Following MarkT's beautiful steam build got me thinking of yesteryear.
When I was 2nd year apprentice (1979), we had been given a project to restore an old steam fire engine. It had languished in an old barn for years and years and was in a sorry state. But after 12 months hard work, all done on site, she was fully restored to full working condition. Every part was stripped down, cleaned, remanafactured if needed. Even the paint work was stripped back, well over 12 layers, we found the original colours and name - THORNEY. Some bod in HR did some digging and dignetaries came and went. All very nicey nicey. The best part was its first public appearance with local firefighters dressed in period uniform with 4 horses charging into the arena at a local fete, smoke and ash flying everywhere, then they squirted water everywhere, absolute mayhem. Kids loved, we (apprentices) loved it and the firefighters loved it, even though they where black from head to foot, wet through, thoroughly exhausted, plus they now had to clean the engine as it now stands in the entrance to Beds fire and rescue HQ, well it did when I lived there 17 years ago.
Enough waffling.......one of the few pics i could find of her, long before the digital age!
