12870 Wilkes Road Yale, Michigan 48097
I’m a first time writer to IMA. I enjoy it very much and
have learned a great deal from it, especially since no one in my
family has owned a steam engine.
The first time I remember seeing one was at the Centennial
Parade in my hometown of Yale, Michigan in 1962. It was a 19 HP
Port Huron with a canopy and a cab on it. I was only eight years
old then, and thought it was really neat that someday I would like
to get one just like it!
Well, that was a long time ago, and I still don’t have the
real thing. But I’m looking!
In the meantime, I have built a half-size replica of a Port
Huron completed in 1989. It is made from an old oil barrel and a
hot water tank, along with a bunch of other parts I gathered up.
It’s powered by an 8 HP Kohler engine with a lawnmower
transmission and rear end enclosed inside the barrel.
My model has an old original Pickering governor on it that I
bought from a flea market. It has two whistles and a steam pressure
gauge that work on air. The flywheel and cylinder also work when
it’s running. I’ve taken it to some of the engine shows,
and my son and I have really had a lot of fun with it. My son T.J.
is at the wheel in the picture above.
Most people look at my engine and think it’s the real thing!
Someday, I’ll have a real one (soon, I hope!) and then I will
send some pictures of it. Hope the readers will enjoy them.
