WESES Cornish Steam Fair

[Bosiboz]

Made a visit to the Cornish Steam Fair on Saturday & found a good selection of engines present. Unfortunately the day was spoilt by the horizontal rain & we only stayed for a short time. You needed windscreen wipers on the camera to get decent photos. Attempts to wipe the lens clean were futile as can be seen in the photos below:

[81119]

You should of come and said hello ! Had a great time getting piss wet through on Saturday !! Thats me in your first photo !!

[Bosiboz]

I would have liked to have stayed a bit longer and say hello but we were totally drenched and my youngest lad had been stung 3 or 4 times on the chest by a wasp that had been hibernating in his rain coat. With him not feeling well and all being cold and wet we decided to call it a day. Didn't even locate the beer tent to take shelter!

Hope that Sunday was better weather wise.

[Pride of Somerset]

Sorry you picked a bad day, David. Sunday was good - the sunny weather was much needed as the Society have ahd mire than their fair share of wet events recently.

[Late Western]

a few from the dry sunday...

[ttp2011]

In the end we did not attend as we could not go down on Friday, Saturdays weather forecast was bad and Sunday up here in Ivybridge was poor. Stithians is a funny place for the weather, last year we drove for two hours in the rain in Saturday traffic and as soon as I got my umbrella out of the car at the Showground the rain stopped and we had a dry afternoon!

have given WESES a miss and instead will be going to Honiton Hill on Sunday which is both closer and cheaper admission than Stithians. This is the first time that we will have been to Honiton Hill and judging by the engine list we will not be disappointed!!

[1882]

That Wallis Advance seems to have a feed pump, and the gauge frame on the opposite side.

Is that a unique feature to that engine?

[Fowler_Man]

There are a few with 2 gauges fitted and I know of 2 with feed pumps but certainly a rarity

[tasker tractor]

Originally Posted by 1882

That Wallis Advance seems to have a feed pump, and the gauge frame on the opposite side.

Is that a unique feature to that engine?

Looks like a gauge frame on each side check out the pic at the top of the pile.

[MikeJT]

An apology before I start - my comments are just my own opinions but I'd be interested in what others think

I was disappointed with the 'Cornish Steam and Country Fair' and cannot get on with the venue at Stithians. The site is actually very cramped with the majority of full size steam exhibits crammed into the 'yard' - an area of hard standing. I appreciate this gives some insurance against poor weather but it does nothing to set the engines off and makes it impossible to capture any good photos - something many of the paying public would like to do!

The site was chaotic on the Sunday as the roadway around the site became log jammed with tractors and commercial vehicles trying to get to the main show ring. The area through the steam yard in particular is a real bottleneck.

I was disappointed too with the working exhibits - there is much less of this since the regrettable move to Stithians. The working area is very much smaller and pushed out of the way and of course because the event is now on a showground we have lost the opportunity for any steam ploughing.

This years fair was also a let down - no gallopers, swing boats or any of the rides associated with a proper vintage fair. What little there was could be found at any modern fair!

Trade support was lacking too - not one steam related trade stand just lots of stalls selling cheap tack!

To me the event has become overrun with commercial vehicles, cars and tractors - certainly much more space and the majority of the event programme was dedicated to these things - this isn't what I expect from a Steam Rally. When you add in motorbike displays, monster trucks etc it all felt like the steam was getting in the way

I appreciate organisers need to attract as many people as possible to their events but I feel we've lost something very special - that unique day out that celebrated the ingenuity and skill of our forefathers through the application of steam. I'm happy to see such things as heavy horses, working traditional crafts etc as these are in keeping with the era a traditional steam rally seeks to celebrate.

There are many other events well suited to providing the trappings of our modern world but our steam rallies shouldn't become this sort of event.

I for one will be heading to Bocconoc next year where steam is very definitely the attraction.

Mike