SOOT IN THE FLUES

Some information on this engine is as follows: ‘Steam
locomotive 8444 was one of a proud group of 45 fast stepping
4-8-4’s that flashed across the Union Pacific West in passenger
train service. Designed by and built for Union Pacific, she was the
last steam locomotive acquired by the railroad in 1944.

‘Because 8444 was the last to arrive on the scene, it is
only fitting that she was selected to be retained as the last
operating UP steam locomotive.

‘Born 844, she was placed into service in December 1944.
During her career in passenger service, 844 pulled the well-known
Overland Limited, Los Angeles Limited, Pacific Limited, Portland
Rose and Challenger trains on portions of their runs between Omaha
and the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. She handled freight
trains in Nebraska between 1957 and 1959 and, in 1960, was saved
from the scrap pile and held for special service.

‘In 1962, 844 was renumbered 8444 to distinguish her from a
diesel freight locomotive of the same number.

‘Based in Cheyenne, Wyoming, 8444 has made numerous rail
excursion trips since 1960 and has attracted the attention of
thousands of persons in the West and in many other parts of the
United States as well.

‘Today, Union Pacific continues to use 8444 in railfan
service.

‘On September 22, 1983, this locomotive was coupled to
passenger train coaches, to bring several Nebraska and Iowa
dignitaries to Omaha from North Platte, Nebraska for the opening of
River City Roundup days in conjunction with the Ak-Sar-Ben
Livestock show and rodeo. A helicopter flew aside of the train for
security reasons.’

Vernon says that he knows that he is a steam enthusiast through
and through as he likes anything over everything that is
steam-powered and he thought some of you folks might enjoy this
item.

‘I’ve just been bitten by the bug and am very pleased
with your magazine,’ says ROBERT M. HEATH, 142 Greenway Center,
Ridgeland, Mississippi 39157.

‘My family moved to Mississippi in 1904 from Indiana and
brought with them some steam equipment. The main item was a huge
steam tractor that was one of the first farm tractors in the area.
The local Southerners would have nothing to do with the new Yankee
Republicans from Indiana at first. When my father’s grandfather
rolled the tractor off of a flat car on the railroad he was met by
the local sheriff and told he could not take the tractor over a
river bridge that led to the farm. He said the tractor was too
heavy for the bridge. While everyone was trying to decide what to
do to get the tractor across the river, the old man hired a crew of
men to make a road next to the bridge down to the river’s edge.
He fired the boiler as high as it would go and put the tractor in
gear. There was enough steam to carry the tractor under the water
to the opposite bank where he rebuilt the fire. All the Southerners
stood around dumbfounded!’

‘I thoroughly enjoyed the story of the ZZ Geiser Engine
#12478 owned by Frank G. Childers which was shown on the cover of
July/August issue of IMA,’ comments ROYAL E.
JACKSON, 600 East Crandall Street, Meadville, Missouri 64659.

‘It may interest Mr. Childers to know that a ZZ Geiser like
his was shown many years at the Shenandoah Valley Steam and Gas
Engine Show at Berryville, Virginia and I suspect that fine engine
is still owned by someone living in that area and may still show up
at the Berryville show each year. We have not had the pleasure of
attending that show since 1975, since we moved from Maryland to
Missouri.’ (Anyone out there know any more about the engine of
which Royal speakslet us hear from you. That is what this magazine
is all about, the engines and their owners and anything of interest
pertaining to same.)

It’s nice to hear from HERMAN LANFERMEIJER, Ten Katestraat
33, 2032 ZM Harlem, Netherlands, phone 023-362036 who just wrote
specifically to tell us: ‘Some years ago I received a gift
subscription of the IMA from my cousin, Edgar
Lanvermeyer, Elsberry, Missouri, for my birthday and I enjoy your
magazine immensely and I am very glad with this publication.’
(Thank you and how nice to write just for that purpose).

EDNA HOCHSTETLER, 559 Westfield Drive, New Holland, Pennsylvania
17557 has written this poem and requested that it be in the column
her husband is an avid reader of the magazine and I assume this is
her tribute to him:

NEAL

From boyhood into manhood
As each stage of life unfolds,
Reveals the boy in every man
Than never does grow old.

He grew up on the farm
Where they used steam engine power,
Then he built one for himself
To use in leisure hours.

