MEWS’ roving reporter, Roger Froud, visits The 2018 Great Dorset Steam Fair, with almost certainly the largest collection of steam and vintage equipment to be seen anywhere in the world. It regularly attracts around 200,000 visitors. And there can be 30,000 people staying on site making the fair, temporarily, more populous than the county town of Dorchester which has only half that number of residents.

The fair covers 600 acres (2.4 sq km) and runs for five days from the Wednesday before the Bank Holiday until the August Bank Holiday Monday.  The fair was started by the Dorset Steam & Historic Vehicle Club, and has been held every summer since 1969. The show is now run by founder Michael Oliver's son, Martin Oliver through Great Dorset Steam Fair Ltd.

In 2013, GDSF set a new World Record for the largest parade of steam rollers, when 103 rollers were driven into the main arena for a photo call. The previous record had been set by GDSF in 2003 with 32 steam rollers. For the record attempt all the vehicles had to be moving.

Plenty here to interest the modeller, both scale and full sized exhibits.