I did have a great weekend at the Chester-le-Street Steam Fair in the grounds of the Lambton Estate, however, it wasn't smooth sailing from even before I set off. It began on Friday, while assembling the Dodge roof and I caught two fingers on a sharp piece of wood and sliced two gashes across my knuckles. They've been opening up every time I used my hand. Despite the injuries, I got there mid afternoon and melted as I set up my tent in the roasting afternoon heat. Allocated space was going to be a bit tight on Saturday, so I squeezed all my boxes and Jerrycans in front of the Dodge and trailer.

There were about 22 military vehicles there on Saturday and a few less on Sunday. Most were in a row as seen below with camping behind the vehicles. A few other vehicles were displayed in dioramas elsewhere on the site. I had a quick wander around the site on Friday evening, but not everything had arrived and other stuff was under cover for the night.


Being a steam rally, there were a good selection of fullsize traction engines, miniature traction engines and static engines on show. In addition, there were a wide range of classic cars and trucks. All of the vehicles and dioramas had their own areas around the 50 acre show site.


The dioramas and re-enactors weren't all just World War 2, but across a range of time periods, many doing displays in the arena.

Late afternoon on Saturday, it was the turn of the military vehicles to display in the arena. A couple of laps around the arena and then interviewed about the vehicles so the public could get a little more background knowledge about each one. The Dodge wasn't running very smoothly and felt like it was going to die if it remained on idle too long. I put it down to fuel vapourisation in the very hot weather. Wifey and daughter dropped by the show for a little while during the afternoon and during our wander, I lost my camera lens cap through a hole in the pocket of my HBT trousers. I was annoyed. I almost lost my phone too, but that fell out near the truck, which is when I discovered the hole. Washing up after tea, I managed to slice my left hand open on a sharp edge on the grill pan! Things weren't going well this weekend. My luck changed later in the evening when I went for a wander again, walking the same route I had with wifey. Towards the end of the walk, near the static engines, I found my lens cap!


On Sunday, there was another military vehicle parade, but I decided to miss it due to the problems of the previous day. Since there were a few less vehicles there, the K2 ambulance moved over and I had a little more space to spread out my display.

I packed up my tent straight after breakfast, as Sunday was forecast to be even hotter and I didn't want to be packing it up at the hottest part of the day. There was a huge rush of public and exhibitors through the gate at the end of the day, so a few of us hung around for a while until the traffic eased. Eventually it was time to leave, so I go to start the Dodge and it fires, coughs, splutters, revs and dies - then wouldn't restart. Just what I needed at the end of a hot and tiring weekend. Despite only fitting a new condenser earlier in the year along with the new plugs, I suspected the condenser was the issue. There was virtually no spark at the lead or points, so the dizzy was stripped and a new condenser fitted. This time the Dodge roared to life and the idle was smooth and steady. The drive out of the site was a different route to the entrance and was a nice drive through the private estate of Lord Lambton. A couple of pictures and dashcam video are shown below. The trip home was uneventful. Once home, the Jeep had to come out of the garage so that the trailer could go in at the back of the garage. Over recent weeks, with the Dodge pulling the trailer quite a bit, the trailer was left at the front of the garage. Next week, I need the Jeep for the Breighton Aerodrome 1940s weekend, so the trailer was put away at the back again so the Jeep was easily accessible.