(from a woman’s point of view!)

Jasper was subjected to a major grooming session in the days leading up to departure and then loaded into his specially made box for the 4 ½ hour journey north. With the town of ‘Scunthorpe’ more traditionally being associated with its industrial past, flat caps and pigeon racing, we really were a little unsure about what to expect. However, we need not have worried. Normanby Country Park is a beautiful and active park on the outskirts of Scunthorpe. Sited south of the river Humber it appears to capture most of the good weather and the Sweet Pea Rally weekend was no exception with sunshine all the way.

The 1897 ft raised track was completed in 2004 and has been sympathetically laid out around the mature trees in one corner of the park to the rear of the Hall. With its pretty station and a steaming bay to die for, all Sweet Pea owners were in their absolute element. We were met by an overwhelming number of extremely friendly and helpful volunteer members from the Scunthorpe Model Engineering Society (there was a noticeable number of youthful members!). Throughout the whole weekend there was always someone on hand to lift the locos, show you the way or provide any technical assistance required. Most important of all – was the endless supply of tea!

Of course the steaming bay was where it all really happened. The first anxious moments of ‘will it or won’t it behave?’ to the exchange of stories and hot tips on building Sweet Peas. For the most part, all Sweet Peas appeared to run well on the day and the couple that did not were swiftly removed from the track by the ever present ‘volunteers’ back to the steam bay for a post mortem.

The odd one or two had been built for show only and sat on display gleaming in the sunshine for everyone to admire, but most were there to have ‘fun’ on the track and fun they did. Retirement Bridge was built to overcome the difficulties of the fact that there was an old Victorian culvert beneath us. Spark arresters and deflectors came into their own when travelling through the tunnel “with regulator wide open” and with hindsight a pair of plastic safety glasses would have been a very good idea (but Gordon said “it did sound good”). The bends and gradients provided the drivers with an interesting and challenging opportunity to try out their driving skills. However, having spent the last year going like the clappers behind Phil Mortimer’s Britannia at Vivary Park, Scunthorpe’s track was a piece a cake for Gordon and Jasper.

There were over 40 Sweet Peas running over the weekend, therefore, running slots were allocated. Once you had been on the track and ‘cooled down’ most took the opportunity to wander around to look and admire every one else’s handy work. Bearing in mind the Sweet Pea is based on one single basic design it is utterly amazing how no two Sweet Peas looked the same! A temporary wooden ‘display’ track was laid down alongside the steaming bay and as the day went on more and more Sweet Peas found themselves on show here. Of course the locomotives looked at their best when they were on the track, but the display track was a wonderful opportunity to see them lined up alongside one another for all to admire the variations, and provided me (Team Jasper’s official photographer for the weekend) with one of my favourite photographic opportunities (we will overlook the fact that Gordon provided me with a wonderful new digital camera to play with, and DUFF batteries!).

When no one was looking I wondered around to the campsite area to admire some beautiful traction engines which were trundling around the car park quietly having some fun of their own.

Scunthorpe Modelling Engineering Society also hosted a buffet in the evening, which is when the ‘volunteer wives and partners’ appeared on the scene providing food and drink for 150 tired, but happy Sweet Pea Rally participants and in return provided us with the opportunity to thank Wilf Baker and SMES for providing us with a great weekend.

We were lucky enough to be able to do it all over again on Sunday, and undertook to provide the traditional Sunday afternoon rides for local people visiting the park (with 8 locos running at any one time), but the time eventually came when we had to admit the fun was all over and began the long journey home. Gordon is now the proud owner of a commemorative Sweet Pea Rally 2007 mug. However, it is still a matter of ‘discussion’ as to whether this is going to be displayed alongside my figurines in the display cabinet. He WILL lose this argument!

The Sweet Pea Rally is clearly a very popular event with the venues for the next 8 years already selected! 2008 is to be held at Cutteslowe Park in Oxford and ‘Team Jasper’ are already planning their holidays around this. In the meantime, I am campaigning for a motor home for next year so that I can have a larger ‘overnight’ suitcase……………