Great Dorset Steam Fair 2010

Smell the sawdust, sniff the sulphurous smoke - it's the Great Dorset Steam Fair

The Great Dorset Steam Fair never ceases to amaze me. For years I thought the last one was better than ever and then one year it was merely as good as the last one. I can't remember why but that was when I had a little break from attending. Last year was my first visit for some years and I loved it. This year I whizzed up and back again in a day with one of my neighbours - "up" because we live in Cornwall. There was a good deal of "across", too. Anyway, the GDSF hadn't lost its magic.

I could watch wood sawing for ages

I always like the themes at the GDSF and when a certain manufacturer is featured, such as McLaren this year, you get a real sense of their product range and the development of their designs.

This year's theme was Big Macs. As many McLaren engines as possible were on display and there were all the usual GDSF sights, sounds and smells to savour, like the tractor pulling, the motorcycle tent and the commercial vehicles. I don't know why but Vintage Thing rallies don't seem to cater for our heavy haulage heritage like the GDSF does.

I liked this ERF. It's been artfully converted into living accommodation. A very nice lady popped came out of the glazed door just as I was about to take this snap away but she wouldn't have spoilt the picture.

Usually, trucks and buses are very thin on the ground at our local dos but just as worthy of preservation. You'd need a big shed to put them in but then you'd need one for a steam engine and a lorry will get you there while a steam engine usually needs an artic to attend a show. Trucks can be just as striking in terms of design as a car or bike and some coaches look superb.

The motorbikes were varied, too. Much as I like Nortons, BSAs and Triumphs, really rare bikes are - er - really rare. When was the last time you saw a Levis, or an EMC, or an OK Supreme, and talked to its owner?

But the GDSF is really about steam engines and the McLaren exhibits were brilliant. Some were old friends but others were restoration projects that defied belief.

This McLaren was rescued from an New Zealand river bed. It had been dumped there to stabilise the bank and after about 50 years its flywheel and chimney stump became visible. It was pulled out again in 1981, along with an early Fowler traction engine. This is the restored locomotive - all that remain of the original are the cylinder block and crank. the rest has been recreated using the worn out parts as patterns.

Reading about these engines brought home to me how owners and restorers shared information to get an engine restored. A recurring theme was the loan of parts from one complete engine to make another out of scratch for one that was incomplete. The timescales were hugely impressive, too. How about 28 months to restore a McLaren road locomotive from a bare boiler, cylinder block and trunk guide?

Also on display in the nearby tents were examples of crankshafts being straightened (although how one could bend such a thing in the first place was an unanswered question) and the fascinating world of cutting new gears.

This engine is truly remarkable. There is still some degree of doubt but this is most likely to be McLaren works number 2. It lay abandoned in the bush of Australia for many years so avoiding being cut up until traction engines became worth far more than their weight in scrap.

So now I'm wondering if the organisers can maintain this sort of standard for next year's GDSF.