He shovels in the coal,
And drives it all around,
It relaxes pent-up feelings
As he cruises o’er the ground.

At Kinzers Rough and Tumble
It’s kept both day and night,
One can hear him blow the whistle
When the steam is at its height.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised
If Heaven had an engine,
He’d be right there steaming up,
How? I can’t imagine.

As the years accumulate
He ponders other goals,
Perhaps there’ll be no engine there
But he never will grow old.

JOHN CWACH, Route #2, Box 154, Yankton, South Dakota 57078 sent
us these three pictures of his Minneapolis 20 HP engine #8608. He
purchased it in May 1957 from O. W. Clark, Nor fork, Nebraska. That
summer he restored and painted it and then he threshed with it for
fifteen years. The thresher in the one picture is a Minneapolis
43-54 steel. The engine was purchased new in 1927, having been
manufactured in 1923.

From a serviceman comes the following letter: ‘First,
I’d like to extend a big Howdy!from myself. My name is CURT
DUPEE, USS Brooke (FFG-1) FPO, San Francisco, California 96661, and
I’m quite interested in subscribing to IMA. I
have been, since I was old enough to talk, interested in steam
farming equipment. I was born and raised in Morrow, Ohio, and am
currently serving my country in the U.S. Navy. I am 19 years old,
and finally building my own steam tractor. It will be a garden
tractor to be used on my farm when I get out of the Navy. It is no
particular type of engine model, but it looks closest to a Reeves
or Rumely. (Thanks for writing us Curtso happy to hear from one of
our younger subscribers. We wish you great success with your
project and when you’re finished don’t forget to send us a
picture and story. Keep in touch).

LOU BUICE, 306 Dove Creek Trail, Southlake, Texas 76092 needs
help in identifying the horsepower, year and model of a Farquhar
portable steam engine he recently purchased. It is a center crank
model with the boiler having 22 flues. Per the information Lou has
found, the smallest portable Farquhar built was a 10 HP containing
32 flues. The engine has been restored and runs great. Any help
would be appreciated.

An interesting inquiry comes from ORIN C. KING, 5225 SW 20th
Terrace, 302, Topeka, Kansas 66604: ‘In 1892 Ringling Bros.
Circus had a steam tractor names Hercules which was used to pull
wagons from the train to the lot, and was also featured in the
parade. Built over the boiler was a steam calliope. The tractor
proved impractical and its use was abandoned.

As a circus historian I am interested in obtaining a photograph
of the tractor Hercules. Several drawings are in existence but what
I am searching for is an actual photograph. If any of your readers
have such a picture, I would be interested in hearing from
them.’ (If anything comes of this, perhaps you could send us a
story and picture, Orin. Do hope you get an answer.)

CLAUDE TROYER of Minier, Illinois 61759 sent these pictures of
his engines. The first is a hoisting engine he mounted on an old
truck frame then made it self-propelled with a 4-speed
transmission. ‘I started work on this outfit in April of 1970
and finished in time for the Labor Day show at Pontiac, Illinois.
Has been used at that show to set logs on saw mill ever since.

‘The other picture is a 1920 20 HP Keck Gonnerman I bought
at auction in September 1982 and restored in 1983 in time for the
Pontiac show.’

We received a most interesting, happy letter written in his
caboose, from our good friend BILLY M. BYRD, 369 S. Harrig Street,
Madisonville, Kentucky 42431. He says: ‘Well, I finally did it,
retired officially July 14th, 43 years to the day, but made my last
working trip Friday, July 13th. It was a memorable one. The
Roundhouse force had a red carpet for me to walk on to get on the
engine and had the engine decorated with toilet paper.

‘There is a Travel Service by the track leaving
Madisonville. I would blow the whistle and the girls would run out
and wave. We made a game out of it and on my last trip they had a
big banner stretched across the caboose saying We love you Billy
Byrd! Then when I got to Hopkinsville, Kentucky the County Judge,
Mayor and about 40 people met me. The Mayor made me Honorary Mayor,
the second man in the history of the town to get it, then gave me
the key to the city. The County Judge gave me a letter opener. When
I arrived at Madisonville that night, my wife and three daughters
gave me a nice reception, which was all unknown to me. About 75
people were present. The Mayor made me Ambassador for the city,
giving me a nice certificate for my contribution to the town by
bringing Charles Kuralt and the folks from Disneyland here, the
town getting a lot of good publicity from it.

