yard!

Mike's hospitality was fantastic, the spread was enjoyed by all and there was an excellent barrel of free beer to finish off. I sampled some other stronger European beers as well and needless to say it was a good thing I was not driving that night!

Bedford Steam and Country Festival

One of the main reason for going to Bedford was the return of the two sister engines, 'Linkey' and 'Sevington'. They have not been together for a number of years, let alone working together. Most ploughing engines were indeed made in pairs and this was the occasion to see them at their best.

I thought that I would publish the other photo of 'Linkey' loaded in the lorry park at Bedford on Sunday evening ready for departure.

The 'Mack' was driven by Ed, one of Mark Jones's work associates who has indeed got the appropriate licence to drive this unit. On arrival incidental we found that the Mack had a puncture in the rear nearside tyre. As this in an American left hand drive truck, the wheels and tyres are also American and non standard to this country. Fortunately it was the inner tube that had the puncture and a repair was effected.

Bedford Steam and Country Festival

These are two photographs from this last weekend in the Old Warden Park, Bedford. The one photo clearly shows the plough used in this type of work. This plough belongs to Mr John Garman from Shropshire.

The other photo clearly states the sort of chaos we achieve when we go to steam rallies. The previous evening we sat out 'till quite late with a BBQ and several alcoholic beverages. This is normal for steam enthusiasts. I have to say though that when we depart on a Sunday evening, every last piece of litter is collected and disposed of!

This year Chris and I had our work cut out, and after I had the engine on Saturday, I decided to join Sam on the plough, which I enjoyed very much. Chris was on the engine for most of the time on Sunday and he is an excellent puller.

Bedford Steam and Country Festival

This last weekend I attended the Bedford Steam and Country Festival, located at The Old Warden Park. This is indeed a lovely country park setting, and the ploughing field allocated to us was just outside the limits of the park. Our camp was by a small lake overflowing with fish. At night you went to sleep listening to the hoots and screeches of Barn and Tawney owls.

This is just an 11 second video taken on my Canon Power Shot by Chris Beale. We were ploughing with 'Sevington', the sister engine to 'Linkey'

Forest of Arden Ploughing Match

Today just outside the village of Haselor, nr Alcester in rural Warwickshire, the Forest of Arden Agricultural Society held its annual ploughing match. There were some 116 exhibits working over an extensive area.

This is a well organised event with display of rural crafts and competitions. The attendance from the public was excellent and a good time was had by all.

I have just posted some of the photos I have taken today, and if I have time tomorrow before going off to Bedford Steam and Country Festival I will post some more.

Sorry for the delay in updating the blog, yesterday the sever was down, however, there are just a small selection of photos taken this year at the Great Dorset Steam Fair.
The weather could have been better. Wednesday was a wash out, and there was plenty of mud. But as the week went by the weather improved so that by Sunday the final day we were all able to pull off dry.
I thought the show was a little quieter this year, although I am not party to the attendance figures I think they were down from previous years.
We had a number of visitors on the North Worcestershire Vintage Tractor and Engine Club stand. It was good to have amongst the visitors a number from the club.
Steve Crump from Stourport on Severn attended this year once again with two American commercials. Steve also brought a grey Fergie TE20 and exhibited on the stand. He and his son George, lady friend and newly borne baby girl helped out on the stand each day. Many thanks.
Jon Boyce who books the stand in could not attend until the Thursday. He arrived by 8am and was provided with a full English breakfast and tea.

Great Dorset Steam Fair

Well at long last I arrived at Tarrant Hinton, near Blanford Forum, Dorset last Sunday 30th August in preparation for the Great Dorset Steam Fair.

After setting up the caravan etc I decided to walk the site and visit some friends that had already arrived on the Saturday. During the evening we all had a social interlude in the only beer tent open.

The following day, Bank Holiday Monday once again I visited the Swanage Railway. This is a lovely little line that runs from Swanage to just beyond Corfe Castle. They have plans to run to Wareham at some point in the future and link in with the current main line. However there are numerous cost implications in this plus the usual planning and local government hocus pocus.