Our return to Belvoir Castle was thankfully a much less stressful affair than our last visit in 2006, thanks to the weather. This year’s show site was on a different part of the estate, out of sight of the Castle, and was probably the best field used so far, with the ability to shape the field into a rectangle with the benefits that brings to a layout. Camping facilities were tucked easily and unobtrusively out of the way around the perimeter, with most exhibitors being fairly close to their allocated standing.

This enabled the stationary engines, most of the working displays, Road Rescue Recovery Association, fairground, marquees, the military encampments and “tank” rides to be placed around the edge of the field, leaving the centre free for parking of vehicles, trade stands and stalls, and of course, the large Parade Ring. This was centrally placed with easy access for the tractors, steam vehicles and RRRA from one end, motorcycles, cars and commercials from the other. All in all, quite a good layout.

That said, our own section, the Bygones displays were split in two and the relative latecomers such as ourselves were pitched right at the end of the line in one corner of the field, and as a result, did not see that many visitors. However, there was a good selection of displays including several different sets of cast-iron implement seats, likewise 2-gallon petrol cans. Other exhibits included blacksmith’s & wheelwright’s tools, fire-fighting memorabilia, machinery spanners, brass blowlamps, brass fire extinguishers, gramophone & radio collections, Triang pedal cars, oil cans and two new displays for 2008, our own collection of oil company tins and memorabilia, and a collection of old household products, packaging & goods.

As has long been the tradition at Tallington and Belvoir, the motorcycles are housed under cover in a fairly large marquee and this year were arranged in decades from the veterans to the classics. There were some nice veteran machines on display but like our recent visit to the National Motorcycle Museum at Easter, they were parked up quite tight and photography was difficult in the poor light.

The stationary engine section appeared to have just enough room although latecomers and day visitors had to park on a second line behind the early arrivals. The nicest engine for me was the Macleod but there were also some nice working set-ups including a hacksaw on a reduction gearbox and the rare Richmond & Chandler of Manchester root-cutter seen at Rushden.

The Ilkeston Crushers put on their usual excellent display with all the authentic equipment including stone crusher, dumper, Mercury truck and road-rollers, with the end result of a small stretch of roadway, which presumably would be returfed and buried for some future Time Team to puzzle over in years to come. The Vale of Belvoir Machinery Group also put on a display of threshing, baling, chaff cutting and milling, and there were also two wood-sawing demonstrations around the site to watch.

The RRRA had a mainly static display of no less than three rolled artic tankers being righted and dropped by a number of modern recovery vehicles, but there were only a few older machines on display this year. Although the modern machines are impressive and make the job look easy, I feel a display using some AEC Matadors or Militants or similar age vehicles could be just as interesting, perhaps as a contrast to the modern stuff. However, the rows of parked vehicles are always impressive to look at.

The steam section managed a representative selection of most types of engine from portables, road rollers, agricultural & traction engines, road and showman’s locomotives, ploughing engines, steam wagons and even a steam car. There were a number of Foden wagons to be seen plus examples of Sentinel & Yorkshire vehicles.

The fairground to the far side of the beer tent featured classic transport as well as classic rides, and on the way home we had the luck(?) to catch up and follow an old Foden fairground road-train for a while until we could get past. However, as we had the caravan on the back I was not allowed to stop and take a picture of it passing us!

The commercial vehicle sections at the Midlands shows are usually quite good and again Belvoir was no exception. There was a display by REVS to commemorate 75 years of ERF with a wide-ranging display of vehicles. In addition there were the usual displays of heavy haulage tractors including Scammell Highwayman, Constructor & Contractor, plus a rare Rotinoff. There were some other unusual vehicles including the Coors (formerly Bass Museum’s) Daimler bottle promotional van, Thorneycroft Swiftsure, Douglas timber tractor & purple (yes, purple) Seddon 25 van.

The vintage and classic cars were a little cramped for space and could have done with a little more room so you could thread your way around the picnic tables and alfresco dining suites a little easier. Also, quite how some of the vehicles got in and out to the parade ring was a little mystifying but this was the only section to suffer in this respect. There was also an excellent display of Landrovers with many Series I present to commemorate the 60th anniversary of this marque.

The tractors had plenty of room to display the gathering of single cylinder machines including examples of Lanz, Pampa, SFV, Field Marshall & Fowler. There were also some other continental makes such as Ursus, Fahr, Holder & MAN. Not content with that, there was also a special display of International machines but this was a little disappointing with long rows of B275s, 414s, etc.

It’s the policy here to groups machines by make and although this makes it interesting for the knowledgeable enthusiast to compare minor details, the general public lose interest in wandering along incessant lines of red, orange, blue or grey. In fact, it’s a tradition of Belvoir to have a photo taken mid-afternoon looking down a continuous line of same-coloured tractors with hardly a person in sight. Also, because there were club displays from the David Brown club, Rutland NVTEC and Vale of Belvoir Machinery Group, most of the variety was removed from the tractor lines to be present on club stands elsewhere on the field.

As expected at large prestigious events there was a wide variety of trade stands but there was also quite a lot of competition in places, for example, no less than eight diecast model retailers, which is a little surprising considering one of the organisers is in this line himself. Traders always seem to support the large expensive shows but very often don’t want to know about the smaller ones where stall rents can be so much cheaper and with less competition just as lucrative.

Again, this has been quite a long report but this was a very good show with plenty to look at and it took some time to get around to view all sections. I haven’t even talked about the models, crafts, miniature steam and military vehicles. I would definitely recommend a visit next year.