SOOT IN THE FLUES

I do want to tell youI’m grateful for all the letters coming
in, and please don’t be disappointed if your letter isn’t
in right away. I’m just so glad to have more than can be
printed in just one column. Please keep up the good work. I welcome
all your communications.

Another inspirational story comes from Well Springs of Wisdom,
by Ralph L. Woods. This one is entitled, ‘The Finger of
God’:

The chaplain in a hospital was asked by a nurse to visit a man
in room number 24, who was dying. The clergyman called on the young
man and was surprised to find him sitting up in bed smoking and
reading. The patient told the chaplain that he was in fine shape
and was leaving the hospital the next day, and anyway needed no
chaplain as he rejected religion.

The chaplain continued to chat with the man and gently
persisted, and as a result, the young man then and there abandoned
his pose of indifference and made his spiritual peace.

The next day the nurse said to the chaplain, ‘The man in
room number 34 with whom you spent some time yesterday is much
better this morning.’ ‘I didn’t visit the man in 34
yesterday,’ replied the chaplain. ‘You told me to visit 24
and I did!’ How strange!’ exclaimed the nurse. ‘The man
in number 24 suddenly died during the night.’

And now onto the interesting letters from your wonderful family
of Iron Men Album.

BRENT ROWELL, 1805 King College Road, H-2, Briston, Tennessee
37620, tel. 615-764-1340, has a photocopy from May-June 1969 IMA.
He writes: ‘The article shows several people at an exhibit
table at what I assume was a show in Florida in February of 1969. I
am trying to get in touch with the man behind the table in the
center photograph, or with Denis Mc-Cormack, who had sent in the
photos. Perhaps one of your readers from Florida will recognize him
or someone else in the photo. I would also like to know if anyone
can identify that show and the club insignia (from 1969) which can
be seen on the man’s hat.’ We don’t know the identity
of the people in the photo, but the show (advertised as the Florida
American Gas and Steam Engine Roundup) was apparently organized by
Col. Houston L. Herndon and held at the Braden-ton-Sarasota
Speedway. Neither Col. Herndon nor Denis McCormack are listed in
our current subscription records, so we have no idea how to contact
them. McCormack’s address at the time (1969) was 180 John
Anderson Drive, Ormond Beach, FL 32074. Maybe our readers know
more. Herndon ‘s address was Box 5363, Sarasota, FL 33579.

Brent also sends the picture shown inside the front cover and
writes: ‘I’m restoring a toy engine like the one in the
photograph, 12 inches long, from 1900-1910.’

Perhaps someone can answer MICHAEL KEISER, Box 103, Waterbury
Center, Vermont 05677 as he sends this communication: ‘I am
interested in information on steam engine use for generating
electric power. I would like to apply coal fire to a steam boiler
for heat and generating power of which a surplus could be sold. If
you have any ideas on this subject, full-scale or model-size,
please let me know.’

A warm, interesting letter comes from FRANCIS A. ORR, 1617 32nd
St., Anacortes, Washington 98221-3382:

‘When I was 12 years old, Joe Tracey, one of America’s
first Grand Prix drivers, took me under his wing and got me active
in the hobby of steam engines. As a young person, I had a hard time
getting myself included into the conversation and activities of the
older people involved in the hobby. When I became an adult, I saw
that if the hobby were to continue, the older fellows were going to
have to encourage the young people and pass on their knowledge to
them. We have almost all seen the setting two or more old-timers
chewing the fat over an engine while the young man (or an older
neophyte) hangs eagerly onto the edges of the conversation, all the
time hoping for a chance of a ‘hands on’ experience. Some
of our ‘doom sayers’ have even predicted the demise of the
shows when the older operators have died.

‘This has not happened and we can thank those men and women
who have done their best to ensure that the younger people have the
chances and education they need for safe operation of our
machinery. The largest producer of young engineers is the family
unit. Next is the club that will oversee youth activities. Then,
there is the individual engineer who will take on a stranger or a
young person and fan the fire of interest. Finally, but not least
and certainly a rapidly growing factor, are the schools that are
now being mostly club-sponsored, to teach the neophyte. It should
be noted that there are even public schools taking on this role
such as the high school in New Jersey with a number of operating
stationary steam engines.

