Innehållsförteckning för October 2025 från Old Glory

You are ALL welcome to join in, please do! If you have a story or pictures no matter what, do get in touch peterlove@madasafish.com Tel: 01323 833125. David Reed Editor-at-large - Former York school teacher who has worked with the editor since 1995 and has a wealth of knowledge on steam, commercials and tractors. Derek Rayner Technical and Vintage World Editor - Derek’s knowledge is extensive, a steam roller owner since the 1960s and a world traveller in search of nothing but the best. Bob Moorman Rally Archive Editor - This former engineering inspector is a fount of knowledge and has been rallying since the 70s. His own restos are award winners, as his ex-Kings 1927 Foden will be now that it’s finished! Mike Neale Diecast Models Editor – It’s…

Also seen at Masham was Andrew Craske’s 1927 Foden 6-ton C Type wagon No. 12788 Sir Ector. It is a vehicle that has been recreated, using the boiler assembly from works No. 12788, a Foden D type tractor, that was discovered at Hardwick’s scrapyard at West Ewell in Surrey as the basis. After completing the refurbishment, the boiler was combined with a genuine Foden C/D type cylinder block. Original Foden components including chassis, motion, and other fittings were sourced and fitted before the C Type passed through Cheffins Auctions in 2016 to Andrew, who has continued to do a lot of work to the vehicle with its relatively new paintwork it looked a treat.…

It is fifty years since the BHLR - Beer Heights Light Railway - was officially opened by the Reverend Awdry of Thomas the Tank Engine books fame, on 14 July 1975. This July the railway at Pecorama, high above the village of Beer on the East Devon coast, celebrated with a special 50th five-day anniversary event, beginning on Tuesday 15 and ending on Saturday 19 July, says James Hamilton. There were notable highlights; throughout the five days the original BHLR locomotives, Thomas Jnr. and Little Nell were on display at Much Natter station, there was even a recreation of the original opening ceremony with ribbon cutting and some ladies present who were there in 1975. On Wednesday 16 Richard Awdry, Reverend Awdry’s grandson, was guest of honour. Following a speech…

SAFETY AT RALLIES Dear Editor I am a subscriber of some years and 82 years old now. After our local show on Saturday 3 August last year I opened my post at home and saw what was on the letters pages regarding the accident at the show in Norfolk. It rang serious bells of an earlier incident at my show that day in August. After a vintage parade of some 60 to 80 tractors there was a tug-of-war by approximately 40 children against a garden tractor. The children won easily, but a child at the front of the tugging team fell behind the moving small tractor and could have been run over by the pulling power of the 40 children which could not be readily halted. Mercifully a brave mother…

During a visit to Stockholm, Old Glory correspondent Phil Barnes saw and photographed some of Strömma Kanalbolaget’s (SK) heritage shipping fleet in action around Sweden’s capital. The firm was started in 1968 as Åugfartygs AB Strömma Kanal with the aim of saving historic ships from being scrapped; the company’s name was derived from the 19th century shipping company that operated services from Stockholm to Sandhamn via the Strömma Canal. Of note is that all the ships featured in this article started life as ‘steamers’ and at different times were converted to diesel; the three featured here are Östanå 1 of 1906, Angantyr of 1909 and Gustafsberg VII of 1912. Starting with Östanå 1, her build commenced in William Lindberg’s shipyard but due to this yard closing, she was moved and…

I write this at the end of August, having just returned from the USA where I took my tour group to four big shows, we also visited museums, railways, stationary engines, cars, trucks and so much more. It was a jolly pleasant adventure. We viewed approximately 75 traction engines, many in steam along the way and three steam rollers, which were not in steam. However, I have nothing good to say about British Airways or Dollar Car Hire at this moment! Since I was last here in 2017, Health & Safety and insurance issues have definitely come to the forefront of organisers minds and I got myself in trouble a couple of times, as I didn’t have a hi vis on! However, the Yellow Power Facebook Group came to my…

