The average steam engine is delightfully high maintenance when it comes to supplying water, coal and people power.
Take the weekend's roll by Celtic Steamers through counties Kilkenny, Carlow and Laois. They had 20 steam engines on the road and a back-up of 80 people.
Top of the participant list were the drivers, followed by those on a vintage fire engine supplying great quantities of water. Up to 800 gallons a day per vehicle, explained Tom Tynan, secretary of Celtic Steamers, and not forgetting vintage tractors supplying coal - about 10 bags of the fuel a day per vehicle.
On this, their latest charity venture, there were also 30 to 40 collectors for the Irish Kidney Association (IKA). Besides being a nostalgic trip to Stradbally, there was a collection to support the IKA's Team Ireland which will travel to Slovenia in late August, to represent Ireland at the European Transplant and Dialysis Games. The team comprises 30 athletes, who have either received organ transplants (including kidney, pancreas, liver) or are undergoing dialysis treatment.
The steam run began in Kilkenny on Thursday. Friday took in Bagnalstown and Leighlinbridge before the entourage arrived in Carlow town. Saturday saw the final leg of the journey as the steam engines travelled through Ballickmoyler and Arles before arriving at Stradbally for the Steam Rally Festival, which the town has hosted every August bank holiday for the past 40 years.
Many overnighted in accompanying vintage "living vans", familiar vehicles to those who recall their inevitable presence anywhere county councilswere doing road works in the past.
"We got great support. Even out in the countryside, you could see the crowds gathering at the crossroads," said Tom Tynan yesterday in Stradbally.
Vehicles from Carlow, Kilkenny, Cork, Wexford and Laois made up the bulk of participants in the charity roll, but there was also a steamroller from Scotland and four steam engines from Co Down.
Celtic Steamers, which was founded in 2001 by a group of steam engine owners and enthusiasts from all over Ireland, raised in excess of €20,000 with their latest venture.
