[SEL] Rusty Iron Rally

[Patrick M Livingstone]

I went for a trip on the weekend to attend the Rusty Iron Rally in
Macksville for the first time. I had to work Friday night so I left around
2.30am Saturday morning in the new tow vehicle (Nissan Navara Turbo-Diesel).
I arrived five hours later after an uneventful trip and unloaded the Austral
and the 1hp R&V.
It was a much bigger rally than I expected with a lot of nice engines,
tractors, steam engines, steam boats, vintage cars, trucks etc. 
There were various Tangyes, Hornsbys, Blackstones, IHC engines, Aussie made
engines, Fairbanks-Morses, a couple of R&Vs (it keeps Peter Lowe happy), and
lots of others. 
I caught up with a lot of engine friends and there was a good turn out of
list members. It was great to catch up with Peter and Brad as I seldom get
to see the northerners ;)
I would guess that around 300 people would have been at the Saturday night
dinner at the Macksville RSL and the meal was very good. Peter won a trophy
for his R&V and one for Kaye's Maytag. I think the R&V trophy was for worlds
slowest paint job ;) 
Since I had been up since 1.30am I had no trouble getting to sleep that
night.
Sunday was another great day with lots of events in the arena and a flyover
of antique aircraft. I shut the engines down after lunch and was loaded and
on the road by 2pm. The trip home was a lot more interesting than the trip
up there. I drove into a large storm which at first was torrential rain and
then became drizzle, fog and 8 inches of ice on the ground from the hail
storm I had just missed. Lots of cars were slipping and sliding (sometimes
off the road) but the big Nissan handled the conditions well.
I eventually got home and put the trailer away leaving the car out the
front. More hail arrived so I was madly throwing any soft covers I could
find over the Nissan as it is only a week old!
My favourite engine at the rally would have to be the 28hp Tangye Portable
which was just enormous and ran like a clock. My other favourite would be
the Waterous self propelled portable steam engine.
I will not be missing the Rusty Iron rally next year. Almost as good as a
National Rally and a lot more relaxed.  

Patrick M Livingstone
Leichhardt NSW
http://www.oldengine.org/members/pml/Index.html
http://www.users.bigpond.com/pml/