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This was a really good show last year, I am planning to go with the Scammell on Saturday before heading for Dorset on Sunday. I was over at the museum on Tuesday and took a couple of photos to stick on here. The Saracen is a new addition and hopefully will be running for the show. The Scorpion will not be running due to lacking an engine.

How many HMVF'rs are going to GDSF this year then?

I went to visit Peter Allison last night, he lives close to where I work and is in the process of restoring his Pioneer.

David at the pub run last Thursday.

The speedo cable is now fitted and working, the Explorer seems to behave best at about 25mph. The last outing was the pub run on Thursday night, it was a very wet evening but we had the Explorer, Adams Pig, David Lees' Albion and Joe in his Unimog (top marks to Joe for going out in the rain without a roof)

Adam Elsdons' Pig. Now running properly, attending its' first pub run last thursday night.

Two for the price of one, David Lees sent me this photo of his CX22 towing its spares.

On my way north I went to see Ted Riley in Staffordshire. He has a very tidy Explorer with a nice running Meadows petrol engine. On the top of each wing there is a flat top for some reason, they are very neatly done but what are they? Ted has found a great way to store his spare radiator.

Following the Austin Gipsy Club Rally at Gaydon last weekend I stopped in at the Bloxham Rally to pick up a speedo cable from Chris Acock, lots of Scammells there but the battery was out on my camera so not many photos.

Here are a couple I saw at a brief visit to Bloxham Steam Rally. The Caffyns one was in the care of Chris Acock and the other was owned by a chap called Terry.

here's the video.

There are no booking fees for that rally, the way it should be, I got some navy mugs out of them though. The Explorer wasn't anchored to anything, just sitting there winching with the handbrake on.

Wet rally fields equal mud and stuck lorrys. I managed to find a Navy Recruiting unit in need of help from an ex army Explorer, so I had an excuse to play with the winch. There is some video to follow in due course.

The weekend went quite well, Saturday was great weather and I had a good drive over to the rally, apart from a fanbelt snapping and forcing me into getting the new belts it should have had ages ago. On Saturday night it started raining and continued most of the day on Sunday. The good news was that Kevin Royan brought his Explorer for the day and Mr and Mrs Madrat made the trip up from Ayrshire.

To take your own bog roll for the turdis.

It is one of the best shows up here. I will be there Saturday and Sunday with the Explorer, David Lees will also be there with his Albion CX22. Lots of Steam stuff including a 1914 Foden 5 ton steam wagon that saw service in the Great War, and a good selection of cars, commercials and tractors.

Thanks Madrat, I was out in it this evening, just 'cos I could. I got one of the original wiper motors working and fitted today so visibility should be better in the rain... I am taking it over to the steam rally at Castle Fraser at the weekend which is about 25 miles away so it will get another good run then. Good to see your Pioneer progressing, is the engine back together yet?

We had our second pub run last week, Explorer, Albion, and Hotchkiss in attendance. Adams' Pig was still not running so he rode shotgun in the Explorer again. It rained quite hard on the way back and comments were made regarding how weatherproof the cab of the Explorer was. The latest job has been to make a new headboard...

It would be a pity to lose these comments as they have provided interesting reading. I will not pretend to understand the fine print of STGO regulations and Construction and Use, which seems to change depending on what you call something. I must admit that when you do the maths it must be a pretty close call. If the Milly is 21 ton, the trailer is 8 ton and the Valentine is around the 16/17 ton mark (according to Wicipedia) it is well within the stated train weight of 60 ton but the axle weights for the trailer must be tight, 8 + 17 = 25. 25 / 2 = 12.5. If the Trailer is only rated at 10 ton or even 14 ton load, the Valentine would be over at 16 ton. As to widths I assume that if the Milly is classed as a Locomotive when pulling a trailer the 2.75 meter limit comes into play? That said, from the pictures of it loaded it looks ok. ie it fits on the trailer and nothing looks overloaded or insecure so would be unlikely to attract the wrong type of attention. It is only likely to cause a problem when something goes wrong, either mechanicaly or due to other road users, hence the importance of making sure everthing is in order.

For everyones enjoyment here's some video of the walking beam starting to free off. :-D

Yes, transmiting without an antenna is as good a way as any to burn out the TX side of the radio, thus rendering it @~#$~....:-D

If you graft a dozer blade onto the front can you do anything as plant? :cool2:

That all sounds a bit posh to me, but you could have great fun with the police if you ever got stopped... did you know you have a flat tyre sir? which one officer? :-D

I am not even going to start on the Gipsy/Landrover subject....but, not long after I moved from Deeside to here (about 50 miles) I was at a show with a Gipsy and had a very enthusiastic bloke come up and tell me about someone who had a load of Gipsys on Deeside... go figure. As to wild geese I have lost count of the Gipsys I have been told about that turned out to be Champs. We did get a comment last night at the pub. (see pictures in my blog) A kid who had seen us in the car park told Stuart how much he liked his Landrover.

The same principle applies to changing tyre pressures, a softer tyre will have a greater ground contact area = lower ground pressure.