A misty morning start soon brightened up with sunshine and a quiet run up the A14 and A1 to the showground at Newark. I even managed to park in the exhibitors car park less of a walk to the gate for the old legs! With 400 plus trucks to see there would be plenty of walking left for the day. I was pleased to see the show trucks were all kept together unlike Peterborough where they seemed to be spread all over the showground. Credit must go to all of the drivers who had put in hours of hard work in getting their trucks ready for the weekend, most of which is in their own time at weekends leading up to the event. I have learnt this from previous experience!

There was a small gathering of motors painted by Stewart Bone who sadly died last month. Stewart was responsible for the paint work on many well known fleets from Northern England and Scotland, along with custom paint work on SNT Scania T-cab, Nichol Boilers 143, Longthorn’s T-cab and the last truck to be painted by him the DAF of Gordon Steel. As you can see his work was first class. Stewart will be sadly missed.

In amongst all of the big Swedes was Graham Turners fully restored ERF E series on the ERF revs stand which the family firm ran when it was new and is now a firm favourite on the retro circuit. A little disappointing that Iveco and Mercedes were the only manufacturers in attendance never the less the new Giga Space of Lomas Distribution stood head and shoulders above its predecessor.

The Kelsa stand had its normal high standard of light bars adorning new vehicles from the likes of owner driver Brian Mclennand  and also the DAF CF510 from BJ Waters. Also on the stand was a favorite of mine the DAF of Paul Hinchcliffe painted in the same traditional colours of the old family firm with just a hint of custom work. To be honest I didn’t look at anything that was going on in the main arena as it is always the same things year after year. This may say more about me having been around truck shows for to long !!

Away from the main trade stand in amongst the lines of trucks is were the BBQ and partying is done over the weekend but still the lines of fleet trucks were gleaming in the sunshine. Amongst them was the well known DAF from Axminster Carpets which as the pictures show is as clean underneath as it is on top, thanks to the dedication of its driver Tony Moore. By the amount of general public wandering around the show it would have been a success no doubt helped by possibly the first sunny show of the season from the arrivals on Friday afternoon to the departure on the Sunday night. Inside the hall there were many stands selling models and a large area set aside for the radio controlled trucks which the modelers were only to pleased to show you how they worked. All in all a good day, roll on Uttoxeter next weekend!!

If you want to see the rest of James Newark photos then click HERE. Hopefully James will be up for doing a review of his Uttoxeter Show trip, I know he is taking something a little special so keep your fingers crossed.