SOOT IN THE FLUES

past history and we will all be moving forward trying to make our
own future worthwhile. I came across this A New Year’s
Prayer by W. R. HUNT from Guideposts Christmas Treasury it
goes this way:
Dear Lord, please give me….
A few friends who understand me
and yet remain my friends
A work to do which has real value,
without which the world would feel
the poorer.
A mind unafraid to travel, even
though the trail be not blazed
An understanding heart…
A sense of humor.
Time for quiet, silent meditation.
A feeling of the presence of God.
And the patience to wait for the coming of these things, with the
wisdom
to know them when they come.
(Beautiful, isn’t it?? reminds me a
lot of one of my favorite prayers
probably yours too God grant me
the serenity to accept the things I
cannot change; courage to change
those things I can and the wisdom to
know the difference).

Well, now that’s quite a bit to think about for the year so
we will get on to the incoming mail

Your item in the Nov/Dec issue of IMA inspires comment,’
says CLIFF B. SHIRLEY, 2009 West 71st Street, Prairie Village,
Kansas 66208.

‘As a city boy who never saw steam threshing other than as a
demonstration, I would certainly like to see more in the Album
about steam power other than the traction engine. While the farm
boys were admiring the threshers, the city boy watched steam
shovels, hoists, derricks, cranes and if he was fortunate enough,
stationary engines in power houses. He also had another break that
the farm boy didn’t always get, that of hearing the big
whistles on factories. Back when things were done right, any shop
worth the name had its own steam plant and sounded the whistle
several times each day. So, I would sure like to read more about
city steam.

‘In the summer of 1927 I visited my grandfather, who lived
on a farm about a mile north of Avoca, Arkansas. His farm was
small, and he was in poor health, so he didn’t have what
later-day enthusiasts believe that no farm was complete without a
steam engine and a windmill. One morning he hitched ol’ Bunk to
the buggy and we went off in a direction that I can’t remember
at this late date. It seemed like a long ride to me, but as last we
came to a steam sawmill. I suppose that it was a common enough type
of outfit in those days. A traction engine, with a belt drive to a
circular saw and all that goes with it. A log was on the carriage,
ready to be cut. But, they were still and they told us that their
belt had broken. I still remember how disappointed I was. So, the
only other part of that journey that I can remember was seeing a
passenger train in the distance, and some man saying that it was
the ‘Cannonball’. It must have been the Frisco, only
railroad around there, but I have never seen any timetable of that
era that gives a train that name. However, old railroaders usually
say that no railroad is worth a whoop unless it had a train
sometime in its life that was called the ‘Cannon-ball’, had
a stretch of track called the ‘Peavine’ and another stretch
called the ‘High Line.’

‘I enjoy the magazine very much, but I must confess that for
me the best parts of it are about steam power of a type that the
boy in the city watched long ago. That also includes the little
trains in the parks.’ (I’ll bet this letter tips off some
reminiscing in a lot of steam engine city folk how about it?)

‘I am a subscriber of your magazine and it is great,’
comments RICHARD E. PAYNE, 2791 Millville-Shandon Road, Hamilton,
Ohio 45013.

‘In looking over some old issues, I found a story on page
20, Sept/Oct 1980 on dump wagons. Enclosed is a picture of one I
just rebuilt from scrap. We have showed it several places, and it
gets a lot of attention. The owner, Paul Dazer is on the left in
the picture and that’s me on the right.

If anyone in your family of subscribers has anything on Schacht
trucks built in Cincinnati, Ohio please write me. I have a 1928 and
1931 and I need some information.’

‘In reference to Mr. G. E. Hoffman’s Sooty Flue
regarding the Caterpillar machine he is researching, and for anyone
else interested, here is a little information on the subject,’
says FRED FOX, 233 County House Road, Clarksboro, New Jersey
08020.

‘In 1909 a coal mining engineer of the Yukon wished to
transport his coal, so he commissioned Ruston Horns by of Grantham,
England to build this ‘thing’. R & H built the
caterpillar undercarriage and Fosters of Lincoln supplied the
boiler and engine, resulting in the ‘thing’ being delivered
in 1910. What the HP was, boiler or engine, wise, I don’t know,
only that it weighed 40 tons!

The information I have is from a Century of Traction Engines by
the late W. J. Hughes who was a regular subscriber to the Model
Engineer. His articles were very informative and interesting. I
have passed this information along to George in hopes it will help
him.

P.S. You must call all these little letters you get ‘Sooty
Flues’, so, if anyone has a request or a problem or in other
words, a Sooty Flue, write to Dear Anna Mae.’