Every year there are engines celebrating major milestones all over the country and this year is no exception. On 5 October 2025, Amberley Museum in West Sussex will hold their annual Autumn Gathering. The event celebrates the anniversary of the first preview day at the museum in 1978. This year also marks celebrations of 100 years and 130 years for steam engines that live at, and regularly visit, the museum. Marshall S Type roller No. 79669 Joan (affectionately known as The West Sussex Roller) of 1925 is celebrating 100 years this year. The roller has lived and worked in West Sussex all its life, working around Midhurst and surrounding villages for the local and county council. The engine finished work in 1983, when it moved to Amberley museum where it…

Heavy rain fell on Masham during the Saturday afternoon of the rally which prevented most of the engines making their way into the Town Square for the usual Saturday evening gathering. However, to assist the Masham Town Hall Association, three engines made their way early on the Sunday morning to position themselves for photographs outside the Town Hall. Two were celebrating notable anniversaries at the event this year, whilst the third was a very well-known engine, namely Giles Gilbey’s 1913 Burrell scenic showman’s No. 3483 Perseverance II that was supplied new by Savages of Kings Lynn to Harniess Bros of Swinton, Rotherham, who kept the engine until 1944. Old Glory technical editor Derek Rayner’s 1915 Aveling & Porter BT road roller No. 8506 White Rose was here. Although never working…

The Leyland Society held this year’s Gathering of Leyland buses and lorries at the Peak Rail Rowsley South Station which is on a preserved section of the former Midland Railway line, once connecting Manchester Central and London St Pancras. Closed in 1968, this historic route now operates a four-mile stretch between Rowsley South Station and Matlock. There was an excellent turn-out of vehicles covering Leyland production from 1933 to 1989. Holding the Gathering at this new location for the Society encouraged some new entries including 1956 Leyland Comet PFH 380 in the livery of Brian Thomas of Darley Dale, Matlock and 1953 Walsall Corporation Leyland Royal Tiger PDH 808. All vehicles were very well turned out and all sparkling in the welcome sunshine, but John Bateman’s 1989 Leyland Constructor G628…

SCHUCO Schuco have produced a 1/32 scale John Deere 4960 [1], with an RRP of £69.99. The 4960 row-crop tractor was built from 1992-94 in John Deere’s factory in Waterloo, Iowa. It had a 7.6-litre turbocharged six-cylinder diesel engine with full power-shift transmission, consisting of 15 forward and 4 reverse gears, and two- or four-wheel drive. It had their ‘Sound Gard’ cab, which was rubber mounted and permanently pressurised to keep dust out. Also in 1/32 scale are a John Deere 6100 [2] and a John Deere 7700 [3], each again priced at £69.99. John Deere launched their new 6000 and 7000 series of tractors in 1993, as two- or four-wheel drive models, with the four-cylinder 6000s built in Mannheim, Germany (in a former Lanz plant, who John Deere took…

Over the first three days of August 2025 French train maker Alstom welcomed over 40,000 rail fans from around the globe at its 90-acre Derby factory. The sold-out charity extravaganza formed part of the wider festivities for Railway 200, a year-long celebration marking the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) on 27 September 1825, a journey that gave birth to the modern passenger-carrying railway. Although a French company, Alstom’s roots in the UK go right back to 1825, when Locomotion No. 1 made its historic journey on the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Through successive mergers, No.1’s builder – Robert Stephenson & Company – became part of Alstom in 1989. The Greatest Gathering marked the first time in almost 50 years that the Derby Litchurch Lane works had opened…

The feature on the ex-Argentinian Sentinel ST6 which appeared in last December’s edition of Old Glory certainly got a lot of attention, none more so than from 95-year-old Reg Meredith, who spent most of his working life in the Sentinel factory in Shrewsbury. “I might have worked on the engine in that Sentinel,” he said to Debra Boyce, who always refers to him as ‘Uncle Reg’. She realised that this was an opportunity for Reg to pass on some memories of his time in the Sentinel works, and what an interesting story it makes. Reg was born on November 27 1929 at Bettisfield, a small village that is now in Wrexham County Borough and situated just over the Welsh/Shropshire border. He began at the local school in 1935, “I was…

