Hi to you sweet, wonderful, supportive Iron-Men Family! My heart
is singing with joy just to read some of your enthusiastic and
encouraging letters. I think they deserve a place in this column,
along with the ones important to the factual and instructive
writings that go into the column.
This note came up from the office and was sent in by BRUCE
he is one of my good friends and correspondents. He writes:
‘Here is another lump of coal to refuel my IMA
subscription. I got ’em all except this next coming issue of
1992.
‘I have another lump after reading about maybe Anna Mae
might fade out of the picture. How do you expect us to get along
without Anna Mae? Good luck with whatever you have to do!’
(Thanks for the good word, Bruce.)
DAWN SOMERS, 17837 Linden wood Road, Linden wood, Illinois 61049
sends this: ‘As winter fast approaches and the daylight hours
shorten, I finally find myself taking time to write again. I hope
by the time this gets printed, many of us steam people have taken
time to write you. Although we’ve never met, I feel I’d be
losing a good friend if your column wasn’t in the IMA.
There have been many format changes in the IMA over the
years; your Soot in the Flues column represents to me one of the
best things that ever happened to the magazine. Your gentle,
loving, God-fearing approach to people and life is a role model for
us all. I wish I could do as well or be as strong as you have been
over the years.
‘So I’ll save my stories for further along in the
magazine, and direct this to Anna Mae-Please don’t quit yet.
This magazine needs a sounding board and if Soot in the Flues
falls, I fear the magazine may too.’ (Come on now, Dawn,
I’m not that indispensable, but thanks anyway.) ‘So all my
friends in Steam-Show Land you graciously thanked me for writing
some stories. I appreciate your thanks, but now you folks too
should write a little. Just a note to Anna Mae will do. Doesn’t
have to be anything fancy, just a few lines. We just can’t let
this magazine get any thinner.’ (You’re right, Dawn –
thanks for the requests.)
‘Sounds like you were a bit down for the November-December
ALBUM. Perk up! We want and need you for as long as
you’re able and I hope you have a protg to help, or someday
take your place,’ writes A. MORK, 5439 264th Street, Wyoming,
Minnesota 55092. (Thanks for the pep-up talk, I needed that I too
hope I can continue for a long time, but you know if I can’t,
whoever takes over has to have you great people to write the
letters, or as I stated before this column isn’t
necessary.)
He continues: ‘This is of course a busy time for farmers and
those of us who aren’t there is WORK and the pleasures of all
the fall shows.
‘Has anyone mentioned an organization in Minnesota dedicated
to helping and promoting steam? It is Minnesota Steam Engine
Association, c/o J. Vouk, St. Stephen, Minnesota 56375.’ (If
this is already formed, it should be in the Show Directory put out
each year. I do know J. Vouk again is a name I know real well, but
only through writing for this magazine.)
‘I am very sorry to hear that a lack of letters may cause
your column to cease. I look forward to reading your letters
received and your comments. You have a very friendly, folksy way of
expressing yourself you would be missed.’ (Thank you JOHN
WASILOFF, 7978 Ridge Road, N. Royalton, Ohio 44133.)
Shay-geared locomotive of the Davison Lumber Company, Alpena,
1905. Billy Dino in cab. Jack Haines of the other Shay behind
Billy. The rest are employees. Engine made in Lima, Ohio 1900,
bought by the Davison Lumber Company.
‘I own no steamers of any kind, but enjoy seeing, hearing,
photographing, smelling, getting soot on myself, etc. I really get
a kick out of seeing the youngsters, boys and girls, driving steam
traction engines around the fairgrounds. ‘I go to as many steam
shows as I can really enjoy the shows that have the home style
food.
‘ ‘I have several hobbies amateur radio, World War II
aircraft, muzzle loading rifles; and I just built an Aus-tin-Healy
Kitcarso I am keeping fairly busy.’ (Sounds that way I think it
is marvelous to have these hobbies; folks like you are so
interesting and have much to offer society and in friendship).
And this letter from my wonderful friend BILLY BYRD, 369 South
Harrig Street, Madisonville, Kentucky 42431: ‘I usually pick up
the Iron-Men Album, read it and put it down with joy, but not this
last issue. It was with sadness. I know what I want to say, but
don’t know how to say it. It would be a sacrilege for you to
discontinue Soot in the Flues.