Just wandering down Memory Lane, this writing comes from H. J.
BERNY, 209 West Sprague. Edinburg, Texas 78539: ‘I am in my
glory when I sit down to read your magazine as I sure hate to see
the good old steam engines disappear. They were so reliable and
cost so little to operate and had the power of no other
machines.

‘I sat on a Case steam tractor in threshing times when I was
five years old in Illinois in 1906. I just loved to hear it run!
Those were the good old days in the state of Illinois, Clark County
near the town of Marshall But those days are gone and I sit here at
the age of 83 past and wonder just what the world is come to not
too long ago I saw 18 diesel engines hooked to a mile of freight
cars of which one old steam engine could have done the same job
with ease. No one can see how much more it costs today to operate
all or any type of machine.

‘Just a few years ago a man went from New York to California
in a steam car on about three dollars of oil. Just what car of
gasoline could do that?? When and where?

‘Thank you for a great magazine!’

E. BLAKE HODGKINS, Box 898, Lutz, Florida 33549 is enclosing a
picture of his threshing outfit a Rumely 6 tractor and a 36′
cylinder John Good is on thresher. His wife is on the tractor and
picture was taken in the 30’s. (Looks like a nice snapshot from
the family album.)

This letter comes from one of our regular contributors, EDWIN
BREDEMIER, Steinauer, Nebraska 68441only thing is Ed, I was looking
through the recipes and this was in among them, don’t ask me
how this happened, I just don’t know that I didn’t come
across it before must have been sent in with the recipes, so please
forgive for delay. ‘Picture is an Advance Rumely 8 roll bar
shredder purchased new by Frank L. Gronau of Whitewater, Kansas in
1925. It was operated for about five seasons. Always shedded and
was in the same shed since about 1930.

On December 22, 1975, Mr. Gronau pulled it out of the shed and
loaded it on Edwin Bredemier’s truck for a 250 mile trip to its
new home. It was loaded complete with drive belt, parts and
instruction books and original order.

On arriving home the first thing done was to take a fine hair
brush and take off the decals and any stencils and paint them over
with clear varnish. That restores and preserves them. Then it was
greased and oiled up, the belts were put on and it was run so as to
get the bearing greased before it was put in the shed.

One observation I noticed, this shredder has the same blower
lifting and swinging mechanism that my 1920 Wood International
20-inch separator has. I hope I’m blessed with enough days to
repaint the shredder some time.’ (How about it Ed, did you ever
finish this job?)

‘Reading of the ’40’ Reeves in Nov-/Dec IMA. I was
reminded of my early days, when I was three years old in 1914,’
writes ANDREW L. MICHELS, 302 Highland Avenue, Plentywood, Montana
59254.

‘My folks homesteaded in North Eastern Montana in 1910. Dad
was a steam engineer and mechanic. He went back to Minnewaukan,
North Dakota to run every fall. When I was 3, he hired a Reeves 40
breaking outfit, 14 bottoms 14′ (all the breakers were 14’
here). When it came past the house it shook the earth; I mean shook
it! We don’t get much rain, 9 to 18 inches a year and she was
sure puffing.

‘I was at Saskatoon in 1970 to the show when they
demonstrated the big Reeves on 16 bottom. I was so disappointed
when it just walked away, not even a snort in the soft sandy loam
there was no load.

‘I have to tell you of an incident the same engine. My
brother, Vern, 10 years old was walking home from school. He
climbed up, making a noise like a steam engine and pulled the
throttle. To his fright and amazement, the engine rolled over. I
don’t know was it a varmint in the boiler or pressure created
by the heat of the day. In any event, he never told about it for
five years.

‘In 1926, I had the occasion to drive our 1911 60 HP Case.
The throttle was so good as the clutch was ‘hailed out’, so
we chained a clutch arm to a spoke. This event was triggered by
Dad, who had hired a ‘Peg Leg’ engineer. He was on top of
the boiler when he slipped. He grabbed the first thing he could,
which was the governor belt. I was nearby and I shut down with the
reverse lever (some manufacturers refer to it as the motion lever).
Dad said I could do as good as Peg Leg; so he got the ax. The
inspector cut us down to 140 lbs. As soon as he was out of sight,
she went back up to 165 lbs.-the Seal??

‘I’m going to sell all but a few pets. I’m only 73
and can’t get the work done.’ (I’ll bet many of you
have some stories of years gone by you would like to share with
your steam buddies).

‘First off, thank you for running the picture of the two
cylinder inverted ‘V’ steam engine I sent in some time ago.
I received several letters which contained some good information
regarding this engine. I don’t have it restored yet, cut
I’m pecking away at it and hope to have it done one of these
days,’ says M. A. (MIKE) HALL, 44WO59 Empire Road, St. Charles,
Illinois 60174.

