Steam Fair A Success

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Now in its 49th year, the Great Dorset Steam Fair was expected to be a quiet one, but this superb event turned out to be excellent – with good weather, so much going on and an excellent crowd each day, says Peter Love.

The Fordson display was excellent, however the planned MoM tractor did not turn up, which was a disappointment, but seeing the Belle City-made Johnson 1925 Fordson F Trackpull crawler was something else.

There were also a raft of rare machines in the F section of the display, like the two Moline row crop Fs with John Sinkinson of Southampton's example the oldest. Les Clark's ex-Jim Erdle example was now running and was a good buy all things considered. The Harris clan supported the event well with a fine line of Fs including the Wehr grader and roller, as well as the Trackson D crane. Geoff Gurney was displaying his 1924 Had field-Penfield F half-track.

Phillip Ireland took along a raft of machines including his ex-Reynolds collection 1927 example, which included a repair to the fuel tank, thanks to a bullet hole! This tractor is featured in Stuart Gibbard's book