Aveling & Porter roller No. 10718 of 1923 passes the distinctive village sign depicting the importance of agriculture in the area at Buxhall, Suffolk. Mervyn Button is steering while Stuart Hines drives.

With the weather seeming to be settled fair at the beginning of July, I was confidently planning my weekends of steam photography in advance. Looking through Old Glory’s Events Guide for the weekend of July 12/13, one event in particular attracted my attention: The 2nd East Suffolk Road Run – Gone West.
I telephoned organiser Stuart Hines to check that the event was for steam engines. He confirmed that it was and went on to outline the weekend’s itinerary; on the Saturday engines would be travelling ten miles from Wattisham to ‘Granary Crafts’ at Buxhall. On Sunday they would be retracing their tracks to Stowmarket and spending the day at the Museum of East Anglian Life, some would be returning to Wattisham in the afternoon.
Saturday morning dawned and promised another remarkably fine day of weather. Arriving at the outskirts of the Suffolk village of Wattisham, tell-tale clouds of grey coal smoke indicated where I needed to be heading. I discovered the source standing on a forecourt beside a lane off the main road into the village. Three Aveling & Porter engines, a roller and two tractors were gently raising steam.
Turning right, through a gateway, I entered Alan and Stuart Hines’ yard, squinting in the bright sunlight I looked at the scene around me. In front of me, tucked in a corner, a small, authentically liveried Aveling roller was slowly ticking over. To its left was a living van, white with undercoat, to my left, side by side, two Fowler engines, a roller and a small showman’s. Directly behind them a Burrell and a Clayton traction engine. Behind them, under roof cover, a threshing drum, another Burrell traction engine (not in steam) and to their right in the furthest corner of the yard a Ruston traction engine. This scene, reminiscent of an early twentieth century contractors yard, was animated by the engine crew’s polishing, ‘oiling around’ and talking over cups of morning tea.
Stuart and I had a quick whiz round the route. They were using the lanes to wind and weave northwards through the villages of Ringshall and Bottisford Tye, where there would be a lunch stop. Continuing after to the outskirts of Stowmarket, turning left and travelling through Comb Ford, left again onto the B1115, through Great Finborough, right and on to Buxhall. This all happened very rapidly. As Stuart and I talked I tried to look out for interesting photographic locations on the map and guess the direction of the sun later in the day.

Back in the yard, Stuart was preparing Strumpshaw Hall’s roller that he is custodian of during the rally season. I wanted to ask some questions about the day. As we were talking Trevor Wrench joined us. he was introduced to me as fellow ‘co-ordinator’ and ‘tongue-in-cheek’ disclaimer of the responsibility implied by ‘organiser’, this attitude was very much in the spirit of the event - informal and friendly. When I asked if there was any particular reason for the road run the answer was simply ‘to have fun’. Over the previous weekend Stuart had organised a small rally –The Wattisham Hall Steam and Bygones Day - which had been very successful and raised money for charity.
The costs of this weekend’s event were being covered by sponsorship. Each engine advertised its sponsor on a sign-written board suspended unobtrusively from the coal bunker. Trevor stressed to me two important elements of the weekend – slowness and enjoyment.

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