Stringy Bark Festival 2004 Page : [ 1 ] - 2 -
On 23rd and 24th of October, the Stringy Bark festival was on in Knox at the Rowville Community Centre. This a small regional show with animals, rides, bazaar/fete stalls, food stalls and loads of engines. Saturday was damp (good thing I did not go - I was in Ballarat) but on the day of my attendance, Sunday, the sun was out and we had a great day for it. Emerald & District Vintage Machinery Group and MSTEC put on displays of stationary engine and steam engines. The food, while good and in great variety was disappointing in that they were charging closed-venue prices. $3.50 for a can of drink! For the most part the show was excellent and a nice relaxed rally for the respective clubs where a little fun could be had. I got the Ottawa running (finally) with help from club mates (thanks!). The weekend was marred when one of our older members was taken sick and went to hospital. The show organisers fell over themselves to be helpful.


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This is what the shows are for. Displaying your engines and having a good yack with your mates. I prefer the smaller shows as this atmosphere is often missing in the bustle bustle of the bigger events.


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Here are a couple of really nicely presented blackstones. Really top work by our club members on these ones.


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A Cooper (Stover) CT-2. Purred along happily most of the day only stopped by a fouled plug at one point.


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I got my Ottawa TE4 HP going after much work in the lead up to this show (thanks for the machining Stan!) and thanks to Nick who helped with the timing problem I was having. The engine gets very hot and is still running a little fast and the welded up head is weeping a bit... Oh well... stuff to fix next weekend at Goldsmith!


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Moffat Virtue vertical. This one was a little tempramental preferred to relax its old bones in the sun.


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Nice little Petter 2 stroke engine. I love the sound these things make - totally unique.


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Gray Fergy plus a couple of horse drawn plougs.


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Morris Van - the only club members vehicle allowed in our compound because it is just as old as our engines.


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A model steam traction engine whose expert driver threaded his way through the crowds giving rides to little (and a few really big) kids. I was amazed how many times people just would not get out of his way. Update: David Everett contacted me with the following interesting information: You might be interested to know that the model traction engine (IMG 868) is in fact a Garrett Suffolk Punch and looks to be a 4" scale version. The one full size survivor is in Garrett's Museum in Suffolk (UK) and is appropriately named 'The Joker'. By the time this tractor was developed, the Infernal Combustion engine was already making deep inroads into steam supremacy and it was not a commercial success.

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