Steam powered Kitchen!

Anything you like!
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stuart mackay
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Joined: 01 Mar 2018, 10:38
Location: Swaffham, Norfolk
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Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by stuart mackay »

Here is the proof!
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MaxZ
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Joined: 31 Jan 2019, 11:48
Location: Boskoop, Netherlands

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by MaxZ »

I have only been there twice, but that can only be OW Aerodrome!
Nice piece of machinery, is it yours?
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Mike_K
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 06:35
Location: Hertfordshire

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by Mike_K »

To give some context to Stuart's photo's, the Shuttleworth Collection run an annual "Heritage Day" and vintage airshow at Old Warden where they invite a small number of classic cars, bikes, tractors and steam traction engines to compliment their own collection of vehicles. Most think of the Shuttleworth Collection as just aircraft, but Richard Shuttleworth was an avid collector of all vintage vehicles and indeed the family money was largely made from the family-owned firm Clayton and Shuttleworth who were a large engineering company and are best known for their steam traction engines, but they also built a large number of Sopwith aircraft under licence during the first world war.
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And what a fantastic weekend it was after a week of heavy clouds, rain and strong winds. Usually, my whole family would have come along, but due to other commitments, only me and my son arrived early Friday to set up our caravan and then had a lazy day viewing the Shuttleworth collection and watching most of the aircraft practising for Sunday, nearly as good as the proper airshow! And the Old Warden R/C club were having a normal club flying day in between the full-sized movements, though most were typical artf types, no vintage. If you are a BMFA member and "B cert", they are happy to let you bring your model along and have a fly (I must remember to bring a model in future years). In the evening Shuttleworth put on a BBQ for the exhibitors and the hangars were left open until 8pm for us, we had them virtually to ourselves.
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We were lucky enough to get an invite to exhibit our family 6" (half scale) Burrell traction engine called "Half Pint" for the weekend. Our engine was built to the Plastow drawings by a good friend in 2009 and it is based on an early Burrell general purpose engine from around 1900. At the show there was a similar full-size Burrell, works number 2507 "Pride of Monewden" from 1902 and also two other models based on the Plastow drawings, a 4.5" (37.5%) and a 3" (1/4 scale). It isn't just model aircraft that get built to different scales.
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The Saturday was open to the public and a combination of the additional vintage vehicles and sunny weather drew extra visitors, hopefully enough to encourage them to invite steam traction engines back in future years. But the main day was Sunday when we had a full airshow and Stuart came along and had a ride on our engine before the air show started. Sunny weather and light winds allowed for the display of most of the collection from their Spitfire, Lysander, Gladiator and Polikarpov Po-2 WW2 aircraft, to the 1920s and 30s inter-war years racers like the DH 88 Comet and Mew Gull, WW1 Sopwith Pup, Camel, Triplane, Bristol M.1C and RAF SE5A, then the Edwardian period Bristol Boxkite, Roe Triplane and Blériot, though Stuart tells me that the Blériot got slightly damaged during its attempted flight. The highlight of the weekend for my son was getting an opportunity to take some photos of our engine with his favourite aircraft, the Westland Lysander. After the Lysander had completed its display and had been towed back to the apron outside the hangar, we were allowed to drive our engine up to the Lysander for photos, the staff and volunteer marshals just couldn't have been more helpful and accommodating. The only price was to give one of the volunteer marshals "steam-mad" 6-year-old son a ride on our engine, a small price to pay indeed.
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The date for next years show has already been announced, so if anybody wants to see an airshow with rarely seen aircraft and a good display of vintage vehicles, book now before it's sold out!

Mike
MaxZ
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Joined: 31 Jan 2019, 11:48
Location: Boskoop, Netherlands

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by MaxZ »

Ah, hence the steam powered Kitchen! I couldn't see the common denominator, other than you have to stay away from both if you can't stand the heat :D

I visited one of these events on June 20, 2015. I had a close look at the pictures and videos I took at the time, but there did not seem to be any steam tractors or rollers then. Or they were hiding effectively....
Plenty of vintage cars and motorcycles though, and aeroplanes of course. Lovely event, in spite of the drizzle during most of the day. In the evening the weather cleared, and they got the light stuff out for a spin.

Whenever I visit the UK for holidays I am cramming some aviation museum time in with a preference for the Shuttleworth Collection, but I haven't been there for a while. 2015 was the last time.

Cheers,
Max.
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Mike_K
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 06:35
Location: Hertfordshire

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by Mike_K »

Hi Max

I guess Stuart assumed everybody would know my surname, which is (don't laugh) Kitchen. Yes there are some funny surnames in England!

Mike Kitchen
MaxZ
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Joined: 31 Jan 2019, 11:48
Location: Boskoop, Netherlands

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by MaxZ »

Hi Mike,

Yes, I knew that, but it never occurred to me that you were into steam driven machinery.

Cheers,
Max.
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Mike_K
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Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 06:35
Location: Hertfordshire

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by Mike_K »

MaxZ wrote: 07 Sep 2021, 15:47 Hi Mike,

Yes, I knew that, but it never occurred to me that you were into steam driven machinery.

Cheers,
Max.
It's the whole family that are into steam traction engines, especially my son, rather than me. My son fell in love with steam traction engines aged six and we started regularly visiting steam rallies. This lead to us buying a 4.5" Burrell (4.5 inches to the foot = 37.5%) scale traction engine 12 years ago. Last year the 4.5" scale one needed a new boiler and at the same time the half-scale one came up for sale, so we bought it so the family had something to steam during the covid lock-down (we have 2 hectares of our own fields with our farm-house so plenty of space to drive it around during lock-down). We have now replaced the boiler on the 4.5", so we are now a two steam traction engine family! In previous years (pre-covid), I'd spend half my weekends during the summer at the flying field, the other half at steam rallies and events like last weekend combines the two and is the best of both worlds. But I do look forward to the Autumn when the steam rally season is over and every weekend can be at the flying field.

Mike
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Tobe
Posts: 665
Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 06:19
Location: Varberg or Stockholm, Sweden

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by Tobe »

Mike makes a very important point here, variations and diversifications are essential to enjoy things, some are you doing alone more or less as others involve loved and beloved. Personally I share the see with my boys.
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Cheers,

Tobe
JefO
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Joined: 22 Oct 2022, 22:07

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by JefO »

Mike,
What fuel (specifically) does your traction engine burn?
I have some Coalite smokeless coal, which has been kept warm and dry for the last 21 years, in my parents house.
Have been trying to find someone that can use / burn it...
Jef
jackdaw
Posts: 165
Joined: 16 Feb 2018, 20:30
Location: Wet and Windy North Wales

Re: Steam powered Kitchen!

Post by jackdaw »

"Pride of Monewden" Used to own a share in a PFA home built plane that I flew out of Monewden in Suffolk. Took it to a 'fly-in' in Holland for a long weekend one year. Solo flight over 88 miles of the North Sea, had everything crossed hoping nothing went wrong. The return journey was even more interesting.
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