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Let us for one moment recapture the scene of things 45 years ago, steam
power was by now almost redundant in agriculture, except for a few sets of ploughing
engines still in use.
One local Expert was Mr Doug Yarnell who was at that time a draughtsman at Robey&Co,
he was dedicated to steam power. He had set about the not inconsiderable task of
photographing and listing as many of these surviving engines in the county as he could,
given that there was well over sixty traction and ploughing engine still in existence at
that time. As a result of this he had a considerable working knowledge of the
engine's that were left in Lincolnshire at that time.
Doug was not the only draughtsman at Robey's that had a enthusiasm for preserving the now
redundant traction engine. He and Mr Leslie Spindly spent varying amounts of drawing
office time working out the possibilities of holding a Steam Rally. This was only possible
because Mr Stamp the Head Draughtsman in Robey's drawing office turned a blind eye to the
activities of Doug and Les, the reason why was because Mr Stamp's Grandfather and Father
had been prominent steam contractors in the Market Rasen area and amongst their fleet at
one time was a "Robey Steam Wagon".
Les Spindly made contact with a local North Hykeham farmer Mr Sidney Roe who was also the
Chairman of The Hykeham Playing Fields Association, he was enthusiastic about the idea of a
Steam Rally and readily gave help for it and provided the field for that purpose.
The Society was born on a cold Sunday morning in January 1959, in a field belonging to
Mr Sidney Roe, behind Harrison's Foundry at North Hykeham near to the old A46 main Lincoln
to Newark road. By a group of steam enthusiast's who had assembled to inspect the
field to see if it would be suitable as a venue for a steam rally. Those present included
D. Yarnall, H. I. Spindly, A. Toyne, H. Challands, S. Roe and D. A. Robinson.
Mr Roe indicated that he was prepared to enlist the help of the Hykeham Playing Fields
Association in the form of financial support, to stage the Rally and if it was a
successful Rally, the Association would be suitably rewarded. At this point the rally
committee was formed with the "enginemen" being co-opted on to the committee
almost at "gun-point" to ensure a fair and democratic balance.
During the course of this meeting The Steam Engine Society was formed.
On Saturday May 30th, 1959 Lincolnshire's first Steam Rally was held. The North
Hykeham Traction Engine Rally, it was held as a one day event, Saturday only. The event
was opened by "Elsie Tanner of Coronation Street". The weather that day was sunny
and warm, this in turn brought out the crowds and the event was blessed with a massive
crowd which in turn caused a traffic jam up the then A46.
Some thirty six engines were entered with thirty three there on the day, most of these
being driven there under their own steam (In those days it was all part of the
adventure to drive the engine there under it's own steam and home again). One engine
even came from Cambridge to Lincoln by rail to attend the event.
The Society’s aims have changed very little over the last 45 years since its founding, though the interest's of the members is generally with the traction engine and it’s ancillary equipment in it’s various forms.
Though some members of the society are actively preserving other forms of steam engines such as railway engines,
mill engines and pumping engines as well as traction engines.
The Society holds monthly meetings through the Autumn & Winter months only and offers an interesting programme of talks, films and slide shows.
This is usually on the first Friday evening of each month from October to April each year.
The meetings are currently held at the Village Hall, West Ashby, Horncastle from 8.00pm onwards.
There are no meeting through the summer months as a Friday night is the night that the engine owning members are busy getting their engine to a rally.
The Society also produces it’s own periodical Newsletter for its members.
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