‘The club sponsored schools are going to have to grow.
According to Tom Hall, past director at W.M.S.T.R., Rollag,
Minnesota, the University of Rollag College of Steam Traction
Engineering graduated 34 students on June 16, 1991. The 16 hour
course covered steam theory, boiler and engine operation and
culminated in a hands-on experience with a Case steam tractor. In
eight years of operation, the steam school has graduated over 350
students, ranging in age from 10 years to 79 years.

‘This is the kind of activity the clubs need to foster, and
it should not be limited to just steam, but should cover the whole
area of historical mechanical activity. Instructors in these
schools should start thinking about commonality of teaching
materials, as it is more cost effective to have a thousand boiler
diagrams printed up, than it is to have twenty. Volume also makes
allowable some items that would not otherwise be available because
of cost. And video: the surface has not even been scratched. Tapes
can be produced for home study of activities and events that might
not normally be available to the student, such as retubing a boiler
or babbitting a bearing.

There is one other benefit to this type of activity. Besides
producing safe, qualified operators for the shows, youth
sponsorship can also open up a way of life. I personally know of a
plant supervisor and an insurance boiler inspector who started
their careers in just this way.

‘At the 1991 W.M.S.T.R. Show, I watched Annie Kieffer, a
student at the University of North Dakota, chewing her lip as she
worked out the relationship between the throttle and the reverse
lever on her father’s 20-60 Advance steamer. At the same time,
her young brother Tom was helping out on the 1896 15 HP Nichols
& Shepard.

‘At the 1991 Puget Sound Antique Tractor & Machinery
Association Show, I had a lot of personal satisfaction watching my
three sons operate our exhibit, which featured a 60 HP vertical
boiler supplying steam to run the engines on a buzz saw and a
replica of a 1908 wood-splitter. Christopher attends the University
of Washington, while his brother, Matthew, just started at
Peninsula College. Brother Michael is a high school junior.

‘Teaching young people is not easy, right? They must be
taught goal orientation. Their attention span can be very short,
while ‘SAFETY’ is just a word that adults use. As in any
endeavor, there will be successes and there will be failures; but
that is only if we try. Can we do that?’

‘I don’t know if anyone answered Ted Stein’s
question about his mystery wheels (IMA Jan-Feb. 1991). According to
my findings, they are off of an Aultman Taylor steam engine. I was
looking through some old IMA’s and found a picture of this
engine when it was complete (IMA May-June 1973, page 3). I hope
this clears up the question. Mark one up for the greenhorns!

‘Would anyone know where to find a smokebox door and ring
for a sixty horsepower Case?’ (This writing comes from LOYD
CREED, RR #3, Box 381, Danville, Illinois 61832. Tel.
217-443-1814).

‘I have never had the honor or privilege to meet the Lady of
Iron-Men Magazine, but as I write this letter, I feel we have
become friends. In the last 3-4 years, I have found out we all have
a love for steam engines.

‘My main man in life, Larry Mitchell, has a 1919
Keck-Gonnerman and we get the old gal in gear and take the
grandkids for a ride in spring or fall.

‘Although I am sure you would like to know it has been a
short time that I’ve been one of your fans, Larry has old
Iron-Men magazines from the 60s and 70s and 80s, and I really enjoy
going through them.

‘You are a fantastic person. Please don’t retirewe need
you. We all really care and love you Anna Mae. I have met a lot of
steam engine people, and you are a great lady. Keep up the good
work-we appreciate you, Anna Mae’. (Well, I’m almost
blushing with such fine comments, but thank you, I appreciate it. I
have never received a letter such as this from another lady, but it
certainly boosts my morale and I don’t intend to quit if I get
material to continue. Thank you, my new friend).

‘I only started going to steam engine shows about two years
ago. I have met a lot of wonderful people, such as, of course, my
main man, Larry Mitchell who is at the top of the list. Also Harry
Woodmansee, Dennis Jerome, Melvin Lugdan, Dick Watson (we have a
song or two togetherwhat a sweetheart he is), Willis Abel and wife
with their beautiful steam car ‘Stanley,’ what a beautiful
sight. These and many more wonderful people I have enjoyed. We have
gotten together and cooked homemade stew or soup, and all the gals
are great.’ (I know there are many good friends through
these steam showsthey are all a great bunch. Just sorry I can’t
get to meet you all.)

