The East Anglian Railway Museum’s Transport Extravaganza is an annual celebration of the history of transport in this country.
I had the pleasure of going to this event before in 2022, the article from which you can read here: https://motorsportformentalhealth.com/2022/05/30/east-anglian-railway-museum-transport-extravaganza-2022/. In that article I cover the restoration shed, which I didn’t this time, and you can see pictures of their resident Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 steam locomotive, which was running all day but for some reason I didn’t get a picture of.
Now, to start this article properly I have to say that this is show is phenomenal value for money and by far the best organised show I’ve been to in a long time.
Lets start with the trains.
In comparison to some heritage railways the EARM only has a relatively short run, but they absolutely used it to it’s full potential.
There were three trains running all day on a tight timetable. The first was a Class 04 diesel locomotive pulling two British Rail Mark 1 coaches, which ran from the museums main platform by the main line (as seen below).
The second was this BR Railbus which ran from a second platform further back in the museum.
The third was a goods train pulled by the Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 steam locomotive. It consisted of the locomotive, a cattle van, then two open wagons which housed benches for people to sit in and then a Great Western brake van.
That was brilliant!
Firstly, the train left from the platform inside the goods shed which I thought was a nice touch, and riding in the open wagons meant that you get the full steam train experience with the noises and smells. It was really fun!
These three trains were on a constant rotating time table all day. So if you just wanted to watch the trains go past for a while, there would always be something moving.
There were also a number of vintage buses giving rides to the nearby village of Bures and back. The North Essex/South Suffolk border is a really pretty area to have a ride through, so these were popular all day.
Of course the main draw for me was the car show. There was a nice little array of cars on display including a number of pre-war cars.
There were a pair of Second World War era Austin K2 trucks. One was an ambulance and the other used by the RAF. There was a photo album in the ambulance documenting its’ restoration. Fantastic work!
Here we have a nice little line up of Triumph Stags.
Here in Essex, Fords are always popular. Ford were a big employer in the area back in the day – between the HQ building at Warley, the plant in Dagenham and the research and development site at Dunton.
Two of their American cousins – A Ford Fairlane and Thunderbird.
A pair of unusual Toyotas – a Celica and a Carina. It’s always nice to see Japanese classics at local shows.
East Germany’s finest – the Trabant 601 in a very 1970s green.
The Scammell Scarab was probably the most ‘in theme’ vehicle of the day. Scarabs were used by British Rail for completing deliveries in built up areas, once the goods had come off of the train. For example British Rail offered a furniture moving service if you were moving house. All the furniture would be packed onto a container on the back of a Scarab and driven to the train station where the container would be lifted onto a flat bed cargo wagon. The train would then take the container to the station nearest the destination, where another Scarab would take it to the customer’s new house.
A little bit of a gallery of some of the other cars in the show:
Finally, my favourite car of the show was this Royal Mail Austin Maestro van. I love things that are a little bit different and this certainly fits the bill! By the looks of the ones the posties drive where I live, Royal Mail vans tend to have a hard life, so it’s cool that this one has not only been saved but restored and used for shows.
All-in-all it was a really nice day out! If you have the opportunity to go to the EARM, even on a non event day, then I highly recommend it as it’s a great little museum. If you do want to do an event day there, I’d say the Transport Extravaganza is one to keep your diary open for. Very well organised and great value for money. It’s a 10/10 from me!
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By Richard Francis
