Route 66 - Celebrating EATES 66th anniversary

[EATES]

Looking forward to a year from now, the East Anglian Traction Engine Society is pleased to announce an exciting one-off event to celebrate the 66th anniversary of Britain’s first regional traction engine club.

Building on our reputation for staging very successful road runs, including the legendary Three Counties Road Run in 1997, we have decided to stage another. This time it is a 4-day road run covering 66 miles through Norfolk and into Suffolk. Every mile carefully calculated to coincide with our 66th year and bring a smile to your face.

The East Anglian Traction Engine Society intends to support a number of steam related museums along the route that have suffered from the Covid-19 crisis. This run will also be raising money for MIND, the mental health charity by holding collections along the route and at the various well-planned watering holes.

We are extremely grateful to the organisers of Strumpshaw Steam Rally for allowing us to start the run from Strumpshaw Steam Museum the day after their Spring Bank Holiday Rally, on 1st June, and to the committee of the Woolpit Steam Rally for hosting the final destination of the road run on 4th June, including welcoming all participants to take part in their annual Steam Rally.

The Route-66 run;

Day 1 Tuesday 1st June 2021.
Depart Strumpshaw Steam Museum at 9am- lunch stop at Mulbarton- arrive at Forncett Industrial Steam Museum for first overnight stop. Distance 20 miles.

Day 2 Wednesday 2nd June 2021.
Depart Forncett Steam Museum Lunch Stop at Winfarthing- arrive at the Bressingham Steam Museum for the second overnight stop. Distance 20 miles.

Day 3 Thursday 3rd June 2021.
Depart from Bressingham - lunch stop at Bacton near Stowmarket- arrive at the Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket for third overnight stop. Distance 20 miles.

Day 4
Depart the Museum of East Anglian Life- arrive at the Woolpit Steam Rally for celebratory refreshments by 4pm. Distance 6 miles.

We are grateful to all the museums that we will be stopping at for agreeing to accommodate us, and it is hoped that the general public will be out in force to support both the engines and the museums as they arrive and depart.

The EATES hope to attract in the region of 25 engines to participate in the run and we have purposefully kept the mileage down to a maximum of 20 miles per day to allow any engine to join in from a steam roller to a Sentinel waggon. We would like the run to be an enjoyable event for all and beneficial to not only MIND, but to also the road steam, heritage and tourism scene in East Anglia.

Anyone interested in participating or who would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart Hines, (EATES Chairman) on 07900800241 or chairman@eates.org