Shrewsbury Steam Rally (25th - 26th August,
2024)
"No excuses, just results"
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 2024 introduction and overall index.
For the first time since we started visiting steam rallies in 2013, we were not at Shrewsbury in 2023 - I felt that the Bressingham Steam Portable Gathering was too special to miss and unlikely to be repeated in my lifetime. So Shrewsbury 2024 was awaited with even more anticipation than normal. With a 90 mile drive from Gloucestershire, we stayed in Telford, were at the gate by 08.30 and I was in action spot on 09.00 with a clear blue sky above. So far, so good, what could possibly go wrong? The forecast had suggested we were due 2-3 hours of fine weather, but by 09.30 while the covers were still on many of the engines I could see that by 10.00 we would lose the sun... So I put the notebook away, snapped all I could and was glad that the engines were as well placed as they could be for the most part. Not a good start.
By 10.00 the camera was away and I could relax and simply enjoy what was on offer. Onslow Park is a large venue and it's always wise to take a stroll around to see where the various 'working engines' are laid up and even then I missed a few first time around. According to the programme slightly over 90 engines were expected with the usual varied arena events planned through the day. By midday there was no sign of the cloud breaking and I reluctantly retrieved the camera and photographed the various lines of engines one by one 'just in case'; most were very familiar, others less so. By 13.30 the engines started to assemble for the Grand Parade and that provided some movement to watch. Afterwards I spent a very pleasant half an hour watching as over 80 engines were squeezed into the arena.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Burrell showman 'Endurance', now in the custody of COSSES chairman Ed Goddard who was keeping watch from a distance - the motto above adorns the engine from its previous life. It needed so much doing to it that it would have been quicker to list what didn't need fettling than list what has been done since it was last seen in public. In fact, I had seen it at Welland in July without knowing the whole story. In recent years, the organisers have encouraged engine owners from well outside the area to display their steeds here and there are always a few more engines which have passed to new owners to add interest. For the most part these can identified by the short list of my previous encounters with them (if any), in this case several were from a long way north and overall five I had yet to be acquainted with, some have links but those pictures are from Paul or Rod.
Anyway, by the time the parade was over, there were some gaps in the clouds but perhaps not as many as some of the pictures might suggest. There was never going to be enough time and/or opportunity to make a clean sweep, half a dozen or more make me groan to look at them and again I would suggest checking out the 'Working Steam 2022' feature for what that can look like in the sunshine. Overall, though, we had had a marvellous day out even if we were very tired by the time we got home. Roll on Shrewsbury 2025!
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