15 Days in the UK!

Mohammad Matbouei’s recent whistle-stop trip around the UK proved to be his holiday of a lifetime, thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts he met along the way...

Not knowing which airport to select for my long-planned trip to the UK I settled upon Manchester. This proved quite handy as I was able to visit Stockport and the Mirrlees factory before going on to the Anson museum where Peter Wood showed me around. It was interesting to see the biggest collection of atmospheric engines in the world. Five hours wasn’t enough to see everything.

Peter Rushby, who deals in used generating plant, was next on my list as I’d done business with him on previous occasions. I then visited York in time to see the local Historic Vehicle Group car rally which was quite amazing as we don’t have classic car gatherings in Iran!
I caught a train to Birmingham but when I saw what the people were like I went back to the station and caught another train to Bristol. (I later told this story to David Edgington who informed me he was born in Birmingham, oh dear!!).

Bristol seemed different, so many friendly young people. Here I was to experience my first ‘full English breakfast’ and, believe me, this is real food, I think it would sell well in Tehran!
Hiring a car was a big mistake because I had never driven a RHD car, or driven on ‘the other side of the road’ before. Within five minutes I had hit another car and knocked off a wing mirror.

I made my way to Westbury where I found David Edgington, dressed in overalls, cutting a tree outside his business premises on a trading estate. However I arrived there from Bristol, only God knows this, I certainly have no idea.

During the next couple of days David took me to visit Salisbury, Devizes and The Waterways Museum at Gloucester docks, he also showed me how to use a laundrette as we don’t have them in Tehran. When asked how we wash clothes in Iran, before I could explain, David told a gathering group of ladies that we just put them in the river and jump on them in bare feet. They really believed this! People seemed surprised to see an Iranian and always laughed when David asked if they wanted to buy any nuclear fuel! We also visited Martyn Harris (son of David Harris) at his factory HMI at Babdown Airfield to see the preparation of Isuzu engines and generating plant, many going for export.

David insisted I visit Internal Fire museum and told me Paul Evans was holding an open-day because of my visit. So I caught a train back to Bristol and then another to Carmarthen where someone from the museum was kindly coming to collect me. Well, that station isn’t busy and I only saw one old man sitting on a seat, he was smoking a pipe and kept looking at me through clouds of smoke. Is he from the museum, I kept asking myself? I didn’t know where I was, I had never heard of Wales or Carmarthen, and they had probably never seen anyone from Iran. Just as I was about to panic Mike and Andrea (friends of the museum) arrived to save the day by taking me 35 miles to the museum.

Having met Hazel, who runs the museum behind the scenes, I was shown into the main building but I did feel a little nervous as I watched a group of men struggling with a very large engine, I didn’t know anyone here. Suddenly one of them shouted “Hey, you must be Mohammad,” and they all stopped to shake my hand; and what a friendly bunch—Paul Evans, Roland Craven, Keith Farley, Peter Norman and John Edwards. They were trying a start a big Petter two-stroke TX that had last run 60 years ago. Although they offered me some overalls I felt it best to leave this engine to the experts! Some hours later it burst into life, just in time for the ‘open day’.

At the end of the day there was a big BBQ and Paul Evans was finally persuaded to sit down for a rest.after that they took me to a local B & B later that night. Furthermore, I had only been asleep for minutes when the sound of snoring woke me up, I have never in all Tehran, Dubai or Azerbaijan, heard such a noise. Fortunately I had my MP3 player to plug in and drown it out.
Around 200 enthusiasts attended to rally the following day. I met two more well known people, Philip Thorton-Evison and Dan Howden, who both worked non-stop through the day.

At Internal Fire Museum one can see a wonderful display of engines but every enthusiast must go and see (and hear) the Sulzer 1D25. In Iran we Muslims go to Mecca but in the UK you should all visit Internal Fire! My constant reminder of this museum is a Tee shirt upon which my made had been embroidered, this must be unique in Tehran!
Being on a tight schedule I wanted to get back to London so after a late meal Peter Norman drove me to Luton where we arrived at 12-30 am, too late to find a hotel so I stayed the night at Norman’s house---thank you again!

Next morning I was off again, this time by train to Cudham in order to meet our editor Gordon Wright who collected me personally from the railway station. I was able to visit Kelsey Publishing and some of the friendly people I had been in touch with over the years. It was interesting to learn that the Kelsey offices were once a farm stable.
I found the UK a friendly country, with engine enthusiasts being great people. David Edgington had emailed and telephoned in advance so everywhere I visited someone would come up and say, “You must be Mohammad, David said I must look after you,” people were so very kind with nothing being too much trouble.

Thank you all!!!