HUNDREDS of hulking steam engines and historic tractors laid out a mechanical time line in farm machinery as one of the region's most popular vintage rallies marked its silver jubilee this weekend.

James Mortlock

HUNDREDS of hulking steam engines and historic tractors laid out a mechanical time line in farm machinery as one of the region's most popular vintage rallies marked its silver jubilee this weekend.

Visitors hooked on nostalgia flocked to the 25th annual tractor rally at Melford Hall, Long Melford, which also featured hundreds of classic cars and motorbikes, as the organisation behind the two-day event - the Farm Machinery Preservation Society (FMPS) - marked its 40th anniversary.

John Southall, who helped put on the show, said the two-day event was always popular: “People are captivated by these vintage machines because they used to have something on show or they remember their parents or grand parents talking having owned one of the cars or motorbikes. It's a nostalgia for the past.

“We also get the visitors who are out and out keen on engineering and can't get enough of seeing how things have changed and developed over the years - the farm equipment particularly is a time line of how things have changed - some is from the early 1900s, some pre Second World War, while other classic pieces date back only 25 years or so.”

The rally, which also featured an auction on Saturday afternoon giving enthusiasts a chance to sell surplus equipment, raised money for Macmillan nurses.