Wayne, Pennsylvania
I hope you will not take the views of Mr. S. H. Herum too
seriously as expounded in the January-February issue, page 12. I
like old diagrams and articles on old reverse gears and hope you
will continue to run such articles. After all it is the engineering
design of the traction engine which is interesting. Maybe some of
enjoyed some popularity on engines with which he has not had the
fortune to be familiar. Angus Sinclair’s remarks on the Stevens
valve gear, in his Development of the Locomotive engine might be a
case in point.
Sometime I hope you see fit to explain how the horsepower used
in rating traction engine is arrived at. Is it based on the heating
surface of the boiler & the size of the cylinder, or what?
If I may offer a criticism of your magazine, it is that the
‘gas lovers page’ is somewhat on a par with a D–n Diesel
page in a railroad magazine. What I mean is the hobby to which this
magazine is devoted is steam, as witness such names as ‘Steam
Fiends Association’, the make-up of the exhibits at the various
reunions, etc. The fact that gas engine tractors have almost
completely taken over the job of supplying motive power to the farm
has no bearing on the matter; in a magazine of sailing yacht
racing, an article on the water tube boilers of the Queen Mary
would be out of place.
But if including this page means the difference between having a
traction engine magazine and not having one, by all means include
it, but please try to keep it under control. Yours truly,
