Over the years we have made many friends through doing rallies and shows. Some engines and crews we encounter once a year, others we seem to meet on a more regular basis. Of course to list and look closer at all these engines and people we encounter would create a website of its own, but below is a few of the engines we have encountered in recent years on a somewhat regular basis.
McLAREN 551 - CENTAUR
One of my personal favourite engines in preservation is JH McLaren Traction Engine 'Centaur'. It is an engine that I learnt a great deal on when it was in the ownership of Steve Jones, a good friend of mine. The engine has changed hands in recent years and is now owned by Andrew Henman. Unfortunately it doesn't go out that often but as it is only down the road from where I live I still get the opportunity to go and have a drive about on it whenever it is in steam. There are more images of this beutiful engine here.
McLAREN 510 - PHEONIX
At a recent local village fete we attended with the engine, we were joined by Richard Willcox who brought along an engine from his collection. We were all taking bets on what it would be with the little Tasker being top of most peoples lists. We were though more than delighted when the stunning McLaren Traction Engine 'Pheonix' built in 1893 came silently steaming up the road.
To say that this engine is the pinicle of Traction Engines is an understatment as it is just about perfect in every way, and by far one of my own personal favourite steam engines. As you can see from the accompanying gallery copious images were taken of and engine that doesn't go out and about all that often. There is a second gallery of the event to be found here that has a few different images included.
BURRELL 9093 - DOROTHY
Although it didn't actually appear alongside us at an event, we did have an interesting hour or so with a Road Locomotive at the cancelled Fairford Traction Engine Rally in August 2008. No 4093 built in 1931 was heading off to Dorset at the same time we were heading back with the roller. Unfortunately we both got stuck. The tail of what actually happened concerning 15813 is documented in pictures elsewhere within these pages, and it has to be said its a pretty similar story for 4093.
The images in the gallery show the fun we all had in getting the Burrell out of her dire situation.