LaBelle Engine Works

the Thumb of Michigan area. We had a blast, while Gramma patiently
(I think) waited in the car. The next few summer stays were spent
cruising to various local shows and to the few remaining engines in
the area. One summer I arrived and was led into the neatly packed
garage (Grampa was a pack rat) to see a 1 HP McCormick Deering
resting under his bench. His dad had bought it new, but it was left
behind when the farm was sold a few decades earlier. On a whim,
Grampa visited the present owner and they went for a walk to one of
the old out buildings. There, under an old oil cloth, sat the old
engine. A deal was made and the farmer dropped it off for us to
play with. We had a good time learning and playing with the old
engine. When he passed on, it came my way and still remains in my
archives.

In junior high, MY first engine came along. Dad had located an
old Fairbanks Morse 5 HP ‘Z’ at a deer camp up near Alpena,
Michigan, where I lived until recently. It was in pretty rough
shape. You know no mag, cracked water jacket, rusted in piston,
valves frozen, brass pieces missing. A pretty much ‘standard
as-find’ condition.

Dad kind a figured it would end up being ‘a good learning
experience’ (i.e., it’ll never run), but my first
restoration was under way! Not knowing what it really was missing,
I kept on cleaning and painting. About the time I was realizing
that I now owned a painted up piece of useless cast iron, the deer
camp owner showed up with an old Dupont dynamite box with the
pieces that were missing off the engine. He’d removed them
years earlier to fix a few worn parts, but never put them on, and
consequently lost track of them. A month or so later, the ol’
Fairbanks barked to life. I also discovered the painful correlation
between bad ignition timing and hand cranks. Ouch!

Through high school, five other one-lungers followed in its skid
marks across the work shop floor. One afternoon, while the latest
restoration was barking in the backyard and the smell of burning
Rust-Oleum was in the air, I came to realize that these engines,
though fun to restore, were about as much fun to operate as an
electric motor. (Sorry, internal combustion fans.) It was about
then that I decided to abandon the gas hobby and concentrate on my
real yearning: steam.

My first real steam engine came along when I was a senior in
high school. It was a 5′ x 7′ E.H. Waches upright. It spent
most of its life running a large cement mixer and consequently was
encased in cement. The insides were well oiled and clean, making
only a cosmetic restoration necessary. I never did see it run, as
it, and most of the gas engines, needed to be sold a few years
later to help fund college. The Waches is on its second owner since
me, and I don’t think it has seen any steam to date.

That year (1978), a friend gave me a 3′ x 4′ upright
steam engine of unknown origin, along with a punky boiler and the
necessary trimmings. The boiler was a vertical fire tube type, with
a leaky mud ring. A satisfactory, but leaky, hydro-test was pulled
and an old Iron Man by the name of Bill French deemed the boiler
safe from rupture, but not very dry. He suggested pouring in two or
three pounds of rice into the boiler and let it sit for the night.
This was an old trick he had used many a time to seal up leaky
boilers. Surprisingly, it worked. (Looking back, I can see my
actions in this were not very smart, and I don’t recommend this
to anyone.) The engine was plumbed to it and Bill and I spent the
rest of the summer learning the fundamentals of firing, injector
operation, lubrication and, of course, whistle blowing. That fall,
the engine went into storage, and the boiler found a new owner.

Several years later, married, kid on the way, and an engineering
career launched, I was approached by the Alpena Antique Tractor and
Steam Engine Club to set something up for their show, ONE week
away. I started out setting up a static display of my engine and
newly acquired VFT boiler, but figured it would be a whole lot more
fun to have a live display. A heavy skid was built, equipment
anchored, pipes plumbed, surfaces painted or polished, and the
first live trial was done after we loaded up that Friday night. The
show went well, and I was sunburned and hoarse by Sunday night
after answering so many questions, but enjoyed every minute of
it.

One thing ground at me as that show progressed. Most everyone
had a tractor of sorts to ride around on while I sat patiently by
my set-up. I had to find a steam engine on wheels!

Within a few years, three small portable steam engines came
almost close enough to be caught (or bought), but boiler work on
all three would have been very costly. It seemed that the only way
that I was going to become an owner of a steam traction engine that
I could afford would be to build one.

‘Twas the summer of 1990, and what to build? Looking back at
past show photos and going to a few shows that summer to purposely
look at home-builts led to a wide array of creations ranging from
‘to the tee’ exact scale reproductions, to some pretty
scary set-ups that I stayed well clear of. Being I am not a very
patient person to build a highly detailed scale copy (and I marvel
at those who do), I decided to create a tractor that looked old,
but snuck in some modem features for safety and parts availability
reasons. The VFT boiler that was apprehended several years earlier
was built in 1950, and was in pristine condition; since no
expensive boiler work was required for operation, the tractor was
designed around it.

First order of business was wheels. An old steel wheeled manure
spreader was needed. A casual Sunday afternoon drive (actually with
purpose) caused a hard stop and some ‘words’ from my wife.
There, in the woods, frame sagging, a 4′ sapling growing
through the floorboards, was just what the doctor ordered. The
owner was found and it was mine for the taking. A rescue mission
was organized for the next day, and all went well until we arrived
back home. My wife didn’t want the tired old spreader anywhere
near the house. Can’t understand why, but we took it up to my
place of work and started cutting out what was needed.

