Shrewsbury Steam Rally (24th - 25th August,
2025)
"More of the same..."
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 2025 introduction and overall index.
I always say that Shrewsbury is the most conservative of the rallies we visit and listening to the commentary for the Grand Parade on Sunday, it sometimes seemed to me that the owners were one giant happy family, such were the interrelationships of many of the owners whose steeds were on display. All of which demonstrated excellent succession planning in my books. It's been a long and very hot summer and back home my once beautiful garden is a wasteland of unhappy plants and the showground here was extremely dry and dusty; you may feel that some of the pictures could have done with a 'brushing'...
We had an early start from home on Sunday and avoided the worst of the late morning queues, there were perhaps more people (and more larger pot bellies) than ever. As anticipated there was a fair amount of cloud around, it was just perfect for surveying the assembled throng of engines. 95 full size steamers were listed in the programme but the final tally was perhaps disappointingly less, with just 87 listed in my notebook, the inevitable no shows not at all balanced by late entries as before. Nevertheless there were 4 new engines for me, about normal. Only after the Grand Parade had dispersed was there sufficient intermittent sunshine for me to bring the camera out and start photography. We stayed overnight close by in Telford and, as a result, on Monday we were among the early entrants at 08.45 for a day of near 100% wall to wall sunshine as had been predicted. There is little choice here but to sweep up and down the pegs before most of the visitors start obstructing the engines and, 'job done', by 10.00 I was able to make my first visit of the day to the working field. It was very hot and I took time out to check my lists to see which engines were 'hiding', I then waited in 'ambush' for many of these coming to the Grand Parade and after this, just 'Trevithick' was left. It was late in (and out), having been lurking under a large tree as it usually does at Abergavenny.
As at all the rallies that we have been to in 2025, with the exception of Appleford, there was a distinct lack of conspicuous serious photographers, they are literally a dying breed. Possibly some had been drawn to the new event at Belvoir Castle which the grapevine informed me had attracted some 50 engines - many of which, no doubt, would have attended the show at Rempstone we attended in July. However, one of the attendees there turned out to be a no show here, work that one out if you can!
As for the gricers, almost none of us is a youngster anymore and the urge to report what we have seen as we travel seems to be diminishing. I regard these reports, like the pictures that I upload of my garden, as a diary to be dipped into when I am no longer able and / or willing to continue my current lifestyle. I am very conscious that the 8-10km I typically walk around daily at a rally like this will be very helpful. Right now, if I want to know what is going on at rallies elsewhere, I am reduced to flicking through mainly handheld rough cuts which appear on YouTube - both this show and that at Belvoir Castle currently have double figure offerings. No doubt FB is full of them too but that is a step too far for me.
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