Steam Festival

Line up of steam tractors at the Great Dorset Steam Fair , the largest steam festival in the world

Lineup of steam vehicles at the Stoke Goldington Steam Rally

A steam Festival , shortly Steam Festival , also steam meeting or Dampftag (s) called, is a event in which historical, steam, power -driven vehicles and machines are shown. Most of the vehicles shown are non-rail land vehicles ; Rail vehicles ( steam locomotives, etc.) and / or steam ships are also less common . To distinguish from similar events for steam trains and ships, the terms street steam festival , steam (loko) mobile festival or steam engine festival are also used.

In contrast to museums, which show comparable vehicles and machines permanently, but usually only preserved when they are at a standstill, these are usually fully functional at steam festivals and are also demonstrated in operation.

Steam meetings are often combined with veterans meetings for other " oldtimers " (not powered by steam, but by internal combustion engines) , in particular " Bulldog " tractors or other commercial vehicles .

Popular festivals are steam, particularly in the UK , (where the mother country of steam engines English rally steam or steam fair called), but also in the Netherlands . Large events there are attended by more than a hundred thousand people. The largest events in German-speaking countries reach more than ten thousand visitors.

Procedure and content

At steam festivals, the exhibitors - usually private enthusiasts, sometimes also corresponding associations - show their "steam pods" , steam-powered historic vehicles and machines:

Steam tractors
Steamrollers
Steam car
Locomobiles , often in combination with powered machines and devices such as threshing machines , saws , forging hammers, etc. Ä.
Plow locomotives , sometimes with a demonstration of steam plowing
Roadworthy / functional “live steam” models of the above-mentioned vehicles and machines (scale usually 1: 8 to 1: 2), including garden and park railways
other historical, steam-powered vehicles and devices ( carousels , steam organs , ...)

Parade of steam vehicles
Demonstration of a saw with a traction engine
Steam plow demonstration
Model steam tractor with crane (scale 1: 3)

List of famous steam festivals

The following list contains - without claiming to be exhaustive - some nationally known, regularly held steam festivals:

country	region	Place, organizer	Name of the festival	meeting	for year	Remarks
Germany Germany	Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg	Mannheim , in the State Museum for Technology and Work TECHNOSEUM	Mannheim steam	annually (September)	2006	Focus on live steam models
		Kürnbach, in the museum village of Kürnbach	Kürnbacher Steam Festival "Under full steam!"	annually (June)	1998
		Seifertshofen , at the Swabian Farm and Technology Museum	Seifertshofener Lanz Bulldog & Steam Festival	annually (beginning of September)	1981
	Bavaria Bavaria	Geiselbach - Omersbach (friends of the land and steam engines "Die Gusseisernen" Kahlgrund eV)	Steam and agricultural machinery festival "We make steam!"	annually (July)
	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	Alt Schwerin , in the Agricultural History Museum AGRONEUM	Old Schwerin steam meeting	yearly	2003
	Lower Saxony Lower Saxony	Braunschweig , in the Landtechnik-Museum Gut Steinhof	Steam and tractor meeting "Steam - Models - Tugs"	annually (May / June)	2004
		Eystrup (interest group industrial monument mustard factory Leman)	Steam engine festival	2 year old in July	2013	Every last weekend in July, the steam engine festival every year winter steam last weekend in January
		Immensen (Friends of Historic Vehicles)	Tractor and steam meeting "Dreschefest"	annually (mid-August)	2004
		Rosengarten- Ehestorf , open-air museum on the Kiekeberg	Steam and tractor meeting in the open-air museum on Kiekeberg	annually (September)	1989	every other year focus on steam
	North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia	Bochum , in the LWL industrial museum at the Hanover colliery	Steam Festival in the Ruhr area	Biennial (odd years) (end of May)	1999	largest steam festival in Germany
	North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia	Lindlar , in the Bergisches Freilichtmuseum	Steam and tractor meeting "Full steam ahead!"	annually (July)	2003
	Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt	Ummendorf (Börde) , in the Börde Museum	Meeting of historic vehicles and Agricultural engineering in Ummendorf Castle	yearly	1996
	Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein	Flensburg harbor	Steam all around	Biannually	1993	According to the company itself, it was the “largest steam show in Europe”, which in 2009 still had 350,000 visitors. Until the beginning of the 2010s, locomotives, steam engines and steamships were on display. Today only steamers are left due to the dismantling of the Flensburg port railway .
	Thuringia Thuringia	Bocka , Thuringia	Bulldog, steam and tug meetings	annually (August)	1996
	Thuringia Thuringia	Meiningen , in the Meiningen steam locomotive works	Meiningen Steam Engine Days	annually on the first weekend in September	1995	Factory tours, locomotive exhibition, driver's cab rides and model railroad exchange
United Kingdom United Kingdom	England England	Dorset	Great Dorset Steam Fair	yearly	1968	More than 200,000 visitors. Largest steam festival in the world in terms of exhibition space and number of vehicles.
		Somerset	Somerset Steam Spectacular	yearly	1956
		Southwold , in Henham Park	Grand Henham Steam Rally	annually (end of September)	1974
Netherlands Netherlands	South Holland	Dordrecht	Dordt in Stoom	Biannually	1985	Steam ships too. With more than 250,000 visitors, the largest steam festival in the world by number of visitors.