Tag: engine

June 3rd – I made it to Draycott in the afternoon, after a very fast ride up the A515, and found the usual assortment of unusual cars, motorbikes, tractors, stationary engines and yes, steam traction by the… erm, truckload. 

Such events rarely show you anything new, but they are lovely to see the labour of love that maintaining and running a vintage machine – be it steam or petrol – really is.

The Deluxe Trabbant was astounding, and the chance to guzzle ice cream, chat geeky stuff with people who love mechanical engineering like I do was wonderful.

Always a lovely event, and there will be another in October.

December 10th – I continued from Chasewater up around Engine Lane and down to old railway trail to the old cement works bridge overlooking the council depot, where gritters and ploughs were coming and going in a constant stream.

There was a lot of angst on social media about grit, road treatment and ploughing, and as ever, I felt particularly for the poor folk doing this hard, almost thankless task.

Elsewhere, the swans weren’t bother by the cold from what I could tell, and Morris seemed happy with his new white mantel.

Temperatures were dropping as it got dark and it would be interesting to see what happened next day as the freeze deepened.

February 16th – No matter how grey, Victoria Park in Darlaston is always a joy to the heart – and since the Community Payback crew has been working here clearing the overgrown scrub, the surrounding architecture – itself remarkable – is now once again part of the overall atmosphere.

Thanks are due to Kate ‘Ganzey’ Gomez and others who pointed out that my wee, crumbling shed that I spotted last week – centre right – was actually for the town fire engine. Read about it here (scroll right down).

June 6th – I came through Walsall at 4:30pm up the Wednesbury Road, and was met with a large degree of congestion. I’d been seeing smoke from way back in Darlaston and wondered where it was emanating from. 
As I got closer, I discovered there had been some kind of house fire in the terraces there, and a couple of engines were in attendance. I have no idea what happened, and the incident doesn’t seem to have made the news.

Everything seemed generally calm and under control. I hope nobody was hurt and any damage wasn’t too bad.