Yorkshire Military Vehicle Trust Crank Up at York Castle - April 14th It was an early start to the day, setting off from home at 07:50 hours, for the journey south to Tadcaster; the meeting point for the convoy into York. It was a nice bright sunny day, 'though quite breezy. However, the route was quiet and it was a nice drive, cutting through the country lanes to avoid the fast roads.

It took about two and a quarter hours to do the seventy seven miles to Tadcaster, where there were already several vehicles of all sizes, parked up, waiting for the start at 10:30.


There must have been at least thirty to forty vehicles in the convoy, trundling along at around 30 mph, so it took us around thirty minutes to make the ten and a half mile trip from Tadcaster to the Green at York Castle.

The vehicles were parked up mostly on the side towards the castle, due to a number of picnic benches on the opposite side of the green. The large and heavy vehicles like the halftracks and Corbitt wrecker were parked up on the road around the Green.

Having the Castle on a mound next to the Green, gave a good vantage point to photograph the whole group. Including motorcycles and a para bike, there were sixty vehicles in attendance. That was a good number, but not the record, which stands at eighty five in 2015.

The Crank Up is the Yorkshire Area's first official vehicle event of the year, 'though many members get their vehicles out all year around. What is great about the meet was the variety of vehicles in attendance and that it's free for members of the public to see them all at this location.


While the majority of vehicles were Jeeps, there's a good mix of all sorts, both WW2 and Post War.


Most people stay until about mid afternoon, before people start to drift away.

I think I left somewhere around 15:00 hours, since I had another two hour trip ahead of me. Closer to home, one of the fields that usually has a small lake, had a huge lake, due to the amount of rain we've had since the turn of the year. Since January, if it hasn't been blowing a storm force gale, it's been chucking the Atlantic Ocean on us!

I stopped briefly on the way home on the Darlington ring road. Along side the road, there's a brick sculpture of a Gresley A4 Pacific locomotive. February 2024 marked the 85th anniversary of the A4 "Mallard", setting the world speed record for a steam locomotive at 126mph. I got back home at 17:14 hours, rather tired, but having had a grand day out.

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