The town of Nordhausen is the southern terminus of the Harzer Schmalspur Bahnen (HSB) - the metre gauge steam railway which takes many thousands of visitors during the year to the top of the ‘Witches Mountain’ - Brocken - in Thuringia. This, at 1,141m (3,743ft) above sea level is the highest summit in the Harz mountains. The railway has several branch lines, one in particular to the historic town of Quedlingburg, with its castle, being probably the best known. Often steam enthusiasts choose to stay at the line’s northern terminus, Wernigerode, easily accessed by the German railways (DB) from many locations in the country. It should be noted that one particular hotel close to the station there provides a grandstand view of the steam shed from some of its upstairs…

At the Stoke Row/NTET organised 75Appleford event tucked out on his own was J Spicer-Mayhew and his two engines. Unfortunately his 1954 Lister D was experiencing problems. However, he had it stripped down and already he had found the part he needed on the internet for £15 and was sorting his cash flow out when I spoke with him. We need to encourage more lads like him as stationary engines are a growing market for younger people particularly, especially if they like mechanical things as seen here.…

There was an excellent selection of stationary engines at the Welland show over 25-27 July, but the star was undoubtedly the Luke Huckle and Tom Beams 1924 Armstrong & Whitworth 3hp generating set made and supplied from the famous Elswick Works Newcastle-In-Tyne. It is rare to see one of these in such original condition and it was very much liked by everyone. Talking about originality, the Yorkshire made Walsh & Clark 9bhp No. 4270 looked just that. Also made locally was the 1912 Tangye AA 2.75bhp of Dennis Barnes, Corfe Mullen which he purchased in 2024. The engine was sold to a farm in Wick and was rescued by Robert Macbeth, who did much engine work to it including a new cylinder liner, before it ended up in Kent. It…

This all started with a conversation with Kelsey Group Editor at Large Peter Love in April says Alan Cullen “How about a stationary engine section at the rehomed Bromley Pageant of Motoring on Sunday 27 July, South of England Showground, Ardingly Sussex?” One cannot forget the huge turnout of engines at the Bromley Pageant when it was at Norman Park (now in the London Mayor’s ULEZ zone), where an entry of 100-200 engines was normal. As always he took it on board and two days later he said “Yes, it’s a goer, what a good idea Alan”. He also said it was agreed to add a tractor section to this Kelsey leased show as well. As an added bonus, these sections did not have to pay an administrative entry fee,…

I have been a regular exhibitor of stationary engines at the Welland Steam and Country Rally since 2005 and although I did not always exhibit a Gardner engine, Peter Allen the stationary engine steward back in those days, knew that Gardner engines were my favourite. At the 2014 Welland rally, Peter asked me if I would be interested in purchasing a small rare 1907 Gardner ICR engine from him, he did not have any photographs, but his description of the engine got me very interested, so we agreed a date for me to go to Peter’s home to view it. I went along with my trailer and plenty of cash and ended up taking it home with a big smile on my face. I was pretty sure I had seen…

It was a sad day for locals at Churcham, Gloucestershire when the ‘secret’ Severnside Engineerium was disposed of. Set up by David and Donald Price, the Engineerium housed museum quality steam stationary engines and just about anything else engineering wise for maintaining such things from these engines working area. Donald’s late father David carried on the engineering business from his late father who was a farmer and while David worked on plant, particularly on the water side, collected such things that were all still available in the 60s-80s. H J Pugh had sold off the i/c stationary engines and other things at their Ledbury premises over approximately the last two years, but you would not have known it by what was all here on Wednesday 30 July at the sale.…

