Western Sydney Historical Truck Club

2014 Oberon Steam Fest

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Saturday, the day of the street parade was cloudless, fine, hot and sunny.  As I walked along the main street to find a good location to view and photograph the parade there didn’t seem to be as many people as previous years.  But five minutes before 10 am both sides of the street filled quickly with onlookers.  

Right on 10am the pipe band struck up a note from the corner at the southern end of town.  As in previous years, two vintage Rolls Royce followed behind the band.  Next was three traction steam engines.  Sooty’s presence was evident by the plumes of thick black smoke which blanketed everyone and everything.  It also had the most ear piercing whistle.   The B-Double Kenworth timber jinker of Mangan Haulage followed, loaded late on Friday with a load of logs destined for the mill come Monday.
Next came the motorcars.  The vintage, classic and modern, representing various enthusiast clubs.  I saw Slim Rusty riding his push bike and singing a ballad or two.
From the north end of town a convoy of tractors, some restored to former glory and some in their working clothes with rusty battled scarred panels rattled down the road.  From my vantage point the continuous line of tractors that melded into a long line of military vehicles which included a massive track-type bull dozer and a handful of tanks.  The Centurian tank took up all of its lane on the roadway and the driver had to constantly correct its path so as to not run over spectators or oncoming traffic.  Eventually the vintage and classic trucks made their presence known, rumbling along at walking pace and blasting their horns.  
Back at the show ground there were stalls lined up along the entry road vying for everyone business.  Opposite these stalls was a display of military fire power which made unsuspecting shoppers jump in fright when the operator let off a round ammunition.    

At the end of the street parade all the vehicles were parked in neat rows at the showground.  This is where a closer inspection revealed some interesting things about particular vehicles.  For example: the Centurian tank had armour plate body panels about ¾” thick which would have made panel beating a difficult exercise.  Well… that is if you are precious about dents and scratches on your paintwork.    The red Scammel was a huge truck. It dwarfed the Mack B61 beside it.    Joe Refalo’s restored Republic looked magnificent in its yellow and black paintwork.
While I wandered around looking at the cars on display the Scots School Pipe Band performed.  I’m not into cars as much as I am the trucks but the standard and presentation of the cars was magnificent and a tribute to their owners. In fact the whole show was set out very well and most importantly there were no black clouds hanging around threatening a wash out.  Next year, God willing, there will be a new entrant to the show, just to add some extra class!