Faithful contributor Gary Yaeger, 146 Reimer Lane, Whitefish, MT
59937 (email: yaegerg@intch.com) sends us this picture of what he
originally believed to be an elusive 6 HP Case traction engine.
Yaeger says: ‘I remember the second steam engine I ran, which
was in the year 1954, and it was a 6 HP side crank Case portable. I
remember asking the old timers around me that day, ‘Did Case
‘No!” An old Case man and friend, Tommy Lee, sent me
some 19th century Case literature copies and in the Case catalogue
were horsepower ratings of the old Case center crank engines.
Included in the horsepower ratings was the ‘6 HP J.I. Case
center crank traction engine.’ Up until this past week, I had
never seen a picture of one. Tommy’s literature never showed
one, but only talked about them. I stumbled into this picture of a
6 HP Case traction engine on an old postcard. It is supposed to be
in Mont., but may be from elsewhere?
‘After sending the picture of the ‘6’ HP Case, I
also emailed a picture to my friend Dr. Robert T. Rhode. He was
more observant than I was. This engine has the tandem-compound
cylinder. The traction engine would be the same size as a 6 HP
Case, but this one is obviously their 8 HP model. Early Case
tandem-compound engines were rated at a higher nominal horsepower
than their simple cylinder engine counterparts. In their later
compound engines, Case rated the nominal horsepower identical to
the simple engines. I stand corrected and apologize.
‘Here are some more pictures, however. One picture is of a
25 HP Advance and crew, preparing to head away from the straw stack
with the separator. It is a copy of a picture from Carl
Mehmke’s collection. I am sending another picture of another
tiny Case center crank engine taken in the winter. I believe this
one is also an 8 HP tandem-compound model, as the one I first
emailed you. It isn’t the best picture, but it is from an old
photo postcard in my collection. The third picture I am sending is
from Dean Alling’s post card collection. It shows a 25 HP
Reeves simple-double pulling a Reeves steam lift plow, stopped to
water up.’
More Photos
Just as we were getting ready to send this issue off to the
printer, Frick enthusiast Mike Rohrer, who collects original Frick
literature and photos, sent in some pictures he came across of some
early Frick engines. Additionally, Rohrer sent some photos of the
1885 Greencastle engine that appears on page 14. We don’t
usually receive photos of the same engine at once, but given the
rarity of the Greencastle, we thought we’d go ahead and share
these with our readers, as they show the Greencastle running and in
a slightly different light. Enjoy.
As ever, keep those pictures coming. And if there’s
something in particular you’d like to see in this column, drop
me a line and let me know. I’ll see if I can hunt it down. In
the meanwhile, let’s everyone have a safe and nice Thanksgiving
and let’s look forward to the new year and a new round of
shows.
If you have a photo for Soot In The Flues, please send it along
to Iron-Men Album, 1503 SW 42nd St., Topeka, KS 66609-1265, (785)
274-4379, or email: rbackus@ogdenpubs.com
