Castle Fraser Steam Fair, (18th - 19th June, 2022)
This is one of a series of pages I have uploaded to illustrate facets of the steam rallies we have attended in the UK. Click here for the 2022 introduction and overall index.
There aren't many road steam gricers who travel the length of breadth of the UK in pursuit of their hobby and I am sure that all have discovered after a while that the usual suspects reappear and the rate of engines coming back into service after 'time out' is not that great. Even before the pandemic it was rare for me to go anywhere in England and see more than three 'new engines' except maybe at the Great Dorset Steam Fair. Before this weekend in 2022 I've been to 5 steam rallies and have 'copped' just 10 engines. Of course, the quest for novelty is just part of the hobby, seeing familiar engines in new places is like meeting old friends unexpectedly and the atmosphere is just perfect for someone of my mature years. However, driving 480 miles each way from home to visit Scotland's brightest and best steam rally might reasonably have been seen by others as an attempt to improve this year's average.
This trip to Scotland was an exercise in marital compromise. Yuehong had been demanding I take her to the Lake District and Scotland more or less since she arrived in the UK and eventually I gave up resisting on the grounds of distance and we booked ourselves a six night trip. The Premier Inn at Westhill outside Aberdeen was perfectly positioned for access to the fair, offered exceptional value and Low's Traditional Fish and Chips in the shopping centre opposite was simply superb. Our other stops were all good value and the current sky high price of petrol was somewhat offset by BB's fuel efficiency of 60 mpg. Along the way we had a brief introduction to the Lake District (every bit as beautiful as expected), Edinburgh (disappointing, a ghastly, grey tourist trap) and St Andrews (an oasis of civilisation).
The Castle Fraser Steam Fair is now the only such event in Scotland, it seems that the demand for such things is less than in England and even though it was promoted as a (delayed) 50th anniversary, the Saturday attendance was a fraction of that which we had seen at Stoke Row the previous week. There were 28 engines present, rather fewer than the publicity had suggested but not surprisingly 18 were 'new' for me and all of the others I had seen before had been at GDSF 2018 and of these just a few I had seen elsewhere too. Summer comes late to Scotland (I don't think I've seen a single hanging basket), while down south it was a 'heat wave', Saturday's sun came and went and was offset by a stiff breeze which made me glad I had brought a warm jacket. Having got my photographs, Sunday saw us being conventional tourists, it was cool, cloudy and windy, even rainy at times which can't have helped the attendance.
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