Father and son team Jack and Colin Beamish, Box 271, Hamiota
Mb., Canada ROM 0T0, sent this great photo for this issue. The
picture shows a 1911 Case 75 ready to move to its new home, having
just been bought by Ron and Glenda Lawn of Isabella, Man., Canada.
Standing on the trailer left to right are; Kurt Lawn, Colin
Beamish, Ken May and Ron Lawn. Jack Beamish is the man standing on
Ken’s father in 1967, when it was pulled from a swamp.
Joseph M. Hood, 9601 N. 100 E., Rushville, IN 46173, sent in
some pictures of his 1906 Champion traction engine, and we felt
they deserved some back page treatment. Featuring a vertical boiler
and rated at a modest 6 HP, these were amongst the smallest
traction engines made and are quite rare. Joseph writes:
‘I recently purchased this little traction engine, made by
the D. June Co. in Fremont, Ohio, around 1906 and called the
‘Champion Traction.’ I would like information on the D.
June Co., which made traction engines as far back as 1899 (I have
pictures of a 12 HP). They also made larger, regular traction
engines, stationary boilers and stationary engines.
‘This traction engine was found by a machinist in eastern
Ohio in the late 1950s, and he decided to restore it. There was the
upright boiler, horizontal steam engine, wood and steel frame, and
some drive shafts and miscellaneous to work with. He made a new,
all steel frame, restored the unit with better steel wheels and
rebuilt and made necessary parts. He also made a cab for the
engine.
‘The boiler got new flues in the 1980s and the engine was
rebuilt then. The engine was not run much after this because of the
man’s health, but he kept it under cover. I purchased the
engine last year and have done a lot more work to it, and it is
about ready to go now.
‘My engine weighs about two tons without water. It has two
water tanks; one on the rear and one under the engine up front. It
has a coal hopper on the rear, and I have put rubber tractor tread
on the rear wheels so I can run it on paved roads.
‘I am a retired heavy industrial machinery repair
serviceman, and I always wanted a steam engine – now I can
play.’