This very welcome letter comes from my friend JUDY SCHNAHEN
BERG, Box 3790, South Bend, Indiana 46628. Thanks, again!

JOHN HALEY, R.R. 2, Box 120, Odell, Illinois 60460 writes:
‘I saw this article in the Bloomington Pantaragraph newspaper.
The AP story ran in the December 13, 1991 issue. Thought it might
be of interest to the readers. Also, glad to see that your column
is going to continue in the IMA.

Poland Retires Steam Locomotives

Lukow, Poland. The steam locomotive growls and huffs, spewing
dense clouds of vapor and pungent black smoke from its coal-burning
furnace.

But despite its exertions, the chugging black engine goes
nowhere. This once-proud lord of the iron road has sunk to
providing steam heat for a drafty railroad barn.

So it ends for the steam engine. Poland with its cheap and
abundant coal was the last European country to depend heavily on
steam railroad power.

Now even Poles are punching the ticket on their beloved
‘ciuchcia’or choo-choos.

Engines dating to the early 20th century are being junked: cut
up into scrap metal, sold to collectors or sent to a museum.

The locomotives witnessed the calamitous events of recent Polish
history: the Depression, World War II, the imposition of Communist
rule in the late 1940s. A few may have hauled Jews and other
prisoners to death camps in Nazi-ruled Poland.

‘Very often they had their own nicknames and their own
concrete stories and idiosyncrasies around them,’ said
Kazimierz Ziolek, of the railroad’s central district
headquarters.

The Polish State Railroads counts 301 steam engines on its
inventory, down from more than 4,000 in the 1960s. By 1995, the
150th anniversary of regular rail service in Poland, they will be
gone, said railroad official Stanislaw Niemaltowski.

As scrap, the 100-ton locomotives are worth $5,000-$6,000 for
their high quality steel and alloy components, said Krzysztof
Wiechetek, caretaker of a steam engine graveyard at the locomotive
repair station in Sieldce, east of Warsaw.

‘Want to buy one?’ he asked hopefully.

The product of a family of railroaders, Wiechetek recalled that
the steam engineer, often a white-gloved perfectionist, was
addressed as ‘Sir’ by the crews before World War II and
would tip laborers to polish his locomotive.

‘Mothers would tell their daughters: marry an engineer not a
sailor’ because of high pay and secure jobs on the railroad, he
said, ‘Now it’s the other way around.’

Except for excursions organized by steam-train lovers, the two
engines left in Wiechetek’s district rarely haul passengers or
cargo now. They heat buildings or make hot water.

But the era of the trains will survive in the images etched into
every Polish child’s mind by the rhyming tale of ‘the
Locomotive,’ by the late Julian Tuwim, Poland’s Dr.
Seuss:

‘At the station, stand the locomotive
‘Oozing thick oil, heavy and massive
‘She stands and she puffs, she sighs and she blows
‘And suddenly her growling belly explodes:
‘BUKH, how hot it is,
‘UKH, how hot it is,
‘POOF, how hot it is,
‘OOF, how hot it is.
‘And still the fireman lays on the coals…’

Even if 1,000 athletes ate 1,000 pork cutlets, the rhyme
continues, they couldn’t match the power of the locomotive.

‘I need to write about my first experience around a sawmill
and the safety precautions taken that I think should be practiced
at the show sawmills,’ writes EDWIN BREDE-MEIER, Rt 1, Box 13,
Steinauer, Nebraska 68441. (He’s a buddy who has written
many times).

‘I was about 11 years oldmy father had hauled logs to a
sawmill making several trips, but when the lumber was to be cut, he
wanted to bring it home in one trip. He decided to take two wagons
and bring it home. On the day that he was to go, I went to school
as usual and about 10 A.M., he came by and had me go along and
drive one team. We went to the mill, and it was the first time I
had a chance to see a sawmill in operation. I took in
everything.

