Monday 27^th May 2019

I have just returned home from a great day out at Castle Howard. I never really need an excuse to visit this lovely stately home but over the bank holiday weekend they were hosting a huge Traction Engine Rally. There has been a long history of traction engine rallies at Castle Howard up until the early 1980s, so after almost forty years it was nice to see them back again.

There has been a full weekend of activities in the main arena including the’ Stannage International Stunt show’ and the ‘Scarborough Fair Collection’ as well as the Traction Engines, vintage tractors, classic motorcycles and miniature steam engines.

I arrived at around 10.00am and after passing through the stable courtyard headed into the Walled Garden to look at the Spring flowers, the long spiked Alliums looked quite stunning in the Spring sunshine, gently swaying in the light morning breeze. After a quick walk through the garden I headed over to the Atlas Fountain and continued the path in a southward direction to the fields were the Traction Engine Rally was taking place.

After passing through the gates to the arena I had my hand stamped with the complimentary logo and made my way past some of the tented trade stands and stalls, they were selling just about everything you could imagine from gardening products and furniture to prints and soft toys. There were lots of mobile pop up refreshment caravans and catering outlets as well as a fine food marquee and plenty of places to sit and enjoy the cuisine or a pleasant drink in the morning sunshine.

It was a lovely morning, the sun was shining with just a light breeze. I headed round to the far side of the arena where all the huge traction engines were being fired up in preparation for the 11.00am display in the main arena. The air was full of smoke as the engines were warming up, their owners and mechanics dressed in the compulsory mucky boiler suit with equally filthy greasy beret, busily polishing their machines, greasing and oiling all the moveable parts in preparation for the display in the main arena.

I was surprised to see so many huge machines including, Traction Engines, Steam Rollers, Showman’s road locomotives, Steam powered lorries, fairground organs as well as the miniature versions, some great names including Burrell, Fowler, Foden, Aveling & Porter were on display this long weekend . Many of the older bigger machines dated back to the 1800’s and weighed in at over twenty tons each, the power they could generate was remarkable, it is a credit to their owners for looking after them so well that they are still here today to tell their story.

I watched the smaller engines enter the arena first doing a couple of laps before parking up in the centre. The bigger machines followed, bellowing lots of oily steam from their long funnels on top of the powerful engines, gently purring as they drove past, you could feel the ground tremble as they majestically followed each other into the arena. After several laps they too parked up for a few minutes whilst the commentator interviewed some of the drivers.

One of the highlights of the mornings display was to watch a demonstration of Tractor pulling. One of the big Traction Engine’s called ‘Windrush’ did a lap of the arena pulling three other engines. Tractor pulling is regarded as one of the world’s most powerful motorsports due to the nature of the highly modified tractor-pullers that take part.  The pullers drag a metal sled along the track.  This sled contains a box filled with weight which is mechanically moved forward as the pull proceeds, making it progressively more difficult to pull. ‘Windrush’ did a complete lap of the arena with three machines in tow. They stopped again and hitched a forth machine up to ‘Windrush’. With four other traction engines in tow ‘Windrush’ did another complete lap of the arena, pulling in excess of sixty ton.  It was an amazing feat of power and a credit to the drivers who have to control them.

Once the Traction Engines left the arena the veteran, vintage and classic motorcycles entered, some great machines from  manufacturers such as BSA, Triumph, Matchless, Honda, Ariel and many others including  the lesser-known makes like Motubi, Rudge and Excelsior. They all did several laps of the arena before they stopped and the commentator had a chat to the riders about their bikes, how long they have had them, they talked about sourcing spare parts as well as journeys made on them, it was quite interesting listening to some of the stories. Although I have never owned a motorbike I can remember some of the bikes on display from my childhood years.

After watching the bikes leave the arena I popped into one of the refreshment tents for a cup of tea and sandwich, having been on my feet all morning I was beginning to tire so decided to call it a day, though before I left I had another good walk around the outside of the parade ring to admire the Traction engines again. It was nice too to see so many visitors and families enjoying the day, let’s hope it is not another forty years before the Traction Engine Rally returns to Castle Howard.