Besides the Lambert Gathering engines at the excellent Weald of Kent Rally on 2-3 August, the highlight was certainly the debut of Will Day’s latest steam wagon, 1922 Wallis & Steevens No. 7730 The Basset which he purchased earlier in the year. However it was discovered the crankshaft was out of alignment and the wagon would not go into gear. After considerable adjustments and work on the lathe with Julian Hopper’s major help, after two days work things were considerably improved enabling the wagon to be successfully steamed to the show. Will is very impressed with the wagon and is enjoying its ownership along with his son Alan and family. Also never seen at the show before from our recollection was 1914 Aveling & Porter BT class No. 8241 BH7170…

The much-loved Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show will return to Newark Showground in November with one of its most diverse and historically rich programmes to date. Organisers have opened visitor ticket sales, camping passes, club stands, and exhibitor entries across all classes, inviting enthusiasts, collectors, families and first-time visitors to be part of a warm, social and highly competitive weekend that celebrates the machines that powered rural life. This year’s show takes place on 8 and 9 November. “What makes our show so special is its sheer diversity,” says Simon Eccleston, CEO of the Newark & Nottinghamshire Agricultural Society (NNAS), which organises the event. “You’ll see century-old engineering icons alongside post-war workhorses and commercial vehicles that shaped modern farming and haulage. Whether you’re a seasoned exhibitor or just curious,…

The Ross-on-Wye Steam Engine Society put on a magnificent show for their 59th annual Steam and Country Rally. Yet again the organising team had pulled together a fantastic selection of full-size steam engines from all over the United Kingdom which looked superb in the summer sunshine which blessed the rally this year. Welland has always prided itself in being very much a working event, demonstrating the many facets of steam and other vintage vehicles hard at work. A highlight for many would be the heavy haulage arena where during the three days there was a constant procession of steam and other forms of vintage transport tackling the hill with various loads in tow. Reminiscent of the Amalgamated Heavy Haulage team back in the days of the Great Dorset Steam Fair,…

Whilst travelling around in Sweden on holiday recently, Wolf Clarke suddenly came across the remnants of a portable engine, set up as an eye-catcher for passers-by outside the ‘Hjärtenholms Lantbruksmuseum’ whichissituated near Hjärtanäs in the province Småland. Sadly, the museum has been closed during 2025. Unfortunately, there is not much left of the portable but Wolf was fortunately able to ascertain some details from it - it being Munktells No. 3006 which dates from 1905. The actual Munktells model number was not ascertained but, at a guess, Wolf thought that it may be one of the Type ‘H’ engines - the most numerous single type of road steam engine which is to be found in Europe. Incidentally, the square metal frame mounted on top of the engine’s boiler had previously…

Well, its nothing but hectic as I write this at the beginning of August, yes I’m working that far ahead, as I’m taking a tour group to the USA in a few weeks time, where we will be visiting six rallies in nine days through Michigan, Indiana and Illinois and there will be some lovely stationary engines at most of those events. As many of you know, my wife and I have organised such tours for decades, but since Covid we have taken a foot off the pedal somewhat. If all goes well, I envisage a tour in late August 2026 to take in the two big USA shows and plenty more things besides, so do stay tuned on this one, you will all be very welcome. There were some…

Reader Dave Rollinson says: “I am a volunteer in the MPD department at the Gwili Steam Railway in west Wales. We are currently working on a project to expand our locomotive shed. The attached photos are of a 4-cylinder Lister diesel No. 322097 engine and 3-phase generator that has to go. When the railway first started, it was used to provide power to the machine shop and engine shed. When electricity came to the site it was retired as ’standby power’, and has sat in the shed since not used. If you know anyone who might be interested in the package please give them my email contact. I believe it will go as scrap unless it is saved. drollinson21@gmail.com…

The traditional Netley Marsh Steam & Craft Show near Southampton, Hampshire took place over 25-27 July where there were some 68 stationary engines listed in the programme. Over the last few years this show has been rejuvenated and it was great to see an excellent crowd and exhibits at the show, we will be looking at the SE engines in detail later on, but here is just a selection.…