MTEW Saturday 2015...

"Saturday Line Up" (M.Ranieri)

Hi everyone. So, the morning after the two days before! This morning I was in McDonalds at 6:30am, arriving over at Market Bosworth at just gone 7am to start the days proceedings. First job, get the shed open and get that kettle on! There were still over a dozen engines to arrive and settle before the 10am opening time, plus more stands to come and fences to put up. Its all go when you've got an event this size! Throughout the day I was filling in boiler paperwork, answering questions, moving stuff into place, fetching coal and god knows what else. But, in honesty, I love it, I really do. This picture-heavy post has been made possible by Mr Malcolm Ranieri who provides me with some of his fabulous images. He is responsible for all of the images seen in this post so please do enjoy. They are in no particular order but I'll do a small description with each one. The weather was fine today, at certain points anyway, and Malcolm managed to record some great images once again. Here, the wonderful 4.5" Foden fire engine is seen in steam and showing off its working water jet...

(M.Ranieri)

Mr Ives' 6" Burrell agricultural engine "Dode" is seen here outside the Goods Shed in the square, coming alongside the Fire Engine with the organ in the background...

(M.Ranieri)

A day visitor for Saturday was a green liveried 4" Ruston Proctor. The engine was one of two of the type at the event though this one seemed to make light work of the climb towards the village centre on Station Road. Here she is climbing away from the station...

(M.Ranieri)

As you will see in these images, with over 50 miniatures in steam you can afford to let a few at a time go off to the pub without it affecting your overall show, and our engines certainly take advantage of that! Here, the Roberts pull out of the yard with their 4" Burrell "Florence"...

(M.Ranieri)

Another day visitor is seen below. This is Mr Newton with his wonderful 2" Burrell Roller. In MTEW's third year, I've finally managed to get a roller there and get it photographed as evidence! These rollers are deceptively rare in miniature, particularly in 2" scale. The engine was hugely popular throughout the Saturday show, and proved that big isn't always best!...

(M.Ranieri)

Talking of big, the two rollers spent the Saturday morning basking in the sun. The immaculate pair are seen here being passed by 3" scale Fowler Z7 Ploughing Engine "Winston"...

(M.Ranieri)

The Suffolk contingent brought another first to MTEW: Mclarens! The Baxter family kindly brought along their two 4" engines: Road Loco "Nevermore" and Showmans Engine "Lady Jennifer". I've been asking for three years now for Mclarens and at last, this year we had some. Actually, we ended up with three...like buses aren't they!...

(M.Ranieri)

Another pair came in the form of the Spalding Foden's. The two 4.5" C-Type examples are seen here putting in a good climb of the bank away from the station yard up the road towards the village. Craig is leading with his blue wagon, with Roger & "Fenland Prince" following...

(M.Ranieri)

Here, the beautiful 4" Burrell Showmans Road Locomotive "Jane" climbs out of the yard...

(M.Ranieri)

The engines were in & out throughout the day, creating quite a spectacle both in the yard and on the road. Here, a good half a dozen examples make a break for it!...

(M.Ranieri)

In the yard area, the organ was playing, the awning displays were doing well and the working area was showing off 4" Rack Sawing and 6" Flour Milling. Here, 4" Garrett "Betty" and 4" Burrell "Wendy" run parallel down the drive...

(M.Ranieri)

The only none steam segment of the event was the railway; such are the things we take for granted. The Class 25 was sporting our brand new "Not So Miniature Express" headboard as it approached Market Bosworth with a Shenton bound train...

(M.Ranieri)

The watering area was a muddy and busy area throughout the day as usual. Here, Ian's impressive 4" Case takes a drink. Its fantastic that we've managed to display a great selection of engines here at Market Bosworth, from most makers and in most scales...

(M.Ranieri)

Below, three engines from the popular 'Black Country Live Steamers' society rub shoulders. From left to right they are a 1.5" Allchin, 3" Showmans "The Griffin" and 4" Garrett "Jack"...

(M.Ranieri)

A slightly more local engine came in the form of Lionel's recently repainted 4" Foster Agricultural "Safaniya". This is a well travelled engine and carries the proud pedigree of the Foster design which is rather numerous in the miniature world due to its strength, reliability and popularity...

(M.Ranieri)

Here, two of the Showmans engines rub shoulders. 4" Fowler "Sir Henry" and 6" Garrett "Michael" stand alongside the Goods Shed...

(M.Ranieri)

Bob Seaton's wonderful meccano display was again proving very popular...

(M.Ranieri)

6" Burrell DCC "Wandering Star", 4" Garrett "Betty" and 6" Garrett "Michael" in the yard...

(M.Ranieri)

Two Garrett's: "Betty" and "Michael"...

(M.Ranieri)

An unusual shot now, taken from the backhead of Izzy's 6" Savage "Firefly" as she works the Flour Mill to the enjoyment of onlookers...

(M.Ranieri)

A perfect pair: the 4" Burrell pairing of SCC's "Gemini I" & "Gemini II"...

(M.Ranieri)

At 1:30pm each day, it was time to start sorting the line up, starting with the three big engines and then the other 50! Saturday's turned into a bit of an M25 traffic jam of steam but it still looked impressive!...

(M.Ranieri)

And the big whistle up sounded fantastic...

(M.Ranieri)

Engines big & small...

(M.Ranieri)

A trio of Foden's...

(M.Ranieri)

Fabulous foursome...

(M.Ranieri)

A traffic jam of steam...

"Traffic" (M.Ranieri)

The wonderful and elderly looking big Allchin General Purpose of 1903, kindly brought along by owner Arthur Henton. This engine has been in his family since it was bought brand new from Allchin in 1903!...

"The Big Allchin" (M.Ranieri)

We even had a double-header, in the form of the two "Gemini"s!...

"Gemini I & II" (M.Ranieri)

A final view of the day, this time the Allchin again...

"Allchin 1261 of 1903" (M.Ranieri)

All in all it was a fantastic day and the sun shone on us (thank goodness!). We even had an ice cream van on site and you can't really grumble at that! We had around 55 boilers in steam at Bosworth today, with 51 of them being miniatures. Sunday won't see that many, perhaps 45 miniatures as historically we have half a dozen day visitors but still, a fantastic turnout once again. We closed the gates at 5pm but that wasn't the end for me. I had to strip the shed to prepare for the later band, staff the 6pm exhibitor train, staff at the band performance from 8pm and wait until they'd finished, packed up and loaded and left. I finally got away at gone midnight! What a long day and the third of four for MTEW overall! Oh well, all for a good cause. My bed calls...