‘On July 21 at the Tennessee Kentucky Threshing Show at
Adams, Tennessee, my home town, that day was proclaimed ‘Billy
Byrd Day’ and the Mayor gave me a citation for my contribution
to Adams and the threshing show So, I had a busy month!

‘I’m just an old country boy, and I’ve had a lot of
nice things happen to me, but I’ve had a lot of nice people
helping me and I’m humble and grateful. I’m now doing what
I want. If it was like when I started railroading, I wouldn’t
have retired, but its gotten miserable out there, so I decided to
hang it up. I’m running a Southern R.R. 2-8-0 steam engine on a
passenger train, 7 miles round trip, make 5 trips a day. I work a
week and come home for a week. It’s the Tennessee Valley
Railroad Museum at Chattanooga, Tennessee. We have six steam
engines, five diesels and several passenger rolling stock. Also
have our own shop where we overhaul the engines. We do super heater
unit work and most everything. All the work is done by volunteers,
so it is a labor of love. I have a high school English teacher
firing for me and he’s good. We operate daily through Labor
Day, then weekends until October 28, then start again in April.

I really enjoy it out here in the caboose as I have numerous
pictures of L & N steam locomotives, lots of books,
IMAs back to early 60’s, L & N Employees
Magazines back to late 40’s, and some in the 30’s and late
20’s, trains and railroad magazines back to the late 40’s,
so it is a sort of office and museum. Also, the only place I know
in this part of the country where there is a Nichols & Shepard
steam engine on one side of the house and a caboose on the other.
My wife is sure an understanding woman. All I need now is a
locomotive to couple to the caboose, but I’m afraid I’d
have to leave them.

‘I miss the men I worked with and the people I waved at
every day, but I enjoy pulling the throttle on the 630 and 722. We
pull four and five cars. I have three more parades with the old
Nichols & Shepard then will put her to bed for the winter. You
all take care and the best of everything to you.’ (I’m sure
you folks enjoyed reading this letter. And best of everything to
you, Billy I can tell your cheerful disposition has reaped it’s
own reward, and I’ll bet you will be meeting some of the
IMA family on your runs some of these days).

HARRY MERRILL, Byron Wyoming 82412 sent these before and after
photos of a 60 HP Case engine which he brought home in July of 1982
and exhibited in a parade in Lovell, Wyoming in June 1983. The
engine was built in January of 1912 and Harry will was 81 last
June.

‘My brother, Jim, and I recently purchased a 1925 A. B.
Farquhar portable steam engine S/N 21258,’ writes JOHN
HARBAUER, 10302 Bayer Road, Perrysburg, Ohio 43551.

‘It has a 9′ bore and 16′ stroke. It is a return
flue with a Cornish boiler which is just over 15′ long. It is
43′ diameter and has a 24′ fire tube. It is a center crank
engine with 48′ and 36’ flywheels. The engine has a D-slide
valve. On the front side of the valve there is a ridge on the seat;
on the opposite side however, it is smooth. At first, we thought
this was to keep the valve in line, except for the fact that the
other side is smooth. It seems too perfect to be worn that way.
Does anyone know if this is how Farquhar made their valves?

Does anyone know what colors the engine and wheels were painted?
I would also like to know the HP of this engine and whether there
any pin striping. Thanks in advance for any assistance.’

ERNEST TESTO, R.D. 1, Girard, Pennsylvania 16417 sent us this
picture of his steam train built with a 19 HP Port Huron boiler and
a Gaar Scott 18 HP double cylinder engine, on an International
school bus chassis. ‘When filled with coal and water in tanks
and boiler, it weighs 14 ton. We have a small steam engine mounted
on it which runs the lights. We also have a Pennsylvania state
license for when we take it to shows and parades.

‘It can run to 50 miles per hour of course it’s a little
too fast! In the picture left to right are Todd Zuck, engineer,
myself and Frank Bull, also an engineer.

‘We have a large museum in Fair-view, Pa., Erie county, with
about a hundred gas engines and thirteen steam engines. We have
large traction engines.

‘We have a boiler in the building that runs many steam
engines including the Nagel engine which we prize very much.

Nagel engine which we prize very much.’

Sounds like an interesting sight to see for those of you who
visit Erie County!

