Mudgee 2001 by Patrick Livingstone

Subject: Mudgee Rally Report Pt.1
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 21:26:09 +1000
From: "Patrick M Livingstone" pml@bigpond.com

Home again after a great time up in Mudgee. I left Thursday afternoon with the Eclipse (and model) and the Little Kangaroo. A little under four hours later (after a drive through some pretty spectacular countryside) I arrived at Edd's place at Gulgong. Thursday night was spent watching engine videos and telling very truthful stories :) Anyone who has been to Edd's will know that he only has a little house with a big shed. So 6 engine guys camping there made it interesting. Cam and I had the bunk beds in the back room, two slept in the engine shed (with a big gas heater) and two had a caravan on the lawn.

Friday morning greeted us with a thick frost and a nice misty fog. My old Ford did not want to start (stuck solenoid) but we were soon on our way to the felid days site. We had to be in before 8.30 so there was still heavy fog by the time we were at Mudgee.

Lots of nice engines on display. Edd had the Allen, the sweetly running 6hp Austral, and the ever reliable Galloway. Cam had his beautifully restored Associated and his recently finished IHC M 1.5hp which after some Edd attention (henceforth known as the engine whisperer) was running as sweetly as any M I have ever seen. I finally met Barry Stait who had his little Rosebery engine and a vertical Southern Cross.

Amongst the other engines on Friday were a Cooper W, Hornsby, Crossley, SunDiesel, Lister, F-M Eclipse No.1 (Later style), Invincible (Australian made copy of the Stover vertical). The absolute scene stealer was a Frisco Standard vertical, open-crank (four poster) engine. This is the slowest, smoothest, running engine I have ever seen and ran all day without a problem. I was very impressed.

Friday night those of us staying at Edd's headed back to Gulgong (after draining our engines as a frost was certain) for a BBQ and bullsh** session. We now had seven at Edd's (an extra for the shed). It was a great nigh with much starting of engines, looking at engines, drinking beer and other intoxicating liquids, looking at more engines, talking about engines.... you get the picture. I crashed out about midnight and Cam thinks the guys were still going out in the shed until about 3am :)

This morning we were greeted by another thick frost (but the Ford started first try, even though the ice on the bonnet/hood took 20 minutes to melt), and many slow moving engine guys. We left a bit later (as the engines were already unloaded) but by about 9am all the engines were running again. A few more engines were on hand today. Some of the additions were, two Sundex engines, Cooper/Stover K 2hp and 3hp, a Champion 4hp, one of the very first 4hp K Buzacotts built, a 1.5hp Massey-Harris Type2, a Gilson, and a very nice 6hp Ruston Hornsby PB. A few engines were not running as well as they should but after a brief visit from 'The Engine Whisperer' all was well. I could almost hear his secret words but the only bit I could discern was "C'mon you little *****". Perhaps it is best if we leave a little mystery :)

Edd also had the rebuilt carby for the 12hp R&V finished. He has done an excellent job considering the poor condition of the carby start with. Basically anything in it that was steel was shot. So another piece of the big R&V jigsaw puzzle in place.

The only trouble with having the engine display at the field days are all the goodies you can come home with. My buy of the trip was a nice set of AF taps and dies as I did not have any. I was not going to spend any money but they were a bargain, honest.

A bit slower trip home due to heavy traffic and the engines are still on the trailer until tomorrow. It was a great few days spent with nice engines and great people.

Life is good. Pictures from this rally are available at http://www.oldengine.org/members/pml/mudgee011.html

Patrick M Livingstone
Leichhardt NSW
pml@bigpond.com
http://www.oldengine.org/members/pml/Index.html
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pml/

This article is © Copyright 2001 Patrick M. Livingstone All Rights Reserved.