The South Canterbury Traction Engine Club held their 50th Anniversary on the 19th and 20th of April 2014 at the Winchester Domain.
Easter 2014 started off with the remains of Tropical Cyclone Ita dumping about 6 inches of rain on Thurdsay night and Good Friday afternoon. Westport and Greymouth felt the full fury of this storm whilst farmers in many parts of the country welcomed the rain.
The rain had softened the ground at Winchester somewhat and did cause a few problems as you will see later but the the day was dry and the crowds came out.
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| Driver tending his engine |
Steam shrouded governor
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| Brass fittings |
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Heavy flywheel
Shot details: f/14, 1/15s ISO-200 at 35mm |
Around 10 traction engines were on display. Manufactures in England supplied hundreds of engines which revolutionised agriculture in New Zealand. Engines on display here included those made by Fowler, Aveling and Porter, Burrell, McLaren, and Marshall.
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| Burrell engine |
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| Burrell headlight |
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| Two Marshalls |
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| Model Marshall steam cylinder |
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| 8 H.P. McLaren |
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| McLaren drivers |
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| Aveling and Porter engine with electrical generator in front of the smoke stack. |
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| Scale model Fowler |
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| Stoking the mini Fowler |
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| Stuck Burrell |
The Burrell was on its way to provide the power for a threshing mill when the cleets on its driving wheels became clogged with mud. The John Deer made short work of its rescue mission.
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| Threshing mill demo. |
The site of this demonstration reminded me of stories my father told me when he worked on such mills around the Rakaia / Chertsey area prior to World War 2. Once operating at full speed these mills could turn out large quanties of grain per hour. This kept the bagging crew busy provided the sheaves were fed in as fast as the mill could take them.
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| Engine driver of the Burrell keeping the mill going |
One of the last shows of the day was the perfromance of the West Otago Dancing Tractor Club. The "ladies" having their part to play - ladies wheel to the right, gents to the left.
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| West Otago Dancing Tractors |
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| Taking a bow |
Several displays of stationary engines steam powered by a traction engine were also on show. Some of the engines would have been used in milking sheds and also running the shearing machines.
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| Half a dozen engines running off a small steam pipe from the big engine. |
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| Loving care keeps these old machines running perfectly. |
