I am, as has been well-documented on these pages, a lover of traction engines. I have been thrilled to find myself in amongst them quite a lot of late as we have lots of nearby enthusiasts and several big steam rallies each year in these parts.

Up here, in the lakes, I have seen one in good working order. It was yesterday at Ravenglass station and she was a beauty.

This poor old soul is not in such lovely condition. In fact, she’s in a right old mess. We spotted her in a farmyard on the way up into the Esk valley on our arrival in the lakes, but of course, when you come across something really unexpectedly, you don’t necessarily have your camera out or indeed have any daylight left! Both of those were true when we zipped past on Friday afternoon and I was driving too, which complicated matters further.

So, I plotted for a shot of her on our way out today. This is exactly what was in my mind’s eye – the big hills behind and her in all of her sad, faded glory under a tarpaulin.

I hope and pray that she’s under the tarpaulin because she’s loved and is about to be restored. I hope that someone will love and care for this giant celebration of the great glory of steam. I’m probably sounding like a right old biddy at this moment – there will, I’m sure, be those out there who think that there is no place for steam driven things in a modern world. The truth is, we wouldn’t have the modern world as we know it if it wasn’t for the invention of things like this and as such we need to cherish and love them.

Now this once-great beauty just looks so forlorn.

DM thinks she’ll be lucky and get that TLC she deserves – after all, he says, if she’d just ended up her days there, she’d have been towed off into a quiet corner to rust away to dust. He thinks that her prominent position and her tarpaulin, however inadequately it protects her from the elements, show a desire to bring her back to life. I so hope he’s right.

Trago Mills was my subject last year.