Thankfully, the internet came to the rescue. To help relieve the steam drought we are feeling, along with the pinch of social distancing many likeminded individuals are struggling with, a rally was organised for the 9th May. Model steam was the main feature of the day with a handful of miniature and full size traction engines on display. Exhibits weren't limited to steam power of course. All sorts of vintage traction were on display, from old cars to merry-go-rounds. But for this article I'll show some of my work. Links can be found at the bottom for the community contributions, as it would be unfair to reproduce those here.
My own contribution was far more modest, with a double headed train consisting of my own Roundhouse Billy being piloted by my Mamod Telford (pictured above). Pulling my whole selection of rolling stock, which is a flatbed, camera wagon, three trucks, two long carriages and two brake vans. Quite a heavy load for the two engines, but they managed it with a bit of a struggle.
To keep things going, the Telford was again prepped for the next run,
taking on the same train. Now the Mamod is a much simpler machine. With
slip-eccentric valve gear this leaves only two control devices, gas and
steam regulators. This is also quicker to turn around than the Billy as it has a water filler valve, allowing the boiler to be filled while its still hot and under pressure.
As the loco gets warmer, it starts to perform better and you need to wind in the regulator as things warm up. Once they've warmed through and the water is boiling efficiently, they will move FAST! My example has several battle scars as a result of tipping over, but its all part of the fun.
I set off the Telford running and decided to try and film a small bit. Sometimes, things don't always work out as you'd like as can be demonstrated below!
No real damage was caused, and the show could continue.
Following the second run, the RH Billy was put on the wagons with the
camera car. A solid loco with decent pulling power, she will run
happily for about 20 minutes without having to adjust the regulator,
even when she stalls she is able to build up some back pressure and pick
herself up again. She will slip on the Mamod/MSS rails I use and needs to dig her feet in a little.
My final train is what I call my vintage set. The loco is once again the Mamod Telford paired with its tender, and accompanying it are an open and closed IP engineering VoR carriage and a IP Engineering VoR brake van. The closed carriage is still incomplete but its in a state that it can be run ok. This was sadly the last train of the day as my supplies of butane had dwindled and the heat outside had defeated me. It was time for me to head indoors again.
I will be following up this article with more details on my engines, which I've left out here to focus on the rally itself.
I will be following up this article with more details on my engines, which I've left out here to focus on the rally itself.
The community really made the day work well. I've never been to a proper steam rally and really want to go along to one. Outside of the steam engines the community shenanigans really made for a fun event. Some of the highlights include the miniature model gallery, a display ring and various clips of members virtual 'journey' to the show site. The show wasn't limited to the UK audience with our cousins down under kicking off the day with some Aussie steam of their own. Members added content from all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand and North America to name a few.
Maybe if the community are up for it, it could be done again next year outside of existing rally dates, who knows. My contributions to the day were small and I strongly recommend taking a look at the following pages. The first page is the Official Facebook group. The latter is a link to the twitter hashtag so you can check out for yourself what others contributed that day, and continue to add.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1619849804831945/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hashtag/TwitterSteamRally
Many thanks to the Coulls family for getting the ball rolling and running with it, and the community as a whole for making it work.
The Twitter Steam Rally image is copyrighted by Anthony Coulls and used with permission, all other video and images are my own.
Merchandise is available at https://www.twittersteamrally.co.uk/
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