Bressingham Steam Portable Gathering 2023

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 Bressingham Steam Portable Gathering Index and click here for the overall index for 2023.

This was the view from the standard gauge signal box (courtesy of Yuehong), you can see me standing in the middle on the full size original..  The gap was about to be plugged with the Ruston Proctor portable as seen below.

I believe that there was once a GDSF 'portables special' but I doubt that it or this will be repeated in my lifetime, it was certainly unlike anything I have ever seen. 

Details below were taken by observation, an information sheet provided by the organiser, Jonathan Wheeler' with further information from Paul Gilbey and Neil Edwards. Three out of four of these engines belong to the Wheeler family. I'm not sure where everyone was at the time but there were plenty of other attractions for the visitors including our favourite gardens. 

Portable Engines

		Maker	Number	Notes
		Burrell	2363/1901	One of two known survivors, the other being in New Zealand (See GDSF 2018)  Steam Scenes Link  Bressingham Museum 2017 Picture  Weeting Rally 2018 Picture  Bressingham Gathering 2021 Picture
		Clayton and Shuttleworth	21112/1883	Semi-portable, it spent its working life in Gloucestershire. Great Dorset Steam Fair 2019 Picture
		Gibbons	477/1878	Repatriated from Australia in 1997, the only known other remains there.
		Hindley	26/1880	Built as a stationary engine; portable frame, boiler and drill added in 1910.
		Hornsby	8623/1903
		Marshall	44110/1905	Steam Scenes Link  Woodcote Rally 2014 Picture  Weald of Kent Rally 2019 Picture  Great Dorset Steam Fair 2019 Picture  Weeting Rally 2022 Picture  Great Dorset Steam Fair 2022 Picture  Strumpshaw Steam Rally 2023 Picture
		Marshall	44260/1906	Britannia boiler Exported to Chile Repatriated in 2004
		Marshall	45028/ca 1906	Weeting Rally 2017 Picture  Grand Henham Rally 2017 Picture  Weeting Rally 2018 Picture  Weeting Rally 2022 Picture  Weeting Rally 2023 Picture
		Marshall	53082/1909	Sold for a blacksmith's shop in Italy. Repatriated ca 2018 Abbey Hill Rally 2019 Picture
		Marshall	71725/1919	Steam Scenes Link  Weeting Rally 2017 Picture  Weeting Rally 2018 Picture  Strumpshaw Rally 2023 Picture  Weeting Rally 2023 Picture
		Merryweather	2354/ca 1905	Hand drawn steam pump
		Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies	19391/1907
		Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies	22988/1910	Repatriated from Chile in 2009 Saffron Walden 2023 Picture
		Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies	32084/1921	Repatriated from Chile in 1990s
		Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies		Sent to Portugal for a sawmill in 1945. Later repatriated via Holland.
		Ruston Proctor	37205/1905	Repatriated from Chile in 2010s. Used in a sawmill
		A & W Smith	136/1860	Thought to be unique. Smith specialised in stationary engines and sugar mill equipment  Click here for an example.
		E.Youngs	Unique survivor of this local Diss maker.  The date is unknown but is probably around the turn of the 19th / 20th century and it seems so few were produced that they didn't carry a number.	Bressingham Gathering 2021 Picture