On the 27th and 28th of July 2008, the Historische Motoren en Tractoren Vereniging held their 29th festival, in Panningen (near the town of Helden) in the Netherlands. Known to many as the ‘HMT’. The weather on Saturday was around 31deg C, and sunny in the most part. As we approach the festival the trademark farmall tractor could be seen high in the sky. Every year the tractor is raised by a crane and during the opening hours hovers around 25 metres above the festival. Every year the club features a maker at the festival. This year the honour was bestowed on the French built Bernard engine and tractor.  HMT Feature eXHIBIT 2008
There are a large number of exhibits and certainly something to keep everyone entertained. From a tractor line up of over 1500, to stationary engines. From steamers to earthmoving equipment. Linedancing, bouncy castles and donkey rides. The trade stalls is an Aladin’s Cave – you can buy almost anything here. On Saturday at around 8pm the heavens opened and around an inch of rain fell in around 30 minutes. The following day parts of the carpark were not useable which meant a much longer walk into the festival, although the rain did make some of the earth moving exhibits much more interesting as they battled through the mud. The weather on Sunday was lovely again with temperatures reaching around 30 deg C. The stationary engine line-up was very good, with over 300 engines on show and a large variety of makes. Including this very nice and early example of a Gardener engine, still having much of its original paint intact.  Gardner Stationary Engine For more pictures please visit the photo gallery. If you are in the area in July, visit their webpage for information http://www.hmtklep.nl/ | 
