| HOLE LOAD OF TROUBLE OUR ENGINE YELL'S YARD : 24/08/08 |
| The 2008 event at Fairford was cancelled at the last minute due to heavy rain in the days preceding the event and the forecast of even worse to come. Unfortunately we had already travelled to Fairford and the engine was being stored at local premises alongside a number of other engines.
On Sunday 24th August it was time to move the engine out of the field and back to base, some 30 miles away. An early start was required and by about 7.30am the engine was ready and waiting for the off. Another engine was also leaving the yard at the same time, but unfortunately it sank in front of us as it moved over softish ground. We all chipped in and started digging, blocking, packing etc, but to no avail. Chains were employed on the end of a 4 wheel drive, but again no joy. A search party was dispatched to try and find a tractor, which proved successful and the �stuck� engine was moved with little more fuss. Obviously while all the digging and head scratching was going on we had decided to abort our journey home, but with the arrival of the tractor we decided to use it to firstly pull the road train out of the field. We then moved the engine as far into the gateway as she would go on her own. This was done so that the then pulling tractor could use the hard standing to pull us the rest of the way thus ensuring minimum damage was done to the field. The whole process took about 30 mins and we were soon out on the main road, connected up and off on our journey home. Our thanks to everyone involved including Dave Symons, Brian & Den Smith and the farmer who basically handed over the keys to his 65k machine to a bunch of strangers while he scoffed his breakfast !!! |
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| All Text & Pictures : Matt S Collection Page Updated : 25/08/08 - 14:52 |