‘Anna Mae, you ARE the Iron Men Album you still
have the values and thoughts that Brother Elmer had you can’t
quit!’ (Don’t worry, Billy, I won’t if these letters
from you wonderful folks get the folks writing again.) ‘Do you
reckon that when people don’t see your name listed in the
magazine that they think you’re not with it anymore? If you
have any suggestions as to how I can help in any way, please let me
know.
‘I want you to know that I appreciate all the kindnesses
you’ve shown me in the past and I know others feel the same
way. So, please don’t leave us now. I hope this finds you and
yours doing OK and take care, because I care.’ (Thanks Billy, I
can’t say any more to the folks than you have just said I just
need anyone interested in this steam business to write me in the
easiest way possible for them and I’ll make good use of it. You
may not think your letter will be interesting, but it will be, as
we are all interested in the same subject. Give it a try!).
LAURENCE W. NACHTRAB, 7181 Hall Street, Holland, Ohio 43528
writes: ‘I am a charter member and reader since Issue One,
although I missed some years in the 1980s; but I would buy all the
back issues I could at the reunions. Sometime I shall write about
the clover hulling and corn husking and shredding days. I don’t
see many articles on these subjects. Of course, they were not as
popular as wheat threshing too dusty and cold.
‘I hope you can continue the Soot in the Flues column. It is
always interesting.’ (I will, Laurence just you send along your
articles you told us about, and thanks for the supportive
letter.)
This letter and pictures come from JIM SIMON, R.R. 1, Shubie,
Nova Scotia, Canada B0N 2H0: ‘I love your magazine,
Iron-Men Album. I’m delighted with the history it
contains. I’m more than pleased with my own submissions.
Therefore, I would like to submit another history of my own
collection. Also, the photo is my own collection.
Porter-built locomotive of the Davison Lumber Company of Alpena,
Annapolis County, built by H.K. Porter in Pennsylvania. In the
1880s, it was originally used as an inspection car in Michigan. It
is an 044 Dingy built to carry 16 passengers.
‘This photo is of the Davison Lumber Company of Cross burn
and Hastings, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. The Davison Lumber Co.
had three logging railway locomotives of the Shay-geared type. The
company had 1,000 men on the payroll. They also had 160 horses and
had to hire teams in addition. The company also had 90 vessels
chartered since January 1, 1906, all of which loaded at
Bridgewater, N.S. The company had 40 million feet of lumber cut; 13
million went to South America, 17 million to the United States, and
the rest to the West Indies and Madeira.
‘The company attracted a lot of workers. Some came from as
far away as Italy and Sweden to help build the railway. By 1905, 10
miles of railway had been built, and by 1906 almost 30 miles of
track ran from Hastings Junction to South River Lake. There were
four to six spur lines ranging from two to six miles from the main
line. The company acquired running rights on the old Nova Central
Railway; this line was later bought out by the Halifax &
Southwestern in 1903.
‘The railway locomotives on this line were one Dingy and
three Shays. The Shays had direct-connected rod engines. The Shays
were slow (15 mph), but very popular for logging railroads. The
H.K. Porter Company of Pennsylvania built these engines, and also
the Lima Machine Co. of Lima, Ohio built the Shays. By 1915, the
company added a big 70 ton Shay-geared; this engine had three
cylinders, three tracks and 12 drivers.
‘Things seemed to go well for the Davison Lumber Company and
the company’s Springfield Railway until 1918, with the
exception of a brief hiatus around 1912. There had only been two
temporary shutdowns, the first around 1911 after the defeat of
Wilfred Quarries government, which was promoting a reciprocity
agreement with the U.S., and again in the winters of 1918 and 1920
following the end of the demand for lumber created by World War One
and during the scourge of an influenza epidemic. But the end was
near. The whistle blew on the last day of July 12, 1921. At that
time, 30 million feet of lumber were sitting in the piling yards,
but the Davison Lumber Company was bankrupt. The machinery was sold
or scrapped. The rails were taken up and sold. The building
survived until July 11, 1928, when a spectacular fire destroyed the
mills and all but 13 houses of the 55 remaining. The fire was so
great, it carried embers 13 miles away. Everything about the
Davison Lumber Company was big, including its financial fall. For
us, we are lucky to have this important history of Nova
Scotia’s industrial evolution.’
