Bowes Railway/Springwell
Village 1940s Weekend -
June 25th
Since I was at the Breighton Aerodrome vintage aircraft fly-in on
Saturday the 24th, we only did one day at Bowes on Sunday. The weather
forecast was looking good for most of the day, but there were
thunderstorms due late afternoon. I didn't fancy trying to pack the
Dodge canvas away in a thunderstorm when I got home, so decided to just
take the Jeep, as that would be quick to put back in the garage.
Bowes is a fairly small village event and so there were only around ten
vehicles there and half a dozen displays and dioramas. Amongst them were
a Kubelwagon and BMW bike and side car. There was one classic car, a few
other Jeeps and a Dodge.
In the court yard, there were several dioramas, including the French
resistance, Beach Assault display and a German camp.
While I didn't take any photos of the Wizz Bangs vehicles and display, I
did shoot some video of their weapons demonstrations. The video is
below, along with additional pictures of the Africa Corps Kubelwagon and
bike.
The event is spread around the village, with the other main focus at the
village community centre. However there were a number of other locations
with things going on across the weekend including an England v Germany
football match. We had a wander along to the village and I got these
pictures of the overgrown rail yard and line on the way back. Their
steam loco has run at previous events, but for the last few years it
hasn't operated as the boiler certificate expired. It will be a lengthy
and expensive task to put it back into operation and I don't know if the
museum has the funds.
With the thunderstorm due around 3pm, the battle in the rail yard was
held at 2pm. Everyone started packing up around 3pm and we set off for
home soon after, thankfully beating the rain and getting the Jeep packed
away in the dry.