Sewards of Petersfield - Rally Review

Top: Burrell SRL 3909 "Winston Churchill".
Mid: Burrell SRL 3878 "Island Chief".
Bot: McLaren Road Locomotive 1421 "Captain Scott".

A sunny start to the day for our visit to the renowned Pickering Steam and Vintage Show. Access to the site was easy, arriving on Sunday morning at around 10:45.

Having parked the car we walked the short distance to the entrance. Pricing was Adults £6.00, Children £3.00, Family ticket £15.00 and concessions for OAPs. Members of the Steam Apprentice Club (SAC) gain free entrance to most of the N.T.E.T. approved rallies, of which Pickering is one. Upon presenting the SAC membership cards for our two sons, we were shocked to find that an event as large and prestigious as Pickering had either chosen to not allow free entrance for SAC members, or the organisation plans had failed because the young lady on the gate knew nothing about such arrangements.

The first engine we came across was Fowler showmans road locomotive "Evening Star", which was generating for a fairground organ on the edge of a market! We then made our way to the main showmans engine line up:

• Burrell, "Island Chief"
• Foster "Victorious"
• Burrell "Earl Kitchener"
• Burrell "Dreadnought"
• Burrell "Pride of Worcester"
• Burrell "The Masterpiece"
• 6 inch Burrell "Snapdragon"
• Fowler "Prince of Wales"
• Garrett "British Hero"
• Burrell "No 1"
• Burrell "Western Pioneer"

Opposite the main line-up were the shows from Preston's, Atkinson's and Saunder's being powered by engines such as "Lightning II", "The Iron Maiden", "His Lordship", "Ex-Mayor", "Carry On" and "Majestic".

Fowler SRL "Renown" was generating for Frank Lythgoe's Gallopers and in the same area was "King George V" and "Winston Churchill".

Generating for a couple of fairground organs were "General Gough" and Foster SRL "Success".

The procession of Showmans engines in the round shaped arena was very impressive and gave everyone a great opportunity to view these machines on the move.

There was a sizeable collection of general traction engines, road locomotives and rollers which appeared to have been pushed as far away as possible from the core entertainment of the rally, which seems a shame as there are engines other than Showmans!

With an abundance of tractors and other sundry items, along with the ubiquitous stalls in the market area, the rally was on the whole an enjoyable event to visit but things could have been laid out far better.