Cromford Steam Rally,
(31st July - 1st August
2021)
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 2021.
This was the Cromford Steam Rally 50th, postponed from 2020. The organisers got everything right except for the weather which dumped a huge amount of rain onto the hill top site on the Friday turning the tracks around the site into a sea of mud and rendering all movement impossible while we were there on the Saturday. We drove past on Sunday when the sky was temporarily brighter but there had been rain in Alfreton overnight and going west we hit more rain so I guess Sunday will have been a repeat of Saturday. As you will see below, a number of steam engines never made it off their trailers, a sight I had managed to avoid for several years before the pandemic.
My arrival in the steam holding area around midday coincided with 15 minutes of sunshine, otherwise there was unremitting gloom, I don't know what it was like earlier. I think I captured just about everything which was reasonably well positioned at the time, necessarily some were not and were photographed later. Yuehong took this scene from the car park on top of the ridge looking east with the rally ground behind, the hill is rather steeper than it looks...
Steam Rollers
Star of the show for me was Aveling and Porter steam roller 2031/1884 said to be the oldest roller being rallied. It is in the extended Rayner family and Derek attended with his own roller to celebrate its reappearance in public.
Showman's Engines
Burrell 'Princess of Wales' symbolises the despair of many owners next to the sea of mud. Unfortunately, many visitors were as ill equipped to deal with the mud as the engines, most did not stay as long as they normally would.
General Engines
Ploughing Engines
Portable Engine
|
Maker |
Number |
Notes |
||
|
Brown and May | ???/ca 1860 |
"Little Dragon" Cromford Rally 2017 Picture Elvaston Rally 2018 Picture |
Centre Engine
|
|
Maker |
Number |
Notes |
|
| Savage | 422 and 423 | With Ashley's Golden Gallopers Shrewsbury Rally 2014 Picture Shrewsbury Rally 2015 Picture Shrewsbury Rally 2016 Picture Shrewsbury Rally 2017 Picture Shrewsbury Rally 2018 Picture Shrewsbury Rally 2019 Picture |
Steam Car
|
|
Maker |
Number/Date |
Registration |
Notes |
| Stanley | 1918 | BS 9618 |
Model 735B Lincoln Rally 2013 Picture Welland Rally 2015 Picture Driffield Rally 2016 Picture Lincoln Rally 2016 Picture Lincoln Rally 2019 Picture |
If you like this sort of thing then try David Collidge's Steam Scenes http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/