We finally received an answer to the ‘mystery’ engine
featured in the May/June issue of Steam Traction. Paul
Ward, 592 Fox Road, Lexington, OH 44904 (psward@neo.rr.com),
believes the engine is an early offering from Canadian manufacturer
George White & Son’s Co.
Paul notes several items in common with other George White &
governor belt with twist, front wheel hub with swooping motion
between spokes, quadrant mounted to the back of the boiler/firebox,
cylinder mounted just back of the smokestack, low bunkers and a
short steam dome. The stack and the the dog-leg flywheel looked
unfamiliar to Paul, but a copy of an old catalog image shows this
exact same arrangement. Note, too, the stack on the White engine
featured on this issue’s cover.
Noah Brubaker, 1577 Johnson Mill Road, Lewisburg, PA 17837, was
the first person to identify the ‘mystery’ engine featured
in the July/August issue of Steam Traction. Noah correctly
identified it as a Leader, manufactured by Marion Manufacturing
Co., Marion, Ohio. Noah thinks it’s a 12 HP unit, built in 1895
or earlier.
This month’s mystery engine comes, as usual, courtesy of
John Spalding, 112 Carriage Place, Hendersonville,
TN 37035 (genesis645@aol.com). There’s no information on the
photograph, but we can tell you this engine was produced by a
company not particularly associated with threshing duties, even
though the pictured engine is pulling a thresher.
As ever, the first person to correctly identify the picture, by
mail, gets a free copy of Prof. P.F. Rose’s Steam Engine
Guide. Good hunting, and get those answers in quick.