My place of work at the time gave me full access to a
fabricating shop. Undertaking a project like this was made much
easier with the ‘right’ equipment, and I have to thank my
leader. Dinger, for its use, and Steve Smolinski for the able
bodied assistance during construction.

Steel was ordered and fabbed up into the frame. The wheels were
sandblasted, full and stub axles turned to fit each individual
bore, and attached to the frame. Steering had many options, but
instead of a frequently used steering box from a car, I opted to
pivot the front axle at its center like the real steamers, and use
chains and a 3′ winding drum driven by a 10:1 right angle
gearbox. The gearbox was coupled to a tube and an old hand wheel
from a mill (complete with suicide knob!). It takes about 15 easy
turns hard left to hard right, and works slick.

The 3′ x 4′ upright engine was mounted to the frame. It
has a slip eccentric reverse on it which is simple, but not a good
choice for a tractor, as the flywheel needs to be spun the opposite
direction to reverse the motion. This means the engine cannot be
used as a ‘brake,’ and has slipped into reverse while
lugging up a hill. Not a good situation to slip an engine into
reverse on a whim with the throttle and governor wide open and a no
load situation zipping down a hill. Another engine with some sort
of link reverse is being sought. (Anybody have a 3 x 4 or 4 x 4
upright with a link reverse for trade? Have others to barter
with!)

The engine was roller chain driven to a cone type clutch from an
old Husky 2 wheel garden tractor. This in turn goes to a 1′
diameter axle/differential from a riding lawnmower or something.
Roller chain sprockets on each end of the differential are chained
to each rear wheel. 24′ roller chain sprockets were welded
basi-cally to the spokes and outer rim of the wheels with some
spacers and are working well.

The boiler was lowered into a new steel ashbox. Not being able
to attach anything to a boiler by bolting or welding without proper
legal procedures resulted in a pretty effective method of
attachment to the frame. The ashbox provided a lip on the inner
side for the bottom edge of the boiler to rest on. The top head of
my boiler is constructed with a drawn head riveted to the inside of
the shell. This creates a lip on the top edge of the shells’
sheet, the thickness of the sheet. A x 1′ flat stock ring was
rolled and welded together to form a tight fitting ring that
presses over the head and rests on the outer sheet’s edge. To
this was welded some straps, and the boiler was drawn onto the
ashbox lip with three heavy turn-buckles. It works out well. Even
the local boiler inspector was impressed.

Boiler pressure was designed and tested to run at 100 pounds.
All pipe work was done in Schedule 80. Schedule 40 would handle the
pressure, but the mechanical strength of the threads was my
concern. A tractor gets bounced around a lot on its travels, and
with heavy whistles, lubricators, valves and other hardware on the
end of the pipes, I didn’t want to risk a break at the threads.
The engine was a long way from the boiler, and I knew it would not
always vibrate in sync with the boiler, so it is coupled to the
throttle with a Teflon core, stainless braid hose. The rest of the
gauges, valves, injector and water columns were pulled from stock
and installed.

Final painting and trimming took place, and the boiler was
properly hydro-tested and passed with flying colors. By the light
of a mercury vapor light, the first steam-up occurred in view of a
dozen friends. Everything went pretty well. A few ‘engineering
improvements’ were made early that next morning, then off to
the Alpena steam show. Six long weeks earlier, the first steel was
cut! Nothing like waiting for the last minute to start a
project!

Improvements and enhancements have been done on a continual
basis. I’ve been in four parades with it thus far, and it has
been well enjoyed. Even the neighbors liked it, whistle and all. On
the first firing at the house and a few cruises in the street, one
neighbor came over and stated,’ And I thought all the boys in
the neighborhood had grown up.’

We’ve since moved to Holland, Michigan, and have acquired
three more engines to clutter up the garage. Someday I’ll have
a ‘real’ steamer tractor, but for now, this one does
everything I need it to.

I will be happy to talk to prospective builders of tractors to
discuss what I learned on this adventure of mine. I am, by far, not
an expert in the field, but do have some background accumulated
over the years that I’m willing to share.

One last thing I’d like to state is that when restoring or
building a steamer, make safety your biggest priority. There is a
tremendous amount of energy stored up in a boiler and its plumbing.
When under pressure and a system failure occurs (broken pipe, blow
tube/flue, ruptured boiler, etc.), not only does the steam escape,
but all of the water, now above its boiling point, will flash into
expanding scalding steam. This catastrophe could ruin your machine,
damage your buildings and nearby neighbors’ buildings, injure
you, and, especially, hurt the curious that came to see your piece
of history. Besides the personal loss of property and limb, your
liability will get very heavy to the public. If you don’t know
what you are doing when building or operating an engine, learn
first! For example, think twice when scrounging through your old
pipe box for fittings. Is your train of thought ‘This is close
enough,’ or, ‘This is more than adequate’? If
‘close enough’ is your thinking, then do us all a favor and
keep your machine at home. I know that the bulk of the steam
community has a good mindset in this area, but there are a few of
the cobblers among us that will give us all some bad publicity in
the event of an accident!