Steamfest at Sheffield
Sunday March 7, 2010
Trouble with summer in Tasmania is, there's just too much on! Every weekend is packed with things to see and do, and this weekend was no exception. There was, of course, the southern event at Dale and Gail Pearce's home, so when we received an invitation to attend the annual Steamfest event at Sheffield, we had to weigh up whether this would present too much of a clash - we decided it wouldn't.
We had arranged to meet up in Sheffield itself, with no RSVP required, so we had no idea of numbers until we got there. As we turned off the highway at Elizabeth Town, we met up with new member Ken Vayne in his newly acquired Series II XJ6, thus forming a procession of two into Sheffield. There we met Grant Rodman and Tamara in their Mk 2. With nobody else in sight, we were shown to our position in the display area, amongst several other (non-Jaguar) show vehicles. Later in the morning, the motor vehicle display was joined by several Rolls Royces from the mainland, on the way south for their national rally the following weekend.
We had barely settled our cars into place when a gent from the ex-military vehicle display opposite came over and looked at the engines of our cars, and said 'We've got one of those over here!" He invited us over for a look, and there, in a Scorpion light tank built by Alvis in 1972, was a Jaguar 4.2 XK engine! He peeled back the covers to show us how it was all fitted into an obscenely tight space, along with the special ancillaries such as cooling and exhaust systems. He went on to tell us that a Fox wheeled tank was on its way out from England to join the collection, also powered by the same engine. He then invited us, as a club, to their 'playground' for a day of fun in their machines sometime later in the year - watch this space.
We had attended Steamfest before, back in 2006, when it was, frankly, a little disappointing. This year, however, was no comparison; a much larger show, with lots more happening. Steamfest is basically a rural show, so is heavy on farm machinery. One of the display was collection of grey Ferguson tractors from Victoria, including a very strange double articulated special - two engines, two drives, weird! Also weird were the early three-wheeled tractors, with the third wheel at the back, doing the driving! Some more modern machines were indulging in a series of tractor-pulls, pitting their strength against a water-filled sled. The latter ranged from standard farm tractors, to a triple-V8-powered special - a monster indeed (but all noise, no real grunt!)
At the opposite end of the scale was a display of horse-drawn wagons and carriages. One especially caught Tony's eye, as it had been built by his great-grandfather's coach-building works in Launceston, back in 1907. Just a single horse-power, but what class!
It turned into a very hot day, despite the intermittent cloud, so hats and sunscreen were the order of the day. It made us all the more aware of how sedentary a life most of us live these days, as we watch some local lads in a demonstration of hay threshing and baling. The machines, all steam-driven, had an insatiable appetite, and it took several people to keep them fed with hay - all too hard for this little black duck, I'm afraid! So it was time to sit back and enjoy some lunch and a cool drink, as the show rolled on around us. After lunch, we wandered around the static displays of models, but steering well clear of the snake display usually found at rural shows!
Finally it was time to pack up and head for home, choosing to go via the back roads to avoid the worst of the traffic. It was a pity more members couldn't have joined us for this enjoyable event; they missed a relaxing and informative day out.
- Geoff and Tony
You can find more pictures from this event in the Galleries.
We had arranged to meet up in Sheffield itself, with no RSVP required, so we had no idea of numbers until we got there. As we turned off the highway at Elizabeth Town, we met up with new member Ken Vayne in his newly acquired Series II XJ6, thus forming a procession of two into Sheffield. There we met Grant Rodman and Tamara in their Mk 2. With nobody else in sight, we were shown to our position in the display area, amongst several other (non-Jaguar) show vehicles. Later in the morning, the motor vehicle display was joined by several Rolls Royces from the mainland, on the way south for their national rally the following weekend.
