Henham Steam Fair

A nice day on Sunday for a trip out in the MGF to Henham Steam Fair, plenty of sun and no wind. Have the TR7 electrics all disconnected for some welding, but no gas!

Henham was really packed, took me a while to get in with long queue's for the car park, should have turned up earlier.

Plenty to see and do again this year, the show seems to get bigger every year, I had a good old wander round, firstly looking at the boys toys, some good model makers out there.

I also watched the model aircraft flying which was quite good, at one point 2 scale model Lancaster bombers where flying and some seriously quick jet propelled model planes.

Next was the steam area, a large selection of steam rollers, showman's engine and road engines, some of the showman's engines where powering the traditional style fair, whilst other's where connected up to Threshers, circular saws, etc.

Burrel Showman's Engine.

Fowler ploughing engine.

Ransome road tractor.

Steam powered Galloper.

Next up was the commercials and military section, plenty of old commercials on show, I quite liked the Pickfords selection.

I also spotted a Marshalls built 101 Forward Control Landrover, I distinctly remember building these command vehicles quite a few years ago.

Next up was the 2 areas for classic and vintage cars, plenty on view this year.

BMW bubble car.

Coach built Healey.

Next was a quick look round the tractors, must have been a hundred at least.

Fordson tractor.

After this there was still the auto jumble, all the craft stall's, all the dealers with new cars on display and the food tents to visit before a nice drive home in the sun. That's probably it for shows this year, got a fair bit of work to do with the TR7 to keep me busy and we have a couple of runs planned.

Late camping weekend

Just had a late season camping weekend, not the best of weather for this weekend, but still enjoyable.
We had 3 nights camping at Kelling Heath Holiday Park, near Weybourne on the North Norfolk coast with a couple of sports car friends.
Arriving Friday afternoon we soon had the tent up, then spent a pleasant afternoon chilling out with wine followed by lunch in the excellent Kelling Heath restaurant.
We had incessant rain from about 9pm on Friday night, not helping me sleep later on, and after a few drinks the local bushes got some use!
Saturday the rain cleared, but it was still cloudy and overcast. After bacon butties we took to some of the walking trails around the Heath.

Grey skies over the Norfolk coast, view from Kelling Heath, looking
towards Weybourne.

Pleasant footpaths.

The North Norfolk railway was still running steam trains.
Stanier Black 5 running down the bank to Weybourne.

We had another good meal in the restaurant on the Saturday night, entertainment been provided by a talented guitarist/vocalist, some good classics played from Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, etc. With no rain undisturbed sleep came easily that night.

Sunday was a brighter, but windier day, we had a BBQ planned for lunchtime, so again a campers breakfast on the gas stove, morning entertainment by some serial campers packing up who had even brought a hoover with them and hoovered inside their tent. Later we took a further walk around the site, through the woods in a large circle.

After the BBQ I took a trip along to Weybourne station, hoping to catch the B12 running, but no such luck, it was the Black 5 again along with the Class 47 diesel.

Black 5 again, tender first every time I saw it.

Out of service B12 and N2.

Class 37 pulling out of Weybourne.

Weybourne Station.

We all enjoyed a late pizza on Sunday night followed by drinks in the bar, I have to say the facilities at Kelling Heath are very good with restaurant, bars, pizza and pasta bar and coffee shop. The toilet and shower blocks are modern and warm and the site is very well kept. It was not busy or noisy, may be different in season.

Monday dawned sunny and bright, just typical when we had to pack up. After packing the cars Gill and I went picking the abundant blackberries before setting off for home. Good weekend and thanks to those who shared the weekend.

Time to tackle the rust.

It is exactly 10 years 5 months since the TR7 was restored but sadly it has started to show signs of rust over the last couple of years, I expected it to last a bit longer but have to admit I have let it go and should have sorted some of the blemishes sooner.
I thought I had better make a start this week.
Firstly I sorted out the scrape from last year, merely a matter of knocking out the door panel and a couple of spots on rear wing, removing rust, protecting, and filling.

Next was to start tackling where the cill finisher fixings fit in to the front wing, the front hole was very bad, quite perforated, and was easily put through, glad to say the cill underneath this is ok with nice clean painted metal underneath. There was a couple of small rust spots at the cill/wing joint, but again looks ok inside.

I had a bit of rust around the aerial hole, so that was next. Will tackle the rear deck seams later in the week, these where attempted a while ok but have come through again.