UK Steam Rallies 2026

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Click here for the "UK Steam Rallies" index page.

The 2026 UK steam rally season is here and we went to our first rally in mid-May. Uncertainty is the order of the day and at the moment that goes well beyond the UK's weather. Strumpshaw Rally has breathed its last, Quorn is taking a year off and the treasurers of others will be wondering how the bills will be paid. There is some good news, Elvaston will return, Tinkers Park, Rempstone and others no doubt will celebrate significant anniversaries and some long term restoration projects will be completed.

Many / most / all of us have our own personal battles related to ageing, a couple of weeks back I found I had a cataract in one eye. These days it's relatively easy and quick to correct, even on the NHS, but in the meantime I'm very glad that Yuehong passed her driving test well before it happened. Longer trips now need careful planning and are necessarily more expensive than before, as a result we missed what looked to have been a superb Trevithick Day celebration.

Last year, I wrote "Tthere are continuing problems with David Collidge's Steam Scenes website which has been crippled by the activity of AI bots. For many years, I have included appropriate links to its picture database, but with its future uncertain, I have taken the decision to remove the links. Historic links to my own site are naturally not affected. I would like to take this opportunity to thank David for all the hard work he has put into his site over the years and I sincerely hope that a way forward can be found to keep it going but it seems unlikely that the existing links would have worked under any updated system. (I have kept a copy of the old pages, just in case.)" Sadly it seems to be 'history'.

Choose the rally you are interested in which will generally take you to a further index page. Within each linked page click on a thumbnail for a larger image. Then click again to return to the previous page.

I make no claim to artistic beauty in what is essentially a set of record shots. Two dedicated enthusiasts have done that in classic books, both of which are readily available at a modest price through AbeBooks or Amazon. Yuehong has sat drooling over my copies. I have added a third book which is very approachable study which covers mainly threshing and ploughing.

• Traction Engine Album by Malcolm Ranieri (2005) - ISBN 9781861267948

• Classic Traction Engines by Paul Stratford (2010) - ISBN 9780857040541

• Steam on the Farm by Jonathan Brown (2008) - ISBN 9781847970527

Castle Combe Steam Rally (16th - 17th May 2026)	Moreton Morrell Open Day (16th May 2026)	Abergavenny Steam Rally (24th - 25th May 2026)
Tinkers Park Steam Rally (24th - 25th May 2026)