STEAM AND vintage enthusiasts at a rally in west Cork are attempting to challenge the current Irish national record for the number of stationary oil engines working in one place.
The 14th Innishannon Steam Vintage Rally got under way yesterday at a 38-acre venue a mile from the village. It was officially opened by rower John Keohane.
It was decided at a recent meeting of the rally committee to challenge the current record of the number of stationary oil engines working in one place.
Attempts were under way yesterday and will continue today to gather sufficient vehicles in place to beat the record.
The record was beaten last year at Mountbellow Rally in Galway where 174 were gathered and working together in one field.
A stationary oil engine is an engine whose framework does not move. It was developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s to drive a piece of immobile equipment such as a power tool.
At first they were a form of steam engine but were later developed to become oil-burning internal combustion engines.
In Ireland these engines were often used to power the earlier milking machines. They were also seen in the earlier creameries to power the line shafting. They are usually characterised on the rally field by their unmistakeable smell of paraffin and their constant phut-phut produced by the water pumps and other equipment attached to them.
The rally attracts thousands of visitors every year from all over Ireland and the UK and is the biggest event of its kind in the country. Funds raised at this year’s event will be donated to the Irish Cancer Society.