South Cerney Steam Rally (2nd - 4th August, 2024)
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.
Some of you may think that what follows sounds familiar, that's because apart from the weather this was very much a rerun of the 2023 event. Friday, which I attended, was largely sunny and, at the time of writing, Saturday has been dry and Sunday is likely to be dry too.
Last weekend, not so far away at Welland, over 100 road steam engines again attended what is likely to prove to have been the 'steam event' of the year, not surprisingly the chairman of the organising society is a steam man.
Back in 2015 I wrote "What was previously the Gloucestershire Steam and Vintage Extravaganza is now the Gloucestershire Vintage and Country Extravaganza" which says it all, it reflects more accurately the show's current offering. If you visit the website or the rally itself, you will see where the organisers' priorities lie. So it's no wonder that South Cerney is very much in Welland's shadow and the steam section organisers do a very good job in the circumstances.
I recorded 60 road steam engines present on Friday, the same as 2023 but I cannot guarantee there were no more. In the past extra engines have appeared here on Saturday, if anyone reading this has attended Saturday or Sunday, perhaps they could let me know what they saw and send appropriate pictures of latecomers.
The number of engines present is now ahead of 2022 (53) but still rather less than before the pandemic. The numbers are unlikely to increase again but for the steam section organisers, as a 'show within a show' they have a lot of the basics from toilets to ticketing done for them.
If you are looking for gems among the regulars then Burrell 2319 has recently arrived in the area from East Anglia and the Isles steam crane was an unexpected joy.
Choose the page you are interested in and within that, click on a thumbnail for a larger image. Then click again to return to the page.
My thanks to 'Phil in Welland' for providing information and pictures of three Saturday arrivals, Aveling and Porter roller 3430, Burrell tractor 3355 and Garrett showman's tractor Garrett 32762.
