Raising A Full Head Of Steam

A damp start to the day. Misty hills and light, intermittent drizzle and a shy sun daring to peep through cloud now an again didn't bode well for our trip to Cromford. We got slightly lost. Later explained as taking a scenic route to the Cromford Steam Rally, which wasn't at Cromford anyway.

The rally was huge both in extent and attendance numbers. By midday the had weather cleared to a typical summer's day. We were delighted by the atmosphere and bustling enthusiasm. The smell of coal smoke wafted through a traditional fairground where steam powered fair organs filled the air with vigorous music. Ice creams, Cornish pasties, fish and chips, cakes, bacon butties, sandwiches, hot dogs, baked potatoes, tea and beer; all the basic traditional fare.


I'd a yearning for a toasted bacon and egg bap cooked on a shovel on the grate of a fire box. Unfortunately, OH&S and Risk Management prevents that sort of nostalgia. "E lad, them were t'days." Said the cloth-capped, soot-blackened driver, "We daren't do such, else we'd be in't muck up't eyeballs." Hence, our retreat into the Cromford Conservation Society tent for a more refined tea, cakes and butties served on clean paper plates and cups.

The number of exhibits was beyond anything I'd expected. Steam tractors, lorries and rollers. Motorcycles, cars and military vehicles. Static steam engines. We wandered for several hours. During the afternoon a short, but exhilarating fly-past by a Spitfire and a Hurricane rounded off my day. A delightful day out and a dip into the pool of engineering history.