The Stotfold Shuffle

A little album of scenes that presented themselves at Stotfold Working Steam Weekend last Saturday. And, as when playing an album or playlist of music, it's sometimes fun to press shuffle and see what unexpected juxtapositions and themes are thrown up. So if you want to see some cute cushions next to an old, greasy engine then you've come to the right place!

"It's all done by smoke and steam!"

"Traction"

"Cyclamen For Sale"

"The Horseman"

"Thrashing Machine Detail"

"The Guardians Of Our Steam Heritage"

"...And A New Generation"

"Steam Into Clouds"

"Precision Engineering"

"Just Cruising"

"Fordson Major Diesel"

"A Wide Selection Of Attractive Cushions"

"Concentration"

(and in black and white)

"I know it's called a Working Steam Weekend,

but all work and no tea....."

Would you like to spend a couple of minutes or so wandering around the tractors and threshing machines with Les?

I promise that we will escape from the world of steam and return to the English countryside very soon. It just so happens that there are several steam gatherings at this time of year - I think it might be deliberately arranged this way so that the heavy equipment doesn't have to be moved huge distances between venues.

Take care.

Three Stops At Stotfold

While I had some internal argument with myself about going to the Bedfordshire Steam Rally recently, there was never any doubt that I'd go to Stotfold Working Steam Weekend if at all possible. Although it's fairly small it's my favourite steam event of the year. The only problem was whether I'd find anything new to put on the blog. Here are three exhibits that tempted me to linger.

The Biggest Little Sawmill

One corner of the showground is set aside for steam-driven sawmills:

First you need to select your log and move it into position using a steam crane. The beauty of this show is that you see many of the machines being used for their original purpose.

Then you need to build up a head of steam in this engine which is going to power one of the sawmill set-ups. You'll notice that it has no cab or place for the driver; that's because it's the old type of "stationary engine". That's a slight misnomer as it was obviously mobile, but needed to be pulled around by a team of horses, or these days probably another engine.

And here's the mighty steam bandsaw, which could produce boards and beams from very large lumps of wood. On the side it says "Hadrian W. Spooner & Sons" which sounds like an excellent name for a nineteenth-century entrepreneur. When I got home I Googled "Hadrian Spooner" - I mean, there can't be many folk about with that name. 

Far from being a Victorian gent he turns out to be a very alive TV personality who has appeared on Scrapheap Challenge, The Biggest Little Railway In The World and other shows which highlighted his eccentric engineering expertise. I'm fairly certain he's the man in the white T-shirt in the above photos.

Meanwhile the crane is moving another log for a different saw. But I found myself more drawn to a smaller arrangement....

Meet "Steady Eddie" and his steam-powered saw-bench. As you can see he's utilising a small model steam engine to run his saw. It just shows you how much power can be generated by such tiny machines. But it's time to move on....

Another Mini Machine

Here's a charming little model of a thrashing machine. Its full-sized cousins were widely used on farms to separate the grain from the straw and chaff before the advent of the combine harvester. There's a sign to tell you its story:

                "This is a fully working, 3 inch to the foot ( 1/4 size ), model of a

                Ransomes, Sims & Jefferies AM54 Medium thrashing machine.

                     It was built over a period of about 12 months, starting from

                purchased drawings. However, it soon became apparent that the

                drawings were both inaccurate and lacking in detail & so were

                abandoned. The model was finished by studying pictures, books & the

                internet, as well as climbing over a full-size machine living nearby.

                    All castings ( nearly 200 ) were home cast from patterns produced

                by 3D printing."

And this is the little engine that powers the model (and, I presume, that's the man who built it). Although it's small, and although there are demonstrations by restored, full-size thrashing machines at most shows, I think this serves a vital educational purpose. The real things are noisy, dusty and too big to take in easily from a single vantage point, especially for little people. This one is an ideal teaching resource. It can get very cluttered and confusing around a real thrashing machine....

See what I mean?

Memories Of Monty

There are also some exhibits which have no connection to steam. Most of these shows attract a few old military vehicles....

Impressive though some are, I rarely photograph them. Not very colourful and just not something which attracts me. And this small, wooden caravan would never have caught my eye had Les not been involved in protracted negotiations about the price of a jacket.

It's not even the original, just a replica of one which is kept at the Imperial War Museum in nearby Duxford. It was first used by General Annibale "Electric Whiskers" Bergonzoli of the Italian army. But it was stolen (or in army-speak "liberated") at the battle of Beda Fomm in Libya.

It was later used as living accommodation for General Montgomery when commanding the 8th Army's desert campaign. Churchill even stayed in it when visiting Monty. When another caravan was captured, the original of this one was then used as Montgomery's office.

And here comes Les. It turned out that they didn't have the jacket in his size anyway!

Take care.

"John's Amusements"

Maybe the word needs translation for non-British English speakers, as well as those who valiantly struggle on with English as a second tongue: 

Amusements - Games, rides, and other things that you can enjoy, for example at a fairground or at the seaside.

But it can just mean anything you find amusing, of course.

Even in English English it's rather fallen out of use in recent years, and if you see it nowadays it'll most likely be found in connection with vintage fairgrounds like this example found on one of the elderly lorries seen at the Bedfordshire Steam Rally last week.

And these are just little details spotted on a stroll around the amusements. I like to think that much can be revealed by small fragments of the scene - the kind of lettering used, the decorative elements, even just the chosen colours. Mind you, I must look a bit crazy as jam my lens up close to the target. My brother Les wanders off and pretends not to know me.

But when I've collected my raw materials I can assemble them (given sufficient time and patience) into a picture like the one above.

But what are my amusements when I'm confronted by the old tractors which I've photographed many times before?

I might try something like this. A photomontage composed of various nameplates, some more battered than others. Or I might like to compare the different tractor engines....

It only works, I think, because there are so many colours available. 

So could I make a collage from just one old traction engine?

It seems to work. Then I had another, more complex, idea as I photographed one of these....

They went to a great deal of trouble painting the wheels of the great traction engines, using many different designs. My plan was to incorporate the best of them into a single image.

Wheels within wheels!

As visually appealing as all this freshly painted metalwork is, I often find myself on the look-out for the battle-scarred veterans. Like this old stationary engine. These could be hitched up to any piece of farmyard equipment, but had to be hauled from place to place by a team of horses. Then one day it dawned on someone that it could be made to power itself. This realisation spelled the end of the stationary engine and was another nail in the coffin of the farm horse.

These are some of the interesting textures I collected.

Like the fairground amusements, you can spend far more time on these than you really intended to. Especially as I like to do everything from scratch rather than use a ready-made app. More time consuming, but more rewarding.

Take care.

The Little Stars Of Steam

I had some discussion with myself about whether to go to another steam rally so soon after the last one. But the weather forecast was good and the Bedfordshire Steam and Country Fayre is the largest rally in these parts. Probably one of the biggest in the country now that the one in Dorset hasn't taken place for a couple of years. But then there's another smaller show at Stotfold very soon - though it could be a wet weekend. Maybe I could concentrate on some different subjects, like the scale model steam engines. Perhaps the Cornish pasty seller will be there. OK, lets go.

 

Most of these photos are just quick snapshots as they sped past. The owners of these little beauties make full use of the 700 acre site at Old Warden. And if some of your friends pile on the back it's even more fun. You rarely find them standing still, unless they are parked near one of the bars or food stalls. Some models are built from scratch, but many are assembled from kits, though even that seems to be a considerable undertaking. They come in various sizes, from half-size models down to one-sixth scale. And they can cost as much as a car - not counting your time. The ones below are more within my budget!

Take care.