Much Marcle Steam Rally, (20th - 21st July, 2019)
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 overall index for 2019.
This was the first rally Yuehong and I attended together in 2013. It's the nearest rally to our home and we always considered that it punched above its weight especially in terms of the working area. We attended every year until 2018 when we were seduced by the 50th anniversary rally at Weeting. In our absence, a report suggested that a change in the organisational structure had seen the number of engines drop considerably and with yet another new steam organiser, the 2019 event attracted only 14 steam engines, just half the average number for 2014 - 2017.
To say that I was disappointed would be putting it mildly. The only working steam was the steam ploughing, there was no steam saw bench and no steam threshing which had been regulars previously. On the Sunday, the ring events were running half an hour late by midday and in the absence of any directing, engines appeared for the parade randomly from either end. In the working field, the steam ploughing was suspended because there appeared to be no one directing the mechanised harvesting to ensure there was a continuing supply of available ground.
At £10 a head I did not feel it offered value for money. Last week at Wiston (with 44 engines) the charge was £8 (concessions £6) and next weekend, not far away at Welland, the charges will be £12 (concession £10) and there will no comparison in terms of 'entertainment'.
At the present rate the rally will soon 'fail'. If the organisers don't know where they are going wrong then they should visit some of the other rallies in the area which have been through a bad patch, are now thriving again and talk to the organisers there. If you look through the reports on this site, you would quickly identify Banbury and South Cerney as coming into this category.
At least this year, there was no difficulty including all the available engines in the parade picture.
General Engines
Steam Rollers
Former 'resident' Aveling and Porter 9166/1920 'Emma' has moved to the Waterworks Museum in Hereford.
Ploughing Engines
Steam Wagon
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Notes |
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JCN 898 J |
"Typhoo" Freelance design with Sentinel engine and boiler from a railway locomotive, the chassis from an ERF lorry. Marcle Rally 2016 Picture |
