UK Steam Rallies 2024 (2024)

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Most readers will know that GDSF 2023 did not happen and nowit will not reappear in 2024 (noted 18th November 2023) and is unlikely to everreturn. Anyone who has read the2022 version of this page and myreports through Summer 2022 shouldn't have been very surprised. Please read theGDSF statement on theirFacebook page which deals with problems they would have faced to operate andjust break even. The same issues affect every rally, large and small,and I feared that2023's list of rallies might turn out to be much shorter than that for 2022, butin the end that was not the case.However, Lincoln has since passed intohistory. best of luck for those running rallies in 2024, in particular OldWarden which has returned to base

For more than 10 years I have been visiting and reporting on UKsteam rallies with Yuehong. We've had a ball but like others in this game, we'vefound the novelty has been wearing off; we've done just about all the majorrallies, often multiple times, and the number of engines appearing for the firsttime has naturally steadily reduced as the pool of active engines is necessarilylimited. Now, post pandemic and with a national and personal financial crisis,it's time to scale back. I wrote that "I anticipate making fewer and shorter trips from 2023, in particular we expect toeliminate virtually all 'paid for' weekends away from home". Withunrelenting inflation, like many pensioners we are faced with difficultdecisions and while a steam rally represents exceptional value, the transportcosts soon add up...

Choose the rally you areinterested in which will generally take you to a further index page.Within each linked page click on a thumbnail for a larger image. Thenclick again to return to the previous page. As before many of these reports were submitted by collaborator PaulGilbey, last year he was joined by Rod Smith. These are acknowledged appropriately and I would like to take this opportunityto thank them publicly for their efforts. For all the reasons I gave in my 2022introduction, I am still pessimistic about the future, particularly as I thinkthe UK economy is defying gravity. I haveto say that the 2023 season went rather better than I feared although the fine weathergods were on holiday in much of July and August.

Pre-pandemic, my 'Top Three Rallies' would have been GDSF, OldWarden and Lincoln.That's not true any more, it seems that GDSF andLincoln are now history and by common consent, Welland, Weeting andShrewsbury are now the front runners. Old Warden took a break, downsized and relocated(to Turvey) but will be back at its traditional home in 2024 but the pandemicand high inflation will make kick starting it again a severe challenge.

I owe a vote of thanks to DavidCollidge whose Steam Scenes website (http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/)is a fount of information and was invaluable in identifying engineswhen they were late entries or the rally programmes got it wrong...David is still out there attending rallies etc, but unfortunately thesite has not been fully updated for quite a few years; however www.tractiontalkforum.comincludes discussion of recent (and future) events. I make no claim toartistic beauty in what is essentially a set of record shots. Twodedicated enthusiasts have done that in classic books, both of whichare readily available at a modest price through AbeBooks or Amazon.Yuehong has sat drooling over my copies. I have added a third bookwhich is very approachable study which covers mainly threshing andploughing.

• Traction Engine Album byMalcolm Ranieri (2005) - ISBN 9781861267948

• Classic Traction Engines byPaul Stratford (2010) - ISBN 9780857040541

• Steam on the Farm by JonathanBrown (2008) - ISBN 9781847970527

Stotfold Mill Steam Fair(11th - 12th May 2024)

Fawley Hill Vintage Transport Festival(18th - 19th May 2024)

Castle Combe Steam Rally(18th - 19th May 2024)

Abergavenny Steam Rally(26th - 27th May 2024)