There’s nothing quite like a country show!
A bit of geography to begin with. I live in the Australian state of Victoria (that’s down the bottom right), and about 30km inland from the state’s second largest city, Geelong (pop. about 290,000). We moved down here in ’92, and knew we’d be taking the kids to the Show each year, so took out a family life membership. Paid for itself after five years.
The big attraction for me has always been the vintage machinery. Not that I have ever worked with it myself, but there is something appealing about the relative simplicity of these beasts; it’s technology I can look at and understand almost immediately. No mysterious black boxes full of magic, just straight cause and effect. I can relate to that. The pavilion has a boiler which supplies steam to several large vintage stationary engines which operate throughout the Show, and the vintage tractors and stationary engines on display vary from year to year. There’s not only steam power, but oil, kerosene, semi-diesel, diesel, you name it. One year there was a steam traction engine meandering around the grounds; insurance probably put a stop to that.
We’ll begin by looking around the pavilion, then wander through the display outside. I won’t show everything (sighs of relief?), and I’ll identify as much as I can from the information (sometimes) provided. We’ll see some brands you’ve never heard of; just remember we’re a long way from anywhere else down here (except NZ), and our conditions on the land are often different, and vary a lot from region to region, so it made sense to develop our own specialised farming machinery. Government tariffs probably helped there.
Now for a wander outside.
1914 Mogul
I was able to sit and watch the owner get this Mogul up and running. A lot of prior lubrication and checks required.
A couple of old ‘as found’ Fordsons
McCormick-Deering W12
Earlier, heavier McCormick-Deering.
Minneapolis-Moline, with an early closed cab.
1928 Ronaldson-Tippett SuperDrive, made just up the road in Ballarat
Unusual to see a Lanz that’s not the famous Bulldog. Unusual not to see a Bulldog here this year, for that matter.
Small 11.8hp John Deere Model B, mid-30s to early ‘50s.
McDonald Imperial Super-diesel. Why Super? No idea.
Classic Aussie tractor, the Chamberlain C6100. The company started in 1949, and was taken over by John Deere in the seventies, and killed off soon after.
Lister Auto truck, sort of like a motorised pallet truck with a 600cc JAP engine. Made from 1926-54.
Some small stationary engines.
Even smaller. Stunning to think of the knowledge and skill needed to make your own model steam engine.
Another famous local brand. There was only the one Jelbart this year, resting in the shed.
That’s it for this year. See you around!
Nice collection of steam power! I take my 1950 Ford 8N to a local show that usually has 5-10 steam ‘traction engines’ in attendance. The highlight of the show is the “Parade of Power,” held after dusk, with huge plumes of sparks flying out the smokestacks of these beasts. They also have a sawmill and threshing demonstration, both steam-powered.
Thanks Ed. About 30 years ago I went to a twilight vintage tractor pull. That was an amazing sight; the sound, sparks, and smoke were amazing. IIRC it was a Lanz Bulldog that was the ‘winner’ that night. I got a new degree of respect for the old beasts, seeing them in action.
Very cool! And to think my John-Deere garden tractor has more power than that Model B. And every time I hear Geelong, It reminds me that could be a city in China too!
I was amazed when I looked up the specs on the Deere B, it sure doesn’t seem much these days. Still, I have a photo of my late father-in-law with the eight horse team he used on the farm; at 11.8hp the Deere is (allegedly) more powerful, but you’d need to run it back to back under load against a horse team to tell for sure.
As to Geelong, Americans would (quite logically) pronounce it “JEE LONG”, but Aussies, with our eternally casual pronunciations, universally call it “JA LONG”, which sounds a tad less Chinese. It’s actually from an aboriginal word for the area.
Always love to see and hear these old engines running. I try to make it to our local show, a big one, every couple of years.
I recall my first look at a county fair in Illinois. There was a tractor pull, steam tractors vs. internal combustion. The steam tractors always won, even against multiple diesel tractors.
It’s really eye-opening to see what those early engines can achieve. I think we tend to fall into the trap of being put off by the obviously-primitive technology, and underestimate the sheer pulling power from a standstill of these low-revving engnes.
Thanks for all the great pics! Those shows are always fun. Amazing to see how far technology has come.
Thanks, glad I could take you along. There were more pics, but I had to stop somewhere. 🙂
Excellent Photos and a Refreshing change of pace. Nice to see what’s in other country’s, lotta fences up for safety or for no touch? Wouldn’t mind going to that show myself.
