Duncombe Park 2012 (pre-Rally)
Plans are once again well advanced for the Great Yorkshire Traction Engine Club’s rally at Duncombe Park, Helmsley on the 7th & 8th of July. Amongst the fifty or so expected engines several will beof special interest, attending for the first time following its sale as part of the Joe Powell collection will be Bob Cooke’s Garrett tractor No 3248 Lady Raglan. John Ward and family plan to bring Standard Sentinel No 1488 which has undergone restoration since acquisition
from Burton-on Trent’sbrewery museum this will be seen along with his Yorkshire wagon No 117 which has been a regular attender in recent years. Making a welcome return to North Yorkshire where it spent its working life should be Fowler R class traction engine No 9721 Alice which has recently come back from Cornwall. Coming down from Scotland are two showmans Fowlers No 9393 Sir John Fowler on its first visit and no stranger to this rally conversion No 16439 Delilah which has now joined the Nicol collection in Aberdeenshire. Fowler crane engine Duke of York will make a welcome return and Ian Craggs again plans to bring ex Whitby Fowler T3 roller along with his Ruston portable engine which has never been rallied before. Another engine coming back to Duncombe Park is Burrell Gold Medal tractor No 3808 now with Anthony Cowell in the Preston area, it was previously in the ownership of the late Philip Ogden who was president of the Great Yorkshire club.
With somewhere in the region of 35 miniatures also expected aswell as large numbers of entries for tractors, vintage vehicles and stationary engines there will be plenty of interest for both day visitors and weekend campers alike.
DAVID.M.WARREN.
from Burton-on Trent’sbrewery museum this will be seen along with his Yorkshire wagon No 117 which has been a regular attender in recent years. Making a welcome return to North Yorkshire where it spent its working life should be Fowler R class traction engine No 9721 Alice which has recently come back from Cornwall. Coming down from Scotland are two showmans Fowlers No 9393 Sir John Fowler on its first visit and no stranger to this rally conversion No 16439 Delilah which has now joined the Nicol collection in Aberdeenshire. Fowler crane engine Duke of York will make a welcome return and Ian Craggs again plans to bring ex Whitby Fowler T3 roller along with his Ruston portable engine which has never been rallied before. Another engine coming back to Duncombe Park is Burrell Gold Medal tractor No 3808 now with Anthony Cowell in the Preston area, it was previously in the ownership of the late Philip Ogden who was president of the Great Yorkshire club.
With somewhere in the region of 35 miniatures also expected aswell as large numbers of entries for tractors, vintage vehicles and stationary engines there will be plenty of interest for both day visitors and weekend campers alike.
DAVID.M.WARREN.
Duncombe Park 2012
TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY AT DUNCOMBE PARK.
The Great Yorkshire Traction Engine Club’s rally at Helmsley went ahead on the 7th & 8th of July despite the adverse weather conditions resulting in the field being rather soft. A great asset in this case was the concrete road which runs on 3 sides of the site; the big engines were restricted to this where as most of the other exhibits made it to the field where movements were kept to a minimum.
A few of the large engines had managed to get on site earlier in the week before a rather wet Friday. These included Graham Atkinson’s showmans engines Burrell No 3444 His Lordship and Fowler No 15657 The Iron Maiden either side of his show stage and the magnificent sight of the Ward family’s steam wagons Yorkshire No 117 and ex Brown Bailey Standard Sentinel No 1448. This was making it debut following an extensive 28 month restoration which has included a complete rebuild of the seized engine with many new parts, also new are body, cab and water tank, the back axle has been realigned and fitted with a new drive gear and chain. The end result being absolutely superb and a credit to all members of the family who have obviously put in so work to bring this wagon up to such a fine condition. Also making a first appearance at the event and possibly at any rally was Ruston & Hornsby 320 class 4 ½ n.h.p. portable engine No 163854 which was supplied new in 1932 to Grand Union Canal, Cambridge as a standby engine, but not ever put to use.
It was never steamed for around 50 years!! and is therefore in totally original condition. For the last 10 years it has been with Ian Craggs from Sedgefield who also has sister engine No 163856, he was also showing Fowler
T3 roller No 16851 Whitby Jet which was first seen at Duncombe Park last year following a complete rebuild from 4 pallets of bits. Making a welcome return to a Great Yorkshire Club rally was Anthony Cowell’s 1919 built Burrell Gold Medal tractor No 3808 Laddie now back in Lancashire where it worked with Issac Balls, it was owned in the past by former club president Philip Ogden. Another welcome returnee to Yorkshire was Fowler R class traction engine No 9271 Alice which spent many years threshing around farms in the north of the county in the care of engineman Johnny Wallace. It has recently come to Mike Walters of Liversedge having been down in Cornwall for 3 years where firebox work was carried out, not that this is particularly evident as she appears in very much working condition and looked almost as if she had been steamed over the moors from Lazonby to the rally, as she was in1955 to Pickering. Another ex Turners of Lazonby Fowler in attendance was Road Loco No 15462 Ajax now with Middlewood Bros. of Driffield. Working days for Alex Steele’s 6 n.h.p. Fowler No 11352 were along way from its native Yorkshire in New South Wales, it came back to the U.K.in 2004 and was rebuilt, it is now based in Fife. A further engine which returned to the U.K. This time from New Zealand was Mike Ellis’s Burrell 8 n.h.p. engine No 2696 The Maori looking as impressive as ever.
