Enjoy your own private tour of the Stiching Stoom Festival: an annual celebration of ... more
steam-driven machines that takes place in Almere, Holland. Marvel at the versatility of steam as it powers lovingly restored exhibits - from traction engines and farm ...
Advantages: Fantastic look back at Fred Dibnah's life Disadvantages: None
Fred Dibnah. Man of steam. Getting steamed Up is a very popular Fred Dibnah DVD. I heard someone say: "When they made Fred Dinah, they broke the mould." That's a nice thing to say, a good compliment, really, but it is not quite true. For Fred's sons are equally as passionate able steam preservation as their late father. But that's slightly off the point, here, so on with the review.
This DVD shows many aspects of Fred's life. His fascination with chimneys, his love of steam and also his love of historical building and a stirring belief that we must preserve our industrial heritage for our own and future generations.
Watching Fred swap tales of steam engines and of steeplejacking and jokes with his equally steam mad friends whilst supping ale at what the DVD bills as "the world's largest steam rally" at The Dorset SteamFair is ...
Advantages: Plenty to see and do Disadvantages: Does require a lot of walking
The Annual Great Dorset SteamFair, has been running since 1968 at Tarrant Hinton in Dorset, and for five days each year is the premier tourist attraction in the county.
The Fair has grown to be one of Europe's biggest outdoor shows, covering as it does 600 acres of farmer's fields in Dorset. It is difficult to convey just how big the fair has grown to, but the first glimpse of the site always astounds me as to how much land is taken up. There is a preconception that the fair is purely for those interested in steam power, but it is much more than that. The most common exhibits are the steam traction engines, tractors and farm engines, many of which undertake the purpose they were built for in the showground. There are also scores of musical attractions in the form of fairgorund organs run from steam.
Aside from these core activities ...
Advantages: The interview Disadvantages: Not as good as it should be
fragmentary scraps of commentary that I was able to make out over the extraneous noises that the narrator may very well have had something interesting to say about the trains. A pity, as I will never be able to find out.
However, later the voice of the narrator does become a little more clear at points of the programme, but is still not loud enough or clear enough to be heard over the general ambient noise. A pity, as this did detract from my overall enjoyment of the programme.
However, a number of interesting steam locomotives are seen in the programme (including an example of a preserved US steam locomotive brought to Britain during the war and never sent back home with the rest of the troops! This loco is named after American President, Franklin D, Roosevelt.
At this point, for some bizarre reason, the running commentary somehow seems ...
![Heritage - The Dutch Steam Fair [DVD]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/79809787.jpg)