‘It was set up in a timber area. The engine was pushed next
to the creek that had a pond, about three feet of water. The engine
had a boiler door to the water. The creek was spring-fed with
plenty of water. The mill was set up the belt’s length from the
engine. They had left walking space between the engine and the
creek.

‘I don’t know the make of the engine, but it was a
double cylinder engine. The sawyer had complete control of starting
and stopping the engine, by means of a 1 x 3 board fastened to the
stoker of the engine. When he reversed the carriage, he slowed the
saw, and when they turned the logs, the mill was stopped. That is a
practice I think should be used at our shows.

‘The engineer sawed slabs, fired the engine, watched the
water and oiled the engine.

‘It was in March, and they had a shack made of natural
lumber, one door, two windows, one on each side, and it was about
10 x 18 feet with no floor. Double boardedfirst layer horizontal,
then two layers of felt paper and one layer of boards vertical;
same design for the roof. The three men usually stayed at the mill
Monday A.M. to Saturday P.M. The help was paid by the board foot,
so they operated daylight to dark. No coffee. No breaks! No
standing talking!

‘There was one man lived nearby who was there from 8 to 6 to
drag up logs with his team and help people load lumber, when he had
time.

‘You were told where your lumber was piled, and you were on
your own to load it.

‘At 82, my handwriting has not improved and I’m getting
forgetful, but I’ll close with the dirty story of the fellow
who said he was so forgetful he had to write down everything that
he was supposed to do when he got to town. Then when he got to
town, he forgot if he was supposed to get anything, and if he was
supposed to get something, he forgot if he had written it
down.’ (That’s good for a chuckle, Ed, thank you for
writing because I know it isn’t easy, but I appreciate itand
hope I get the story the way you wanted it to be told. Come on,
People, Ed is 82 and he didn’t do too badly with his
handwriting).

GLENN BEESLEY, 3005 Mortashed Road, West Harris, Indiana 47060
sends this letter: ‘I worked for about 20 years with a
threshing outfit owned by Mr. Harris Goble of Sharptown, Indiana.
My father worked for Mr. Goble until his death, in 1906, in a train
wreck on Christmas Day. I was 10 years old at that time. I started
to work for Harry in 1914 when I was about 14 years, operating the
blower, making straw stacks. Then I got to be separator man and
finally engineer; I never did make it to the water hauler.

‘Some years we would thresh two or three threshing rings
each year, about 8-10 farmers per ring. We had many things happen:
fires from the sparks of the engine, and twice when we went through
two wooden bridges, the rear wheels fell through.

‘After they stopped threshing in our neighborhood, I did
custom combining for eighteen years.

‘I always wanted a steam engine. In 1985, Mr. Tony Moorman
of St. Marise, Indiana, had a Baker and a 50 HP Case for sale. I
bought the Case. Russell Coon of Rushville, Indiana, hauled it home
for me. Mr. Coon has since passed away.

‘The engine had no canopy on it, so the first thing I did
was to build one for it. In 1986, I took it to Rushville, Ind. to
Pioneer Engineers Club of Ind., and to the Western Ohio Antique
Tractor and Power Show at Eaton, Ohio. In 1987 we went to Pioneer
Days at Hieston Woods State Park at Oxford, Ohio, and to South
Western Ohio Antique Tractor and Power Show at Eaton, and to a
steam show at Winton Woods, Cincinnati, Ohio. We had it on the
threshing machine at all three places. In ’89, ’90,
‘911 took it to Eaton, Ohio. Last year I put a new set of flues
in it and have rebuilt the governor. It sure runs good!

‘I like this engine because it was built in 1916, the same
year my wife and I were married. We have been married 75 years. I
am 95 and my wife, Carrie, is 93.’ (Isn’t that great,
Folks? I don’t believe there are many couples who can boast
about that many years.) ‘I must say two of my grandsons, Floyd
Behler and Tim Fox, helped me with these shows. I am very thankful
to them.

‘I am sending you a picture of the 1990 show at Eaton. There
are three threshing outfits operating at the same time. My engine
is on the right, with my grandson Tim on it. The other two are Mr.
Kramer’s and Mr. Marcus’.’ (Thanks for the letter
Glenn, and I must sayhe wrote his letter by hand and I didn’t
have too much trouble reading it-can you imagine how your
handwriting will look at age 93? So send your stories in,
Folks.)