Thanks Rich. The fences were more obvious this year; in the past it was more like a strand of wire or rope. Possibly to keep unattended kids away? Liability reasons? Not all of the engines had someone in attendance to keep an eye on things, and an engine that’s not going still has sharp and pointy bits.
There are many Steam and Gas Shows here in the Mid-Atlantic region. Most with permanent displays of huge stationary engines. Locally they had a steam shovel which ran for the week long show, but it was sold and is now a working display in North Carolina. Unfortunately, with our schedule I haven’t been to a show in years.
A week or so after this was the annual Steam Rally at Lake Goldsmith. I’ve been once, came upon it by accident. Though my son would love to go back it didn’t happen this year. They have heavy equipment like steam shovels there, which was amazing to see in action. And some odd conversions; I saw a steam-powered VW T1 pickup.
https://www.lakegoldsmithsteamrally.org.au/
Thanks for bringing back a fond memory Peter. My grandfather took me to the Beamish Steam show in the North East of England. He loved to show us how things were when he was young.
Glad to help, Jograd! I get the impression England has really embraced its industrial heritage, they certainly seem to have enough magazines about it.
Fabulous! I absolutely never get tired of looking at these old engines and machines. These sorts of shows pop up regularly in my part of the U.S. and I stop whenever I can. I know nothing about the machines, but as you say, there’s just something so elemental about them that you can pretty much tell how they work just by looking at them.
It’s interesting that you show the model steam engine and mention the skill necessary to make a model steam engine. I had been reading up to that point wondering if you’d mention model steam engines. I’ve seen a few of these over time and they fascinate me as well. I also remember desperately wanting one of those Wilesco model engines as a kid. https://www.wilesco.de/en/steam-engines/stationary-steam-engines There was some department or hobby store (I can’t recall) where they were always displayed and the idea of having a miniature WORKING steam engine just drove me nuts.
Coincidentally I was playing with my old Mamood toy steam engine the other day. Still works as good as it did when I was a boy
There were several other working models, but it was hard to photograph them as they were inside that wire cage (along with their operators) in a darker part of the shed. The guys there were only too happy to talk about their work, but not having been brought up to work at a trade like that, I could only look on in awe.
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Well dang…you were one of the lucky kids! 🙂
Is this one of the ones that use those little compressed bricks of something (I guessed paraffin and sawdust) to heat the boiler?
It is. Though fire starters work I have all the Meccano sets i got as well. The little engine has a pully and I actually can make little machines with it. I keep thinking I should power a little engine in reverse to charge my phone
Wow! I saw those in toy shops occasionally, but never knew anybody who had one.
Cool, one of my childhood friends had british immigrant parents and he had one of those. I don’t think it worked because the rubber seal had failed in the pressure relief valve.
Here’s one I forgot. I refer to the Lister Auto truck in the text, but didn’t include the pic. Showed a Lister steam engine instead.
Are the combustion cycles on the stationary engines of the “hit and miss” design? Most of them of this era I believe ran that way.
I also appreciate the ingenuity that it took to develop these fabulous machines.
Thanks!
Many of them are, the sound is quite distinctive.
Fantastic .
I remember going to the fair or other places in the late 1950’s and being enthralled by the many old farm engines, I vividly recall a steam tractor chuffing away .
The Pomona Swap Meet on PO-mona, Ca. used to have a local club of “hit or miss” engine, mostly running, many connected to water pumps, threshers, Maytag washing machines, etc. .
Even the old lobster boats up in Maine used these engines when I was young, I can’t imagine going to sea with a hit or miss engine .
-Nate
Back in the day a hit or miss engine would have seemed a huge improvement over sail, but I think I’d have been listening to the engine sound and wondering whether it was about to conk out.
Whilst Pete may say he lives 30 km FROM Geelong, we in Melbourne (the State capital of 5million) would say that’s 30 km too close TO Geelong. (The rivalry is age-old: I actually really like the place, especially as this joint has grown so insanely over the past decade).
These are great pics of the weird and wonderful, and as you say, it’s good to remember what these represent. These aren’t clumsy insect-like oddballs, but efficient machines of their time for particular circumstances. For example, in certain places up in the bush, it was (then) logical to have moving steam power well into the combustion age due to the abundance of timbers. They are pure machines, with aesthetics being about as important as they are on inside of your desktop. And it must be remembered too that the seemingly low outputs are good for peak load, all day, every day.
