On Saturday, our research group had an outing to Haddenham Steam Rally, which turned out to be a wonderful gathering of a huge range of old equipment, most of it steam-powered, from tractors to cars to pipe organs to merry-go-rounds to fire-engine pumps. It was, of course, a wonderful photo opportunity.
Amongst the mighty machines, there were also many scale models, fully functional, and (to my eyes) just as beautiful.
Some of them, I felt, must be feeling under some… ahem… pressure… to perform, under the watchful gaze of their larger colleagues.
The amount of care that had gone into building and maintaining these was extraordinary.
It’s only natural that some of them were closely guarded.
As we walked around the fairground and numerous exhibits, some of these would come puffing by, large or small, at such a pleasingly low speed that one could talk to the drivers and passengers quite easily. And always, everywhere, was the relaxed, almost hypnotic sound of slow, rhythmic puffing.
When they all got together, it was a wonderful sight. I call this photo ‘Heated Discussion’:
Anyway, a surprisingly enjoyable day. I went along mostly because of the social nature of the trip, but I have a feeling it won’t be my last visit.
© Copyright Quentin Stafford-Fraser
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