Jessie The Jeep

In the court yard, there were several dioramas, including the French resistance, Beach Assault display and a German camp. While I didn't take any photos of the Wizz Bangs vehicles and display, I did shoot some video of their weapons demonstrations.

Bowes Railway/Springwell Village 1940s Weekend - June 25th Since I was at the Breighton Aerodrome vintage aircraft fly-in on Saturday the 24th, we only did one day at Bowes on Sunday. The weather forecast was looking good for most of the day, but there were thunderstorms due late afternoon. I didn't fancy trying to pack the Dodge canvas away in a thunderstorm when I got home, so decided to just take the Jeep, as that would be quick to put back in the garage. Bowes is a fairly small village event and so there were only around ten vehicles there and half a dozen displays and dioramas. Amongst them were a Kubelwagon and BMW bike and side car. There was one classic car, a few other Jeeps and a Dodge.

I browse with Firefox and Adblock and never knew there was a problem! Never seen a pop up ad here, only the small banner ads for MV insurance etc.

Here's the other Jeep that turned up. I thought I recognised it and it had been at the Stannington show in June last year. The railway has about one and three quarter miles of track heading South East from the museum. We took a ride later in the afternoon. The day was mostly dry, but we did have a very heavy shower part way through the afternoon. I think it was the first rain for several weeks. Further pictures and a short video can be found on my website here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/stephenson.htm

There was live music across the day and dance teachers doing demonstration dancing and getting the public involved too. In the museum, they have the third oldest surviving steam loco on display. One of the displays in the museum, depicted a horse drawn coal wagon. This type of coal transport began at Tanfield Railway almost 300 years ago and was the dawn of the world's railways. It was this type of railway that ran across the bottom of our garden many years ago.

Stephenson Railway Museum 1940s Weekend - June 18th Since I was at the Tanfield Railway Steam Gala on Saturday 17th, I could only attend the Stephenson Railway Museum show on Sunday. I'd originally planned to take the Dodge and camp over, but the site has very little space free, and virtually nothing suitable to camp on. As a result, I decided to go to the steam gala for one day and to Stephenson for a day in the Jeep. Due to the limited space, there were only a few displays, but there were several re-enactors. My Jeep was the only one there to start with, but another turned up later. There was also an Austin Cambridge and a BSA bike.

No, because I was brushing it on. It was thin enough from the tin to brush out well, followed a few minutes later by the glossing roller.

It turned out a nice day after lunch and the colours in our mini-woodland looked fantastic in the bright sun. I thought it would make a great background for some pictures of the Dodge and since it was already on the lawn, took the opportunity.

Dodge Working on the Railway - June 9th The Dodge has already been put to work in the garden. On the 9th, it was put to work again. Part of the garden landscaping includes building a garden railway; a fullsize railway! It's only a small length as a garden feature, as there used to be a railway here in years gone by. The longest lengths of rail weigh close to 400 pounds and the railway was being built right at the bottom of the garden. There was no way I was going to be able to carry the rail there, but it would be light work for the Dodge. There were four rails to be moved. It took four and a half hours to rig them all on the crane, move them all to the build site and assemble the track. I need to order some ballast next. That's another delivery to the front of the house, so the Dodge will be working once more.

Mine on the Dodge took quite a while to dull down. I brushed it on, then went over with a glossing roller to take the brush strokes out. Coat number one was quite thin. The second coat covered well. In the end, it had four coats and dulled down nicely.

D-Day Drive - June 6th Late afternoon on June 6th, I took the GPW for a D-Day anniversary drive. Earlier in the day, I'd been out in the normal car and spotted some poppies in the village. I thought they'd look nice in a photo with the Jeep. After my daughter was home from school, we went for a short drive to look for some other poppies around the local area. Considering the anniversary, the poppy stop seemed appropriate.

My Dodge sat on axle stands for a year through covid. During that time I also moved house, so by the time I finally went to collect it from the storage yard, the petrol ( E5 ) was almost 2 years old. It still started up fine on 6 volts and once out of its shipping container, I added 10 gallons of fresh fuel and drove it home - no problems at all.