‘Now here’s something different, a double acting
Scotch-yoke type steam pump made from bits and pieces found in the
scrap box. The only purchased item was the flywheel casting
(Cole’s Power Models) while the rest was either built up with a
torch or cut from the solid. Nuts and bolts were made from hex
screw stock to scale size.

‘I saw a picture of a similar model pump in an old magazine
titled ‘Everyday Engineering’, Volume 4, Number 4, January
1918, pages 184 and 185, and thought it might be fun to make one. I
did, however, take some liberty with the dimensions and some of the
design.

‘This magazine was published by Everyday Mechanics Co., Inc.
33 W. 42nd St., New York, New York and copyrighted 1917. I am
enclosing a set of Xerox copies.

The Model Builder

DESIGN FOR A MODEL STEAM PUMP

A Practical Addition to the Equipment of a Model Central
Station Power Plant

THROUGH the courtesy of Mr. H. V. A. Parsell of the A. S. E. E.,
we are enabled to present in this issue the design for a
beautifully executed working model of a steam driven water pump
brought from London by this gentleman. The model is the work of the
house of Whitney in London and it is typical of the great
development in engineering models

‘Vital statistics of my model are: Bore-steam eng 1′;
Bore-pump end 11/16’; Stroke-1 ¹/₈‘;
Flywheel-4’ Diameter x ‘ Face; Overall-length: 8
⁷/₈‘, Width: 3
⁷/₈‘; Height: 4
⁷/₈‘. I’m also enclosing some
pictures of the model in various stages of assembly

‘I notice that Cole’s new catalog #24 lists castings for
this type of pump on page 26 to be available about the first of the
year.

‘Sure do enjoy both IMA and GEM and look forward to each
issue. Keep ’em coming!’.

BRIAN KROG, R.R. 1 Box 124, Lake Benton, Minnesota 56149 sends
along this picture with description: ‘Just finished threshing
18 acres of wheat at our first threshing bee, had a nice crowd.
Separator is a 24 x 40 Belle City. Hope to find someone with a
steam engine to run it next year.’

An interesting communication comes from THOMAS E. STRANKO, 2478
Stephanie Lane, Binghamton, New York 13903: ‘Enclosed is a
photo and a modified line drawing of a small steam engine that I
need lots of help on. I put information wanted ads in both IMA and
GEM because I know that knowledgeable steam men read both magazine.
The engine was built by the Rochester, New York Machine and Tool
Works for Westinghouse. I believe it is a very early
‘Junior’ model. However, all drawings of Junior engines
that I have from 1897 to 1927 show a piston valve operated by a
bell crank that connected to the flywheel governor on the front
face of the flywheel. My engine has a ‘Corliss’ type rotary
valve operated by what appears to be Stephenson’s Eccentric
motion from behind the flywheel.

‘Any help, especially photos of another engine or xerox
copies of books, etc. would be appreciated.

‘While I have your ear, I would like to offer the services
of my inboard marine gas engine library over 150 models to anyone
who needs help.’

This time the recipe I’m sending is

Country Chicken Casserole:

3 lb. frying chicken, cut into pieces cup flour 1 clove garlic,
minced tsp. salt 2-3 carrots, sliced tsp. pepper 2-3 stalks celery,
sliced cup vegetable oil 1 cup water cup chopped onions 2-8 oz.
cans cup chopped gr pepper tomato sauce 1 cups elbow macaroni,
cooked tsp. basil

Sprinkle chicken with mixture of flour, salt and pepper. Brown
in heated oil in heavy skillet. Remove from pan. In same pan, saute
lightly onion, pepper and garlic. Add remaining ingredients, except
macaroni and simmer 10 minutes. Put macaroni in large, lightly
greased casserole. Cover with chicken. Pour sauce mixture over all.
Cover and bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 1 to 1 hours or
until tender.

This recipe was submitted by JANE SLOAN, 128 W. 8th Street,
Dover, Ohio 44622.

Just a short story to help you through 1985A man being safely
escorted through a dense forest one black night was puzzled and
asked his guide how he could be so sure of the way when he
couldn’t see the path. ‘I follow the path in the sky,’
replied the guide as he pointed to the thin line of light formed by
an opening through the trees. ‘The light from on high,’
added the guide, ‘always keeps a man on the right
road.’

And some pearls of wisdom. The secret of happiness is not in
doing what one likes, but in liking what one has to do. Barrie. Be
not simply good, but good for something Thoreau. A lot of things
are opened by mistake, but none so often as the mouth. There is
more power in the open hand than in the clenched fist. Bye bye love
you all and hope the New Year is good to you.