N. B. NELSON of R#3, Hawley, Minnesota 56549 sent us this
picture of the 1/3 scale Gaar-Scott steam engine he built in the
late fifties.

‘This little engine has been steamed up and run at the
Western Minnesota Steam Threshing at Rollag for the last 23 years.
It is a replica of a 25-75 HP double cyl Gaar Scott owned by N. B.
Nelson and C. H.

More information about ‘Old Abe’ comes from JOHN R.
HEATH, Box 57-C School Street, Sullivan, Ohio 44880: ‘Old Abe
the Case eagle, as described in the article by Dr. C. A. Pinkenburg
in IMA (Vol. 38, Jan-/Feb 1984 page 6), now has a
permanent home at Ashland College, Ashland, Ohio.

‘The eagle is the symbol of Ashland College, so in the past
years students would take the six hundred pound eagles from area
Case dealerships and bring them to Ashland College campus.
Sometimes the culprits were caught, and a collection taken up by
the students would usually pacify the owner of said eagle. One
group of seminary students caught with an eagle in the trunk of
their car, ended up in jail, and the head of the seminary had to go
bail them out.

‘In 1965 the college hosted a press photographers
convention, and the student council wanted something big for them
to photograph. The council contacted the Case regional office in
Columbus, Ohio, about obtaining the big eagle that was located on
the roof of the Case office. The building was to be torn down soon,
so the Case officials said to take the eagle. The big eagle was
taken down by a crane, and was on display at the Ashland campus in
time for the convention.

‘Through the generosity of J. I. Case Company, Ashland
College now has clear title to ‘Old Abe’, and the sixteen
eagles on campus. They also have the molds if any more eagles need
to be cast.’ (Thank you John, for sending us this story I feel
it is quite interesting and informative and NOT just for the
birds).

JIM COX, Pleasant Hill, California 94523 submits the following
poem:

‘ONWARD’

Little figure far below,
The towering trees in winter snow,
Beside the gently rocking big machine.
He sees the flywheel whirling round,
Driving belt with a clicking sound,
Sawing to the thumping of the steam.

In summertime we’d thresh the corn,
And I’d be up before the dawn
To light the fire to start old ‘Onward’ boiling.
My Dad come by about half past five,
And watch the engine come alive.
And then he’d start his cleaning and his oiling.

Little figure dirt all over,
In those summer fields of clover
Remember him so clearly in my dream.
I was only seven then, But the threshing crew
would love it when
I’d dance to the thumping of the steam.

For me the biggest thrill of all,
Was ploughing in the rain of fall,
With ‘Onward’ swaying like a ship at sea.
Her shouting smoke is flying high,
Blackening the raining sky,
Ten bottom plough and ‘Onward’ and me.

An oil stain upon the floor,
A gearwheel beside the door,
Old pictures in the family archives.
But I can hear her whistle still,
Remember her I always will.
Her warm iron presence in our lives.

Well, I have another recipe for you perhaps many of you know
about it if not, give it a try. It’s called Moist Fruit
Cake:

1 cups sugar cup salad oil
2tsp. soda tsp.
salt 2 eggs 2 cups flour
1 medium can fruit cocktail

Combine sugar and oil, soda and salt. Beat in eggs. Add fruit
and flour alternately, including juice. Do not beat after adding
fruit. Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees. After it is baked, prick top
with fork and pour on icing. Icing:

cup evaporated milk 1 tsp. vanilla
cup granulated sugar 1 cup nuts
lb. butter or cup oil

Boil milk, butter and sugar for two minutes. Add vanilla and
nuts. Pour on cake while hot.

This recipe comes from WALTER H. DEN, 230 West Main Street, Mt.
Joy, Pennsylvania 17552.

(If you have a recipe that you think is different or
something you believe folks would like to try, please let me hear
from you.)

Incidentally, we forgot to mention in the cover caption of the
September/October 1984 issue of IMA, that the
photo was sent to us by Samuel S. Hoffman of 1128 Ridge Road,
Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania 17022.

And that about brings us down to the ending of this column and
another year and some thoughts for those pensive moments This fast
age seems more concerned about speed than direction. God always
gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him. Life is not
so short but that there is always time for courtesy. Giving is the
thermometer of our love. The way to get anywhere is to start from
where you are. Do have a happy, blessed holiday season. Love ya
all!