This communication comes from D. B. WHITT, R.R. 6, Box 356,
Lewisburg, West Virginia, 24901.

‘My reading of your column goes back to the March-April
issue of 1967. I would like to glean a couple of your comments from
that column and expand upon them. First, you mention your love of
family and your regrets at not seeing as much of them as you would
like.

‘You, Anna Mae, via your fine column, are the motheror at
least, the big sister, to all of us in the Iron-Men Family. Some of
us have never met you, but your column places us all in the
presence of a fine lady we feel much akin to!

‘Second, from the M/A ’67 issue, in closing your column,
you state that one is a failure only when one does less than their
best. I believe you have always given your heart and soul to your
writing.

‘Now, on to my contribution to Soot in the Flues! Several
years ago, there was a Geiser engine in our community. It was used
on a sawmill. I am enclosing a rubbing off the serial plate, on an
old piece of newsprint. The number was 6227 and it was, as well as
I recall, a model K of the 14-16 HP class. I have a Model K
Portable #12767. I have often wondered if #6227 survived the
cutting torch and does anyone have it in their collection? I am
enclosing a photograph of #6227. It is identical to mine, except
mine has steel ground wheels and the base casting for the stack is
different. Does a serial number list of the Geiser engines still
exist?

‘In the N-D ’91 issue of the Album on page 13, mention
is made of the late (?) W. G. Runkle of Trenton, New Jersey. This
gentleman used to have a serial number list, I believe, as well as
a large collection of patterns and parts for Geiser engines. I
often wonder what happened to this collection. His phone number had
been re-assigned to another company and no one there ever heard of
Mr. Runkle. Also, can anyone supply the recipe for ‘Geiser
Green’ paint? I would like to paint my engine this summer.

‘In speaking of Trenton, N. J., I have a Diamond T truck,
model 509H, purchased from Trenton Truck Sales Co., Calhoun and
Ingram Avenue, Trenton, New Jersey in June of 1947. Mr. A. W.
Lewis, president of the company, handled the purchase. I still have
all the original purchase orders, etc.

‘A further review of the March ’67 issue, on page 6, I
see a photograph of a group of engineers including Raymond Fork of
Gibsonburg, Ohio. I had a most pleasant visit with Mr. Fork at
Wauseon this past summer. We share a partiality for Baker
engines.

‘I send my best wishes to all in the Iron-Men
Album.’

A familiar name to many of us is CARL M. LATHROP, 108 Garfield
Avenue, Madison, New Jersey 07040. He tells us: ‘I’ve just
finished reading ‘A Nice Load of Engines’ by Chuck Sindelar
in the J/F ’92 issue. That and the back cover photograph of
their move reminded me of a similar move in which I was
involved.

‘Our Catskill Mountain Railroad, a tourist road, bid on an
H. K. Porter 50-ton center cab diesel-electric locomotive that had
been built for the Navy in 1942. It had spent all its working life
at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine where she had
been declared surplus. We won the bid, and now we were faced with
moving it over the highway to Phoenicia, New York, or about 300
miles.

‘We arranged with a heavy hauler to make the move, but it
was up to us to do the loading and unloading. Three of us did the
job by dropping the trailer goose neck over the tracks at the
shipyard and building a ramp of rails. Since I was the senior
qualified engineer of the group, it was up to me to run it up onto
the trailer.

‘Now, I had never run that engine before and only had a few
minutes to run it up and down about a hundred yards of track to get
the feel before someone yelled, ‘Come on, Pop, let’s
load!’ Well, the gear box hung up on the edge of the trailer on
the way up and there I was in mid-air, as it were! The fellows on
the ground had to use some oak wedges on the track to get me over
the hump. Finally, it was loaded on to the eight-axle rig and ready
for the road.

‘As I’m climbing down to solid earth once again, one of
the guys asked if I was ready to go to lunch. My reply, ‘Yeah,
after I swallow my heart!’

