As I was unable to take some of my planned holidays earlier in the year (what with being ill) I found myself in the lucky position of being able to take a few days holiday around this year’s Old Warden rally (Bedfordshire Steam & Country Fayre 2011).
So it was on last Thursday morning I ventured the 2 hours or so north on a fine dry day. I had been hearing that the forecast was for a rather wet weekend, so was pleased at least that the Thursday was promising.
After a stop off at Biggleswade Sainsburys (I have learnt from my Blandford Tescos trip not to broadcast these sojourns) I arrived on site about 11:30am, where everything appeared to be in full swing ready to open on the Friday.
I had had a phone call a few hours before in which I learnt I would be the only person out of the team in attendance on the Frdiay, due to other’s work commitments, so would be in charge of ‘M’. Because of this my plan for the Thursday was to get on with some of the cleaning. However I soon got involved in siting the tower lights, and spent a few hours helping with the collection and erection (behave) of the towers.
I eventually got started on some cleaning, deciding to start with a wipe down and then clean the brass on the boiler / over the motion, that would be unable to do once the engine was lit on the Friday. While I spent a few hours doing this I got chatting to a jovial Irishman, who, it transpired during our conversation, had the previous year had a long conversation with my dad at a rally in Cornwall – what a small world.
During the afternoon I also got a friendly tractor driver with a push pole to move the engine over slightly to try to sit a little more level, although this did mean the engine not sitting so neatly with the organ / stage.
It was once I had done most of the cleaning for the day that I realised I had not yet cleaned the fire / tubes / ashpan.
Thursday evening there was a goodly group of friends old and new, from near and far, amassing in the big white tent, where a pleasant social night was had, catching up on news.
I went off to sleep in the Volvo Hilton (same one as Dorset), although my tent and spare sleeping bag where pressed into use as “Mini Me” had forgotten his tent – as he was allowing me use of the cab this was the least I could do.
Friday I was up pretty early to sort out the grate and ash pan (deciding the tubes would be okay as they were), although couldn’t light up until obtaining coal, which as it happens was not until after the engineman’s meeting at 10am.
With the bunker almost dead empty from Dorset it took half of our weekend’s coal allowance just to fill up, plus a couple of bags for lighting up.
After lighting up I oiled up, taking care with use of the stepladder (and not to step on the newly painted belly tanks), and slowly the pressure rose. I did have to have “Gandhi”, a very experienced showmans’ driver, to come and put the belt on for me, but after that was well away for the day.
I probably should have done a bit more cleaning during the day, but to be honest I was enjoying being in charge of the engine. To simply say enjoying sounds crass, for there was also a lot of nervous excitement about the day. It really is a big responsibility keeping an eye on such an important piece of machinery, with all of it’s historic (not to mention monetary) worth. I had only been speaking to someone the night before about an unfortunate incident her engine had suffered – a reminder of how easily these things can happen.
Everything worked okay really during the day, other than the injector occasionally playing up, but this seems to be easily sorted by use of the pump when necessary. The plan is for all of the clacks / injector etc to be given an overhaul over the winter so hopefully this will not be a problem next year.
The engine generated off and on during the day, including for the 2 shows on the stage. There was a relaxed atmosphere about the day, although it still felt like there was a fair amount of public in attendance.
After the’ Captain’ turned up following work we discussed if anyone wanted to generate that evening, plus the issue of not having an abundance of coal, and it was decided to put her to bed early. I sheeted her up by about 7, and after a good wash changed up for the evening.
The band in the big white tent were interesting – early on I felt they were not as good as last year, when I remember them being great, but by the end of the night they were really great!! An extended late night session was held a bit later on, with everyone in a happy mood, feeling that the day had been a success, for being a trial of a Friday.
Saturday dawned dry again, and I made my way over to the engine at about 9:30. After saying I had enjoyed running the engine myself on the Friday, it was reassuring to have the ‘Captain’ back around, and also the ‘trolley pusher’ once he had got out of bed and arrived.
Saturday we used the other half of our coal allowance to again fill up the bunker, and have a few left on the floor. During the day we also managed to purloin one bag off of the small blue train (they left it behind and forgot about it).
