Earl estimates that a year’s spare time work went into the
engine and $1,200 in parts in addition to the original price he
paid for the engine.
‘I’ve been offered more than $3,000 for it and turned it
down,’ Earl says, ‘and a lot of people are going to say
‘that’s where two fools met’ when they find that
But if Earl’s a fool he certainly has plenty of company
judging from the number of handbills and magazines he showed us –
all boosting the hobby of steam engine enthusiasts.
He says he receives many letters from fellow hobbyists and,
‘Hardly a day goes by but what someone stops to see my engines.
When they grin big and ask me if I’m Anderson, then I know
I’ve got a steam man on my hands.
‘The younger generation – yourself included – just
doesn’t realize what it was like way back then,’ Warl says
wistfully. ‘With no gasoline engines or electricity, all you
had for power was windmills, water and horses. Big engines like
that (the Case) used to travel in a circle of 25 – 30 miles
threshing grain in the fall for all the farmers around. We
didn’t get finished until after Thanksgiving.’
Anderson said his love for steam engines began when he was a boy
and used to work with them. As power for farm work they have been
obsolete for at least 20 years. The railroads were the last
strongholds for the steamers, he said, and now most railway
locomotives are diesels. He points out, however, that steam is
still used extensively in producing a very modern convenience which
we all take for granted – electricity. He estimates that more than
70 per cent of the electricity churned up today is produced by
steam driven machinery.
If you want the mechanical side of this iron horse bruiser,
you’ll have to talk to Earl. Our mechanical knowledge is
limited to a can opener and even that simple operation usually
requires assistance by the better half.
But cheers to Earl Anderson and his sons Harold and Russell –
voted A-F citizens most likely to get all steamed up.