‘Well, when it arrived in Phoenicia next day, I was ready
for the trip down the ramp. The way that critter climbed on and off
the trailer has won the nickname of ‘the goat’. I’ve
spent a lot of hours in that cab tending her 450 HP while hauling
tourists. None of them can surpass the thrill of that first
run.’

‘Well, another year has left me, so I guess I should send
you something to put in your column,’ says ADAM G. VIELLIEUX,
634 200th Avenue, Somerset, Wisconsin 54025.

‘I am going on 75 years old, but still doing pretty good. I
have been subscribing to IMA since the late ’60s. Nothing much
exciting in my life I guess, just the usual.

‘Back in the early ’30s, my dad had a sawmill on our
place. I wasn’t quite old enough to run engines yet, but I hung
around and learned a lot. A few years later, my dad moved the
engine from Somerset, Wisconsin to Scandia, Minnesota to saw logs
there. He loaded all the big stuff on a heavy duty trailer, smaller
items on a truck. He had to cross the St. Croix River at Marine,
Minnesota, on a ferry boat. He took just the engine over alone,
then the rest. That old Nichols & Shepard weighed 10 tons. It
really sank that old ferry down in the water. But the trip was made
without any mishap. After a couple of years, he moved it all back
home again. After getting back on the Wisconsin side again, there
was a long grade to go up, about a mile long. When up on the level
again (the roads being all gravel those days), the right drive
wheel picked up a stone and dropped it on the idler gear which, as
far as I can remember, was around 24′ to 28’ diameter or
somewhere that size.

‘Anyway, the gear broke in three pieces. My dad scoured the
country trying to find another gear, but to no avail! Welding was
more in the early stages yet, I guess. But you didn’t weld
things like that back then. My dad tried to hire a Caterpillar to
haul it home, but that would cost too much. We had about 10 miles
to go, so the engine was scrapped!

‘That same spring, my dad rented a new Huber return flue
engine to finish the spring sawing. I ran that engine. I could put
full length slabs of wood in it, up to 14 feet long.

‘My dad found an 18 HP Case, not far from home. The man who
had it didn’t take very good care of it, I guess because the
boss that the idler gear rode on was worn down so far the teeth
didn’t mesh with the pinion gear any more. My dad only wanted
to get the engine home and on the sawmill again, as he didn’t
have any plans for moving it again. He took a piece of oak wood,
and with an axe, chiseled out a half-moon piece that fit in the
moon place of the boss, smeared well with axle greaseso the Case
came home. So, guess who got to fire and run it? Yep, ME!
That’s who, and I was in Seventh Heaven!

‘One nice warm spring day, boiler full of water and wood, I
was standing on the platform, leaning on the steering wheel
watching my dad sawing, when all at once I heard some steam leaking
that I hadn’t heard before. I knew all the sounds of that
engine. I looked over the engine and top of the boiler, but
couldn’t see anything. So, I got down and walked around to the
left side of the boiler. What I saw made my heart come right up in
my throat. The water glass had cracked straight up and down next to
the boiler. Steam was coming out in a thin sheet against the
boiler! My first thought was, if that glass lets go, yours truly
would have a face full of glass! Anyway, I had the presence of mind
and I quickly shut off both top and bottom valves very quickly.
Then I went and told my dad what had happened. He came over and
showed me how to put in a new glass. Then we were able to continue
sawing. That was the only exciting experience I had with
boilers.

‘I had said earlier that my dad didn’t care to move the
engine againI think this must have been around the fall of ’38.
Our one storey high school in town wanted to build an auditorium on
it. The contractor hired my dad’s engine, which was hooked up
to pipes lying on the ground in zigzag fashion, over which was
dumped sand and gravel. The boiler was to be fired to keep the sand
and gravel from freezing while it was being used, and of course, I
got elected to do the job.

‘I think it lasted about 2 weeks. I got very little shut-eye
on that job, no one to spell me off. Sometimes, the night watchman
would throw in a shovel of coal, if I was cat-napping in the
shanty.