Some cleaning was carried out during Saturday (I even managed the hub caps which I had forgotten the day before) but a lot of talking was done, as well as germinating for most of the day. After a couple of hours lie down at road-run time we again generated for the night time show (a really good, interactive audience for this) and then moved down to the showmans’ line and generated for a couple more hours. It was a pity we couldn’t get any nearer the big white tent really, but there were a lot of other engines in steam parked near there. We even carried out dressing of some blistered heels under the light of the engine, on the steps beside the footplate.
Sunday was, as is often the case, based around packing up as much as anything. The ‘Captain’ had the tower lights to sort out as well, so soon after lunch him and the trolley-pusher went off to start sorting these out and returning them to base.
Once our final show had finished at 3pm we commenced pulling down the stage and it’s adornments, including manoeuvring the packing truck with ‘M’. Much discussion was had about how the stage ought to be packed into the truck, about as much time spent ‘planning’ as there was ‘doing’. After this we put ‘M’ to bed down the bottom of the field, and I did help on light duties pulling down the fairground rides, and also with the final lighting tower for the night.
After this was all done the Captain, the Trolley Pusher and myself joined a lot of the organisers and exhibitors in the Big White Tent, where they had been having their meal. Due to the past few days having been very successful everyone was in a good mood, celebrating what had been achieved, and fun and games prevailed (coal shovel tennis and wheelie bin surfing being two notable examples). Into the small (and getting larger) hours we even managed to have an impromptu ‘breakfast’ using acquired produce. Campo Largo’s!!!
Monday was a glorious day early morning. I had a bit of an upset when helping someone couple up to a caravan – me and the handle moved, the caravan didn’t. Luckily there was nothing behind me and I fell purely on my rump, no damage done. The caravan owner was more worried about me than his newly bought caravan being assaulted, which relieved me.
After acquiring some lighting up wood the trolley pusher and I lit ‘M’ and gradually she came back into steam. I had earlier left my car at the yard, so as soon as we had pressure we set off on ‘M’. I had not steered her on the road before, mainly before having steered ‘Scrappy’, a F0w1er, so being able to see the nearside was a nice change, although slightly disconcerting I did not know what was going on on the offside – as that is what I am used to being able to see. I did find right hand turns at T-junctions and similar a bit of a handful, as there was often nothing to view to see where the kerb line started again.
We had a 12 mile trip back, including an unusual stop at our intended pub stop. The pub was shut, despite the sign on the door indicating it should be open, with a lone dog stood barking firstly at the side door, then the front door. There was no sign of life in the building, or any neighbouring buildings, all we heard while there was the dog and passing traffic.
We did stop later on for quick refreshment from a pub, and it was sat outside here on a bench looking up at the sunlit engine in all her glory that it suddenly struck me again what a privilege and honour it is to be out steering such a thing – when actually on the road I find thoughts like this and nerves subside as you are too busy concentrating on what is going on.
Near base we based some friends who had stopped outside the local pub with their recently reconditioned roller, who soon caught us back at the yard where it will be staying for a few weeks. A wonderful day all in all, albeit quite tiring.
After dropping ‘trolley pusher’ back to the rally field, saying goodbye to the remaining friends on site, and dropping the belt back at the yard again, I eventually braved the motorways and got home about 7pm – a wonderful 5 days away, and one of the best rallies going. Here I must thank those involved in the organisation of this event, the majority of whom I am pleased to be able to call friends (indeed one of the first cards I got when in hospital earlier this year was from the Bedford Club).
Unfortunately this rally also signifies the end of another season, something oft discussed over the course of the weekend. This year has been somewhat stop and start for me, but has included some real highs – the big group road runs and parties of Belvoir Castle and Strumpshaw, generating alone for shows at Dorset, and a day at Old Warden, plus roading the engine home last weekend, and am sure there are plenty more. With all of these items thanks must go to all those who have provided me with hospitality, assitance, help and guidance, in addition to the kindness I recieved while unfortunately detained in hospital for a while.
There is a working weekend in a few weekends to look forward to, and I am sure there will be plenty of social events, even Dinner & Dances, during the winter to look forward to. I somehow volunteered myself to clean and oil the balance plough this coming weekend, ready for the coming working weekend, so that should keep me out of trouble for a while anyway.
I shall intend to update this to reflect on the year that was 2011 in due course.
Tags: ash pan, Bedfordshire, belt, Biggleswade, brass, campo largo, clean, coal, coal shovel tennis, fire, grate, Old Warden, organ, roading, Sainsburys, Shuttleworth, stage, steering, tent, tubes, Volvo Hilton, wheelie bin surfing
