Welland Steam Rally 2015
Working Engines

This is one of a series of pages which I have uploaded to illustrate facets of steam rallies we have attended in the UK. Such events occur all over the country in the summer months, they are easily found by using your favourite search engine and may have anything between a handful of steam engines and hundreds (as at the Great Dorset Steam Fair which could probably be fairly described as having an excess of riches). Click here for the Welland index and click here for the overall index.

By working engines, I mean steam engines which did more than sit looking beautiful or amble round the main arena to have their pictures taken. For the most part these were very similar to that which I recorded in 2014, nevertheless they remain for me one of the highlights of the show and the organisers are to be commended for this section.

Road Making Demonstration

This was a continuation of the previous years' work. This time Patrick Keef's Bagnall Woto (2123/1924) was performing with 2 skips to assist and the Ruston Bucyrus shovel was in action. The portable is a Ruston Proctor (ca 1917) and the roller is Aveling and Porter 11448/1926. For more on the group involved search for "Vintage Road Making Team". See http://youtu.be/fkzLxvsO2qg for a video clip for some of the slow motion action.

Water Pumping

The steam roller was providing steam for the Worthington-Simplex duplex pump to draw water from a well placed stream, this being used to quench the thirst of the steam exhibits.

Aveling and Porter

8548/1915

HR 7772

Steam Ploughing

There was no wheat planted this year but ploughing occurred as normal on the Saturday. With limited time and last year's record, I spent little time here.

Fowlers 2538 and 14257 were in use. A nice touch was to use Fowler 8635 to help get the cultivator in position.

Steam Threshing

Wheat cut in the next door field was brought down to be threshed using a Ransomes machine and then the straw baled, it looks better on the video... The key parts are the same as in a rice mill but I doubt many readers have seen one of these. The engine was a Foster ("Stargazer", 2728/1903).

Steam Crane

There is a 1950s ex-British Railways steam crane (Smith Rodley 1950s) which is used to move logs for the sawing demonstration:

Steam Sawing

The Advance (14921/ca 1920) and a Burrell ("Jimbo", 1563/1890)  were powering the two adjacent saw benches:

Steam Locomotive

The Ross-on-Wye Steam Engine Society has installed a short standard gauge line on the site and a former crane tank from the Foxfield Railway (Beyer Peacock 1827/1879) was giving rides on a GWR brake van ('Toad').