‘I got 40 cents an hour on that job. It was the first time I
ever worked by the hour. You might laugh at that today, but back
then, that was pretty good wages. Needless to say, I paid for it!
My system got weakened from lack of sleep, so the last day I
worked, I didn’t feel too good. Anyway, I came down with the
flu. I had it real good! For a solid week, I was miserable!

‘The engine stayed there until spring, when dad and I fired
her up and ran her back home.

‘Alas! Came the war, gas and other things were rationed;
fanners couldn’t haul their logs, so sawing was finishedso was
the Case, which was scrapped out during the war.

‘Dad kept the whistle, which I have to this day, all
polished up and mounted on a walnut base.

‘I have built two scale Case engines, having sold the first
one, but now I have another one.

‘I retired from 3-M Company St. Paul, Missouri in ’82.
Then I got started building ‘ to a foot locomotives. I have
built eight of them, one for myself. The last one I built is the
picture enclosed. This is my last engine, as I seem to tire more
easily, although I do small jobs yet. I am now building trucks for
six riding cars for this last engine.

‘Well, Anna Mae, I guess that is the extent of my steam
experiences. Hope this helps to keep your column going.’
(It certainly will, Adam, and I thank youand I’m sure these
letters will encourage some other folks who mean to write but just
don’t get at it!)

‘Engine and tender is 13 feet long. Engine weighs 1200 lbs.
It is narrow gauge, prairie type, 3′ to foot scale. Track is
7′ gauge at our track site, on Co. Rd. (F), four miles south of
Hudson, Wisconsin. We run the last Sunday of each month, beginning
in April through October, weather permitting these two months. Free
admission. Owner is on left, me on right.’

This communication comes from ROY W. TOMBAUGH, 2341 S. Circle X
PI., Tucson, Arizona 85713:

‘In response to the Bryan tractor inquiry from Stanley Ross
in the January /February IMA. I have reference to it in the
Agricultural Tractor 1855-1950, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 combined edition,
compiled by R. B. Gray, published by the American Society of
Agricultural Engineers. (This book is now listed in the
’91-’92 Stemgas Publishing Company Catalog as Code #G66 on
page 5, price $15.00.) On page 6 of Vol. 2, the Bryan is described
as having been developed for the market in 1922. Photos of the
tractor and the water tube boiler are shown.

‘I saw an ad, don’t remember where, for a reprint of the
Bryan Sales Folders, listed by Goose Neck Sales, Herb Mann, phone
267-3635, 2588 W. Co. Rd., 250 S., Warsaw, Indiana 46580. I
received one in late 1989, price $2.00. It is a single sheet
printed on both sides with three photos of the tractor, the boiler
and a threshing scene including a Bryan steam truck. This brochure
also has the specs of the tractor.

‘If you cannot make contact with these sources, please let
me know.’

Before closing, I’d like to share the following entitled
‘Laugh with the Lord.’ These are actual announcements taken
from church bulletins.)

1.  This afternoon there will be a meeting in the south and
north ends of the church. Children will be baptized at both
ends.

2.  Tuesday evening there will be an ice cream social. All
ladies giving milk please come early.

3. Wednesday, the Ladies Liturgy Society will meet. Mrs.
Johnson will sing ‘Put Me In My Little Bed,’ accompanied by
the pastor.

4.  Thursday at 5 P.M., there will be a meeting of the
Little Mothers Club. All those wishing to become Little Mothers,
please meet the minister in his study.

5.  This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Johnson to
come forward and lay an egg on the altar.

6. The services will close with ‘Little Drops of
Water.’ One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of
the congregation will join in.

7. On Sunday, a special collection will be taken to defray
the expenses of the new carpet. All those wishing to do something
on the carpet, come forward and get a piece of paper.

8.  The ladies of the church have cast off clothing of
every kind and they may be seen in the church basement on Friday
afternoon.

9.  A bean supper will be held Saturday evening in the
church basement. Music will follow.

10. The rosebud on the altar this morning is to announce
the birth of David Alan Belser, the sin of Reverend and Mrs. Julius
Belser.

Wow! What a slip of the pen can do. In this case probably a slip
of the typewriter. Certainly hope no one is offended these are just
some of the little mistakes that can be made in reporting
announcements.

In closing Love all you Folks Have a great summer and keep
writing those great letters!