‘Just a note to say I appreciate you keeping the Iron-Men
Album going. I’m always interested in the letters, news about
your family and the articles of anything concerning the traction
engine.
‘I’ll feel I’ve lost a good friend if you bow out.
You and your family are the magazine. I hope you stay on some
way.
‘I’m not a qualified person to send in any news, but I
sure do enjoy reading the magazine. Keep on!’ (Thanks EVERETT
W. GUSTAFSON, R.D. 2, Box 349, Brockway, PA 15824. I don’t
know, you write a pretty nice letter. Think it over, you just might
be able to contribute something; how about in your past years, were
you interested in steam then?)
‘This article was inspired by Anna Mae’s hint of
retirement. I have been reluctant to write about this for fear of
getting letters from real and imaginary self-styled experts, but
here goes!
‘There is the publicity article on page 20 of
November-December issue of IMA. Whenever a loose-penned
character writes about a steam engine explosion he, through
ignorance or other reasons, fails to clarify the year, conditions,
circumstances, etc., and just leaves the impression that steam
engines just blow up!
‘Early on (even up to WWII) much freighting was done by
steam engines. There were, in England, many manufacturers of steam
engines. They used very thin shells. Used with care and respect,
they did very well.
‘You have heard about tying down the pop valve. Now that
leaves the impression you can do it. How in blazes do you tie down
a spring-loaded safety valve, set and sealed by the State Boiler
Inspector?
‘Where did the ‘gossip’ come from, that early on
they used weighted safety valves? You could and they did tie them
down. I mean they tied them down with whatever they had. Now a
‘ or less shell, tube, vessel, boiler or whatever you choose to
call it, abused and over-pressured, could and did blow up, taking
good religious people to Hell and gone.
‘The engines built in the U.S. after 1910 had a cold
bursting pressure of 5,000 lbs. The Canadians, scared to death of
stories, insisted on 5/8 shells. When you
hear of a Canadian boiler, you know it is twice as strong as it has
to be.
‘It is presumed that the boiler inspector knows everything.
Although his word is law, according to the book, some of them
don’t know as much as they should. For instance, according to
the rules or law, if you wish, no one can qualify as an inspector.
They should rewrite the ‘book.’ The laws were written long
ago and all states adopted them verbatim.
‘Now, I’ll tell you how to blow up a steam engine. Let
the ‘mud ring’ fill up 6 or 7 and be sure there are no dead
plates in the fire box. Screw a plug in where the fine plug is
(soft plug to many of you). Keep water level at normal so the fire
can heat the full mud ring red hot. When the mud ring gets white
hot it will, from the boiler pressure, expand the wall, allowing
the water to get at the hot wall, causing more steam than the
safety valve can handle. That might cause it to explode.
‘There have been attempts to blow up a locomotive by remote
control that failed, to the complete bafflement of the people who
tried it. By the same token, a locomotive blew up, and no cause was
ever determined.
‘We were testing an engine to see if we could replace only
bad flues. One of the plugs blew out. One of the fellows started to
run. I said, ‘Come back, it’s too late to run!”
(This letter came from ANDREW L. MICHELS, 320 Highland Avenue,
Plentywood, Montana 59254-1609).
‘Help!’ writes DAVID LOVELACE, 341 Neptune Road, Orange
Park, Florida 32073. Says David, ‘I’m looking for some
information. I have never written you before so you could say
I’m new Ha! What I am seeking is blueprints of an 80 HP Case
steam engine. I have gotten some information from Case, but it is
not enough. I need all the dimensions of everything on the engine.
I hope that someone out there can help me, because I want to build
a 1/24 scale model. Also, I’m looking for
drawings or blueprints of a water tank and threshing machine of any
kind. Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank
you for your time, and I love your magazine.’ (You are most
welcome and I hope someone out in Engine Land will be writing you
with the answers you are seeking.)
