FOR the Edwards family and a dog called Toby, the golden age of steam has become a way of life.

They were among thousands of steam engine fans who made tracks for the Eastleigh area over the week-end to take part in the popular rally at Highbridge Farm, Brambridge.

Organised by the Eastleigh Vintage Machinery Preservation Society, the displays included working vintage steam machinery with everything from tractors, steam engines and fire engines to stationary engines, cars and commercial vehicles.

The Eastleigh rally, which was in aid of the Wessex Cancer Trust, has become an annual outing for steam enthusiast Steve Edwards, a 34-year-old production manager, of Locks Heath, and his daughters Donna, five, and Rebecca, six.

And even the family's pet basset hound, Toby, cannot resist joining the steam trail and was lapping up the fun.

Steve inherited his Foster traction engine from his father and says: "Steam has been in my blood since I was five years old."

For six-year-old Nicholas Isaac, of Locklerley, there was a chance to stand behind the controls of an eight-ton steam roller as everyone went flat out to make it a steam rally day to remember.

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