Malpas Yesteryear Rally (9th - 10th September, 2023)
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 2023 introduction and overall index.
Our only previous visit to Malpas was in 2014 when we discovered it shared a catchment area with the large rally at Shrewsbury. Now in 2023, we had unusually missed Shrewsbury in favour of the special portables event at Bressingham and it seemed a good time to return. Indeed over 75% of the engines present had been recorded by Rod Smith at Shrewsbury (Onslow) two weeks earlier, but one was a new engine for me and there was another pleasant surprise for me too.
The rally was well set out on a large site with carefully managed entry and exit for what was a very good attendance. It was good to see that the ample toilets were in pristine condition and, on the hottest day of the year, we were never far from a drinking water tap. Having said that, the number of road engines was one third down on our last visit and the advertised 'over 20 steam engines' was not achieved, for whatever reason. It seems to be another rally that finds 'steam' to be hard work and the engines were found parked up at the far end of the site from the payment gate; visitors had to find their way through the traders whose wares were "almost as good as at South Cerney" according to Yuehong.
Even I wilted in the heat and, with a 3 hour journey home, we left 45 minutes ahead of the grand parade, fortunately I had been able to photograph some of the engines giving rides earlier, the rest are static, fortunately most were well placed in the non-stop sunshine.
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