PAUL WILLAMS, Box 174, Van Dyne, Wisconsin 54979-0174 sends this
different but cute supportive letter: ‘Please don’t quit
writing your column. Your stories are the best part of the
magazine. I wish I knew something interesting to write to you
about, but I’m pretty much just an interested spectator.
‘If I thought it would help I’d make up a story and send
it in to you, but that wouldn’t be very nice, I guess. Anyway,
just a note to let you know that your writing is read and
appreciated. I hope to be reading your stories for a long time
yet!’ (Thanks Paul for the great try, and keep thinking and
keep your eyes and ears open, you may come up with a story).
D. ELMER HAWBAKER, 4175 Ricklyn Drive, Chambersburg, Pa. 17201
has been seeking information on the Heilman engines, as he has
purchased one and wants to restore it. He also is interested in the
Greyhound engine. His number is 717-369-4772. (So think about this
Fellas, probably some of you can call or write Elmer, he’ll be
waiting.)
‘See you coming up short on letters, so this might help
out,’ writes THOMAS STEBRITZ, 1516 E. Commercial, Algona, Iowa
50511.
‘I would like to make a few comments about Mr. Frank J.
Burris’ fairly recent article concerning different valve gears
as applied to the steam traction engine and also the railroad
locomotive.
‘Could be my lack of education of course, but down through
the years in trying to grasp the charts and graphs of Mr.
Burris’ articles, on especially valve gear and its workings, I
have to include the late Orrin Seaver in this vein. Well anyway,
trying to understand the most of the works of these worthy men
mostly gave me a migraine headache. Now, I do not intend any
disrespect toward Mr. Burris or the late Orrin Seaver.
‘At age 64 I am not an old time thresher, but the steamer
always intrigued me. I grew up on the steamer and have had a good
supply of old catalogs and repair books to study from childhood.
Better yet, my late father was a real steam fan who observed all
the changes that took place and had a wonderful memory, and he
passed a lot of this on to me because I was interested. My father
was one of the thousands of steam engineers who loved the engines,
not like most, something to beat to death, like thousands of
horses, like with the majority.
‘I owned a 60 HP Case for 40 years and a 16 HP Nichols and
Shepard and a 65 HP Case for 31 years.
‘It will be argued to the end of the world about the merits
of the hook-up valve gear. Personally, I believe none of it.
‘I have a picture here somewhere sent years ago to my father
by the late Leroy Blaker. The engine pictured was a 32 HP double
cylinder Reeves used in a sawmill nearby in the 1940s. Mr. Blaker
stated on the back that it was a fuel and water hog.
‘About a year ago, a man sent in a letter to the Album and
he stated that he hauled water to a 32 HP double cylinder Reeves
years ago in Canada. He stated that the engine used six tanks of
water one day and seven the next day, there were 14 barrel
tanks.
‘That wonderful jumping and kicking Clay valve gear did
nothing for either of these double cylinder engines.
‘A popular big Reeves engine was also a 32 HP size and had
attached the Clay gear. This engine was economical because it was a
cross compound; the economy derived from the design, not the valve
gear. It will be observed that the Reeves Company pushed their
compounds in later years.
‘Mr. Burris talks of the Springer valve gear. The Avery
Company built three types of engines and for economy they would be
rated very poor, good and excellent.
‘Perhaps the most economical steamer built was the return
flue with the water front boiler built by the Avery Company. This
boiler on a 20 HP size pulled a 32′ and 36’ Avery fully
equipped thresher, on about 1100 lbs. of coal. The 18 HP and 20 HP
under mounted Avery used a ton of coal and more to pull the same
load. All affected steamers were equipped with the Springer valve
gear. The economy of the return flue was in the boiler design, not
the valve gear.
‘My late father, in 1913, bought a new 60 HP Case and
36′ x 58’ thresher, and a neighbor bought a similar rig in
1913. My father ran both engines and knew them. Here are the most
interesting facts. The engine he bought new consistently burned
1800 lbs. of coal, day after day, threshing. The other engine
pulled the similar load, day after day, using only 1400 lbs. of
coal.
‘Some years back, I corresponded with an old-time thresher
from Nebraska. He volunteered the information to me that he owned
first a 45 HP Case, then a 50 HP Case. Both had 9′ x 10′
cylinders and both pulled the same 32’ Case thresher. He stated
that the engines both handled the load all right. He said however,
the 45 HP engine pulled the load on 500 lbs. less coal daily.
