Full Steam Ahead

The Welland Steam and Country rally has been held since 1964, and now takes over a huge 100 acre site in Welland, Worcestershire, every July. It's an event packed with 100's of amazing old machines; from Victorian steam rollers to vintage vans, trucks and cars; from as far afield as New Zealand.

With all that mechanical nostalgia knocking around we just had to get involved and took our very own blast from the past, a Hitachi UHO63.

It might only be from the 1980's (nothing but a spring chicken when you compare it with some of the exhibits at the steam fair!) but we're proud to say the completely restored UHO63 looked fantastic, and it just goes to show, those Hitachi machines really do just keep going and going!

During the weekend we loaded our UHO63 on to an ex-army trailer and hauled it around the show-ground with a 1919 Fowler engine no.14950, (owned by the Williams family from Hay on Wye) which had a fascinating history of its own. This beautiful old steam engine was originally requested by the Russian army but they cancelled the order before it could be delivered and the machine found its way to Britain, where it was put to use helping to bale hay for the front line horses.

With so many historic vehicles with enthralling stories like this to tell, it's easy to see why the Welland Steam and Country Rally is always an amazing three days of vintage machines, and why this year's event proved to be another huge success.

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