Close your eyes, breathe in deeply and smell the wonderful aroma of steam engines.

The South Tyne Traction Engine Society’s big event – the annual vintage rally at Tynedale Park, Corbridge is one of the highlights of the local calendar and like so many others it had to be cancelled this year due to coronavirus.

The society was formed in 1977 by like-minded people interested in steam vehicles, commercial vehicles, cars, tractors, motor cycles and other machinery.

And thanks to their passion for the past, wonderful relics which otherwise would have been consigned to the scrap heap have been kept in perfect working order for us to enjoy today.

|The sights, sounds and smells at the rally are something to marvel at and bring back memories of the glory days of British engineering when iron works like Marshall and Sons in Gainsborough used to produce mammoth steam engines and agricultural machines.

They were all work horses of their day, but now are much sought after by avid collectors and fetch a high price.

The golden age of British motorcycling is also well represented at the rally with the thump, thump, thump, noises of singles making their way around the parade ground, coming from bikes made by firms which were once household names – BSA, Ariel, AJS, Matchless, Douglas and if you could afford them – Broughs and Vincents.

There’s all that and a lot more to look forward so make a date in your diary for next year’s rally which has been scheduled for Saturday, June 12 and Sunday, June 13, 2021.