The 2008 Lincolnshire Steam & Vintage Rally was another spectacular show with several outstanding entries, including the Thomson Brothers aircraft refueller, the scale model of the Hornsby Chain Track Tractor with its trio of wagons, the Franklin sedan and the Italian-built Tigi two-seater car, based on Mini components. There were superb entries and mega variety in all classes, and even the weather didn’t dampen the atmosphere for spectators, with the rain falling overnight & early on Sunday morning.

Nevertheless, the weather did have an impact on some of the traders for those in some of the middle rows of stalls did unfortunately get swamped in the night, and several had to dry out their wares come Sunday morning. The new Epic Centre was not in use for the rally so for now the inside model and bygones displays continue to be housed in the old halls. The move away from circus to fairground models witnessed last year seems to have carried on, but there were also some great scratch-built transport models and dioramas, as well as the excellent Meccano displays.

The newly repositioned clock tower in the middle of the tractor lines added a little extra interest to what is a good quality but dare I say a little bland selection of tractors. There are virtually no veteran tractors at this event with very few pre-WWII machines. The horticultural section is always well supported but I can’t recall seeing a Barford Atom in its home county.

With such huge numbers in the stationary engine section, I looked out for working displays this year and with several different cattle-cake breakers, flour mills, root cutters and pulpers, numerous water-pumps and a novel grinding wheel set-up, I was not disappointed. Credit due to the gentleman who brought along the self-powered water-pump for cattle – the cow wanders up, nudges the lever with its nose, and pumps its own fresh water direct from the supply, be it spring, well, lake or reservoir.

The fairground offered more-or-less the same selection of rides and attractions as 2007 but this year most of the showmen’s engines made it up to the fair to add some atmosphere, alongside a few period lorries. The wood sawing demo bridged the gap between the fair and the bygones section which saw a few new additions, including yet another vintage caravan, the Oxo collection and a selection of camping stoves.

Next up were the miniature steam and models with an excellent selection of stuff, including the afore-mentioned Hornsby model, a multitude of scale lorries and even one or two items of plant. Further on, there were some very interesting motorcycles with several different and very flamboyant Indians amongst the more restrained veteran British marques. The military section didn’t have quite as many prime movers this year, with a move towards smaller jeeps, staff cars, etc.

On the verge of the Midlands, Lincoln brings out some very nice commercials and with several of the southern hauliers gradually moving their bases northwards into Lincolnshire, there is even more variety. Atkinsons seem to be the “in” make at the moment with several owners using them as motive power to haul both other vehicles and living accommodation, which can be quite palatial. The Castrol-liveried Atkinson tanker was my favourite of the weekend this year. A small selection of fire appliances bridged the gap between the commercials and the cars.

Again, there was a huge variety of vehicles on display amongst the cars from the Model T Ford right up to the 1970s VW Beetle. There was a selection of Americana from the 1927 Franklin through the crew-cabbed Chevy pick-up to the Cadillac. British sports cars were also out in numbers and this year the cars were arranged up to three deep in places.

The now established practice of lining up the steam engines up in front of their low-loaders proved well-based again this year as standing water in part of the parade arena curtailed the parades on Sunday. Only at Dorset have I seen a greater number of steamers in any one place, and the engine names run of the tongue as a who’s-who of preserved steam. Mtoto, The Leader, Monarch, The Muddler, Yorkshire Belle, Puffin Billy and Old Nick are all familiar names to engine-men up and down the country, and they are only a small selection of what was on show.

Lastly, one could feast your ears on a vast number of large organs including Gavioli, Marenghi, Limonaire, Mortier, Verbeeck, Gasparini, Bruder, Decap and Van Eyk. You are hardly ever out of earshot of an organ at Lincoln and their tunes carry you around the site on a wave of nostalgia.