Steam-Up @ Antique Power Land, a trip back in time

[D._Frederick]

I spent Saturday at the annual Steam -Up at Brooks Ore. It is a two week end event. This year they had 14 working steam traction engines plus a couple that would not pass State boiler certification. They had at least a pair of the following: Advance, Altman Taylor , Russel , and Case . The biggest was 50 hp.
They had one of the biggest Rummely Oil Pulls made, it had huge wheels at least 7ft tall and 2ft wide.
They have a late model American Saw mill, guess it is a number 3, it is powered by stationary boiler and engine. Also a steam powered edger that they were sawing with.
They had a seperator they were thrashing wheat with and bailing straw powered with a traction engine. It took the 20 minutes to get the belt aligned and tighten. The engine kept throwing the belt off when backing up.
The had some of the early crawler tractors there. Holt and Best that became Caterpillar.
I wait for this every year, it is a trip back in time. People make a big fuss over what they call antiques while I still am still using them. I have a 22 Caterpillar that my Dad bought new in 37 that I use to work up the garden ground for my wife.  I don't think of it as an Antique.

[Sawyerfortyish]

That american sawmill was it made in Hacketstown N.J.I live close to there and used a #1 american for 18 yrs and since it was made before the turn of the last century I guess some consider it antique I didn't it was paid for and made me money

[Frank_Pender]

Don, thanks for the reminder.  I will try and head for brooks next weekend and enjoy the sights.  I have not been to the Steam UP in several years.  I reckon it is about time to return.  Just this last Winter I donated several hundred board feet of Grand Fir 1" x 12" x 14' for the old railroad station that was moved onto the premises.   They used it on the interior walls of the baggage and freight portion of the building.  I have not seen the finished product.  :-[  Guess I had better visit and see how they finished off the frieght room.

[Bro. Noble]

We still have my Grandad's old Minneapolis Steam Engine.  It's rated 20HP by Minneapolis, but would be about 60 Hp the way Case rated theirs.  Grandad and his Brother Amos were both real hands with a traction engine.  They used them in the woods where a lot of the old-timers at those shows used them for thrashing on level ground.  Not many of the original steam guys around.  Grandad helped start a steam show at Republic, Mo (near Springfield).  They had a contest that was like a big teeter-totter----you tried to balance the engine on it.  Grandad or Uncle Amos could do it the first time every time.

We used to thrash here on the farm.  Uncle Amos was trying to show Dad how to 'belt up' .  Dad threw the belt off time after time and yours truly had to put it back on.  When Uncle Amos saw that I was about tuckered out, he took over and tightened the belt the first try.  When the last bundle was sent through the seperator, Uncle Amos always gave a big Whoop and sent his hat with it (he made sure to wear an old hat when we were about to finish up).

I miss Grandad and Uncle Amos but not thrashing.  Anyone need a seperator,  we have three and could probably get by with just one or two.

Noble

[Corley5]

I spent parts of the last three days at the Nothern Michigan Antique Flywheelers Show in Walloon Lake MI.  We took our 1950 McCormick Deering W-6 and W-4 over.  There were more steamers there than have ever been in the past.  There were seven or eight.  There were Cases, Hubers an Aultman-Taylor and Huber road roller model.  I'm unsure of the HP but it wasn't working too hard on the sawmill.  There were also two Rumelys there.  One was a pretty good sized one and one was pretty small.  There had to have been close to 230 tractors.  We 208 and 209.  These shows are a great way to spend a few days.  Now I'm looking forward to the Buckely Show.  It's coming right up the third weekend in Aug.  The weekend after next there is a small show in Alpena that I plan on going to on Saturday.  What a wonderful time of the year for old iron 8) 8) 8) 8).

[woodmills1]

sawyer 40 I used to work for bates Mfg. after they moved to hackettstown, and i lived in town and then on schooleys mountain.  I almost married a girl from centennary college for bad girls.  do you remember the name of the drag strip?

[Sawyerfortyish]

Woodmills1 Iv'e been to schooleys mountain many times but hacketstown is a little out of my old stompin ground  ;D so I don't know the name of  that drag strip unless your talking about english town  ;)

[Tom]

Dragstrip.  Hmmm  that reminds me of a story.

Our club was taking a Motorcycle ride one Sunday afternoon north of Athens Georgia.   We ran up on a little Dragstrip that was using what was left of an old piece of highway, two lanes that crested a hill .  The promoters kept urging us to put our bikes on the strip just for fun.  These bikes weren't meant for that type of thing but a friend and I decided to do it.  He had a Triumph 650 (TR6) and I had  a 650 BSA Golden Flash. Both had windshields and crash bars.  We know we weren't going to push them too hard.  We lined up on the line, revved them up and the flagman waved us off. Down the quarter mile we went, going through the gears and trying toput on a facsimile of a tight race.  When we crested the hill we discovered that the quarter mile track was a 1/5 mile track, we were already at the finish line and there was nothing on the other side of the hill but plowed field.  Both of us stood on brakes and eased off of the front brakes as we hit the dirt to try to keep from tumbling A__ end over tea cup.  Coming from about 90 mph to 4mph in a distance that I could spit, left us trembling in our boots.  We returned to the stands where the announcers gave us a big bunch of Kudos and the stands stood and applauded.   If they only knew how close we had come to ruining our pants that afternoon. Luckily we didn't and were able to continue our ride.  I think we ended up on Brass Town Bald, a near mountain, and made a good day of the whole experience.

[Bro. Noble]

Tom,

That sounds about as enjoyable as the time I oversetimated the length of my legs while crossing an electric fence.

Noble

[Paul_H]

 :oThats gotta hurt.

Tell me now,did you try it again on the way back? :D

[Bro. Noble]

Paul,

Thats almost a true story.

I was being real careful but stepped in a hole that was hidden by grass.

I had bought a bred sow at a sale, she turned out to be vicious.  I didn't want her getting out so I put this fence around her lot. I'd put over-ripe cucumbers under the fence to get her to tangle with it.  She would get the cucumbers without ever touching the electric wire.  I got into it twice and my Beagle pups over and over-----usually in the middle of the night.

Noble