RARE and vintage vehicles of all shapes and sizes attracted the crowds to a special event at Milestones museum.

The bank holiday weekend saw the fifth annual Steam and Vintage Rally at the Basingstoke museum.

About 150 steam engines, steam rollers and steam lorries dating from the 1800s to the 1930s packed into the museum's grounds for the three-day event.

There was also a good variety of classic vintage cars, military vehicles, motorbikes and commercial vehicles.

Gary Wragg, curator at Milestones, on the Basingstoke Leisure Park, said: "The event has grown well since it started five years ago, and even since last year.

"We are starting to attract visitors and exhibitors from further afield and people have travelled from Surrey, Sussex and all across the south to be here.

"For many people, it's a chance to be nostalgic, as steam finished on the roads of Britain not long after the Second World War."

A particular highlight for fans of steam at this year's show was Martin Fagg's unique Foster steam wagon. It is the only surviving unit of 60 originally built by William Foster & Co., of Lincoln, in 1922.

It was the five-tonne wagon's first visit to the show and Mr Fagg drove it all the way from his home in Farnborough. He said: "It was exported to Australia in 1922 and then brought back to England in 1983, and is now the only one left in the world.

"I bought it three years ago and have carried out a lot of mechanical restoration to it. Steam has been a life-long interest for me."

First published: Friday, June 3, 2005