For a good part of Saturday Bill Summerell’s Aveling & Porter roller No 10575 Luci was down in Helmsley market place, carrying a sign for the rally it created a good deal of interest and hopefully a few visitors. In the evening it was joined by quite a few of the other steam engines large and small as well as vintage vehicles and tractors. Once back on the rally field entertainment continued around the beer tent with showmans engines generating into the night, included were Garrett tractors No 32762 Princess Mary and No 33486 Queen of Gt. Britain plus 3 Fowler conversions.
An impressive display of commercials had managed to get on site including some recent restorations; also a good number of vintage tractors and stationary engines were displayed each day. Working demonstrations were somewhat restricted, but the Wall’s team managed to cut a fare bit of wood using a Standard Fordson model N also a thrasher and stationary baler driven by a Field Marshall were placed in the middle of the main ring.
Although parts of the field were rather muddy at least the majority of both days were dry and there was even some sunshine!! Hopefully next year’s event will be a bit dryer as plans are already being made for the club to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
David Warren
The Great Yorkshire Traction Engine Club’s rally at Helmsley went ahead on the 7th & 8th of July despite the adverse weather conditions resulting in the field being rather soft. A great asset in this case was the concrete road which runs on 3 sides of the site; the big engines were restricted to this where as most of the other exhibits made it to the field where movements were kept to a minimum.
A few of the large engines had managed to get on site earlier in the week before a rather wet Friday. These included Graham Atkinson’s showmans engines Burrell No 3444 His Lordship and Fowler No 15657 The Iron Maiden either side of his show stage and the magnificent sight of the Ward family’s steam wagons Yorkshire No 117 and ex Brown Bailey Standard Sentinel No 1448. This was making it debut following an extensive 28 month restoration which has included a complete rebuild of the seized engine with many new parts, also new are body, cab and water tank, the back axle has been realigned and fitted with a new drive gear and chain. The end result being absolutely superb and a credit to all members of the family who have obviously put in so work to bring this wagon up to such a fine condition. Also making a first appearance at the event and possibly at any rally was Ruston & Hornsby 320 class 4 ½ n.h.p. portable engine No 163854 which was supplied new in 1932 to Grand Union Canal, Cambridge as a standby engine, but not ever put to use.
It was never steamed for around 50 years!! and is therefore in totally original condition. For the last 10 years it has been with Ian Craggs from Sedgefield who also has sister engine No 163856, he was also showing Fowler
T3 roller No 16851 Whitby Jet which was first seen at Duncombe Park last year following a complete rebuild from 4 pallets of bits. Making a welcome return to a Great Yorkshire Club rally was Anthony Cowell’s 1919 built Burrell Gold Medal tractor No 3808 Laddie now back in Lancashire where it worked with Issac Balls, it was owned in the past by former club president Philip Ogden. Another welcome returnee to Yorkshire was Fowler R class traction engine No 9271 Alice which spent many years threshing around farms in the north of the county in the care of engineman Johnny Wallace. It has recently come to Mike Walters of Liversedge having been down in Cornwall for 3 years where firebox work was carried out, not that this is particularly evident as she appears in very much working condition and looked almost as if she had been steamed over the moors from Lazonby to the rally, as she was in1955 to Pickering. Another ex Turners of Lazonby Fowler in attendance was Road Loco No 15462 Ajax now with Middlewood Bros. of Driffield. Working days for Alex Steele’s 6 n.h.p. Fowler No 11352 were along way from its native Yorkshire in New South Wales, it came back to the U.K.in 2004 and was rebuilt, it is now based in Fife. A further engine which returned to the U.K. This time from New Zealand was Mike Ellis’s Burrell 8 n.h.p. engine No 2696 The Maori looking as impressive as ever.
For a good part of Saturday Bill Summerell’s Aveling & Porter roller No 10575 Luci was down in Helmsley market place, carrying a sign for the rally it created a good deal of interest and hopefully a few visitors. In the evening it was joined by quite a few of the other steam engines large and small as well as vintage vehicles and tractors. Once back on the rally field entertainment continued around the beer tent with showmans engines generating into the night, included were Garrett tractors No 32762 Princess Mary and No 33486 Queen of Gt. Britain plus 3 Fowler conversions.
An impressive display of commercials had managed to get on site including some recent restorations; also a good number of vintage tractors and stationary engines were displayed each day. Working demonstrations were somewhat restricted, but the Wall’s team managed to cut a fare bit of wood using a Standard Fordson model N also a thrasher and stationary baler driven by a Field Marshall were placed in the middle of the main ring.
Although parts of the field were rather muddy at least the majority of both days were dry and there was even some sunshine!! Hopefully next year’s event will be a bit dryer as plans are already being made for the club to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
David Warren
Duncombe Park steam rally 2012 - 7th & 8th of July.
GYTEC Club road run September 2012:
