The Great Dorset Steam Fair

[speedbird591]

This is deep in Dave Farrow territory. I had to zip under the shadow of Compton Abbas airfield to get to it but I think I got away with it!

This is the 45th year of the Great Dorset Steam Fair and it's the biggest of it's kind in Europe. It's held at the village of Tarrant Hinton near Blandford Forum in Dorset. This year was an attempt to beat the Guinness record for the number of steam road rollers in steam at any one time. Shouldn't be too difficult as the previous record was 30 and they had about 100 entered.

Anyway, not much else to tell you. I went on my own and got a bit tired so I didn't make it to the historic vehicles stands and just stuck with the steam exhibits. Mostly Classic British!

Click the pics to zoom.



















And for historic reference, check out this old photo and the 15 year old serious-looking lad with the cap, hanging on the side of the cab. Yup. I was there back in the day doing the business!



Ian

[Tako_Kichi]

Nice! I used to work with a guy who was a part owner of a steam engine and was building a replica live steam model of it. Unfortunately he died before he finished it, although he did have it steaming but it needed some finishing and painting.

[TSR2]

And for historic reference, check out this old photo and the 15 year old serious-looking lad with the cap, hanging on the side of the cab. Yup. I was there back in the day doing the business!



Ian

Cabin Director of a Steam Engine

[dodger]

Hi Ian,

Lovely shots there,

Those took me back when i was a nipper those big old steam engines used to roll the Tarmac and if we got chance we would roll a penny or the like under the rollers, i bet there are a few coins buried around Rochester [Kent] where i lived and went to school,

Ahhh Memories!

Many thanks for posting those.

Roger.

[Kevin Farnell]

Wow Ian, thanks for those photos. Wonderful, wonderful machines.
Being from Walsall (Bloxwich to be precise), I love the 'South Staffs, Steam Haulage' photo.
Looks like it was a great day out.

[Edit] Hadn't realised it was you in the photo, until re-reading the post. That must be a very treasured picture, thanks for sharing.

Cheers

Kevin

[fighterpilot]

Great shots Ian, really capture the atmosphere of the place. I was there yesterday and the show was as good as ever, just about to start trawling through the 500+ shots I took.

Richard

[speedbird591]

Hadn't realised it was you in the photo, until re-reading the post. That must be a very treasured picture, thanks for sharing.

Thanks, Kevin. It certainly is a treasured picture, well deduced! Not many people carried cameras in those days and there were a lot less people about, so that particular shot was quite serendipitous. It was probably around 1960 and iirc we were heading from Edenbridge in Kent to a traction engine rally at Penshurst. The roads were very quiet in them days but my job was to direct traffic round the engine which travelled at not much more than walking pace. Especially as that one (a Marshall) was an agricultural engine without the luxury of rubber tyres like the road engines.

A car driver passed and then stopped us and the driver was a photographer from The Kent and Sussex Courier so we did our best pose for him and the picture was in the paper next week and I treated myself to a glossy copy which somehow I've managed to keep over the years.

Great shots Ian, really capture the atmosphere of the place. I was there yesterday and the show was as good as ever, just about to start trawling through the 500+ shots I took.

500+ shots!!!! Fantastic, Richard!I hope we're going to see the best of them here! There's certainly no shortage of photo opportunities with some colourful scenes and colourful characters packing the place. Sadly, I only got around about a quarter of it and missed much of what I would have liked to see - due to feeling a bit weak and tired - so hopefully you can show me some more. I was particularly disappointed not to see the Ploughing engines as they are my favourites and the most powerful. I could see them in action ploughing the side of a hill but it was too far for me to walk. So if you managed to capture an image of a ploughing engine I'd love to see that.

I've just given my Canon G12 to my brother and have bought myself a new point and shoot compact for ease of carrying and am concentrating on snapping jpegs on auto and doing some cropping and stuff when I get home. I was quite pleased with the results though. Sorry to have scooped you on the show but at least I've left the quality of shots open to improvement.
Hopefully you can get some up over the weekend?