‘My father and this old thresher mentioned these engines cut
their steam right. Perhaps Mr. Burris’ slide rule could analyze
why these very similar engines behaved in this way.
‘The late Marcus Leonard of Salina, Kansas, who was one our
last steam experts and an Advance salesman, said he talked to the
head designer of the new Advance-Rumely steam engine. The engine
was tested with several hook-up valve gears, by comparison to the
Marsh gear; they didn’t measure up so were thrown on the scrap
pile.
‘My late father, like Marcus Leonard, was considered a
thresher expert. He owned 23 engines in all over a period of years,
and he ran engines for others also.
‘He ran engines equipped with the following gears: Arnold,
Grime, Woolf, Link, Giddings, Marsh and Springer. My father had the
ability to rebuild any machinery he owned or for others, which he
enjoyed doing.
‘Mr. Burris makes reference to the railroad engine. Most
railroads did extensive testing for economy with different valve
gears. A lot of railroads owned their own coal mines and got their
fuel for little or nothing. A lot of that coal was very poor
quality and to the observer from a distance had a high dust
content. How effective the economy testing was according to the
articles I read was anyone’s guess.
‘A man who worked at Belle Plaine, Iowa where C. & N.W.
Railroad had a division, told me personally of the railroad
allotting a pint of steam cylinder oil to each cylinder for a big
engine to run to the next division. So much for the economy as
practiced by the railroads.
‘Of course, all of this is water over the dam now. Leroy W.
Blaker made much of the hook-up valve gear. He was a good engineer
and affected some good economy runs with his Port Huron engines,
but in the end where his engines derived their economy was big
pressure steam and compound cylinders.
‘My late father told me about many engineers he ran into
years ago. Most were very average, not like our reunion type. Of
course, the most of them did pretty good with some of the clunkers
they had to run.
‘Like I said before, I mean no disrespect for Mr. Burris and
he can believe as he chooses, as did Mr. Orrin Seaver.’
F. A. JACOBS, (an IMA reader for over 30 years), 8808
Burton, RR1, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50813 writes: ‘Noting your
dilemma in the November-December issue, I decided to pass on an
interesting display that we happened to visit in August. Only by
noticing the advertising folder in a highway rest area did we learn
of and go see the exhibit. As several of the units were steam
powered, I thought other steam people might be interested.
‘The brochure is from Wyandot Popcorn Museum, 135 Wyandot
Ave., Marion, Ohio 43302, if you care to write. It is 45 miles
north of Columbus on U.S. Rt. 23. The brochure encourages one to
visit one of the largest collections of poppers and peanut
roasters.
‘All the classic poppers are here: Cretors, Dunbar, Kingery,
Holcomb & Hoke, Cracker Jack, Long-Eakin, Excel, Manley, Burch,
Star, Bartholomew, Royal, Advance, even a few homemade
one-of-a-kind antiques.
‘There is a lot more information on the brochure telling me
that many of you steam people may really be interested in visiting
this museum.’
ROBERT O’HARA, 1100 E. Indiantown Rd., Apt 408, Jupiter, FL
33477 is looking for a copy of a movie mentioned in IMA
five or six years ago; it was on steam engines. He doesn’t have
the name of the individual who had this movie, or the title of the
movie, but he would appreciate hearing from anyone who knows about
it and where he can find it. His phone is 407-744-6209.
And before I close I want to thank you all again for your
wonderful, inspiring letters. I have not used them all this time,
so I have a start on the next column. God bless each and everyone
of you.
I would like to share this inspirational writing. I have a copy
posted on my cupboard forget to read it every day, but I do many
times stop and ponder on it and ask
GOOD MORNING GOD
You usher in another day
Untouched and freshly new
So here I come to ask you, God
If you’ll renew me too
Forgive the many errors
That I made yesterday
And let me try again, Dear God
To walk closer in Thy way
But Father, I am well aware
I can’t make it on my own
So take my hand and hold it tight
For I can’t walk alone!
That’s about it for this time. Remember, if you don’t
know what to give someone at any time, a hug is a wonderful gift it
fits everyone and it can be exchanged!