They are surely singular characters each, though, aren’t they? And they can talk, too, what with their strange and assorted mutterings and hisses and patukkah-patukka noises voicing tales from the long-time past.
patukkah patukkah POP ! patukkah patukkah patukkah pattukkah POP! ……
Mustn’t forget the POP! That’s the bit that does the work…..
Ah yes, the rivalry. I’ll just say that I escaped Melbourne back in ’90. It was just too big, too busy, too noisy, too crowded, and I coped by largely staying in my suburb when I wasn’t at work and pretending the rest of it just didn’t exist.
Dad lived in Geelong back in the thirties, when it was known as Sleepy Hollow. When we moved down here it was like a big country town, but now it’s more like Melbourne Lite. I might go there once every few months, but rarely to the CBD which is pretty much dead nowadays. It’s a good place to live outside of. You really wouldn’t need anywhere larger. 🙂
As to these being pure machines with no importance given to aesthetics, I’d be inclined to disagree. Is it over-restoration to have shiny enamel and polished brasswork, or just a respectful nod to the original use of materials? I can well imagine that an engine on a farm would not keep up the shine once in service. And those builders’ cast nameplates were often fancier than they needed to be. Call it VIctorian/Edwardian era aesthetics if you want, but they weren’t always purely utilitarian. Not quite.
Quite right about the aesthetics, including brass and even pinstriped flywheels (or, indeed, tyre factories or poo pumping stations of posh architectural merit). I meant more the steampunk strangeness in the appearance of many such items, as perhaps your pic of the 1928 Ronaldson-Tippet best illustrates: vaguely conventional tractor shape, sort-of, and yet massive, ugly and angry-looking Brunel-era wheels (the better to threaten any errant potato with an eternal and squished entombment).
Quite right about the Ronaldson-Tippett. Although the sign dated it to 1928, it would have raised few eyebrows ten or fifteen years earlier. The only thing remotely artistic about that machine is the ‘pennant’ on the exhaust.
Thanks for this post, I love a good vintage machinery rally, I can happily gaze at a steam or oil stationary engine running for longer than what seems normal.
Not too far away from this is Lake Goldsmith, which has them a couple of times a year.
Last year they still had giant steam traction engines lumbering around the grounds, they are amazingly quiet and can sneak up on you from behind !
But the stars of the show has to be the working steam shovels.
when I was a kid I had a Matchbox version, I used to get frustrated with it, because it didn’t have enough moving parts to work.
So to see how these beasts actually work is a delight.
There is so much more to see as well so I will stop now.
Lake Goldsmith is fantastic, jonco43. We were talking about going this year, but it didn’t happen. My son (heavy diesel fitter/loco maintenance) wanted to, but his roster wasn’t favourable. He’d be like a walking encyclopaedia when it comes to machinery. Maybe next year.
I reckon the beauty with steam traction engines is that they don’t idle; you only get the ‘chuff’ from the cylinder when it’s in motion, otherwise there’s just a faint hiss from the boiler and perhaps the crackle of fire if you’re really close. Good luck hearing that in a show environment!
I commented before I read the comments, then saw you had already mentioned it, but it is so good it doesn’t hurt to mention it twice.
I completely forgot this year, then when I checked it was over.
Hopefully, might see you there next year.
One more pic.
Love ’em, the shovel and crazy-man Merlin job both.
I am another who could watch these old machines run for much longer than the patience of the other members of my family. There is always a section of our state fair that features these old machines, and it’s my favorite part.
My family ‘park’ me in this section then go and see the rest of the Show! Gone are the days when I could walk around the whole showgrounds and see the livestock over the other side of the arena. Not that I know anything much about livestock, but I’m likely to meet folk I know. This year I did check out the handcrafts, as my daughter is a steward in that pavilion, and told me who among our family had won prizes; most notably my 6yo granddaughter.
We would probably have an equivalent of your state fair in the Melbourne Show, which I was taken to to once or twice as a kid. It was sheer sensory overload for me; my one memory is that the showbags were nice.
I commented before I read the comments, then saw you had already mentioned it. but it is good enough to mention twice I think, I completely forgot this year, and when I checked, it was already over.
I might see you there next year !
One more pic.