Ian

[fighterpilot]

Hi Ian,
Not had time to sort all the pictures yet but here is a ploughing engine to whet your appetite. We went to look at the ploughers early before they started work so here it is at rest before the days work. I'll put up more in a separate thread soon.


Fowler 15257 Repulse

Richard

[dfarrow]

Ian , tha's Bootiful Boi ; and for a Naarfick Boi yoove got sev'ral o they Naarfick engins ! Burrels of Thetford Bor . Before I got to the end , was going to ask which of the 2 with flat caps was you .... Should have realised from this forum that you like me is/are a flat cap man , 'tho well turned out for the press . Me I'm son of Compo , indeed Compo + . Never plucked up courage to wear one on the bar trolley , but around Scotland in the winter .. fitted nicely under the headset !
The Great Dorset is over 600 acres , and we take bikes to get around the showground ... don't let em out of your sight 'tho ; travellers abound . Yesterday about 1600 [ on your watch ] ... was doing practice forced landings along the A354 , Blandford - Salisbury road , followed by a circumnavigation of the fair for the student .... was looking for you .. honest , but sadly no camera . Set up this year was late 'cos of the lateness of Spring and thus a late harvest , but hopefully a good one for barley ... Hall and Woodhouse .. brewers of Blandford .
Years ago driving home from the Daylight Maniac [ daylight JFK -LHR , BOAC called it Monarch ... abbreviated by crews , as it was blast out -beers - min. rest -blast back ] . 'bout 11 pm up and over the hills a covering grey cloud of steam and smoke appeared . Finally seeing this huge site illuminated by the fairground engines lights , steam fair et.al. Reminded me of the old BA advert where the whole of Manhattan Island blazing with lights , takes off in the dark . UFOs have nothing on that sight . Night steamings are added to by the Beer 'n Cider tents http://www.cbfsim.co.uk/cbfs_bb/posting ... 365cd4d207#, not to mention big Rock , Folk , and even bigger rural Country music tents .
Hope you didn't get caught up on the A303's new and UN-improved roundabout , 14 mile queues on last weekend's bank holiday ... with '' Highway to Hell '' playing in honour , on national radio drivetime show . Mind you the A12 got '' Road to Nowhere '' .
Glad to hear you're getting around , 'cos at the moment England's at her best , and with the kids back at skool this week ... us Silver Surfers have got the place to ourselves ..... apart from caravans .. that is .

ATB dave f .

[speedbird591]

Hi Ian,
Not had time to sort all the pictures yet but here is a ploughing engine to whet your appetite. We went to look at the ploughers early before they started work so here it is at rest before the days work. I'll put up more in a separate thread soon.

Superb! Thanks for that, Richard. That's exactly what I wanted to see! Another 500 of those will do fine!

Isn't it magnificent? Like I said about steam railway locos recently, you rarely get to see one in the condition in which they worked, but these ploughing engines always look the business because they're always black and oily and very big and powerful.

For anybody unfamiliar with the variety of British traction engines: there were only a few specific types. In my photos there were the road rollers, which have an obvious purpose and as in my b&w shot, the multi-purpose agricultural engine - an early tractor and then the most impressive - the Showman's engines. They were big road engines for towing fairground rides from town to town and then doubling up as an electricity power station to run the attraction and lighting at the fair.

The ploughing engines worked in pairs. One would be on each side of a field and winch a manned plough between them using the huge drum winches underneath the boiler and gradually moving their way along the field. They bridged the gap between Shire horses and modern tractors.

Hi Dave! I was at the show on the Thursday so I missed your flypast. I drove close by the airfield and saw an aircraft making some unusual manoeuvres so it looked like you were at work! Actually there was some sort of blockage on that twisty bit of road so I did a U-turn and went back to Shaftesbury and down the A350 instead. Next time I'll just head to CA for tea and cake and see what's going on. It's not a bad distance for me to drive.

I hadn't realised the GDSF covered 600 acres. I don't feel so bad now about not having got round all of it! It must be fun to camp there and do all the evening stuff as well. Like Glastonbury but with steam. Anyway, I'm glad you got back OK from Cornwall - what a wonderful experience to see the VC10 coming in for her possibly final landing. You lucky boy!

Hope to catch you at CA soon.

Ian