A battle was held on the beach each day at noon. I didn't see the Saturday battle, but the last of the mist was still clearing at the time, so it wouldn't have been great for photos. I believe the Germans were attacking on Saturday. On Sunday, the sky was clear and it was the turn of the British to storm the beach and carry the fight into the dunes to capture the Germans. There were also firing demonstrations from some of the re-enactor groups. The event finished at 4pm, but I'd already got my tent and camping gear packed into the trailer by then. This allowed a fairly quick getaway for the hour trip home. It then took a couple of hours to get the Jeep out, empty the Dodge and trailer and put the trailer away, put the Jeep away, take the canvas, bows and crane off the Dodge and finally put that back in the garage. For the full set of pictures, visit - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/blyth.htm

The next few photos are of the gun battery and its associated buildings. On a Saturday evening walk, I also spotted a pill box on the edge of the beach at the far North of the site. The two 6 inch guns are replicas, fitted in 2019.

No, it clashes with another event I attend.

Many of the dioramas had a large amount of kit on show, so I've combined several photos from each group. I've tried to include all the displays in the attached pictures, but I know some have been missed or not shown in their entirety.

In addition to the various dioramas, a number of vehicles were parked up around the battery and towards the edge of the car park. Some only attended for one day of the show. These were a mix of military and civilian vehicles.

The sea breeze pulled the temperature down a little on Saturday and it took until late morning to burn the sea mist off. The misty start didn't stop the public turning out in their thousands. An email on Monday from the organiser, estimated around 46,000 visitors across the two days of the show. The show itself is located around the gun battery. The displays are on either side of the battery complex, a few on the edge of the car park, in addition to the museum exhibits within the gun battery buildings. Looking at how far the displays were spread along the sea front this year, it looked to have been the biggest show so far; certainly since my first trip there in 2009. The show field to the North of the battery was full and to the South, the displays were spread along both sides of the coastal path, much further than usual. In past years, the area to the South was always the German area, but this year, there were so many displays, it also included a US re-enactor and vehicle group.

Blyth Battery Goes to War - May 20/21st In past years, the weather at Blyth Battery hasn't always been friendly! As a result, rather than camp, I've travelled to Blyth each day. Since moving to Durham from Washington, it's added another 12 miles each way to the trip, so to save fuel, I took the Dodge and decided to camp for the weekend. This year, the event had unusually good weather. I arrived on Friday afternoon to sunshine, clear sky and no wind ( I had to check I was at the right place!! ). It was hot work setting up camp, but a nice change for Blyth! The clear sky allowed the temperature to drop quite a bit overnight.

Is the starter motor new, overhauled, or old and untouched? My Ford starting got slower and slower with a new battery and it was the starter motor that burned out. I replaced the starter and all was well.

Sounds like an earth problem or a loose/dirty contact somewhere.

I stayed with my display chatting to the public for the rest of the day. I had my K-20 aircrew camera, stereoscope, RAF photo album, target photos, film containers and developing trays and chemicals on show. There was a large number of people really interested and told me that they found it more fascinating than the displays with weapons. Many were impressed by the 3D image provided by the stereoscope and surprised by the weight of the camera. Late in the afternoon, I packed up most of the contents of my tent, ready for when I was able to bring the car and trailer around to collect it all. As the public drifted away at the end of the day, I took "Hope" back over to the Halifax to get a few more pictures in the sun, rather than a thunderstorm! Further pictures of the show can be found here - https://www.sacarr.co.uk/mymvs/events/2023/elvington.htm

Due to watching over my display, I didn't get to see much of the museum or displays on Saturday, so went for a wander first thing on Sunday before I set anything up. The first stop was the T2 hangar. One end was very empty, the normal parking spot for the Halifax, but the rest of the hangar was full of aircraft. They are well laid out and it didn't feel like everything was crammed in. The far end of the hangar seems to be a conservation area where a Gloster Meteor was being worked on. From the main hangar, I moved on to some of the smaller aircraft storage sheds, followed by the other buildings.

SUNDAY 7th First thing on Sunday morning, I moved the Jeep a bit closer to my display table and parked at an angle compared to Saturday. The picture through the windscreen shows lots of the public sitting at the picnic tables. Over both days of the show, there was more than double the usual attendance compared to a typical weekend. This was an especially impressive turnout, as on Saturday, it was the King's Coronation. For those wanting to attend the event, but not miss the coronation, it was shown live in the base cinema.

SATURDAY 6th - "Hope's" Birthday There was more rain overnight, however Saturday started dull and dry. Here's a few of the other displays. Despite a poor forecast, the weather stayed dry until about 5pm when everyone was packing up for the day anyway.